Dion was pacing the streets near his house in deep thought.
'Where the hell am I?'
He questioned. Looking around at the unfamiliar houses and streets he stroked his chin.
'I was reading manga in bed before the lights went out and I dropped the tablet on my face... next thing I knew, I was standing at the gate to the house I 'lived at' with the memories of this 17-year-old boy's body that I now occupy'
Before this, Dion was just a normal 9-to-5 salaryman living alone in his apartment with a deep hobby of reading manga and novels while occasionally watching anime. He would've sacrificed an arm and a leg if he could have more time to play games but his job left him with little space and energy.
The more he thought about it the more he got frustrated. 'If this is some sort of joke by a god, you can stop now... I've seen this scenario before' He pointed to the sky.
Of course, nothing happened and his only audience, the pigeons watched him in amusement.
There was more to this that made Dion think that this world was a joke.
---
Earlier this morning, after he left his gate to go to school he bumped into his 'childhood friend' Ayane at her home which was situated right beside his. Her long auburn hair and beautiful facial features struck Dion still but alas...
"Hmmph"
That was all she said to him if you could call that a word as she left in the direction of the nearby bus stop. As Dion woke up and was about to retort he heard a chuckle from the gate she left from. A mature woman almost like an exact older copy of Ayane giggled with her mouth covered by her hand as she looked at their interaction.
A while later, he arrived at school after taking the later bus to avoid Ayane for the time being. Walking towards the school entrance, Dion's eyes nearly broke out of their sockets when a black sedan escorted by two black SUVs rocked up.
The high school his body's previous owner went to was by no means wealthy, nor prestigious and this mismatch in scenery just fueled Dion's astoundment. A man in a black suit with shades on walked out of the front SUV and quickly opened the back door of the sedan with a pose of utmost respect, respect Dion had never seen before in his years of adult life.
A goddess descended, would be the closest comparison to say when she exited the vehicle. Long straight black hair. Green eyes brighter than Dion's previous future. Somehow the uniform she wore had its charm raised just because she was wearing it. He knew of people with a noble temperament that could affect their surroundings but that would only be in the novels he read in his past.
Dion stood a bit away to appreciate this scene. In fact, there were more people than him watching but different from them, Dion's face had a look of amusement mixed in.
'She's also the student council isn't she?"
Dion smirked for a second and turned away... only to stop in his tracks after checking his newly acquired memories and finding that he wasn't wrong. He tried to shudder the ominous feeling away before heading to class on the first floor/ second story of the school building, well not before changing his shoes.
As he walked into class, his concentration was left behind as he absentmindedly sat at his desk at the second last row next to the window.
'If what I think is true then, that would truly be horrifying'
Closing his eyes in angst, Dion surmised a particularly terrible truth about this world. The organized desks and chatty students appeared in his eyes as he frantically scanned the classroom. Every time he recognized a certain 'thing' he cringed further with his eyes drooping more and more.
'Shy, glasses-wearing class president in the front row'
'Dark skin, dyed-blonde gal in the 2nd last row furthest from my seat'
'Oh god... don't tell me that she's-' Dion violently swung his head towards the person sitting 2 seats ahead of his. The boy who had the gyaru's attention.
'There he is! the infamous handsome riajuu who's coincidently in the soccer club and uncoincidentally surrounded by females' Dion glared at the innocent guy for a second before realizing he had no hard feelings for him and just did it out of otaku conditioning.
A few minutes passed as Dion directly ignored the "Hmmph" coming from the seat to his right and raised his head to stare at the clock.
'Two more seconds until 8:45, who's it gonna be, a strict loli or a mature virgin-killer' Dion slowly turned to face the sliding door closest to the front while crossing his fingers.
Not a millisecond after the minute hand pointed towards 9, the door slid open and the students quietened down as if there was no noise originally. A balding old man wearing a gray sweater planted his feet into the classroom as Dion face-planted onto his table.
'Crap, I don't know if I should be happy or disappointed that my prediction failed'
Dion grimaced, holding his head.
"What's wrong with you? not that I care, baka"
'On the other hand... you fall into expectations' Dion internally sighed. 'Why are you called Ayane, why are you the only person that has a Japanese name in the entire class! How did you say that sentence without any introspection!'
Dion felt the harrowing world close in on him as he ignored the class, even being too distracted to answer attendance. If this kind of terrifying world exists then why had he migrated here? Could this just be a dream? How could he go back to his own world? Would he have to live out the rest of his life here? Will he lose himself to insanity or could he adapt?
He briefly heard the teacher murmur something about the infirmary while in delirium and raised his hand before leaving the room dejectedly.
Dion was leaning on the wall outside the classroom when he belatedly noticed someone speaking to him.
"Th-Thank y.... taking me..... infirmary..... no one.... helped"
Her voice was squirrel-like and soft enough that you couldn't blame Dion for not noticing her even if he wasn't distracted. He looked up and saw a large, plus-sized girl talking more towards the floor than to him. One peculiar thing was the half bloodied tissue she was holding to her nose.
"Let's go then"
He answered and lead the way based on what he 'remembered'. The design of the school was ridiculously simple. Three floors for- as you may have guessed- senior high school year 1, 2, and 3. A section on the 2nd floor/ 3rd story for the teachers. A gym next to the open 400m circular running track to the right of the main building and extraneous classrooms to the left of the building which also served as a divider to the middle school section. The infirmary was located on the ground floor which saved students injured from sports from climbing the stairs.
Dion looked back just before descending the stairs and saw his escort target walk towards him in an unsteady gait. As she approached, he unhesitatingly took her pudgy arm which was free, and placed it on his opposite shoulder, holding half her weight to help her down the stairs.
Delores- the girl, was rather frightened when her arm was touched but quickly calmed down and gave a near-inaudible thanks, with her eyes avoiding his.
*Sigh* 'No matter where we are, people all have their own problems to deal with' he thought when he looked at her hiding her face. He clearly understood that part of the reason that he was taking her to the infirmary right now was that no one else had volunteered. In his heart, Dion thought that she looked cute regardless of her size, contrary to what their classmates might think.
'Now that I think about it, what did my predecessor think about his daily life?'
Looking roughly through the past few days of memories, Dion found that this boy, coincidentally or not also called Dion was a walking mannequin. Not that he was apathetic and unfeeling but he was too 'normal'. He would be standing in the crowd as Dion himself did while looking with heart-filled eyes towards the school council president. He would have genuine confusion when Ayane acted out her usual shenanigans. He would smile as he waited for the crossing light to change. What a monster! Dion even bet that he could play as his predecessor with WASD and a mouse.
'How did he become like that? Am I going to turn into that the longer I stay in this world?'
Dion half panicked but knew he was only being paranoid. Whatever happened to the past him didn't matter currently and whatever will happen in the future could only be decided if he knew more about the world. Right now he needed a place to think freely and that place wasn't the school. Dion also had a feeling that doing something out of the norm might trigger some changes in the world.
"Thank y-"
Leaving a confused and pitiful Delores behind at the infirmary door, Dion ran off towards the school lockers.
...
'What did I do to make you sigh and run off? Can you really not stand me for a second longer?'