From Nobody To A Little Bit Less

The Sun, no, the Moon beamed through the sedan's window accompanied by a dim street light and a few passing cars. It was a quiet summer night with a cool breeze blowing through that lightly caressed a resting boy's back. Near perfect silence, at least, what you could consider silence in a city was only broken by the occasional passerby or a drunk kid looking for something to entertain himself with.

Tak* tak* tak* A teenage boy wearing a black and orange tracksuit hurriedly trotted by just fast enough to not be walking but certainly not running.

"Huh? pretty early for a morning jog isn't it?" Tsuki Izumi sat there in an old mahogany sedan, no newer than the early 90's staring at the boy. "Ugh. . .why do I feel like I know that dude. Looks like he's about to kill someone with those eyes."

The boy yelled out randomly almost seemingly directing it towards Izumi. "Crap crap crap! It's 3AM already! Why did I even leave earlier? God Subaru Natsuki you are a complete idiot!" This time, with Izumi's eyes burning into his back, Natsuki Subaru broke out into a sprint at full speed. He wasn't very fast.

"Welp. . .thanks for telling the world about your own problems 'Natsuki Subaru'." Izumi said, slightly exasperated at his umpteenth awakening. "Wait! 3AM?! Holy crap I'm late for work!" SLAM* Izumi threw open the car door and sprinted down the street at a damn respectable speed straight after the mysterious Natsuki Subaru.

He ran and ran and ran some more for several hundred meters before the panicking boy with an interesting hair-do had come into view. "What? He only made it this far?" Izumi rounded the corner to find Subaru hunched over, awkwardly leaning on a wall completely out of breathe. "Jeez, he looks pretty worn out." Not entirely sure why he decided to, Izumi asked, "Yo! Need some help? Are you lost?"

"Wha-no. I'm good, thanks. Just a little worn out is all." Subaru put on a strong face and forced a slow, almost pitiful stride down the street Izumi was headed. "Catch you later!" He said as he rounded the corner.

"Huh, bit strange but alright. Guess I better get a move on then, too. I'm screwed if-"

Suddenly, Izumi's body went cold as the frozen touch of a woman's finger brushed down his back. Everything around him froze in the purple mire that had formed around his legs. Nothing worked, he tried frantically to run but his legs failed to respond. His arms went stiff and almost hurt when he tried to fight. Even his eyes were stuck, forced to look straight at the large, blackish-purple hand approaching him.

"What the-" The hand hit his face but nothing happened. Izumi expected his body to be crushed by the monster wielding such a horrifying body, or maybe, he be swept away into the apocalyptic landscape around him. Neither happened, the arm simply passed through his face and wrapped itself around his body like a rope. It kept tying itself around him like a mummy until his body was completely encased in it's frigid embrace.

"I'll repay your favor to me now, Izumi. Try your best, I know you can find them." The soft, elegant voice of an angel slowly guided Izumi into a deep slumber. The arm around his body loosened it's grip and everything went dark in an instant.

"Don't worry, I'll give my everything to her. . ."

Black. . .that was all there was in this strange void Izumi awoke to momentarily. Voices surrounded him but he couldn't seem to find them, nor could he move. "So loud." They were everywhere. Some were right next to him, murmuring inaudible words while others sounded distant but not quite too far to be heard. "Ugh, nasty." A rather unpleasant odor hit Izumi's nose like a freight train, almost as bad as perfume girls. Light soon followed his reawakened sense of smell. Just a small dot of pure white, it felt pretty comforting to him despite the noises around him getting louder and some more aggressive even.

Around this time, Izumi's hearing began to clear up and the horrid sense of smell he had experienced began to fade into smaller, harder to detect scents. They were also impossible to detest.

"What? What happened to me? Did I get shot!" Izumi started panicking on the dirt road he lay on. His numb arms and legs fidgeted hopelessly. Apparently, somebody noticed him trying to move and ran over to help. He felt their presence for a second and tried to ask what is happening to him but all that followed was panicked footsteps scampering away. Soon after, the mumblings became more and more pronounced as well.

"Hey! get up, demon! You're blocking the road!" A masculine, very masculine voice shouted at him. They were somewhere in front of Izumi but he couldn't quite nail on a location as all these strange senses, and now, new terms as well were still processing. Izumi realized something else though, he could smell dust and dirt, he was dirty and so was the environment around him. "Eh? Ignoring me are we? When did you slum kids get so stubborn-"

"Shut up! Can't you see he can't move, pig!" A woman somewhere to Izumi's right but again, he couldn't figure exactly where.

"Hey, why isn't he talking? He can see me, can't he?" The man said somewhat quietly, a hint of anger mixed into his words.

"What?! How the hell would I be able to see you?! My eyes are-wait. . .are they closed?" Izumi questioned even his own actions now. "Why can't I see anything?"

"He can't see me then. Huh, someone get this animal out of my way, now!" The man commanded, his tone shifting from somewhat concerned to the typical asshat.

"W-wait, I-I can't see anything! Can you guys hear me now? I can't see anything! Am I-" Izumi cried out, tears welling up in his eyes. Sadly, he was cut short by another girl.

"Shut up! that's what happens when you sleep in the open out here." The girl cut him off and smacked him on the nose with something metal. "You did this to yourself." She said as she grabbed his collar and dragged him somewhere off the road.

"Thank you, young lady." The man paused for a second, shot her a hateful glare and spoke in a more callous tone than before. "My my, you are that thief girl, are you not?"

"Tch, name is Felt yah old geezer. Now get on your way and stop bothering me, it's too late for this crap." She almost sounded about as angry as the old prick. Somewhere in that rude, cold voice of hers, there was a sense of passion. Izumi caught her tone but brushed it aside as he was finally able to make out some detail in the world around him. "And you, try not to piss this pissy old man off. He's got a temper, lady."

"This girl saves me and then she curses everyone around us? What's with this brat!" Izumi went on in his own delusions. Still trying to clear his vision up, Izumi started blinking rapidly and trying to move his arms as well. They worked! his arm lifted to rub his eyes but Felt, who still had him by the collar, slapped it down.

"Where do you think you're reaching?"

"My eyes, Miss Felt." His politeness was lost on her.

"Tch, you're in position to be sarcastic with me. Be quiet and let me help you not get crushed by a senile old man with a feisty ground dragon. No touching!" She slapped Izumi's hand again when he tried to rub his eyes once more.

"Ow, dammit Felt! I can barely see, everything is super blurry can you please let me rub my eyes!" He tried again but she slapped him down once more. "Hey, that's starting to bruise little brat!" She ignored him. . .

"So, what'll it be?" She asked the man.

"Whatever, I can't be bothered to punish the poor. Life has already placed you where you belong. Knowing that is punishment enough." He mocked her with a disdainful look as he flipped his crimson coat. "I'll be leaving, wouldn't want to get this coat dirty. Red dye is hard to come by these days."

"Can this guy just get lost already! I can't stand not being able to see-"

"Get up." The same voice that called to him on the sidewalk returned. "Get up, get up now."

"I can't-" Snap* A rush of energy flooded Izumi's body causing him to flinch all over. His random reaction caused Felt to drop him in confusion but Izumi didn't care, he could move! Arguably more importantly, the world was clear again! "Yes! I'm back to normal-pwuh."

"Jeez, all you've done is yell since I got here. Shut it!" Felt kicked Izumi in the stomach and popped him in the head all while keeping her gaze fixed on the rich geezer. "Now, since you've shut your mouth for a second. Go over to that hut and siddown!"

"I-gah." Felt shot him a glare, silencing him instantly. "Damn, this girl is like 12 and she's telling me what to do! I can't stand for this! I'll defy-no I'm not, screw that. She hits hard, jeez that hurt like fire." He walked over to the hut slowly, thinking about how what he was going to say in his defense. Then and only then did it occur to him that- "Wait, where on God's green Earth am I?!" His eyes darted around the brown road. "None of these people are Japanese. And why does everyone have colorful hair!? What is going on! Did I get kidnapped by some private school kids with insecurities about their height?" Insecurities, yeah, Izumi started to develop one of those lovely conditions when he realized the only person shorter than him was the blonde loli that had berated him like a dog not even minute ago.

"Wait, hold on, I've seen this before. No. Friggin. Way! Am I an overpowered isekai protagonist with no personality at all! Hell-"

"I told you to shut up dammit! Be quiet!" Felt ordered. Her voice dropped to a more, reasonable tone. "I'm trying to help you, dummy." She said in an energized whisper. "Anyway! Move it! These. . .people. . .need to get through there, dude.

"Exactly what I was thinking! Have a somewhat manageable day, Miss Felt." He made sure to push the 'Miss Felt' as mockingly as possible.

". . ."

The older man commanded his ground dragon to move ahead and so it did. He gave Felt a questionable, lecherous grin as he rounded the corner.

"Nasty old man, weirdo." Complained Felt.

"What the-" Caught off by the man's glare, Izumi moves to ask Felt a question but she cuts him off once again!

"Hey! Now I can finally deal with you! Why were you sleeping in front of my house and what is up with that burn mark on your forehead?"

"Burn mark on my where? What do you mean?" He looked up, and lost it. "What the fuck?! Why is my hair pink!? What did you people do to me!" Izumi got up and leapt right at Felt, grabbing her with a rather unamused expression splattered on his crazy looking face. "Well! Why is my hair pink now?" He got right up to her face and--big mistake.

Grinding metal sang out from behind Felt's back quickly followed by--Thwack*--and then "Gyaahow!! That hurt!" He dropped to the ground grabbing his head in what he expected to be incredible, unfathomable agony but was only greeted with a slight sting.

"I told you not to touch me. Now, what do you mean by 'what did you people do to me!'? The commotion you caused woke me up and now I'm being blamed for your hair being the way it's always been? Tough luck out here, huh?"

"Okay, now you're just mocking me."

"That's right, I am mocking you. I'm also not happy with your inability to see!" Felt said this pretty angrily. I wouldn't mess with her. . .

"What? I'm the one who has a weird ass hair color! Why do I look like a Sharpie?" He asked with even more displeasure than Felt.

"The hell I know! You're the one who took a nap in front of my house and almost got your brains splattered all over the road because of it!" This was going nowhere and if it was somehow going somewhere, it probably ended with Izumi getting stabbed. Felt, knowing this, decided to calm down a bit and bring a well placed slap across Izumi's face.

Clap*

". . ."

"What, what's that dumb look for?" Felt asked.

"Uhhh, you're not very strong, are you?" Izumi's voice was slightly muffled by Felt's hand that had been stopped like a fly hitting the window. "That was. . .how do I say this without being rude?"

"You're gonna seriously get on my nerves." Felt removed her hand and pointed at Izumi with her blade. "Now, answer me. Why did you pick my place to crash in front of? What's the deal with you? Most people around here wouldn't have the balls to speak to me and you're out here smarting off? You a knight or somethin'?"

"Huh? A knight? Do you really think a knight would be taking a nap in front a poor lolis shack in a track suit?"

"What? That's what you call that stupid looking get up? Are you some sort of hunter? you aren't here to-"

"Stop! No, I'm not a hunter and I already know you're jumping to murder conclusions." He turned away, probably trying to show trust and vulnerability to Felt. "One, I love animals and probably couldn't bring myself to kill one. Two, Nah, I don't even know where I am. I kinda just woke up here and had this lady talk to-" Izumi paused, staring blankly at Felt's little hut. "-wait, where am I? What city is this?"

"Traveler I assume? This is Lugnica's capital."

"Lugni-what now? What is Lugnicma?" Good job, dumbass.

"Lugnica. It's a country. How have you never heard of Lugnica before?" before she continued asking what seemed like obvious questions for her and stupid questions to him. Felt looked him over haphazardly without really paying any attention to the strange tattoo on his hand. "Are you even armed? It's evening in the slums and you have no weapons? You're asking for it at this point."

"What is this lolita talking about? Why would I be armed?" He muttered under his breathe.

"Hey, I can't hear you. Speak up." She ordered.

"Sorry, uhhh, hmmmm, where am I? Exactly, like relative to the middle of the city or, hmm, the information center? like a guild?"

"Guild? Information center? I don't know where the library is."

"Hmm, damn I guess this world doesn't use guilds for adventuring. Maybe the war in this world recently ended and I was called here to pick up the pieces? Am I gonna rule a country?!" His imagination swept Izumi away for a second but Felt's impatience began to show.

"Listen, 'guy', you still haven't fully answered my question. Why did you choose my place to take a nap? This is totally out of the way of the main road into the slums."

"Oh, I was teleported here. Think I can crash with you for the night?"