The final student was Yasu Tomohiro. He placed his shaky hand on the crystal, took a deep breath, and swallowed. Watching him, though, I could see a quiet confidence hidden beneath the anxiety. It was like Yasu knew that his fate was in the orb’s hands, and accepting that gave him a kind of calm.
The hooded figures recoiled in shock.
“It…it can’t be!”
The orb was ingulfed in jet black, sending billowing dark smoke up into the rafters.
“Goddess! H-he might be…”
“It appears so. It has been a long time since I’ve seen the crystal react this way…not since the Hero of Darkness upset it all those years ago.”
Yasu’s mouth curled into a smile, which widened into a smirk. Then he let out a peal of laughter.
“I knew it… It was about time,” Yasu said. A sudden change had come over him—in an instant, the nervous Yasu I’d known had disappeared. Boldly, he turned to the Goddess.
“Tell me my rank, Goddess!”
“You are an A-Class hero,” she answered.
“Hmph. Same as Oyamada. I figured that sinister black smoke would make it at least an S, but still…”
Oyamada drew himself up indignantly, and turned on Yasu.
“What was that, Yasu?! You wanna try again, but show some respect this time? You get some half-decent results and you’re a big man all of a sudden?!”
For a moment, Yasu drew back—maybe out of habit. But he recovered quickly and returned a rebellious smile.
“We’re on the same level, you and I.”
“Huh?!”
Now it was Yasu’s turn. He puffed out his chest and closed in on Oyamada.
“We’re both A-Class heroes, huh? Equals. So why not get along?” He grinned rebelliously, his voice mocking. “How about it, Oyamada~?”
“You think you’re better than me?! I’ll kill you, Yasu! I’ll—!”
In an instant, the Goddess was between them, magic circles appearing from her hands again.
It’s almost like she’s holding them at gunpoint…
“You’re both fine A-Class heroes, so spare me the rivalry. I’ll allow minor disagreements, but I absolutely won’t permit heroes to fight one another. Is that clear?”
The Goddess smiled.
“All of our A-Class heroes are valuable resources to me, after all.”
Oyamada was frozen. Yasu took a step back. My spine was tingling just watching them.
Was she really about to kill them both?
I know I’m intimidated by her, but it’s more than that… This must be how it feels to come face to face with a predator. I’m frozen. I don’t even want to run.
“Then that’s settled, isn’t it? Now, let me show you how to use your powers.”
“Status Open!”
Those words echoed in all directions, overlapping and mingling in the air.
Saying that phrase made patterns appear across the palm of your hand, and a holographic-looking display appear over it.
“I get it! This is how we check our skills, right? It’s just like a game!”
“Here comes the isekai stat display trope!”
“What’s this thing? Is it the skill tree?”
“None of this looks real, though, does it? Like, it’d fit in perfectly in a VRMMO!”
The boys were chatting excitedly as they poked at their new displays.
“Hey, nerds—we don’t know much about games, so you’d better teach us, got it?”
“It works kinda like a smartphone… We can do this, right?”
“It totally looks like a social network game, right? Do my log-in bonuses from my games back home carry over?”
“At least there’s no beauty trait or anything!”
“What’s a skill?”
“They’re, like, special moves, I think?”
“Whoa, like a one-hit kill? That’s totally psycho!”
“Oh, I get it! Get rid of the ‘S’ and you’ve got ‘K-I-L-L’! That’s so scary!”
A few minutes ago, those same girls had been crying over the wolf incident. Some of them had even thrown up.
Back on their feet already, huh? That was fast.
“I have created an efficient stat system that should be easy for you to adjust to. As Goddess, I can easily make this sort of alteration to suit your needs and translate your new abilities into something you understand.”
That explained why everything seemed so much like a video game—everyone in class had at least some experience with that kind of thing. The stat display even had a smartphone-style home screen.
I could get used to this stuff. I guess a Goddess can do pretty much anything.
“Th-this is…Dragonic Buster?!” a hooded figure exclaimed, looking over Kirihara’s shoulder in amazement. “Incredible! Kirihara-dono can already use one of his skills! And these stats…is this really a level 1 ability?!”
“So, uh…you’re saying I’m good?” Kirihara responded.
“Heroes who can use their skills immediately from level 1 are rare—I can only remember a few from previous summonings!”
“Huh. Doesn’t sound like that big a deal, to be honest.”
His gaggle of girls turned to him again in worship and longing.
“Takuto’s so awesome…”
“Even his personality’s hot! Oh, Kirihara-kun…!”
“He’s so humble!”
“Even in another world, we can count on him!”
“I want to be with you! Marry me!”
The next outburst from the hooded figures came from near Sogou.
“S-Sogou-dono’s skill tree! I’ve never seen just one branch like this before! This is a Specialist tree!”
“Specialist…?” replied Sogou.
Sogou didn’t seem to know much about games—she was still struggling with the vocabulary.
Well, it’s not like I know what a Specialist tree is either. It sounds impressive, though.
“Oyamada-dono and Yasu-dono are true A-Class heroes, too! Their stats are far beyond those of the normal ranks, even at level 1! And Oyamada-dono has +500 Vitality!” the Goddess chimed in. She segued right into an explanation of more statistics.
Apparently, the stats displayed weren’t the only things that defined how good we were. We had base stats and stat modifiers, but only the modifiers were visible on our stat screens. Our base stat was from before we were summoned—a representation of our strength back on Earth. Add the stat modifier to the base stat, and that’s your current stat in that category.
Does that mean we could go down to zero HP and still survive because of our hidden base stat? Hmm…
The stat explanation led into Q&A Corner with the Goddess, and that was when the discussion really changed. There were no more questions about the summoning we’d just experienced. Instead, everyone was focused on their own stats and learning more about this new world.
Well, everyone strong was stepping up to learn more. Others had lost the will to go on, and gathered together in the corner of the room, fading into the background.
Collapsing into despair. Wallowing in sadness. Unable to accept reality.
There were many ways to find yourself in that corner…
“I can’t get a good look!” another hooded figure complained. I glanced over to see the complainer hovering near the Takao sisters.
“Wh-what’s with these two? It’s like…they exude some strange presence…”
“They’re beautiful, too—almost as beautiful as Sogou-dono! I daresay they may be as heavenly as the renowned Seras Ashrain!”
“Be careful not to underestimate them—they are heroes ranked S-Class and A-Class!”
It seemed that even the people of this world were repelled by the unique aura the Takao sisters brought with them everywhere. The hooded figures were trying to catch glimpses of their stats from several steps away.
The Takao sisters are even trouble for these guys, eh?
The older sister calmly observed her pursuers.
“If it can bring us a way to return to our world, then learning to use this strange stat system to our advantage should be our immediate goal, Itsuki. Once we are allowed to wander freely, we will gather more information.”
“I’m a dummy, so I’ll just follow you, Aneki,” Itsuki replied.
“Knowing your own ignorance is the first step to enlightenment, Itsuki.”
“Heh heh, can’t help that I was brawn this way”
“That was very amusing, Itsuki.”
“A-amusing… You’re always so serious, Aneki…”
“I’m a serious person, I suppose.”
Are they fazed at all by what happened…? I’ve gotta learn to be more like them.
“Status open!”
Let’s take a look… My stats are…
“Huh?”
Too-ka Mimori
Level 1
HP: +3 MP: +33
Attack: +3 Defense: +3 Vitality: +3
Speed: +3 Intelligence: +3
Title: E-Class Hero
My stats look…really low.
She said that Oyamada has +500 vitality, right? My MP’s the only one higher than three…
E-Class Hero…if that’s alphabetical, I must be pretty far down the list.
My heart sank.
They even misspelled my name—it’s Touka, with a “U.” And the weird dash makes it look like I’m a foreigner…maybe it’s tied to the pronunciation over here? But seriously, even as a chosen hero in another world, they can’t be bothered to get my name right. I’m a background character through and through.
Where’s the skill tree, anyway?
I stared, as if something would appear if I looked longer.
“There isn’t one,” I sighed.
I tried flicking down like everybody else, but nothing showed up—just an empty space. There was only the root at the bottom, a square labeled “Unique Skills.” Everyone else had a simple branching diagram extending upward, laying out all their skills, but mine was just a stump.
“There’s not even a sprout on mine, huh.”
“Oh, my!” the Goddess exclaimed.
“Wha—?!”
I suddenly noticed her behind me, leaning over my shoulder to see the stat screen in my hand.
“Excuse me, but…what’s wrong with my stats?” I asked.
No answer. She returned silently to the others and began answering their questions again.
“Ignored, huh?”
We grown-ups have a right to reject your questions. You got that?
Those were words of wisdom from my old teacher, T***gawa-sensei. It seemed like they applied here, too.
“Even here, I’m just a background character.”
Who cares? E-Class seems pretty low, but I’m still a hero, right? I’m sure there’s a place for me here, somewhere. I’ll just live in the background of this world, like an NPC or something. I’ll lie low and get by, just like I always have.
I sat cross-legged on the ground in thought, idly flicking through my stat panels.