Natsuki Subaru was born on Earth, the third planet in the solar system, into an extremely normal middle-class family as a Japanese boy .
If one were to talk about his roughly seventeen years of life in a simple fashion, a preamble would suffice, and any other elaboration would be along the lines of "A third year public high school student that doesn't feel like going to school" .
To enter a school or to find a job .
When made to stand at the crossroads of life, people are forced to make a decision . Though if you were to ask anyone, they would call it 'a part of life', he was a little better at running away from things he detested than other humans . In the end, the number of times he excused himself from school slowly increased, and by the time he noticed, he became a son that kept skipping school and doing a splendid job of making his parents cry .
"And in the end, I was summoned from another world and am sure to be kicked out of high school… . . I really don't get any of this . "
Though he felt like he was in a poorly-made dream, even if he were to pinch his cheeks or bang his head against the wall, he wouldn't wake up .
Subaru sighed . Moving away from the main street where he was bathed in stares of curiosity, he sat down on the paved surface of a back alley, slightly away from street .
"So assuming that this is a fantasy world, this civilization would be that of the medieval era . From what can be seen, there aren't any machines and the way the surface was paved is not bad… My money obviously can't be used here . "
Regarding the dos and don'ts of communication with the people here and the recognition of the value of materials, Subaru, who realized he had been summoned to another world, swiftly tried to confirmed it .
Luckily, he could understand the words without a hitch and was able to confirm that trade was done with the exchange of gold, silver and copper as currency, though he was given a look of disgust at the fruit stall he had first come into contact with .
It was in circumstances like these, where he had the ability to quickly grasp the situation that he deeply felt blessed to be a youth in the current generation addicted to anime and games .
One would not be exaggerating to describe a phenomenon like trans-world summons as that of the dreams of an adolescent male .
And most of all, when he looked at his overly crappy starting equipment and the situation he was put in, he let out a whine, "An easygoing guy like me won't be able to accept it if I'm not given more company benefits you know! "
A mobile phone (about to run out of battery), a wallet (with plenty of membership cards for video rentals), a cup noodle which he bought at the convenience store (tonkotsu soy sauce flavor), a similar snack (corn potage flavor), the grey jersey that he loved so much (yet to be washed), and a pair of worn out sneakers (two years old) were among the things that he had .
"Why don't I have a single Excalibur on me? I'm so done . What should I do?"
The trans-world summon occurred when he was on his way home from the convenience store so it couldn't be helped . It was exactly in a blink of an eye .
The only things that seemed useful, the snacks, were half eaten as he lost them to his empty stomach . Though he later realized it was an important source of food, there was no use crying over spilt milk .
Even if he were to try to relieve the huge initial shock he had (1), the passing lizard carriage and the looks of the passers-by walking across the street did not make it any better .
"I wonder if it would be more typical to ignore and not interrupt everyone, including the lizard and the sub-human . "
In front of Subaru were people dressed in eccentric clothing with colourful hair .
And most of all, the one that kept reminding Subaru about the reality of trans-world summoning was the existence of sub-humans .
As far as his rough scan of the area went, he discovered 'dog ears' and 'cat ears' . The more eccentric ones he could see were 'lizard-man' like . And if you thought about it, there were humans no different from Subaru .
"Seeing as how there are many sub-humans in this world, there probably are numerous wars and dangers around . Though whether the animals I've seen are here or not is of a different matter, judging by the lizard pulling the carriage, I would say their roles haven't changed—or so it seems . "
After putting that into order, Subaru let out a long breath, different from a sigh . If this development was similar to that found in a fantasy, Subaru should be able to use his current knowledge to thrive in this situation .
—But, he couldn't bring himself to accept it .
"The reason for the summon unclear and no way return . I don't remember going through a mirror nor falling into a pond, and in the first place if I'm a summon, where's the beautiful girl that summoned me?"
A fantasy world is worthless without a main heroine . If it were a two-dimensional world it would be sleeping on the job . The fact that he got summoned without a motive and left alone made him look disposable .
Subaru, who had finished ascertaining the situation and the reality of things, had no other choice than to quickly escape from reality .
"Well, that being said, isn't it no different than being cooped up in my room back on my world?"
Though he thought of his parents for a brief moment, there was no time for homesickness .
But first, if I don't do anything about this situation thought Subaru as he stood up and headed to the main street . And,
"Oh, I'm sorry . "
As he was about to come out of the alley, Subaru passed by a human figure crossing through the alley at the same moment .
Tossing words of apology to the person he almost knocked into, he tried to move out of the way .
"—Wh, Whoa!"
Grabbed forcefully from the back by his shoulder, his body was dragged across the street before being put back in place . He turned around with unstable legs, and there was the man who threw him on the ground . He had such a large build that you could only look up to him, and behind followed two of his companions, and they moved to a position as if to block the road .
He had a bad feeling about their actions which he was all too familiar with .
"Umm… . May I please ask what sort of intentions you have?"
"It seems you don't understand just where you stand . Well, if you bring out what you have to, then it won't hurt . "
"Ah—so that's how it its . Well, there's that . Ha ha, I'm really at a loss here . "
Looks of mockery and disdain . The men were about twenty years old, and their vileness could be seen from their dirty bodies and faces .
Though they didn't look like sub-humans, they were certainly not good people .
Relatively, under this development were the daily threats and the common encounters with hooligans . In other words, "Shiiiiiiiiit, the compulsory route has begun . "
TRANSLATOR'S NOTES
(1) せめて大がかりの素人ドッキリであることに一縷の望みをかけようとしても
Literal translation: even if he tried to cast a thread of hope on his beginner shock