Somewhere in the vast infinite cosmos, as a pale blue marble, filled with a strange species, known as humans, orbit it’s sun. Within the land masses of the planet sits an island filled, with a hundred million people, an island that had been given the moniker of the “Land of the Rising Sun”. It is here we find a boy right on the cusp of adulthood, also known as a teenager, making his way home. His name was Sato Ren, and his day was not a good one.

From that very morning, when his alarm failed to go off, to the unfortunate fact that there was no quick food in the cupboards. Not even a simple piece of toast. Just as he was resolving himself to go hungry until lunch, the worst part of his morning occurred, his mother returned, and she was not happy, seeing her darling baby boy was late for school. Now at this point Ren could possibly have made it to his class on time, if he had run, but his mother, began to lay into him about being lazy, and that he would need to work harder to make sure nothing like this would happen, even mentioning that she was disappointed that her son was lazy . As she prattled on, Ren just stood there taking in the chastisement, wanting to mention he might make it on time, but thought better of it knowing it would only make her lecture worse. After, an almost impressive ten minutes, she finally ran out of steam before looking her son up and down, “GO, your going to be late.”

Ren just gawked at his mother, biting his tongue before heading out, with a burning frustration, as grumbled his way to school.

Now while that was not a particularly good morning, the day could have gotten better for Ren. Maybe being a little late, to his first class, but overall just a bad morning. No, you see a bad day could be a single large bad event, ruining the rest, or a multitude of small things adding up throughout the day. Unfortunately, for Ren, this was a little of both, and it was when he realized he had forgotten his umbrella, that he knew it was not going to get any better. Especially when the sky opened drenching him quite thoroughly.

When he arrived at his destination he could hear, a squelching sound with every footstep. Even when he switched to his school slippers, his wet feet would squeak ever so slightly.

At around noon, Ren had gotten used to the feeling of being wet, his teacher even being nice enough to give him a towel. In fact, he would have said the day was actually looking up at this point. Then he was absolutely blinded. The boy he would have called his best friend, since elementary school, that morning had started dating the girl he had been in love with for the past year. Ren was in such disbelief that he pulled his friend aside to clear up the matter, desperately hoping it was some kind of misunderstanding.

He had sneered at Ren, looking down his nose in distaste, “You snooze, you lose.” It was the vindictive gleam in his former best friend's eye that Ren knew their friendship was truly over. Ren even wondered if they had ever really been friends at all, as he began to question all his relationships. Thus turning the entire day from one that would be forgotten in a matter of days, to one that would haunt him for years to come. Truly, an awful day.

Ren just wanted the day to end, counting down the seconds, constantly watching the clock as it appeared to tick slower, with every tock. He ignored everyone, as his other friends came to talk to him. He was in no mood to discuss his former friend’s betrayal, pushing them all away, and ignoring them. He knew he was being an ass, but didn’t care. He didn’t want to be here anymore, he just wanted to be anywhere else. Then both too soon and too late the school day ended.

Ren changed back into his soaked shoes and made the long walk back home. Throughout his journey home he found his mind wandering to some of his favorite fantasy novels, trying to not think about the day. He began to wonder what it would be like to be a true protagonist. Taken to another world, to defeat a demon king or one where he would rescue fair maidens from vile villains.

He let out a self-deprecating chuckle at the thought, knowing nothing like that could ever come to pass. Magic wasn’t real, and it didn’t matter how remarkably similar his day had been to the opening of those tales. He wouldn’t just be whisked away to a magical world, and dwelling on the idea would not help him, but it was something to distract his mind from the terrible day.

It was about that time that out of the corner of his eye, Ren noticed something rather odd. A little girl, playing with a rather vibrant blue and green ball. He blinked in shock, knowing just how many stories started in this exact way. He let out a chuckle, as it appeared that his imagination had drawn the scene for him. He watched the little girl thinking, If this were the beginning of an isekai story she would lose control of the ball and follow it into the street. As if on queue, the child tossed her ball high into the air where it landed oddly, causing it to bounce directly towards the street, which the girl promptly ran after, only focusing on the ball.

All of his instincts screamed at him to save the little girl from the oncoming traffic, except for one very important factor that stopped him, there was no traffic at all. He had only taken a single step towards the girl before realizing this and stopped and shook his head feeling like an idiot. The girl on the other hand appeared to be confused when she reached her ball looking left and right like she was waiting for something, and they were late. Ren, thought it was his imagination playing tricks on him when he saw this. Even chuckling to himself at the idea, Maybe she’s waiting for the truck too.

The entire cliched scenario fascinated Ren, as he never expected to see a near-exact recreation of a classic isekai trope. It was oddly surreal to him, seeing it all play out. He was still contemplating the entire scene when a loud air horn sounded from nowhere. Causing the child to drop her ball, and cry, in the middle of the street. She didn’t even notice the bright pair of headlights appear almost if by magic right behind her.

By the time ren registered what he was seeing, he was already moving towards the girl, moving faster than he ever thought possible, like the truck itself was pulling him in. Just as the girl was to be hit Ren reached her, and shoved her to safety. He had just enough time to notice that there was no fear or even tears. There was only, what he thought was, relief. With no time to dwell, Ren only had time for a single thought. Oh, hey it's Truck-Kun.

——

Sitting just a bit down the from an intersection where a boy had been struck by a moving vehicle, ending any dreams he may have had, or perhaps putting an end to a truly atrocious day. Sits the aforementioned semi-truck, sitting idly on the side of the street, engine rumbling and seemingly completely ignored by the people around them. Now it may have been the fact that’s no one actually witnessed the boy’s actions, thus no one was yet running up to the massive vehicle, demanding explanations. It could have also been that there was no evidence of blood or damage where the boy was hit, in-fact if one were to look at the spot the boy had been they would actually find absolutely nothing. Thus, the people just passed by the truck in silence only, remarking on the size of the vehicle, as semi-trucks like this were fairly rare on their island, and more associated with the gaijin or foreigners.

Strangely it was actually the little girl, standing looking up at the truck that people seemed to be drawn to, curious as to why she seemed so annoyed at the truck, more specifically the passenger door. She stood there with her little arms crossed, and her foot tapping, waiting. With a click, the door opened, and the girl climbed into the truck.

Inside the cabin was a rather ordinary interior, containing a basic set of seats, dashboard, and even a set of bunks in the back, the man having recently expanded the living area, it was all rather tidy. Except for the front area, while clean, just a bit jumbled with personal knickknacks, and paperwork, loosely filed. Exactly, what you would expect from a professional, and the man behind the wheel was, if nothing else, a professional.

Clambering into her spot, the little girl grabbed her seatbelt and properly fastened it across her body. Despite her size, the belt seemed to magically adjust to fit.

“You were late, Del.” A phrase, spoken, with all the seriousness, and annoyance a small child could muster.

It would have been cute if it wasn’t directed at Del himself. He knew he had almost missed their carefully orchestrated plan, but seeing as he did make it, Del felt compelled to defend himself, though half-heartedly. “We got him didn’t we, Ge?”

Rolling her eyes, the little girl Ge let out a sigh, “At least he passed the test.”

Del perked up at the change of subject, “Yeah, gonna be a Hero, that one.”

“Why were you late?” Ge asked, making Del look away with his face slightly red.

He was rather embarrassed, by the reason. So, in the hopes she would allow the issue to drop, he stared straight ahead without responding.

Noticing this, she narrowed her little eyes, “You got lost again, didn't you?”

Del flinched. She had hit the nail right on the head. He let out a long sigh and explained, “Look. These Japanese streets are fucking weird.”

Ge rolled her eyes and offered a perfectible reasonable solution. “Just use a GPS.”

It was Del’s turn to roll his eyes, “I did, but driving through gates causes the damn thing to lose my position. It's annoying since it’s constantly recalculating.”

“Let's just deliver the Hero.” She huffed.

“Don't get your britches twisted, we're going.” The engine went from a growling idle to an intimidating roar, as it began to move, through a gate that both never existed, and had always been. Onto a highway between worlds. With two words plastered along the sides and back of the truck, advertising their very particular service: “Hero Delivery”