Chapter 1: Step

It was so fast that I couldn't think of the consequences of that step. I don't know if I should have stood still, or looked forward, even if with pain.

Without being able to blink... I found myself in a vast meadow.

Slowly, I brought my wrist to my face and saw that the pedometer was healing, eliminating any signs of splintering and breaking. After that, for a moment I saw symbols appear in place of my name in the pedometer. I didn't know what they meant but they stuck in my head. That expanse was so vast that I could see the horizon. I turned my head and saw high walls and a small road nearby.

I didn't realize, so I analyzed the landscape. After a while, I heard footsteps approaching, but almost totally ignored their presence. I felt someone touch my shoulder.

"Hey, are you okay?"

I turned 180 degrees and saw a girl. I could not forget her. Teal hair up to her shoulders, about five feet tall, maybe a little shorter than me. She could have been my age, maybe a year older.

She was dressed in white in completely different clothes from mine, not just because I'm a boy. They looked like the clothes of a royal knight. But her eyes, those teal big eyes confused me more than the situation itself.

"Hey, can you hear me?"

"Y-yes ... yes ..."

"What are you doing standing here? Why don't you go into the city? "

"..."

"I understand. I guess I have to take you in by force. Let's see if we can find a place to talk. "

She took me by the arm and took me inside the walls and as she said she was a city but it looked like a medieval city. Throughout the journey I always had an apathetic expression, I could not do otherwise. We found a bar and took our seats.

"So what happened to you?"

"..."

At that moment I realized that she also had a sword. Taking back part of my consciousness, I glued the pieces together a little.

"Where am I?"

"What do you mean?"

I thought she couldn't know what happened to me, I didn't know either, so she couldn't understand.

"Look, I don't know why you were out there watching who knows what, but if I can do something for you, I'd be happy. Let's say that helping others is my job. " and she smiled.

After that sentence, I finally raised my head and my heart beat hard, which first turned to stone. Usually, I who read many manga, I know that the protagonists reveal their secret immediately, in order to get help, even if it is not so obvious. However I didn't know if it's a good idea, she might not believe me and I didn't know if I could trust her, even if she seems like a good person.

"... something happened to me ..."

"What? Tell me. I'm here on purpose. "

"... I know you won't believe me and that it seems crazy, even for me it is ... but ..."

Having understood the situation, I said: "... I come from another world."

"..."

"..."

"Pff, ahahahahah" the girl held back the laugh, and then burst out. I was very disappointed.

"..."

She stopped laughing and looking at me she said to me:

"Oh, looking at your face, it looks like you're serious. I'm so sorry. And actually, looking closer, you have some strange clothes. However, even if you are telling the truth, I can't imagine how you come from another world. Then what do you mean by another world?"

"I do not even know. I just know that they shot me and luckily, or I could even say bad luck, the bullet lodged in my pedometer, after which everything stopped and taking a step ... I ended up here, then you found me. "

"Wait, bullet? Pedometer?"

At that moment I understood something new about that world. In that world it was possible that there was no technology or firearms, so she didn't know what a bullet and a pedometer were.

"Don't you know what a pedometer is?"

"Honestly no."

"Then wait for me to show you."

I got up to show her how it worked.

"You see, every time you take a step, the pedometer marks it and increases every time ..."

At that moment I was amazed. The pedometer did not go forward but every time I took a step, it went backwards but had no function to do so. Seeing my serious and somewhat worried expression, she asked me what was wrong.

"Here, as I told you, the pedometer should increase the number with each step, but now every step I take, it goes backwards."

"And so it's not okay, right?"

"I would say no. Rather, I would try to find out what happens when it reaches zero. By now I wouldn't be surprised at anything, but it's not normal that suddenly it goes the other way. "

"Okay, let's walk until it reaches zero or until we're dead tired."

I saw her smile that cheered me beyond belief.

Incidentally, I forgot to ask her an obvious and vital question.

"Sorry I didn't ask before, but may I know your name?"

"Oh sure. My name is Kairi Kimura. You instead? "

"My name is Satsu Yokinawa, my pleasure."

From there we walked around a bit. She explained to me how that society worked, which was just like a medieval society, except for a few fundamental rules. Kairi explained to me that every inhabitant of that country and that world, even if she was not part of the army, must have at least a base of military and combat knowledge. This was enacted by a distant law which made all countries agree.

"You know, they say I'm the best swordswoman in town, even though I'm not in the army but I don't believe it. They often tell me to enlist but if I did, who would help people like you? Ahahahah. "

"Ahahahahah."

As we went around, the footsteps diminished more and more without us noticing. We even forgot about it from so much talking. The pedometer went down.

5 ... 4 ... 3 ... 2 ... 1 ...

My sanity went to hell.