“Owowow…”
It had happened so suddenly that there was no chance to prepare, and the price for not being ready was the pain he was feeling in his rear end. Suimei could only leak out his anguish with a pained complaint.
He had been caught completely off guard. Even though he’d had a premonition that something would happen beforehand, there was just no predicting how suddenly. And without any warning, he hadn’t even been able to make a proper landing. Worse yet, the floor was hard. It felt like stone pavement or tiling. Suimei had fallen square on his bottom, and his tailbone was screaming in pain.
Suimei wondered briefly what had just happened. But there was no need to think back on it too seriously; it had only happened moments ago. While walking home from school with two of his friends, a magickal teleportation circle had suddenly appeared on the roadside and forcefully sucked them in. Then, after being teleported, he was rudely deposited on the floor. That was one of the perks of sudden teleportation he could do without.
…This is definitely a huge blunder…
Living in the concrete jungle of the modern world, Suimei had been walking down the secret path of magicka. Though he’d only been at it for a modest twelve years, he’d achieved a certain level of skill and was proud of that. Yet even he, a savvy modern magician, had been caught in someone else’s magicka so easily.
He had sensed it—seen it right in front of his own eyes, even—but was unable to respond appropriately in time. He’d simply stood there blankly in the single second it had taken for the spell to ensnare him. What could he call such a failure other than a blunder? He was ashamed and disappointed.
And that only made things worse. Humiliation and pain compounded within him, manifesting as tears in the corners of his eyes. Suimei then looked to either side of him for the friends he’d been with just a moment ago.
“Owowow…”
Beside Suimei, who was brushing off his butt, was his friend Shana Reiji, who appeared to be dealing with the same pain Suimei was going through. Reiji had dyed brown hair with every strand neatly styled into place, as well as a sweet countenance and slender figure that could render women weak in the knees. Spotting him, Suimei called out to him.
“Hey, Reiji, you okay?”
“Yeah… Somehow. How about you, Suimei?”
“My butt hurts. A lot. I think it’s broken clean in two…”
“Hahaha, you too— Wait, Suimei, are you the only other one here?!”
Reiji laughed brightly at Suimei’s foolish joke, but only for a short moment. He then immediately realized the absence of the third person who had been walking with them, their friend Anou Mizuki, and raised a panicked voice.
Briefly looking around, it certainly seemed she was missing. She had been with them just moments ago, but was now nowhere to be found. The cylindrical room was enclosed by stone walls and was atmospherically lit by old-fashioned candlesticks. All they could see was a sturdy-looking door across from them, and a pattern drawn on the stone floor beneath their feet—a teleportation circle.
“Y-Yeah… Mizuki isn’t here, huh?”
A bit confused himself, Suimei could only mutter in response to his increasingly anxious friend. Reiji’s expression grew dark as the questions continued to mount in his mind.
“What happened…? And where is this…?”
“Yeah, I don’t know where this is either. But it seems that someone wanted us here, however weird and rude it might have been. That much… I do kinda understand.”
“…Could it be because of this?”
Following Reiji’s dubious gaze, Suimei looked down at the floor where the large magicka circle was and inspected it once more. Inside the large circle, another circle about a quarter of its size was drawn at its edge. The geometric shapes drawn within didn’t conform with the traditional four elements, nor did they conform with the five elements of the Chinese philosophy of wu xing. Words were scribed around the rim of the circle in a language that Suimei had never seen before. He could tell that the circle was similar to what was used with spirit communication and summoning magicka, but it would have to be his secret.
After all, Reiji was a completely normal boy. Suimei and Reiji had known each other since middle school, but Suimei had never introduced him to the mysteries of magicka that existed in their world, much less revealed the fact that he himself was actually a magician. He was oblivious to such things, meaning everything he could guess about the circle beneath them came from manga and anime subculture—the world of fiction.
“Probably, right?”
“Really…?”
Reiji looked dumbfounded in response to Suimei’s barefaced acknowledgment of such a possibility. Granted, the situation certainly seemed to warrant that level of disbelief. Even Suimei’s expression was tinged with a certain sense of incredulity.
“Hey, Suimei, doesn’t this situation… How do I put it…? Doesn’t it seem awfully familiar?”
“Yup. The light novel Mizuki lent me the other day definitely went something like this.”
“Thought so. This feels like the kind of setup where you’re suddenly summoned to another world and asked to defeat a Demon Lord. Or something like that.”
“Nope, not doing it. I’m not even considering that a joke right now.”
Suimei grimaced like his stomach was in pain. Reiji’s expression was riddled with complex emotions, but he managed a somewhat dry laugh.
“Hahaha… But you know, even though I know it’s impossible, I dunno… I kinda feel like that’s what’s going on.”
“Reiji, are you being serious right now?”
“Mm.”
“Hey, don’t just nod and ‘mm’ me…”
Exasperated by Reiji’s simple nod and deduction, Suimei averted his gaze for a moment and began to use magicka to analyze their surroundings without letting Reiji catch on. As things stood, he wasn’t fully willing to buy in to such a fantastical straight-out-of-a-book scenario, but if they truly were in another world, something about the place should be different enough for him to tell.
Though it was impromptu, Suimei prepared his spell and started processing the information it gathered for him. Gravity here was normal, and there was no major difference in the composition of the air. It was insignificant enough to think that they’d just been transported to a different locale. However…
The mana is thick here… Is it because of this room?
Mana, otherwise known as aetheric, was the source of mystical power that existed naturally in the atmosphere, and it was particularly dense here. Such density was comparable to that found right on top of ley lines in the earth or within holy temples and circles.
However, that alone wasn’t enough to convince Suimei that this was a different world, not to mention that it was an absurd idea. It was more likely someone selected a place with dense mana so that they could activate this magicka circle.
But more importantly, Reiji should have no techniques to observe and no way to perceive the irregularity in mana. If he felt that something was strange, it was likely something else.
“What makes you say that, Reiji?”
“Just one way or another, I feel like I’ve become really strong.”
“Wha…? Aaah, is it that? Did your brain blow a fuse, my dear Reiji-san?”
“Listen, it’s not like I’m telling you I’m receiving radio waves or something. Just watch.”
With those words, Reiji reached out of the circle and lightly struck the floor. There was a smashing sound disproportionate to the strength of the gentle blow, and the stone floor shattered to pieces so violently that it sent debris flying.
“Th-That kind of idiotic…”