Overcoming those difficult times, I was now fully enjoying a rare period of recovery. After the middle school graduation ceremony was over, we went on a short break before starting high school.
Realistically, I should have had a part-time job during this break, but that was gone now, because of the group bullying from the other day. Because I was absent that day, I was fired; obviously, it wasn't possible to go to it. I was fired from my other part-time job as well, because of all the bruises on my body. I thought it was unreasonable, and I was frustrated, but I couldn't do anything about it.
I wondered if I should do muscle training during this break, even though I didn't think it would change anything. I had a lot of things to worry about, but first I had to find a new part-time job. At any rate, for now, I had a little time to spare, so I decided to clean this house for the first time in a long time.
I immediately got out a rag and vacuum cleaner and started cleaning the house. Even though I often did light cleaning, a thorough cleaning revealed a lot of dirt. My grandpa's house was quite large, so it would have been difficult to clean all the rooms properly without an opportunity like this.
…No, I knew the truth. I was doing this to avoid thinking about what had happened.
During a surge of depression, I went to the washbasin to replace the water in the bucket, and there, like it or not, I could see my face reflected in the mirror. Thin, small eyes. A huge pig nose with small nostrils. Rounded cheeks, and although my cheekbones were defined, my whole face was fat, swollen, and covered in acne and freckles.
My lips were thick and covered my crooked teeth. My hair was so thin it felt like premature baldness. This was my face. A face that doesn't at all resemble my parents or those twins. When I looked at it now, the accumulated resentment inside of me overflowed.
I yelled in rage, and punched the mirror over and over again, desperately trying to erase the picture in front of me. I kept hitting it long after my fist was covered in blood.
Breathing hard, I then grabbed the big bucket and smashed it into the mirror, breaking it instantly. With the mirror broken, I was able to calm down a little, but mentally, I was still in a fog. Fragments of the mirror fell onto the floor and mingled with my blood.
No matter how much I shout, my situation won't change.
I wanted to undergo plastic surgery if I could. But I couldn't even come close to doing that without any money. The fact was, I had to work with all my strength just to barely earn enough for my living expenses.
In the face of such a sorrowful reality, my heart sank even more. What exactly do I want to be? I couldn't see my future anymore. I wouldn't be able to find a job properly. Considering how things are now, it was only natural that I'd never thought about what I wanted to be in the future.
Dream… a dream, huh? Even if I had a dream, it would be meaningless anyway. I don't have the ability or the will to make a dream come true…
"Fuck!"
Frustrated by my powerlessness, I hit the wall forcefully ― and at that moment…
"Huh?"
All of a sudden, the wall rotated, like a secret door in a ninja mansion, and revealed a room I had no idea existed.
"Wh… What the…?"
I'd lived in my grandpa's house for a long time, and I'd never seen a room like this before.
"What is this place…"
I had stumbled on a mysterious hidden room. I was cautious at first, but soon my curiosity won out, and before I knew it, I was already inside.
"This is…"
As it turned out, this was a room where grandpa put many of the things he collected when he flew around the world. My grandpa was always traveling around and coming back with souvenirs, but I didn't know where he put them all. I was stunned to realize all of them had been stored in a secret room.
When I was looking in amazement at the goods obtained from all over the world, I suddenly got a strange feeling.
"Wha― What the hell is this?"
It was a puzzling feeling, one I had never felt before, and it now guided me through the room. I passed by many things, some of which grandpa had shown me in the past, and others that were totally new to me.
"…What is that? That mask. It's frightening, and it kind of looks like a kijin… hmm? Oh wow… What's that doll?"
It was like the kijin mask and a mannequin that was bigger than me. There were also some basketball-sized red cubes, and although I didn't know the principle behind it, there were also some strange stones floating around an equally strange pedestal.
Apart from that, there was even a coffin that looked like an Egyptian sarcophagus, the kind that usually contained a mummified pharaoh.
As I walked around, looking at the various objects and artifacts around me, I started to get that funny feeling again, like something was calling to me. I continued on, like being led by the hand.
Grandpa… collected all of this…
In the past, he had often boasted about his collection, but I didn't realize how great it really was. Memories of a casually cheerful grandpa resurfaced, and it was almost enough to make me cry again.
It was grandpa's collection of items, but it was full of things I had no idea what the uses were, so it was almost like junk now. If grandpa was still alive, he would have taught me a lot once more…
"What should I do with all this… hmm?"
Even though I felt a bit uneasy, like something scary would happen if I even touched these items, my eyes were drawn to one particular item placed at the very back of the room. It was a door that existed as if it had been pulled out of the wall. There was a large owl carved on the middle of the wooden door, and trees carved on the edge of it.
"Did grandpa bring this back, too?"
This door? If he brought this back, where would this door lead to? Well, it's just a door anyway, so I should only see the wall behind it, if I open it. But the moment I saw the door, the strange feeling that I was having grew stronger.
"Could it be… from this door?"
I couldn't recognize anything about the door in front of me, but it demanded my attention, and my eyes were glued to it.
I wonder if this door was the thing calling me this whole time…
"Is there anything on this door?"
With that in mind, I reached for the doorknob and opened it.
"…Huh?"
It was an unfamiliar room. It's decorated similar to a log house, with a large wooden table and chairs, and a wooden closet. Weapons such as swords and axes were piled up like mountains.
"Huh? Wha-?"
I felt like my head was about to explode upon seeing such an incomprehensible situation. Then, something like a translucent board suddenly appeared in front of me.
"Whoa!"
Since it appeared so suddenly, I cried out like a wimp and fell on my ass. However, the translucent board moved with me and remained at the same place in my vision.
"W-What is this…"
Feeling flustered, I focused on the translucent board, and saw the text written on it:
"Huh?"
There, something like a message from games was displayed. A-Appraisal? Endurance? More importantly, a different world?
For now, I got up and went back to my house and checked around the door again.
"A-As I thought, there's nowhere to go?"
The only thing behind the door was just the wall of my house. Yet through the door was an unfamiliar room like in a log house, extending beyond the other side.
"Seriously, what is this thing…"
What the heck is this door?
The moment I thought that the translucent board that had disappeared suddenly appeared again.
[Door To Another World]:: A door which suddenly appeared on Earth and leads to some other world. Even the Gods do not know why these doors appear, or how. The destination is unknown, and once you cross to a different world, the location becomes fixed. Those who become the door's master can manipulate various functions. The door is indestructible.
How? Suddenly I know all this information about the door. No wait, I understand it perfectly well, but it's still absurd! At this point, I finally calmed down and arrived at the answer.
"Perhaps… it's the effect of this [Appraisal] skill?"
No, but wait… I'm in the room at my house right now, not in that log house style room. So… why is that thing still showing up?
"I don't really get it, but… is there any way I can check the effect of the skills?"
The board appeared again when I muttered that and displayed the following:
[Appraisal]:: Skills to appraise various things.
[Endurance]:: You have acquired great resistance to abnormal states, mental interference, or physical stress.
"There it is again…"
I understood it now. I was probably able to examine the door a little while ago because of this [Appraisal] skill. Even so… this was too far detached from reality.
"If that's how it is, can I examine the titles, too?" I muttered, roughly accepting my present circumstances, and the message appeared as expected.
[Master of The Door]:: The master of the door leading to another world. You can use the menu function.
[Master of The House]:: The new master of the house where the wise man is said to have once lived. You have obtained ownership of this house.
[Otherworlder]:: A person from another world. You will be given a special growth boost, allowing you to obtain more experience than normal. It will also be easier for you to learn skills. The level cap has been removed.
[Person Who Visited A Different World For The First Time]:: The person who visited another world for the first time. A distinct title that makes it easier for you to invent skills and magic compared to the effect of similar titles such as [Pioneer]. The process of your growth will proceed in an ideal direction. In addition, you will be able to use [Item Box].
"Oh."
For some reason, despite how amazing it all sounded, it didn't affect me that much.
[Person Who Visited A Different World For The First Time] seems to be a superior title compared to [Pioneer], and it also apparently makes me able to use [Item Box].
…What's [Item Box]? And which house is the [Master of The House] description talking about?
Then I noticed the part of the description of [Master of The Door] that mentioned a menu function.
"Menu function? What the heck is that… oh, wow!"
Another message was displayed in front of me.
This is…
[Door To Another World]
Owner: Tenou Yuuya
Functions:
That was displayed.
"Money Conversion? Can I convert something into money? And what are Transfer and Entry Restriction…"
As I asked, the message changed to show detailed descriptions.
[Money Conversion]:: Everything can be converted into money.
[Transfer]:: The door can be summoned to the owner's current location at any time.
[Entry Restriction]:: Only those specified by the owner can pass through the door.
"It's more sophisticated than I expected!"
In other words, even if someone finds this place, they can't go any further. In addition, if someone were to try to steal this door, it would return to me…
"I honestly don't know how to use this Money Conversion, but, well, there's no downside from having it, so that's fine for now."
Honestly, everything I've seen until now feels like something you'd see in a game, so there must be something like a status panel, right? I thought about it excitedly, and another message appeared.
[Tenou Yuuya]
Occupation: None
Level: 1
Magic: 1
Attack: 1
Defence: 1
Agility: 1
Intelligence: 1
Luck: 1
BP: 0
Skills: [Appraisal] [Endurance] [Item Box]
Titles: [Master of The Door] [Master of The House] [Otherworlder] [Person Who Visited A Different World For The First Time]
It's hopeless. This thing can't be serious, all of my stats are 1… even in school, I never had grades this bad…
Well, somehow I knew where that was coming from. Apart from that, what was this BP? And [Item Box] was added to my skill column for some reason…
[BP]:: Abbreviation for Bonus Points. When leveling up, you will receive 10 BP, and can assign them to any stat you like. If you are an otherworlder, you will instead receive 20 BP. If you have the title [Person Who Visited A Different World For The First Time], you will instead receive 100 BP.
[Item Box]:: You can manipulate a special region of space that allows you to store and retrieve things as much as you like. However, it's not possible to store living beings. There is no capacity or size limit for things you want to store.
"…Ooh."
First of all, I realized I was able to distribute points into my status, and that was an advantage for me. [Item Box] also functioned like a game's inventory, as I understood it. Well, now that I'd confirmed this much, the only thing left to confirm was…
"That room… that's right…"
There was nobody in there a while ago, but no matter how I thought about it, wasn't that trespassing? So if the other party got angry and attacked, I'd need to bear with it, wouldn't I?
I also got the [Master of The House] title, which I'm not sure about; I hadn't confirmed anything about it at all…
Fortunately, no one else can go through the door except me, so I should be able to manage it somehow if I just run back into my house.
"…Let's take another look."
I decided to go back to that room again.