Arc 1 - Chapter 3: Stranger, Witch and Cat (1/3)

The light of the moon, surrounded by stars, greeted Yu Valarfin from the sky. Yu feeling drowsy from having just woken up.

When he opened his eyes slightly, he thought he was still at home and his short journey seemed like a dream. It made sense, if it hadn't been a dream he would be dead. Since he was alive, he had dreamed.

But strangely he remembered the pain he felt before he died. It was different from the pain he felt when he woke up from a bad dream, the pain was real and he knew it.

"What is that? Is it a girl? She is beautiful."

He thought he was still in the dream when he noticed a white figure in front of his eyes. He had difficulty opening his eyes fully, so he couldn't see her completely.

"But the smell..."

The smell could make his nose start a war of independence against Yu to leave his face. He rubbed his eyes to find the source of the smell, and when he regained his vision, he saw the white-haired woman who had opened his collar and was staring at his chest.

With a sudden movement, he fell back on his haunches. Apparently he was either still dreaming, or it was real and he was still alive.

He looked around, he was in a huge cave connected by many tunnels.

"I'm sorry, I just killed you." The white-haired woman in front of him spoke calmly, Yu was confused as he focused on the message instead of commenting on the beauty of her voice.

"You just killed me?" What did she mean? The situation he was in didn't seem realistic at all. He put his hands to his head to think and tried to remember what had happened.

He remembered walking down the road, and as he walked, the ground collapsed and he fell down. Then he saw a four-armed monster, then a girl with little cat ears and the murderer who had killed him.

"Monster!" Yu looked to his left and saw the three-meter monster lying on the ground. It had four thick arms, a mutilated face and orange scales covering its body. Most of the orange scales were scattered around and smoke was still billowing from the creature. When he removed the features that made it a monster, he could tell it was a gorilla.

"Ha!"

Yu put his hand to his neck and checked that the rings were there. It was good that he hadn't lost them, he wouldn't forgive himself if he lost these rings from his older sisters.

"I just need to have these with me."

When he saw that the rings were still there, his hardened cheeks relaxed and a slight smile appeared on his lips as the result of being alive.

"So, where is my bag?"

Holding the mementos of her sisters in his hand, he scanned his surroundings, looking for his bag. It was standing some distance away from him. The bag was cut, torn and a little burnt, but still usable. On his knees, he moved towards the bag and unzipped it, checking the medicine inside.

"Nothing happened, this will give me a week of peace."

Looking up at the sky, he thought he should have died as soon as he fell. It was a miracle to fall from that height and survive. Moreover, the items in his bag were not damaged.

"A miracle?"

"How did I survive?"

"Why am I calm?"

As the questions began to flood his mind, reality became clearer for him. He saw that the white girl in front of him still had her attention.

"I, I don't understand," he looked into the red eyes of the girl for an explanation.

His last moments were a blur. The monster, the little girl, the big version of the little girl, a magical attack. The reality that had been clear before he listed them all became blurry as he listed them.

"I almost forgot."

He searched for the only starter item in this world that he could sell to put money in his pocket. His phone was in his pocket and miraculously intact. His worries about food and shelter eased a little.

The woman in front of him apologized again after looking curiously at the item Yu pulled out of his pocket.

"I apologize. It was a mistake, but I just killed you."

"I'm too calm for a dead person. Ah, I see, it must be my perfect self-adapting quickly to the situation. I guess where I am doesn't stop me from always being number ten."

He couldn't look helpless with a beautiful woman in front of him, he pulled himself together and smiled as if survival was his own achievement.

When he had first seen her, he had been struck by her redness, but apart from her eyes, all the parts of her body that were red were red with blood. Her white robes and part of her face were also covered in blood.

Her big red eyes, so foreign to Yu's world, made his heart flutter as they met his. As a man, it was impossible not to like such an enchanting woman. Her tied back hair was pure white with no hue, if he ignored the blood-soaked parts.

In Yu's opinion, she was an S+ rated waifu, just beautiful enough to be the main female character of a story. She had a foul odor on her, but considering the blood and sweat on her and the beast lying dead on the ground, it was understandable that she had been in a battle and the smell could be an excuse. Nevertheless, Yu wrinkled his nose involuntarily because of the bad smell.

"But she is beautiful..."

He couldn't stop his heart from fluttering, if not counting the battle scars that gave her a bad impression. Even though he was incredibly handsome, for some reason he had not many experience with girls before and now found himself at a loss as to what to do in front of this woman he didn't know.

"Handsome guy, look at you!"

He could ignore the bruises and blood on her, but not on himself.

Yu Valarfin, like her, was covered in blood, his clothes were torn and his face was scarred, but the worst thing was that he thought his choice of clothes was bad.

"Why? Why didn't I put on something more decent? Stupid! Even a jacket would have made me look better. Why? What does she think of me? Does she think I look awful? Oh, no, of course not. There's no way she is ever seen a man like me."

Yu Valarfin wanted to believe that he didn't care about people, but deep down inside he cared enough about other people's opinions to have minor nervous breakdowns like the one he was having now.

"But I'm making a terrible impression! This person could be the main female character in a great isekai adventure, and look how our lifelong acquaintance turned out! Damn it."

Seeing Yu's hands shaking, the woman didn't know that it was because of Yu's broken psychology. She held his hands and tried to calm him down.

"I'm sorry, I apologize for the third time, but no matter how many times I apologize to you today, it will not be enough. You don't need to be afraid, you are alive now, you are breathing and not gonna die for a while."

It had been months since his hands had been held by soft and gentle hands, the woman in front of him was affecting Yu in every way.

"And... It's embarrassing for me too, but I hope you can understand the reason for the bad smell." When the woman saw Yu wrinkling his nose at the smell, she felt compelled to broach the subject.

The white-haired woman bowed her head in embarrassment, her averting eyes from Yu was proof that she was truly embarrassed. Yu felt guilty for embarrassing her like that, her embarrassment was sweet, but it was obvious that he felt bad.

"And I believe I should tell you that the reason you feel calm is not because you are a great person, but because of my ability."

Yu stared at her for a moment, not understanding what she was saying.

Was she talking about controlling his emotions? He had never been a dead person before, so he didn't know how dead people reacted when they met their own killers.

"Their reaction would probably not be the same as mine. And since I saw that she was practicing magic, that explanation - by the standards of this world - makes some sense."

If she kept him calm, he would interpret that as a good thing and move on.

"My name is Yu Valarfin."

He decided it was time for introductions. Curious about the other person's name, he started listing all the beautiful anime girl names he knew in his head. Which one would it be?

"My name is Rie."