Arc 1 Chapter 1: False Hope

Kyosuke was in awe, everywhere he went was like walking around in a fantasy game.

The world resembled a replica of an anime Kyosuke has seen. His eyes gazed upon the crowd of diverse species, noticing their unique shapes and sizing. Kyosuke thought he knew diversity by originating from America... that was until he landed in this realm. This was a whole different level!

Lizards, ~cat people~, elves, and every race you could imagine walking side by side on the streets, he couldn’t believe his eyes.

The excited Kyosuke made his way through the kingdom's streets completely in awe at its immaculate size. It seemed as if the kingdom's contents were adapted to fit the needs of its people. Small doors for the cat-human hybrid, and large doors for the huge lizard.

Kyosuke couldn't help but notice the couples pacing the streets alongside their children. He pondered to himself, demi-humans seem to be a big thing here. Kyosuke couldn't sense any hostility in the ci-

-Wait if there are demi-humans and humans walking side by side does that mean-

Racing off to find a hybrid couple, dust being kicked up behind him as if he was running faster than actually was.

Kyosuke hid in a bush like a predator looking for its prey, except it was a teenager looking for a sign that cat people and humans could indeed get “together.”

“This is purrfect!”

Everyone in the vicinity went quiet, they stopped to stare at the already red-faced boy. He made a fool of himself within an hour of being sent to this world; that being said he still has yet to ask himself how he got here.

He remembers the circumstances that led him to enter this world, but he doesn’t remember dying, did he even die? Aren’t you supposed to be sent to a beautiful goddess if you die young? He didn’t know anything about this world or how he got here.

Kyosuke wiped the sweat and dirt off his forehead after getting out of the bush, he knew he had to find his way around. He didn’t want to sleep outside since he was unfamiliar with his new surroundings. He spoke to himself quietly, the sun beaming into his eyes which caused them to sparkle.

“I guess I should find a way to get money, I doubt they use the currency of my original world though. I haven’t even looked at any of the signs yet, do they even have the same writing system as we do?”

The sun was still high in the sky, he must have come early in the morning. He doesn’t remember since he spent his first few hours here in a bar passed out. Kyosuke was lucky they didn’t call the guards on him, going to jail wasn’t on his agenda.

The day was still going strong and Kyosuke knew he needed to get some money fast, so he did the first thing anyone teen would do, look for a job. He went around in bars, cafes, and even fancy restaurants pleasantly surprised at how modern some of the shops were.

Gazing outside, his eyes adjusted to the colorful palette of the landscape. When you don’t have as much pollution as in the real world, you seem to admire the true beauty of the world you stand-in. Kyosuke felt a distinct feel for the colors like they were familiar, but not at all the same.

Kyosuke kept making his way down the streets looking for work, no one wanted to hire him, was it his clothes? Maybe it was his eyes and hair that made him look like the antagonist of some kid’s book.

He kept checking behind him now and then as he was being followed, he didn’t want to speak up about it, but the person had gotten closer since the start. Kyosuke recognized the figure to be a guard and knew he needed to run.

Making a sprint for it, Kyosuke hoped to outrun the guard, but like a lightning bolt hitting the ground in an instant, he was caught. The guard could not have caught up with him that fast, it wasn’t possible.

“I’ve never seen you around, do you have a permit to be in this kingdom?”

The guard had nothing special about him unless you count his breath, which smelled like alcohol, and not the good kind either.

Kyosuke, attempting to lie his way out of this nonchalantly, spoke with a playful tone-

“Yeah, of course I do. I've just left it in my other jacket!"

He shouldn’t have said that, it didn’t help that his clothes were already so different from everyone else, now he’s lying straight to the face of a guard. He knew he’d be caught, there’s no way he’s talking his way out of this one.

With that, he was placed into cuffs, and into a carriage he went. This isn’t the way he wanted his first fantasy carriage ride to go, but what was he gonna do about it? With that said, he was taken from the city streets like a dog captured by animal control.

After being in the carriage for what felt like an eternity, Kyosuke finally stepped out onto the cold gray floor. He didn’t exactly know where he was. While the outside was colorful and light, the inside of this almost perfect cubed room was dark, gloomy, and the only lights he had were these weirdly blue shaded lanterns, which made it hard for him to see.

Kyosuke could see a long line of inmates who were making their way up to an old man who was giving out these small pieces of paper.

Making his way up the line of inmates (still in handcuffs) he listened in on conversations about why people are here. Some spoke about killing and some about illegal drug trades.

-Great glad to know there’s still an epidemic of drugs here too.

It seemed as if this world also had some sort of racial profiling, most of these people seemed to be lizards, I guess because of their looks they’re watched more than any race, the rest of races there were a mixture of human, elves, and a small population of those weird cat people.

Kyosuke was taken up to an old man probably in his late 50’s, his boredom with life was evident. It made him look older than he led Kyosuke to believe, however; his hair told Kyosuke his real age. He was graying but he still had signs of color in his hair to show him being quite younger than his appearance. The old man asked a series of basic questions.

“What are those weird clothes you have on?”

“It’s a track jacket, it’s meant for running out in the cold. The pants are just some white track pants that I thought looked really cool!”

He was never very good at picking out his own clothes, tracksuits were always his go-to clothing item, they were easy to put on and comfortable to wear.

The old man didn’t ask Kyosuke directly about his height, hair color, or anything that he deemed obvious.

“It seems you’re about 180 cm tall, blonde hair, and sharp evil-looking eyes. You certainly stand out from everyone here, do you have a permit?”

Kyosuke tried using the same line he used on the guard, it didn’t work on this old man either.

The old man got up and started laughing, he called Kyosuke an idiot for thinking he could come into the kingdom without a permit. He got right up in his face, spit flying into Kyosuke’s face. He grabbed a stamp and pressed down on Kyosuke’s prison ticket.

judigal musional.

This writing was nothing like the English writing system, these words meant nothing to Kyosuke and only further confused him.

“Dammit old man, what do these words mean?”

“You wear such strange clothing and you're dumb. Those letters mean you'll be executed in a week dumbass!”

The old man pushed the knife further into Kyosuke's mental stomach, he buried him with insults and slander, calling him inconsolably stupid and strange. This caused Kyosuke to get angry, he had always had a short temper, furthering his excuse to do what he was about to do.

Filled with rage, Kyosuke rushed over to the old man before being restrained by the guards. He could see the evil smile on the old man's face, each wrinkle on his face fueled Kyosuke with more rage.

“Let me go goddammit, I didn’t do anything!”

Darkness again filled the air around Kyosuke, he was taken to another unknown location without his consent and there was nothing he could do about it. Kyosuke could feel himself getting to the point of laughter.