Chapter 4 - "New Life?"
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*Ow.*
That was my first coherent thought.
*Everything hurts.*
That was my second.
Slowly, painfully, consciousness crept back into my body like someone was pouring molten lead into my veins. My head throbbed. My muscles ached. Even my hair felt like it hurt, which didn't make sense, but nothing made sense right now.
*Am I... alive?*
I cracked open one eye. Then the other.
Above me was sky. Not a ceiling. Not the twisted metal and fire of the lab. Just... sky. Blue, clear, with a few white clouds drifting lazily across it.
"I'm... not dead?" My voice came out as a croak.
I tried to sit up and immediately regretted it. Pain shot through my ribs. I flopped back down onto whatever surface I was lying on—grass? Since when was there grass in the lab?—and stared up at that impossibly calm sky.
"Okay," I said to no one in particular. "Okay. Not dead. That's... that's good. That's a good start."
I took inventory of my body parts. Arms? Check. Legs? Check. All my fingers and toes seemed to be accounted for. Nothing felt broken, just bruised to hell and back.
With a groan that would've made an old man proud, I managed to lever myself into a sitting position.
And that's when I saw it.
The city.
But not *my* city.
Towering structures of glass and steel stretched toward the sky, their surfaces gleaming with lights and holographic displays. Flying vehicles—actual flying vehicles—zipped between buildings like something out of a sci-fi anime. The architecture was sleek, futuristic, and completely impossible.
"What the..."
I blinked. Rubbed my eyes. Blinked again.
Still there.
"No. No no no. This isn't—" I looked around frantically. I was in some kind of park, sitting on actual grass with actual trees, but beyond the greenery was this... this impossible cityscape that looked like someone had taken Tokyo and fast-forwarded it a hundred years.
My brain struggled to process what I was seeing.
"Okay, Kaito. Think. You were in the lab. There was an explosion. You grabbed that girl's hand. Then everything went white and—"
I froze.
"Oh my god." A laugh bubbled up in my throat, slightly hysterical. "Oh my GOD. I got isekai'd."
The pieces clicked together with the confidence of someone who'd watched way too much anime.
"That's it. I died in that explosion and got reincarnated in another world. This is—" I looked down at my hands, patting my chest and arms. "Wait. Same body? That's weird. Usually you get a new body or at least some overpowered abilities or—"
I stopped mid-ramble.
"Hold on. I didn't get hit by Truck-kun."
This was a problem. A serious problem. Everyone knew the rules. You couldn't get isekai'd without Truck-kun. That was, like, sacred law. You get hit by a truck, you wake up in a fantasy world with a goddess offering you cheat abilities. That's how it worked.
"Did... did the time machine count as Truck-kun?" I wondered aloud. "Is that allowed? Can you substitute a temporal displacement device for a standard truck? Are there regulations about this?"
A part of me recognized I was probably in shock and definitely not thinking clearly, but the other part of me was genuinely concerned about the logistics of improper isekai protocol.
"Maybe it's a different universe where the rules are—"
"Excuse me."
I yelped and scrambled backward, nearly falling over.
Three women stood a few meters away, and my brain immediately short-circuited.
They were *gorgeous.* Like, impossibly, unfairly gorgeous. The kind of beautiful that didn't exist in real life. The kind you only saw in carefully edited photos or anime.
The one in the center had long red hair pulled back in a professional bun, wearing what looked like a business suit that probably cost more than my entire wardrobe. Her sharp green eyes studied me with the intensity of a predator sizing up prey.
To her left was a woman with flowing blonde hair and an elegant dress that screamed "I'm rich and I know it." She had this regal air about her, like she'd never experienced an awkward moment in her life.
To her right was a woman with brown hair in a neat braid, wearing more casual clothes but carrying herself with the confidence of someone who could probably kick my ass without breaking a sweat.
All three of them were staring at me.
"Uh," I said eloquently.
"Can you understand me?" the red-haired woman asked. Her voice was crisp, authoritative. "I'll ask again: who are you?"
My mouth opened. Closed. Opened again.
*Say something, idiot. Say literally anything.*
"I'm... Kaito?" It came out as a question.
The three women exchanged glances.
"Kaito," the red-haired one repeated, like she was testing the name. "Is that your full designation?"
"Designation? I mean... Kaito Aoyama? That's my name?"
"Aoyama," the blonde woman murmured. "I don't recognize that family name."
"Should we contact security?" the brown-haired woman asked.
"Wait, what? Security?" Panic crept into my voice. "Look, I don't know what's going on. There was an explosion, and a fire, and—"
The girl.
The memory hit me like a physical blow.
Silver hair. Dark eyes. Her hand in mine.
"Wait!" I lurched to my feet, ignoring the protests from my battered body. "There was a girl with me! Silver hair, about this tall—" I gestured frantically. "Where is she? Is she okay?"
The three women stared at me like I'd just started speaking in tongues.
"A girl?" the red-haired woman said slowly. "You arrived with someone?"
"I—I think so? We were together when the machine exploded and—"
"Machine?" The blonde woman's eyes widened. "What machine?"
"The time machine! At the lab! We—"
I stopped.
They were looking at me like I was completely insane.
And maybe I was.
Because nothing about this situation made any sense.
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