Chapter 1: If You Call This Everyday Life, Let Me Spend It in Peace

A pure white void stretches out in all directions. In this empty space, there’s only me, my friend Kirisame Raiga, and a woman who claims to be a goddess.

The woman spoke, sounding more than a little annoyed.

…She said she’s a goddess, so she must be a woman—probably.

“Let me get straight to the point. You’re going to be transferred to another world, where you’ll serve as a ‘hero’ to save it.”

The uncertainty in her tone is understandable. After all, her appearance is nothing more than a glowing orb of light.

Come to think of it, both Raiga and I look about the same—just floating orbs. From an outsider’s perspective, it must seem like three balls are lazily drifting around. Still, for some reason, I can tell which one is Raiga.

Even if we look like this now, we were definitely human—well, used to be might be more accurate.

How did things end up like this?

My thoughts drift back to just a short while ago—to the daily life that’s already been shattered to pieces.

“Yuto! Let’s play ZonHun again today!”

It was Monday, after school. Classes were over, and I was stretching to enjoy the sense of freedom when Raiga called out to me.

ZonHun, short for Zombie Hunter, is a cooperative action game. To put it simply, players take the role of hunters from a special task force and mow down the zombies swarming the city. That’s it.

There is one unique feature worth noting: in this game, players are treated as disposable soldiers. In a typical game, even if your HP hits zero, you can revive with an item or magic. Not in ZonHun. Once you die, you become a zombie, and the character is lost permanently.

Then you immediately make a new character and deploy again. Sometimes you even hunt down your former self to loot their gear and recover your losses.

It’s a really twisted game.

And yet, for some reason, it became a surprise hit. Even though VR-style, fully immersive games have dominated the market since they launched about a year ago, ZonHun is still going strong.

People say the game's unforgiving nature—something rare these days—and the excitement of co-op gameplay are what made it popular.

Of course, your next character is always weaker than the last. But if you want your gear back, you have to fight. Having other players around makes those fights easier… supposedly.

“Again today? You should play with someone else for a change.”

In short, I’m a loner.

I don’t have friends. No one talks to me—well, Raiga talks at me, but that’s about it.

It’s not that I’m being bullied or anything.

If anything, I think the rest of the class is fairly kind.

I just don’t bother engaging with them. When we were first divided into classes, I didn’t talk to anyone, and this is the result.

Back then, a few earnest people tried to include me. But now that summer break’s almost here, I’m basically invisible. No one pays me any mind anymore.

Honestly, I prefer it that way.

It’s not like my indifference toward classmates started recently. I’ve been like this since elementary school.

So is Raiga some kind of exception for me? Not really.

If possible, I’d rather he left me alone. But he talks to me every single day.

Eventually, I gave in and started replying to him, and somehow, this weird relationship kept going.

“I like playing with you. I’ll grab the gear as soon as I get home, so wait for me!”

You really think someone like me would willingly play a co-op game?

The answer’s simple: he forced it on me.

“I want to play with you.”

With just that one line, he handed me a console worth over ten thousand yen and a game costing around five thousand.

I seriously thought, Is this guy insane?

I have no idea why Raiga is so fixated on me.

He’s top of the class, a gifted athlete, great at socializing—the kind of person who’s the center of attention. It’s like he was ripped straight out of a story. To top it all off, he’s good-looking.

Not in the polished, idol or host club kind of way. He has a warm, approachable smile and lightly tanned skin—radiating the wholesome “good guy” image.

Naturally, he’s popular.

Girls from other schools have even come all the way here to confess to him. That’s how bad it is.

You’d think someone this flashy would draw jealousy from the guys too, but he uses his communication skills to smooth everything over. I once saw him get cornered by some thuggish upperclassman, only to defuse the situation with a smile and send the guy away grinning. I couldn’t believe my eyes.

He has plenty of people to hang out with, even without bothering with me.

No matter how many times I told him that, he never budged. Talking to him is like preaching to a horse.

Just to clarify, Raiga and I are childhood friends.

But it’s not like we were close. In fact, we barely spoke before high school.

We were just two boys in the same grade from the same neighborhood. That’s all.

“Alright, let’s go home!”

Urged on by Raiga, I grabbed my practically empty school bag and left the classroom.

…Even though I really just want to walk home alone.

At this point, I’ve resigned myself to it. No matter what I say, he’s just going to ignore it anyway.

Just outside the school gate, I spotted a girl standing there with her arms firmly crossed. She was wearing the uniform of a prestigious school from the neighboring town.

She glared in my direction—or rather, her gaze was definitely fixed on Raiga—and strode straight up to us.

“Kirisame-kun! Why didn’t you come yesterday!?”

Then she yelled at us.

“I don’t remember making any promises to you.”

“You said, ‘Let’s go watch a movie together’!”

“I only said it sounded interesting. Nobody actually said that.”

That was a clean cut rejection.

Her face twisted in anger at that response.

She wasn’t really my type—too strong-willed for my taste—but there was no doubt she was a beautiful girl. It was a shame, though, because that expression had completely distorted her usual looks.

—Not again.

I smirked quietly to myself.

For reasons I don’t understand, Raiga’s usual top-tier communication skills are utterly useless when it comes to girls who like him.

A casual remark gets misunderstood, twisted in the worst way. Similar incidents happen all the time.

It really fits with the whole “story character” vibe. Drama is just part of everyday life.

Thankfully, it’s only with girls from other schools. If the atmosphere in our own school became hostile, it would be impossible to focus on anything.

I suspect it’s because the girls within our school keep each other in check. Maybe even the teachers are involved.

—All the more reason to keep my distance from Raiga.

“I’m heading home first.”

I called out to break up the heated argument and slipped away from the gathering crowd of onlookers.