Loner Rehabilitation Program (Chps 4/?)

Summary :



On planet Earth, Adrian lived a happy life with his loving family. However, just by accidentally falling into a small pond of rainwater, he was transported to another world (isekai basically), out of pure mistake.



Now on planet Soluvia, Adrian has to learn how to survive with his summoned companion, Ash, who seemed to have his memories sealed inside a crystal. With many adventures awaiting ahead, Adrian feels as if his head will explode just from taking care of Ash, so he is rather not fond of traveling into the unknown.



However, upon hearing that the prophesized hero had been summoned, Adrian found a goal to keep his sanity from dying.



If he helps the hero, there might be a way to return back home. Although there is nothing to confirm this, just the hope that he could go meet his family again pushed out the thought of more logical thinking.



"Ash, let's work even harder to get stronger. We must help the hero with his mission!"



"...Huh? Why is his mission more important than living a peaceful life here? I'm really not up for this...."



"...STOP BEING SO DAMN LAZY! I'm already fed up with taking care of you, so man up and just help me for once in your life!"



"...."









Chapter 0 : The Happy Loner (Prologue)





“Adrian! It’s time to wake up!”



Seeing her son still sleeping peacefully, Mrs. Walker looked around the room and carefully grabbed something from the dirty pile of clothes. With a smiling face, she threw the stinky sock as she would throw a football straight to her son’s face.



Adrian who was having a nice dream suddenly awoke to the slap of a pungent smell. “PFFT- EW! WHAT THE?!”



“It’s time to get up and have some breakfa-”



She could not finish talking as her face was slapped with the very same sock she had thrown.



After hitting a bullseye with his masterful sock throwing skills, Adrian wiped his hands onto his dirty shirt and sprinted past the wronged mother.



Mrs. Walker felt very wronged indeed. She just wanted to wake up her son. “ADRIAN! GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!”



…



Sitting down at the dining table, Adrian’s father held his cup with a picture of their family printed onto it, and took a sip of coffee. Hearing the commotion upstairs, he continued to sip, unfazed at this regular daily occurrence of screaming and shouting.



“Honey, I think Adrian should get some more discipline, don’t you think?”



Watching his wife drag their son across the floor like some unwanted baggage, he nodded his head and went back to his daily act of coffee sipping.



“...”



After accomplishing her task, Mrs. Walker just simply let the ‘baggage’ drop down to the floor, and sat down at the dining table next to her husband.



“Come on Adrian, stop laying down on the floor and get some breakfast!”



Utterly defeated, Adrian slowly stood up and walked to his seat, rubbing his sore and tired body.



During breakfast, his mom and dad continued to chatter normally, talking about stuff old people would usually talk about.



However, Adrian realized that a certain someone was missing.



“Where’s Lawrence?”



“Ah, your brother left home early a while ago. He said he had something to get before school started. Seriously, why couldn’t you be more like your brother and wake yourself up?”



Tuning out his mother’s rant about his poor morning behaviors, Adrian pondered what his big brother was doing so early in the morning.



However, looking at the time, his inner school nerd wanted to quickly finish eating and prepare for school earlier than he usually did.



His mother always woke him up at around 6:30 AM, leaving him with more than enough time to get ready for school. This made him grumble a lot, but as his parents were strict on keeping him and his older brother’s bedtime at around 10 PM, he eventually got used to it and didn’t complain anymore.



Of course, it was mostly thanks to his mother strictly peeking at them every once in a while that helped strengthen the bedtime rule, as he and his brother were often caught awake past bedtime and got punished.



When he and his brother entered high school, his mother thankfully stopped this habit after being told by her husband that they could take care of themselves, and decided to become a night-shift doctor instead of working during the day.



Still, he and Lawrence were so used to getting caught, that they just couldn’t stop panicking when it was past their bedtime, and went to bed right away. Just imagining the times they were punished for not sleeping gave them nightmares.



Thus, life for the Walker household was very peaceful and silent after 10 PM. Although, the culprit behind this was working, so the situation seemed a bit silly.



Watching her son leave after finishing breakfast, she stopped ranting and looked back to her husband, who was always quietly sipping on his cup of coffee every morning. Seeing the picture once more, she sighed.



“Why is our family not photogenic? No matter how many retakes we had, our pictures keep looking like a family that’s always constipated…”



Hearing this comment, he momentarily choked on some coffee. However, he could not hold in his laughter.



“Pfft, HAHA! That’s what makes our family unique from others.”



“...Is that the reason you look so proud every time you drink from that mug? I don’t even know why you spent so much money to get that picture printed on there. It was pretty much one of our most terrible family pictures.”



“Uh, from your words looking at all of our family photos, I quote, ‘All of these pictures look DAMN terrible! Just looking at it makes me want to throw it into a fire!’”



Seeing his goofy grin, Mrs. Walker smiled and also attacked. “Back at that time, I remember you passing out directly from witnessing our glorious family pictures, further proving how nicer I was with my comment.”



“...Hey, we promised never to speak of that ever again.”



“Pfft, you broke many more promises than I ever have in our entire marriage. I’m just giving you the same treatment.”



“...”



As they talked and reminisced about the time when they were sorting through the photos, the atmosphere between the two became joyful and full of laughter. However, as if remembering something, Mrs. Walker changed the topic, asking in a whisper.



“By the way… is everything ready for tomorrow?”



Mr. Walker pondered for a bit, whispering back after confirming his memory. “Hmm… I think we’ve got everything, but setting up without him noticing will be quite hard. After all, it is his birthday.”



Remembering the past, Mrs. Walker couldn’t help but cover her face with her hands. “...Why is Adrian such a good little detective? He figured out our birthday plans for like the 3rd time last year....”



“Don’t worry, we’ve been planning this for a long time now. Plus, even our whole family is helping out this year!”



“I guess you’re right. With so much support from them, we will truly make this 18th birthday of his a big one!”



Imagining their son’s surprised face, they smiled and laughed once more.



However, they did not know that Adrian heard everything they’ve just said.



After eating, Adrian left to go and prepare for school. However, he had forgotten to fill up his water bottle, and was about to go back and refill it from the kitchen sink.



As he walked back, he heard his parents whispering, making him curious. He sneakily hid behind the wall, and listened to his parents spilling his birthday surprise.



Unlike the years before, Adrian understood this time that he really should just fake being surprised. Ruining their efforts just seemed mean, and the amusement of surprising them instead faded over the years. Thus, he had to make sure to forget whatever he heard just now, and instead drive his attention to other matters.



‘My family and relatives have always been my entire world. I just love them so much. This is the least I could do.’



Smiling, Adrian thought, he will try to wake up by himself in the morning, and do his absolute best every day to make his family proud.



‘After all, what more could I ask for?’



--- 20 minutes later ---



After Adrian was done getting ready, he went to the kitchen and was ready to say his goodbyes..



However, seeing his son all dressed up, his father immediately told him, “Oh by the way, your brother just sent me a text that he’s got a surprise for you. He said that he’s just outside the door.”



Confused, Adrian opened the door and looked out to see his brother with a two-seater bicycle next to him.



“What! Did you buy this?!”



Looking at his younger brother with sparkling eyes, Lawrence smiled and said yes.



“Woah! With this, we won’t have to walk to school anymore!”



“Haha, yep! I’ve been saving some cash from my part-time job and finally had enough to pay for this. I bought it yesterday actually, but I wanted to surprise you before school started.”



Looking at their sons smiling and laughing, Mr. and Mrs. Walker gave each other a secret high-five.



They truly felt that sneaking in money into their son’s savings was worth it. Lawrence may not be as happy if he were to find out this fact though, since he wants independence and earn his own money. However, as the parents knew of his plan to buy that bicycle, they really just wanted them to have it sooner.



Of course, they could have given them a ride in their car, but after thinking about it, they realized that making them walk for about 10 minutes to get to school will get them in more ‘physical’ shape. So the two sons ended up enduring the long and treacherous walk--or so they say--and finally got a bicycle that would both give them a ride to school, and still work out at the same time. After all, when walking to school and back for so many days and months, their stamina and productivity increased from the exercise. This made them very happy and more willing to continue this routine.



“Alright boys, have fun at school! It was raining quite a lot yesterday, so make sure to watch out for the puddles. And, don’t forget we always love you!”



“Mooom. You don’t need to remind us ‘every’ single time.”



“Haha, we love you too!”



Looking at his older brother who can take this cheesy remark with ease, Adrian truly felt that he should stop getting embarrassed over these things.



After saying their goodbyes, he and his brother seated themselves on the bicycle with him at the back, and Lawrence at the front. Together, they pedaled their new bike all the way to school, using their experiences from riding their now old and broken bicycles to the test.



It really was unfortunate their bikes broke when they were young.



Adrian thought, ‘After so many years, will we really be okay riding this?!’



Thankfully, there were only a few mistakes they made on the road, before they finally got the hang of it. Of course, these mistakes were not small, but no one needs to find out they almost crashed into a mailbox. Only the picture of a blurry runaway bike could be seen after all.



--- 10 minutes later ---



After arriving at school, and confirming their skills as a bike rider, Adrian and his brother parked the bicycle and locked it with a chain attaching from the bike to the pole. It was one of the privileges of the school to have a parking lot for bikes. There was even a security camera that constantly watched for any signs of anybody stealing someone else's bike.



At least, they hope that’s what it’s for.



“...Uhm, I think we got to school just a littttle bit early.”



Looking at the school clock that says 7:30 AM, Adrian highly doubted that they arrived only a little bit early.



“...”



“...”



Feeling hopeless, the two brothers had no idea what to do to pass the time.



“...Do you wanna just explore the school for a bit?”



“Uh… sure.”



Walking and looking around, they wandered around the school campus. They saw only a few students and teachers here and there, seemingly enjoying the free period of peace and tranquility.



Seriously, even the girl who looked like she wanted to stab everyone she met looked like a behemoth-turned-nice. Seeing her wave at them with a happy expression, the brothers waved back, holding their breath in a state of shock. Seemingly perplexed at this unknown human being, the two boys continued to gape. However, the girl didn’t seem to mind, as she walked away with a cheery expression.



After they finally registered what just happened, they snapped out of their daze and resumed their normal breathing. Looking at each other in the eye, both were relieved nothing bad happened.



As the girl was the same year as Lawrence, he had to deal with her monstrous aura a year before Adrian did. “...I liked her evil glares better. Seeing her smile just gives me a more creepy feeling than what I’m used to everyday from her.”



“...Facts.”



Still, it took only a while for Adrian to feel the exact same way his older brother felt after being given an evil death glare when he happened to meet the girl.



Unable to deal with more uncomfortable situations in this surreal grace period, both brothers unanimously agreed to just go to their secret spot and avoid further interactions with other human beings.



Now, their so-called ‘secret spot’ could be more appropriately described as ‘the’ most suffocating math class ever, as even the teacher had to be forced by the school to get in there and teach the students. Even so, by the time the bell rings, the teacher sprints out of the classroom way before the students even realized class ended.



Seriously, what kind of abnormal and dysfunctional human being would actually stay in such a suffocating place voluntarily?



Why, the Walker brothers obviously.



As the only vacant classroom at school with absolutely no disturbance,  it made the perfect hiding spot for the two boys. Plus, they just couldn’t find another spot. But no one needs to know that.



After finding the empty classroom, the brothers went inside and took their usual seats at the back.



“I just wanted to ask, do you know why she became like that? You know, that girl we just saw. Laura, was it?”



“Yeah, and Laura Diffendal is her full name. It’s been quite a few years, so I can only remember that it was her friends that did something bad to her. I don’t know the full story since I had this condition called ‘none of my business’ at the time, so you might have to ask someone more close to her if you want to find out.”



“And risk getting actually stabbed? Hell no.”



Laughing, the two brothers continued to chatter the time away as the school clock finally neared 8 AM.



“Welp, it’s time to go. Good luck with your junior classes.”



“Good luck with your senior ones. I’ll see you during lunch?”



While saying this, they fist bumped.



“Yep, hopefully another food fight will take place, so we can have a normal reason to leave the cafeteria.”



“True that.”



Both brothers parted ways, going to their lockers to grab their backpacks and materials for class.



--- After class ---



Hearing the call of the saint that signified the end of class (bell), Adrian put his stuff back into his bag, and walked his way to the cafeteria. Hearing his stomach growl, he hurried to go eat, walking faster to not let others hear his constantly growling stomach.



Seeing the social butterflies up ahead however led him to take many detours. On this journey of avoidance, he looked back to memories of the past.



As he and his brother were pretty much a little bit above average in terms of…well everything, from looks to grades, they were pretty much hard to notice, so this precaution thing was really unnecessary.



Still, this did not stop them from getting caught up with other people’s relationships. After all, the only person they truly needed in this school was each other.



Although Adrian is pretty worried about next year, since his brother is graduating, he believes it will still be fine since he is used to being a loner with his brother, and can take care of himself while at school.



It was just that... Adrian knew that he would miss his brother, even with preparations of being independent, as he cried before in the years of elementary and middle school. After hearing his brother tell him that they probably won’t go to the same college, he cried even more, really wanting to spend every precious moment together.



Brothers can be best friends, but they don’t have to share the same dreams and goals in order to stay connected with each other. This is what Adrian was told when Lawrence explained to him about going to different colleges.



His older brother said he was gonna go to a college that had more opportunities for computer science, so he couldn’t really join just any college.



Thus, Lawrence told him to go to a college that focuses more on majoring music instead, since he knew Adrian had more talent in this field than any other. Of course, it took a lot of crying for him to finally calm down when he heard this, but nobody needs to know that.



Finally reaching the cafeteria after the hazardous route that he just somehow created, Adrian tried looking around for his brother. After a few seconds, he saw Lawrence walking towards the bathroom. As he might be busy doing his... business in there, Adrian decided to grab his lunch first.



Meanwhile, Lawrence was feeling constipated inside the bathroom stall. He hoped God would have mercy on him and not make too much of a noise. After all, students are constantly coming in and out during this lunch period.



Using his experience from the many occurrences of this tragic situation, he sneakily made sure no one would know it was him, by leaving his bag and stuff at the spot Adrian and him were at usually, and using some toilet paper from the still full roll to cover his shoes.



As the bathroom stalls can let people see your shoes and bottom legs without looking too much, Lawrence felt very exposed to the outside world.



Luckily, most everybody wore jeans, so he was certain that as long as he covered his shoes, no one would notice it was him. Of course, seeing a suspiciously rolled up shoe of toilet paper would make people curious, but as he had done this countless times, Lawrence felt very confident no one would peek on someone with a ‘serious’ case of the number two.



Thankfully, with his hard to notice ability, and his sneaky assassin skills, nobody cared enough to check, or even stay in the bathroom filled with the cries of the suffering toilet.



--- 15 minutes later ---



Watching his older brother finally coming towards their spot behind the stairwell near the cafeteria, Adrian munched on his lunch and waited patiently.



“...What took you so long? It’s already halfway through our lunch period.”



“Ugh… don’t make me remember the experience all over again. Plus, I’ve already lost my appetite, so I’m just gonna skip lunch and eat at home.”



Looking at his tired and defeated brother, Adrian thought that his situation inside the bathroom must’ve been serious, and stopped questioning further.



“Well, it doesn’t matter. The food here is not that appetizing to be honest, so I totally understand wanting to eat at home.”



Seemingly recalling a memory, Adrian felt a sudden urge to ask his brother about something.



“Oh yeah, have you seen the new student?”



“Hmm... which one?”



“Uh... the girl with brown hair, you know, the one wearing glasses smart people usually wear?”

“...Wearing glasses just means your eyes are bad. Being smart doesn’t have anything to do with it. Anyways, why are you curious about her?”



“Well, it's just… she just recently transferred here from a faraway place, and… maybe we could help her by showing her around?”



“No way… dude, are you interested in her?”



“WhAt! Nooooo….”



Looking at his smug brother, Adrian felt defeated.



“Fine, yes.”



“Ooh man, I should tell our parents that my little brother finally has a crush!”



“WHAT?! NO!”



After Adrian accidentally raised his voice too much, people from afar started turning their heads in curiosity. Seeing that they stopped talking, the group of people left.



When the coast was clear, Lawrence removed the hand covering his brother’s mouth and whispered to him quietly.



“Relax, I was just joking. Don’t raise your voice. We’re still at school you know.”



“...Sorry, I overreacted.”



Witnessing the imaginary droopy ears of a dog on his little brother’s head, Lawrence chuckled and comforted him.



“It’s fine. Still though, I can’t believe it took you this long to start liking somebody. I honestly thought you had no interest in having a romantic relationship.”



“...That’s not it. I just didn’t like anybody until now. It’s completely normal.”



As Lawrence had been continually crushing on new girls every trimester, he really could not feel the same way as his brother.



“I guess it’s just normal for some people. At least you won’t get your heart crushed many times if it’s this hard for you to start liking somebody.”



“...But, I don’t even know her name yet. It’s just that when I saw her for the first time while I was on my way to my locker, I started getting nervous and my heart started beating rapidly.”



“Hmm... I guess you really do have a crush on her. I would say your basing off looks too much, but seeing as how you're immune to the other school beauties, I don’t think that’s the case….”



Pondering on how this new girl could have shaken his little brother’s heart, Lawrence felt as if he really doesn’t know his brother all too well.



“I’m not immune. It’s just that those attractive people really aren’t my type.”



All of a sudden, Lawrence’s inner smart guy suddenly picked up on something.



“Wait, question, when you said ‘attractive people,’ are you referring to both girls AND boys?”



“Huh? I… don’t know what you mean.”



Seeing his brother shaking and looking nervous, Lawrence felt that he really was onto something. Feeling as if this topic would be too sensitive for a public chat, he grabbed their stuff, threw Adrian’s lunch away, and pulled him back to their secret spot.



“What? Hey, my food! Ow. Where are you taking me?”



“To our secret spot of course.”



“But lunchtime is close to being over! We only have a few minutes left. Why are we going there now?”



While complaining, Adrian felt defeated by his brother’s strength and could only follow him to their spot.



Once they reached the empty classroom, the brothers entered and closed the door, walking back to their usual seats.



After being seated, Lawrence looked at his brother with a serious face.



“Adrian, I want to ask you a question, but you have to be honest. Do you like girls… or boys?”



“Huh?! What… kind of question is that.”



“Adrian, I need you to answer me truthfully.”



“I… umm… *sigh* I like both.”



Pulling out the answer he was looking for, Lawrence felt defeated.



“So… you’re bisexual?”



“Yeah… but I’m more attracted to girls than boys!”



“That’s not the point. Do you know what would happen if our parents find out?”



Faced with the question that he knew would not have a very good answer, Adrian regretted ever becoming attracted to other boys.



“I know… It’s just, I couldn’t help myself. Some part of me felt attracted to both girls and boys, and I couldn’t stop it….”



Feeling that his little brother’s mood must be unstable right now, Lawrence sighed and hugged him in comfort.



“Look. I don’t really mind who you like. I was just really paranoid on what trouble you may get yourself into if you were to ever start liking guys.”



“Yeah, I know. That’s why... I’ve been trying to keep it a secret ever since I found out.”



Seeing that Adrian was about to cry, Lawrence really wanted to comfort him.



“Look. Tomorrow, you’ll be 18 years old. You’re gonna become an adult, so our parents can’t stop you from making your own choices anymore. If you want to come out to them, I’ve got your back. I know someone who wouldn’t mind helping us out. But if you still want to keep it a secret for longer… I’ll make sure they don’t find out until you’re ready, ok?”



“...Thank you, brother. Thank you so much for understanding….”



Feeling as if he has the best brother ever, Adrian hugged Lawrence and cried a little bit. However, this sweet moment did not last long, as the bell signifying the end of lunch period was ringing loudly across the school. Feeling spooked by this loud sound, both brothers freaked out and started quickly packing up their stuff to get to their class on time.



“I’ve got your back, remember that!”



Lawrence could not hear Adrian’s reply, as his class was much further from their spot and thus he had to sprint quickly in order to get there on time.



Whilst also rushing to his class, Adrian tried to stabilize his emotions.



Hearing his brother, he thought, ‘Of course I’ll remember. You are the best brother in the whole wide world after all.’



--- End of School Day ---



After school, both brothers packed up their stuff and headed back to their two-seater bike in different directions, as they were leaving their last class of the day. While walking, the two boys seemed to be in a complicated mood.



Even with his brother’s comfort, Adrian still kept regretting ever letting him find out. After all, his older brother will be put in an even tighter spot if he doesn’t confess tomorrow.



But even if he does, there’s no telling what would happen.



On the other hand, if he keeps it a secret, Lawrence will have to hold a big secret from their family, which will also make him feel guilty.



Meanwhile, Lawrence was still debating over what to do after finding out his little brother’s secret. He is not personally bothered by it, as he quite open-minded, but his family might not really accept the fact that Adrian’s bisexual. He could either persuade him to confess, keep it a secret, or just let his own brother figure it out.



However, if Adrian decides to confess tomorrow, it would be impossible to know what would happen next, and the happy mood everyone worked hard for might just turn ugly. Still though, his secret would be out, and he won’t have to live his life hiding another part of him.



On the other hand however, if Adrian chooses to keep it a secret, nobody but the two of them will know, and life can just go on.



However, both of them will have to work hard to not let their parents figure it out, because if he himself can figure it out, their more intelligent family would most likely find out as well.



It would be better to tell them himself rather than them finding out about it, but as Adrian said, he is more attracted to girls than boys, meaning if he could get a girlfriend, this whole situation would be much easier to solve.



Upon meeting up at the parking lot for bikes, both brothers seemed to be still stuck in a dilemma, unable to make a choice, as they did not notice other people getting their bikes and leaving. Eventually, they snapped out of their daze, looked at each other in the eye, and prepared to set off from school.



Further discussion can take place at home after all.



--- 5 minutes later ---



In the middle of their pedaling back home, Adrian had the most sudden overwhelming urge to use the bathroom.



“Ugh… is there a bathroom I can go to like, RIGHT now? Omg, I might not be able to hold it all the way back home…”



“Uhh… well, we just passed by a gas station, so you can probably use their restroom.”



Seeing his little brother agreeing, Lawrence turned around the direction their bike was going, and stopped near the gas station.



“Ok, take your time, I’ll just be waiting over here.”



Before he himself could even get off the bike, Adrian jumped off and ran to the station.



“Don’t worry, I’ll try to be quick! Be right back!”



Looking at the amazing trail of dust his brother just left behind while running, Lawrence thought that Adrian should sign up for the track team.



After entering the store, Adrian quickly asked a staff member to use their bathroom, to which she said yes and pointed to where it was. Thanking her, he sprinted to the men’s bathroom, closing the door quickly before settling down to do his important business.



Seeing him run though, shocked the lady.



*Chuckle* ‘That kid sure runs faster than my boyfriend during a race. Hmm… I should test his bathroom running skills the next time I see him. Who knows, he might actually be a disappointment for an athlete when compared to that kid.’



--- 15 minutes later ---



After finishing his business, Adrian thanked the staff lady again, and left the gas station in order to walk to where his brother was at.



Having waited for some time, Lawrence almost dozed off sitting down while leaning against the bike on the wall. Finally seeing his brother coming towards him, he slapped himself to wake up.



After trying to stand up, he realized just how sore his body was for waiting quite a while.



“I know I said to take your time, but that… was a really long time you know. Still, leaning against this bike probably made the waiting worse.”



Looking at his poor and aching brother, Adrian felt guilty at having taken so long. He couldn’t help it though, since some stuff just had to come out and it took a while.



“Sorry… I’ll use the bathroom at school when we leave next time, so I promise this won’t happen again.”



“Yeah yeah, but you should know you're just as terrible at keeping promises as our dad.”



“...”



“Well anyways, let's go home. It’s getting a bit late, and you know how worried our parents can get.”



As they were already halfway home, it did not take them long to pull up to their driveway.



Seeing his two sons finally coming back home from the kitchen window, Mr. Walker got up from his seat and opened the door for them.



“We’re home!”



“Welcome back! Your mother’s cooking up dinner, so make sure to clean yourselves up before you eat.”



Seeing their father greeting them instead of their mother, the brothers truly were perplexed.



“Dad?! Didn’t you have to go to work?”



“Ah, it’s my day off today. Your mother doesn’t have one though, so better say goodbye to her after dinner.”



“Oh, okay!”



Both brothers seemed excited that their dad is staying home.



Usually, working as a veterinarian made him stay at work till it was their bedtime, so his sons only got to see him in the morning. However, now that it’s his day off, the two boys seemed to be planning the best way to spend some time together.



Unfortunately, their mother was a doctor, so she could not get a day off and had to constantly leave work after making and eating dinner. She gets home at around 6 AM, but as exhausted as she was, she still made breakfast and woke up Adrian. She goes to sleep as soon as they leave for school, collapsing on the bed like a mother who just recently gave birth to a child.



Of course, as she had not told them this fact yet, the two boys thought that their mother got home early enough to sleep for a few hours, before finally waking up to make breakfast. Their dad however, knew the truth and thus tried persuading her to sleep as soon as she got home, and that he would be the one to make breakfast and wake up Adrian. This discussion almost failed, but Mrs. Walker finally agreed to sleep as soon as he learned how to cook food properly.



In other news, she would be his teacher, and punishments for each failure will be carried out according to how much food he wasted. Mr. Walker internally felt his soul shaking, as he was not that good of a cook, but he could only hold in this thought and work hard to help his wife get some sleep.



After putting their school stuff away, they went to get themselves cleaned up for dinner.



Remembering the incident at school, they decided to discuss it further tomorrow, and spend all of their time with their father for today. Of course, they haven't told their parents yet that they had homework, but the brothers made a pact to keep this secret between them.



Otherwise, who knows what would happen if their parents ever find out.



“Oh hey Adrian, I forgot to put the bike away. Can you please put it in the garage? I really have to use the bathroom right now.”



Remembering the bathroom incident on their way home, Adrian did not complain and went off to put away the bicycle.



Seeing the looming clouds overhead, he tried to be quick and used all his strength to push the bike towards the garage.



However, as there was such a huge rainstorm yesterday, the ground was still wet and muddy. Thus, he accidentally tripped while pushing and fell into the small pond of rainwater.



“WOA-”



It was just that, he didn’t land on the ground beneath the pond, but instead continued to fall deeper and deeper into it.



--- To be Continued ---



Author’s Notes :



Hey! So this prologue took a VERY long time to make, since it basically has way more words than my usual chapters, but I wanted to make sure I could introduce his family and flesh them out. I basically am changing up a lot of things, since I actually have a… well I still don’t have a full plan on how this story is gonna go, but I’m trying my best to figure it out TuT.



Ok so back to introductions.



Hi, I am a new writer who is making his very first novel, so please forgive me if there are any errors in the way I write. I am currently still in school, so I can’t exactly give a good schedule for how I’m gonna update this novel. My goal for now however, is to remake the chapters I published before, which new readers like you won’t see, and make it so that it flows better. I also got confused with my own story, so I wanted to make a prologue and decide how I should fit Adrian’s personality with his reaction to the new world he’s been summoned to, as well as his future companion (don’t tell me you haven’t read the summary). I don’t wanna spoil things planned (not planned) for the next chapters, so I will just move on.



I will state this very clearly so I will not get further questions or comments about it :



The next chapters will not be THIS long, maybe like less than 2 thousand words, so still long, but y'know, not 4.5k words long.



I made this prologue in order to give people an idea of how he lived before he was summoned, so like maybe you can sympathize with him about being thrown away from his loved ones. Well, his secret did bring in some trouble, but with time, scars can heal, although nothing even happened yet.



I am trying to make this story not very cliche, but it’s still inevitable to use some cliches in order to progress the story.



This is a slow-burn story, so don’t expect shallow or quick romances, along with other stuff that usually just pops out of nowhere without any explanation. I’ll also try to be realistic...ish.



Yes, seeing the harem tag on other stories kinda makes me want to avoid it, but as I’m trying not to be cliche, I will make it so that there will be real progression, as well as introduce LGBTQ+ elements in order to make the story more unique.



I am just plain terrible at describing designs, facial features, clothes, among other stuff, so please just use your imagination. I wanna write this story for fun, not for more work in my life pwp. Still, I will try to improve my writing if it’s achievable.



Oh and btw, when I say LGBTQ+, I mean I’m actually introducing other genders, sexualities, and other stuff. Sometimes when I read lgbtq+ novels (I’m probably not searching too much), it’s either about being gay or lesbian, or something else, but not inclusive to the other kinds out there. I’m not positive I can write about all of them, but I will try my best.



Look, I’m not making smut scenes any time in the future, so don’t expect me to even try and create one. I’ll probably include some uhh… ‘romancing’ scenes like kissing and etc., but not ones that are… y’know.



If there are actually some old readers that were willing to re-read this novel again from the few chapters I released before, I’m gonna say it right now, DON’T SPOIL! I may be recreating the chapters, but it will be quite similar, so I’m not gonna tolerate any spoiling of any kind. Oh and thank you for giving me another chance.



Also just wanted to repeat this information, but as you may have heard, this is my very FIRST novel, so don’t get your hopes high on how the story progresses.



I will make a character profile thingy when Ash gets introduced, but I’m warning you that it’s gonna be vague and probably won’t let you imagine them that much. I’m just really bad at this part orz.



Adrian and Lawrence are still in high school because they were held back for some reason I never created (although it’s still pretty common for their ages to be in high school).



Repeating what I said earlier, I made this novel for fun, not as a serious hobby or anything, so if life throws me into chaos or something, don’t expect me to write the new chapters until my life is stable again. I am a human, just in case you didn’t know, so I can be sensitive to certain comments.



I am looking for constructive criticism, so feel free to point out mistakes or plot holes I’ve made. Seriously though, don’t be mean about it. If I feel that my mistake can be fixed, I will re-update the chapter, whether it's mistakes I’ve found re-reading it, or from other people who told me.



Also, I may not get to some tags, so if i really can’t bring it out, I’m sorry and I will most likely have to remove it. I’m just experimenting with what I can do.



Edit : I’ve been getting some questions on the reason behind Adrian’s age and other stuff, but just know I will be explaining this in the later chapters. Or maybe I won’t. I mean, that’s what all the mystery tag is about y’know?









Chapter 1 :  An Accidental Summon



After tripping, Adrian could not keep his balance and fell into the small pond backwards.



Due to his many experiences of tripping and falling due to his clumsiness, he reflexively closed his eyes and held in his breath for fear of the water splashing onto his face, and tried to use his arms to soften the landing.



The problem was…no matter how much he stretched his arms, he just could not feel anything around him except for his body.



Panicking, Adrian thought that the pond must’ve been hiding a huge hole, and tried to swim up to the surface. However, as he tried to make a blind swimming motion, he realized that there seemed to be no water around him. In fact, he couldn’t even feel anything but air with his arms.



Thinking that he could perhaps breathe, he slowly opened a corner of his mouth and tried to inhale some air.



When he inhaled nothing but oxygen after a few seconds, he relaxed and breathed normally through his nose. Afterwards, he slowly lifted up his eyelids in order to see where he was.



Still not seeing anything but pitch-black darkness, Adrian carefully placed his finger above his eyelid and tried to feel himself blinking to make sure they were open.



After feeling that his eyes were indeed opened, he was confused on why he still couldn't see anything.



‘Did I… go blind?! No, wait. Even if I did go blind--which I hope isn’t true--it still doesn’t make sense that I can’t feel the ground around me.’



Puzzled, Adrian tried to ponder what was happening, and thought up of another mystery.



‘If I can’t feel the ground, then doesn’t that mean I’m free-falling? But… I don’t feel air rushing past me, or gravity pushing me down. It’s kinda like… as if I was floating in the air?”



Thinking that the situation seemed very weird and unrealistic, Adrian did not notice that someone else was watching him. And yet, this stranger was more puzzled with this whole situation than Adrian himself.



[I don’t get it… I’m sure I used my powers to summon the hero. But, this person… isn’t the one I picked.]



[Open system menu.]



Scrolling through the menu, the mysterious being stopped to look at two pictures of humans. On the left was a 17-year-old male with natural brown hair, and the other was also a male, but was 2 years younger and had black hair instead. At least, it’s what the ‘being’ determined after inspecting more closely and looking at their profiles.



[Ah…I summoned the wrong person. The other gods will not be happy with this.]



“Hello? Is anyone there?”



Feeling like he could go mad at any minute, Adrian tried calling out to the darkness. Of course, he wasn’t expecting a response, but he wanted to try anyways in case there really was someone else out here.



“Helloooo?”



[...I should compensate this human for my mistake. He didn’t do anything wrong after all, unlike me.]



Not getting any response, Adrian stopped asking and went back to slowly turning insane.



‘Ugh...just what is going on?!’



However, seeing another color other than black slowly appearing in his vision, he tried to focus his eyes on it.



[Hello.]



“GAH!”



Hearing a voice, he yelped in surprise and turned his head to look around him for the source.



[I’m talking inside your head. I don’t have a physical form for you to see.]



???



‘...How exactly am I supposed to respond to that?’



[I know you may be confused, but calm yourself and just listen.]



Unable to do anything but trust this mysterious voice, Adrian nodded his head and calmed himself down, focused on hearing the voice continue to speak.



Seeing this obedient human, the mysterious being could not help but be pleased. After all, the other heroes that were summoned in the past were really loud and obnoxious, demanding the voice they heard for answers instead of just waiting patiently.



[First of all, you may be wondering where you are, as well as who I am. To answer that simply, you are no longer on planet Earth, but rather on another world entirely, and I could be what you call a ‘god’ that manages this world.]



‘I knew it. There’s just no way our backyard could have a supernatural pond.’



Hearing his thoughts, the god felt amazed at his ability to still feel calm in this situation. Human adaptability must be amazing, they thought.



[Instead, you were mistakenly summoned by me to planet Soluvia, which as you can see is just beyond that portal.]



Feeling confused, Adrian remembered the mysterious color he saw earlier, and turned to look towards it again.



Focusing back onto it, he realized that there seemed to be another place just past it, like the voice had said.



“Wait…did you just say I was summoned here by mistake?”



[Yes. I’m sorry. I accidentally summoned you instead of the hero.]



‘Man, I thought I was gonna be the hero I read about in fantasy novels. Turns out, I’m just simply another cannon-fodder.’



Thinking this, he couldn’t help but sigh and feel depressed.



Hearing this, the god decided not to tell him that he could hear his thoughts.



[...But don’t worry, I will be compensating you for my mistake. You can still live a happy life, but only as long as you have the will to work hard for it.]



“I don’t mind working, but could I just be sent back to my home? I’d rather live on planet Earth instead, no offense.”



After hearing what the voice said, he was thinking about his family back at home.



[I’m sorry, but I don’t have the power to send anything back to their world. I can only do a one-way summon. I apologize for my mistake.]



“...”



When Adrian finally snapped back to reality, his confused and excited mood soon turned to despair.



‘I wanna go back home…. My family would miss me….’



[...]



‘I...don’t wanna be alone. I already miss them so much….’



Of course, as he was in the presence of a powerful being, he didn’t voice out his longing to go back home and kept being silent. However, he could not stop his thoughts, and soon tears formed in his eyes as he kept recalling the family he could no longer see.



Seeing his state, as well as hearing his thoughts, the god felt guilty.



The heroes the god summoned were specifically picked loners who felt no attachment towards their homeworld. Thus, they would usually just happily accept the situation and go past the portal once he told them everything. However, the god did not get anywhere to explaining yet before the human started to break down and cry.



[...]



Hearing the voice stop talking, Adrian forcefully calmed himself down and wiped away his tears and snot onto his shirt.



“I’m…alright. You can…sniff...keep talking.”



Understanding the emotional state he was in, the god knew that they had just ruined this human’s life.



The god thought, ‘This human is much easier to communicate with than the other past heroes. He hasn’t yelled at me yet, or even ordered me to send him back. I should compensate him properly.’



[...]



“...I’m fine, really. As long as I can live a happy life, I don’t really mind this whole situation.”



After he forced his mind to calm down, Adrian could now talk normally.



However, the god knew he was lying, and was assaulted with constant guilt. It did not help that the human was also very polite and understanding.



Still though, they had to finish explaining before they could discuss their mistakes with the other gods.



[Known as planet Soluvia, this world has the unique property of having special particles all around it, and thus allows the creatures to use it to their benefit. Known as ‘mana,’ these particles are recycled back to the planet when used. Thus, they can never be depleted as long as it’s used within the planet’s atmosphere.]



Not hearing any response, the god couldn’t help but sigh at the human’s dull state of mind.



Although Adrian may appear to be listening, forcing down his emotions had caused his mind to go into a state of dullness.



Knowing that he may never see his family again, he kept recalling back every memory of their time together, tuning out the voice to the very back of his mind.



Realizing that the human wasn’t listening, the god stopped talking and instead tried to think of a way to help him.



Knowing that they won’t be able to get through to this human when his mind is currently going down memory lane, the god decided to explain later when the human had returned back to normal.



[Remember before how I said I was going to compensate you? Well, I still have to talk to the other gods about what I’m allowed to give. However, once you go past that portal, we should be about done with our discussion due to the time difference. Do you have any questions?]



Hearing still no response, the god couldn’t help but sigh. Still, they had no rights to tell this human about manners. After all, this was all their fault for accidentally summoning the wrong person.



Snapping back to reality, Adrian heard the voice tell him to go past the portal.



Realizing that he hadn’t been listening, he felt sorry for his lack of manners, and decided to not waste the god’s time with his questions.



“Ah, sorry. My mind is still adjusting, so I apologize for not listening to you earlier.’



[That’s alright. I’ll continue explaining when you’re in a better mood. I’ll be with you soon after I’m done with the meeting.]



After the god left, Adrian felt a pull coming from the portal, and felt himself floating towards it without his control. He was pulled inside, directly landing on the familiar solid earthen ground a second later.



However, due to the mysterious experience of going past a portal, Adrian could not control his balance and directly fell to the ground, face-first.



“Oww….”



‘Ugh...it’s much easier traveling through the portals in games than in reality. I feel so dizzy....’



Trying to regain his composure, he pulled himself up from the ground, and wiped off the dirt that got on him.



‘Wait, no. With my terrible and slow computer, going through a portal with those bad pixelated graphics was much worse. In fact, other than feeling dizzy, it was quite fun to pass through.’



Remembering the experience, Adrian recalled seeing himself go from darkness to light in one split second, and thus couldn’t quite adjust his eyes. Therefore, that was probably the cause for becoming dizzy.



Although, it was still embarrassing to fall down flat on the ground.



‘Hmm…am I supposed to wait for the god now?’



After his eyes finally adjusted, he slowly looked up to see the…sky?



‘Huh? Why are the trees so tall? I can hardly see the sky at all. Yet, it’s somehow still bright around here?’



Organizing his memories, Adrian tried to recall the name of the planet.



“So this…is planet Soluvia.”



--- To be Continued ---



Author’s Notes :



Hello again. I’ve told you it would be a shorter chapter right? Or did you not read the author’s notes last time.



Anyways, this is just a rough draft that I just recently made today with only a few hours worth, so it may not be much. I’ve fixed a few mistakes here and there, but I really wanted to go back and finish my classes before I continue to dwell on this and use up my time.



I will be going back to fixing up this chapter if there are mistakes, as well as work on the next chapter after I’m done doing school work, but know that it won’t be till late next week. As I’ve stated before, my life comes before this novel.



I hope you understand, so please review this chapter and tell me what mistake, or just overall plot holes and etc. to fix once I come back.



Edit : YO I’M BACK!



So sorry for not updating like I said. Just had to procrastinate and catch up on all the stuff I missed. Anyways, I’ll be trying to work on this novel for now.



Ook, so I tried re-reading the prologue and the first chapter, and found out some… well, a LOT of mistakes. The prologue only required some new additional stuff and fixing grammar and punctuation, so there wasn’t much, but chapter 1 really had me redo a lot of stuff. Hopefully it’ll be easier to read and understand, because I realized that I accidentally just turned Adrian into a mindless human after this experience.



Look, humans can adapt. Same for Adrian. I gotta be realistic, so I won’t just completely change him in the span of just one chapter. Anyways, I’ll be working on the new chapter, so hopefully I can release it soon.











Chapter 2 :  Planet Soluvia



Looking around his surroundings, Adrian realized he was inside a forest. However, what surprised him was that the trees were so tall and dense, he could only see a small portion of the sky.



And yet, even when the sky seemed to darken, it was still bright all around him.



[Hello, again.]



“WOAH!”



Suddenly hearing an unknown voice as he was about to take a step, Adrian almost lost his balance. After steading himself, he turned his head to look at the surroundings in search of the voice.



[...Have you forgotten? I’m talking inside your head.]



“Ah…right, sorry. I was just dazed looking around the forest.”



As he was too preoccupied trying to look at his surroundings, Adrian momentarily forgot about the god that summoned him. Of course, this was just an excuse. The real reason is that he suffers from short term memory loss, but the kinds of memories lost are usually random.



‘...Did I really just forget about the god earlier?’



Still, forgetting what just happened earlier made him embarrassed. What if he suddenly forgot he wasn’t on Earth?



[...Anyways, after the meeting, all of us have decided to compensate you with this gift we created.]



After hearing that, Adrian saw a small blue display screen suddenly materializing in front of him.



{System: Hello}



“ΣΣ(ﾟДﾟ;)?!”



Feeling nostalgic at the similarities between his situation and the novels and games he used to play, he was shocked that the system could talk to him. Of course, it was only by messages on the screen, but just reading it was still as shocking as hearing the voice inside his head.



“What….”



[Doesn’t your world normally have this type of thing inside games? Why are you so shocked?]



“The keyword is inside ‘games’, not reality! Besides, how do you even know about that?”



[That’s private information I cannot reveal.]



“Did you read my memories? Or did you just happen to hear it from the other heroes?”



[...]



Guessing that he was right, Adrian stopped asking and focused back to the screen in front of him.



“Uhh...hi?”



{System: Hello, Host.}



“Σ(▼□▼ﾒ) Wait, you can hear me?”



{System: Yes, Host.}



Seeing the display screen change messages, Adrian was truly shocked.



[I have other important matters to attend to, but just ask the system if you have any questions. We have spent quite a bit of power on it, so please take care of our creation. There are also additional gifts we gave you, but you’ll have to ask the system to find them.]



“Wait! What about the real hero?”



As Adrian heard the god was leaving, he quickly asked a question he was most concerned about after hearing his accidental summon.



[Oh. You won’t have to worry about it. I’ll just have to do the summoning ritual again. In the meantime, I suggest you worry about getting to somewhere safe. This place is known to be teeming with monsters at night.]



“Huh? Wait, monsters?!”



However, he could no longer hear the voice. Guessing that the god already left, Adrian looked back at the screen and voiced his concerns.



{System: Monsters are beings created from ‘mana’. They usually appear due to disturbances within the particles, and are known to frequently appear at night. Of course, it’s only in some areas, so these monsters won’t appear all over the world at night.}



‘Hmm…so it really is like what I read about before.’



Realizing that he wasn’t completely clueless about this rpg-like world, Adrian thanked his past self for all this knowledge.



Of course, he didn’t actually think all the stuff he read and played would come true...but seeing is believing after all.



“How do I get out of this forest?”



{System: If you just keep going straight from where you are looking, you should be able to come across a path that leads to a town.}



Trusting the words of the system, Adrian walked forward towards the path.



Seeing it in the far distance, he remembered something cliche about the situation, and stopped walking.



“...Do you recommend me going into that town?”



{System: Looking at your current state, it would be wise not to go there.}



“Why? What’s in there?”



{System: Just normal humans, but you currently don’t have any money for trade.}



Glad that he stopped to think, Adrian knew that he was missing something. Turns out, it was that he was now a poor man.



Remembering that he left all his things back at home, Adrian could not help feeling depressed.



“Hmm...how do people usually earn money here?”



{System: Herbs, monster loots, ores, and other goods can be traded for money. However, you are quite weak, so it would be better to just collect wild herbs.}



“(￣■￣;) Thanks for being thoughtful….”



Unable to refute, Adrian could only sigh in despair. If only he wasn’t lazy, he could’ve done some exercise.



“Well...do you know where some wild herbs are?”



{System: I don’t have a locator function, so just look around you for any plants, and I’ll verify it.}



“Alright.”



Seemingly expecting the system to only hold information, Adrian was not surprised that it wasn’t gonna be easy.



As he turned back from the path and wandered around the forest, he stumbled upon a flower with green petals around a faintly red center. Its stem and leaves were the usual green color back on Earth, but the color of the petals and its center was quite odd.



“What is that?”



{System: That flower is called a ‘Kanali flower’, it’s very common around here, selling for about 2 bad coins each.}



Hearing what the coin was called, Adrian struggled not to burst out laughing.



“Why...is it called ‘bad’ coins?”



{System: This type of coin is made out of carefully carved stone, so it’s quite easy to break if you apply enough force. People called it ‘bad’ coins since the material was quite common to find, but the durability of the coins was lesser than that of actual rocks..}



Remembering that he needed to trade herbs for those very same coins, Adrian could not help feeling depressing. However, the name of the coin just made him laugh.



“Hah...alright, so this flower isn’t dangerous?”



Remembering that it was gonna be night soon, Adrian wanted to ask the system more information later instead of at this moment.



{System: Just be careful with the sharp thorns on its center. Other than that, it’s harmless.}



As he was no longer on Earth, Adrian didn’t dwell on this and carefully picked up the flower by its stem.



However, it took quite a few seconds to pull it out from its roots.



“Huff...why is this thing so hard to pick up!”



{System: It appears that you are weaker than I thought. Normally, babies are able to pluck it out in less than a second.}



“(ﾟωﾟ;)...Can I just, see my stats?”



{System: Of course.}



Soon after, another display screen popped up in front of Adrian.



_____

Name: Adrian

Race: Human

Gender: Male

Social Status: Loner



Strength 4, Agility 23, Defense 0, Luck 1, Magic ??

Skills: None

______



“Σ(▼□▼ﾒ)...You were right. My stats are pretty weak.”



{System: Facts are my specialty.}



Hearing this, Adrian couldn’t help but slap himself in the face.



‘With such low stats, how can I even survive?’



{System: There’s only about 1 hour left before the monsters show up.}



“ΣΣ(ﾟДﾟ;)! I have to hurry then! But, how many coins do I need?”



{System: I would recommend getting at least 200 bad coins. Of course, I also recommend spending it as soon as possible on the off-chance that it suddenly breaks.}



“What! That means I need to pick 100 of those flowers!”



{System: Yes.}



“....”



Sensing his physical capabilities screaming at him, Adrian didn’t know what to feel at the thought of picking up those flowers.



“...Ughh. I’ll just run around picking up as much stuff as I can then. But, how am I gonna even carry all those?”



{System: You can store it in your inventory.}



Seeing another screen appear besides the system messages, Adrian felt very glad the system had this capability.



However, the amount of items he can put inside was quite limited.



“Hmm...there are only 5 slots?”



{System: Yes, but the same items put in are stackable, with a max limit of 50 for each stack.}



“Oh, so I just need 2 slots for this then.”



{System: 55 minutes left until night-time.}



“GAH! Quick, just tell me whether I can pick up the plant or not, and I’ll just randomly start throwing it into my inventory.”



{System: Sure thing, Host.}



“...Just call me Adrian.”



{System: Ok, Adrian.}



And so, Adrian wandered around the forest in a frenzy looking for plants with his system.



--- 45 minutes later ---



After 45 minutes of searching, with small breaks in between, Adrian finally managed to collect 100 plants. Of course, the plants were just randomly thrown into his inventory, so there may be a variety of items he picked up.



{System: You have enough to go rest in town.}



“...Whew. Man, that was really tiring.”



{System: I’ve been working harder than you just to clarify. It’s all thanks to me you haven’t died yet.}



“....”



Unable to refute, Adrian could only just stay silent.



{System: There’s only about 8 minutes left. From here, it will take about 7 minutes to get back to the path behind you, and 3 minutes to reach the town if you follow it.}



“What! Just how far did I wander?!”



Realizing that he did indeed go deep inside the forest, Adrian could only push his tired body even more to get to town.



{System: There are no shortcuts that are safe to travel through, so you will have to follow the path to lead you to town. But don’t worry, even 2 minutes is not long enough for a monster to find you.}



“Thank goodness.”



{System: Unless you are really unlucky.}



“...Didn’t you already know I’ve been summoned here accidentally?! That’s got to be very unlucky!”



{System: Ah yes, then you should probably run. It’s a good thing you have such high agility.}



“Easy for you to say! My body is already exhausted doing manual labor!”



However, Adrian still pushed on. He tried to run, but since he was so exhausted, the most he could do was speed walk.



--- 6 minutes later ---



{System: Congratulations! You reached the path in only 6 minutes!}



“Shut...up!”



Feeling like he could collapse at any moment, Adrian walked on the concrete path to town.



--- 2 minutes later ---



{System: It’s time for the monsters to start showing up. But don’t worry, just 1 more minute until you reach the town.}



However, Adrian did not feel comforted.



His body was very exhausted, his hands were scratched and bruised by the plants, and he was very scared of the monsters.



He’ll have to slap his past self for reading all those horror novels. And also his computer.



Why the hell did it make all those monsters much scarier with the damn bad graphics and pixels? Even the lag and slowness of it just enhanced the horror.



--- To be Continued ---



Author’s Notes:



Heyo! Just a rough draft again, since I wanted y’all to see it. My laziness is increasing every day, so I am very proud of myself for taking a few hours to work on this.



I’ll keep updating it, so just wait if it’s confusing so far. I just need to take a mind-break. And by that, I mean I’ll be procrastinating till I’m back in the mood.



Oh, I also searched for a while on the internet to find a look for Adrian, and I think this guy is close to my descriptions (Just a disclaimer, this image does not belong to me, but rather to the creator of the series ‘Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai’. I may have to take the image down if I’m not allowed to post it.):



https://rei.animecharactersdatabase.com/uploads/chars/thumbs/200/42348-167986177...







Chapter 3 :  The Calm Before the Storm



{System: It appears that something is blocking the road to town.}



“...You don’t need to tell me that! I...clearly have eyes!”



On the way to town, Adrian stumbled upon a very big obstacle in his way. Still panting from too much physical exertion, it was nice to take a break, although a bit risky.



A ginormous tree was blocking the path.



{System: The tree seemed to have been cut from its center, thus falling down in our direction.}



“Huh? How...do you know that?”



{System: I may not have a locator function, but I can analyze whatever it is you are seeing. Thus, I’ve analyzed that a cut has been made from one of the tree’s ends.}



Realizing that his system was more reliable than he thought, Adrian applauded it for analyzing the tree so quickly. After all, the tree was so big in size that he really could not see either of its end.



To find out, he would have to go through the other tall trees in the forest and search for it. However, it will be a waste of time to confirm the system’s power. Being a god’s creation, it should be trustworthy.



{System: Host, there are more pressing matters right now. I highly recommend finding a hiding spot before the monsters spot you.}



Even with this warning, Adrian really could not do anything about it. His willpower and energy has been constantly depleting every second, and it took a lot of effort just to keep himself from falling down.



{System: Your body doesn’t seem to have enough energy to continue. Have you eaten anything before you were summoned?}



Upon reading this message, Adrian realized that he still hadn’t eaten dinner yet.



“Blame…that god of yours….”



{System: Would you like to use the summoning coupon? A companion could help make the journey easier.}



“...Huh? Wait, hold on. Let me find somewhere to rest first.”



Looking around, he spotted a bush big in front of a large tree. Guessing that it was enough to fully cover himself, he dragged his tired body to hide in-between the two.



Afterwards, Adrian sat down on the ground and focused on the hovering display screen in front of him.



{System: The coupon is one out of the many gifts you were given. You can find it in your mailbox.}



Wide-eyed, Adrian darted his eyes around the screen, spotting the icon of a mailbox at the bottom right corner. Once he tapped it, he saw various emails from the gods and goddesses.



“I didn’t know there was such a function….”



{System: Apologies. I was supposed to explain to you about all of my capabilities, but as the situation seemed dire, I had planned to tell you this only after you’ve reached a safe location. However, you need all the help you can get right now.}



Remembering that the monsters were constantly spawning even at this moment, Adrian quickly scrolled through the list of emails, tapping the one that had the title, “Summoning coupon item received from the god and goddess of reincarnation.”



Afterwards, the small email message on the list expanded until it covered the whole screen. Upon looking at it, Adrian noticed that the gods of reincarnation had also left behind a message for him.



“System, will be in danger if I take my time to use the item?”



{System: Hmm...the monsters that start to show up are usually weak, and thus they don’t have much skill in tracking. Although you may not be able to win since you still don’t have a class, it’s possible to evade fighting them as long as you don’t make too much noise and stay hidden.}



Now knowing this fact, Adrian carefully peeked around his hiding spot. When he could not spot any monsters near him, he felt relieved and sat back down.



Adrian had asked the system for this information because he was very curious about the message. Thinking that it might be related to the item they were giving him, he wanted to make sure he didn’t make a mistake when using it.



Although it hurt his pride to be more weak than those usual trash mobs from the games he used to play, Adrian didn’t mind. His experiences of being hurt by normal plants have already damaged his ego. In fact, he doesn’t even feel confidence to win against a level 1 slime.



‘Wait, are there slimes in this world? Ah, nevermind. I’ll find out later.’



Free of worries for now, Adrian read the message.



_____

<From: The god and goddess of reincarnation.>



Hello, Adrian. We would like to apologize for our colleague’s mistake in accidentally summoning you to this world. As compensation, we have decided to give you this item we recently created. It will allow you to summon a living being of your choosing to accompany you on your journey. Do keep in mind that you cannot change what you have chosen.

_____



“...Do I really look like a loner? Or wait...did they look at my stats?”



Remembering that he had the status of ‘loner’, Adrian really could not help but sigh at the situation. However, it’s true that it would be nice to have someone to help him. Maybe that will change his status....



After making sure he did not miss anything from the message, he looked at the attached item below.



<Would you like to use the attached item “Summoning coupon”?>

Yes / No



Still feeling that he was missing something, Adrian didn’t click either of the two options and instead clicked the name of the item.



< Would you like to view the item’s information? >

Yes / No



After tapping ‘yes’, he was very proud of himself. If he had used the item carelessly, he might’ve made some bad choices.



Right away, another screen prompt appeared right beside the email.



_____

<Summoning coupon>



Rarity: ???

Required level to use: None

Restriction(s): One-time use

Function(s): Allows the user to summon a living being of their own choosing from another dimension.



Description: Created by the god and goddess of reincarnation, this item allows the user to summon a living being with their chosen preferences from another world into theirs. The summoned being will then be bound to the user, not allowing it to hurt them. However, consent must be given from the chosen candidate. When picked, a message will be sent to them, giving them the option to either accept or decline your summon. If the candidate doesn’t accept, another candidate will be picked that is similar to the user’s preferences. Once the candidate accepts, they will be teleported to the user’s side. After all the necessary conditions are met, the candidate is allowed to request something from the gods of reincarnation themselves.

_____



After reading the item’s description, Adrian was very confused.



‘So when the message said I could ‘choose’ my companion, it literally meant I could adjust what type of companion I wanted?’



Deep in thought, Adrian re-read the description again.



‘I can get the consent part, but is it really that easy to summon someone from another world? How can the system even know what kind of person to get based on what options I picked? This is so strange….’



{System: I would recommend hurrying before the monsters spot you.}



Remembering once more that he could not win a fight with them, Adrian put all the other thoughts out of his head and used the item.



‘If this is a gift from the gods themselves, I really should stop questioning it. This isn’t Earth anymore, so anything is possible here.’



Soon after, yet another screen appeared.



_____

< Pick your preferences for a companion >



Species: Human / Humanoid / Neither  || (More choices will appear if either ‘humanoid’ or ‘neither’ are picked)



Gender: Male / Female / Neither



Age Group: Teenager / Young Adult  || (Options are limited to around the user’s own age group)



Class Selection Type: Power-oriented / Skill-oriented / Task-oriented || (The user will be able to select which class they prefer their partner to be, after choosing the class type.)



Extra information:

Power-oriented = Type of selection with different classes to choose from, that focuses mainly on increasing combat capabilities and fighting power.

Skill-oriented = Type of selection with different classes to choose from, that focuses mainly on having many skills for various situations.

Task-oriented = Type of selection with different classes to choose from, that focuses mainly on many non-combative job specializations.

_____



After glancing through all the information, Adrian pondered on what to do. However, hearing noises in the distance made him panic. Thus, he slowly peaked up his eyes above the bush and looked around for the source.



When he could not find anything, it only made him panic even more.



‘If I hide myself well, I might be able to avoid whatever is making all that noise.’



{System: It appears that goblins are near your location.}



Surprised to see this message, Adrian mentally slapped himself for forgetting about the system.



When he was about to reply back, Adrian remembered the system’s advice and quickly covered his mouth, afraid that he might make too much noise and draw attention to himself.



{System: I applaud you for not making a sound. Goblins have quite the sensitive hearing.}



Upon reading this, another display screen popped up in front of Adrian.



< Would you like to turn mental-link on? >

Yes / No



Seeing this message, Adrian was dumbstruck.



{System: This option allows us to communicate telepathically instead of you having to read my messages, or me having to listen to your voice.}



After pressing ‘yes’, Adrian sensed that he had just been insulted. However, the situation right now didn’t let him dwell on it.



---To be Continued---



Author’s Notes:



Haha.... Hey guys! It’s been a month now, and I still don’t have much motivation to be productive ;-;.



Got through this chapter on separate days, and it still has the same length as the previous ones XD. I’m gonna be writing some action next chapter, but it really will be my first time doing this. Therefore, it’s most likely gonna have even more terrible writing :D.



I also realized that some people were confused about the 3 periods that appeared by itself throughout the story. It's just implying that there will be a time-skip afterwards. I will just edit them and say how much time has passed instead, so everyone can understand.



Hmm.... I also wanted to post some extra short scenes just for fun. It doesn’t really have much to do with the storyline though, so feel free to skip it if you want.



Extra Scene:



“Hmm....”



{System: Is something the matter Adrian?}



“Ah, not really. I was just wondering how you could see and even hear me. Since...well, you don’t have eyes or ears.”



{System: Don’t league me with those imperfections. After all, I don’t need any body parts to function. It just takes a bit of mana to communicate with you.}



“You are quite a rude system, even going as far as calling humans an ‘imperfection’. Still though, you aren’t completely wrong.”



{System: I am never wrong. Facts are my specialty. Besides, humans are nowhere near close to being as ‘perfect’ as I am.}



“You also have quite the big ego.... Anyways, I meant that you were correct that we are imperfections. After all, no one is perfect, and everyone has flaws. Even me.



{System: I believe you need to re-read my last message. I have already stated my point there.}



“...System, you are not really hearing me are you.”



{System: What do you mean? I can hear you just fine.}



“System. I will make it clear to you, so either shut the hell up and listen to me talk, or I’ll turn you off.”



{System: Adrian, even if you are my host, you can’t just tu-}



< System has been turned off. >



“Hah...I wish there was someone like me I could talk to. It just doesn’t feel the same talking with the system....”



‘I miss Earth...no, I just miss my family....’



(Hey, author here. Just wanted to let you know that Adrian doesn’t really have the power to turn the system off. Otherwise, I would have to expla-I mean, otherwise, the story would get complicated. These short scenes are just a little extra side story, so don’t think everything they do here is in line with the story.)