As soon as Shin stepped outside the house, he realized he had no idea where the school was.
He looked around at a quiet street of the small town he landed in, searching for the answer, until he spotted a silhouette of another boy in school uniform.
Shin hurried in the same direction, and after ten minutes of walking, saw the school gates ahead. High schoolers, most of them just as nondescript as Shin, walked inside by themselves and in small groups.
In the background of his mind, Tetsu hummed hungrily, but he shushed her.
Blending with the crowd was easy. Instead of following it, though, Shin turned away from the classes and towards the roof—one of the popular lounging spots.
The door there was locked. Shin tugged on it to be sure and frowned. This wasn't how it was supposed to be—unless someone locked it with a purpose.
Shin searched his memory. If he was an extra in the story about the skin-snatcher, then… Then right now, the protagonist of it was on the rooftop, confronted by the brother of an eaten girl and his friend.
If events went like in the story, the protagonist would be beaten badly and end up in the hospital, helpless to stop the skin-snatcher until it came for him.
'Tetsu. You have recovered enough to use your power, haven't you?'
'Yes, partner. Not to the best of my ability, but… Do you want me to open this door? It will be easy.'
'Do it, but don't break it if you can.'
'You can rely on me, boss! It will only take a moment.'
Yet again, Tetsu's arm protruded out of Shin's elbow. It reached for the locked door, and Shin heard quiet clicks and clacks inside the lock, until it swung ajar.
Now Shin could hear angry voices on the other side.
'Here, boss!' Tetsu said, retreating to Shin's body. He felt her expectant excitement inside him.
Shin knew what she wanted.
'Good job,' he praised. The words felt weird on his tongue, but it was necessary to create a good relationship with his demon.
Did he ever praise anyone before? He certainly had someone waiting for praise as hopefully as Tetsu did…
Shin shook away these thoughts and stepped onto the rooftop.
"You bastard… how dare you talk like this about Yuki-chan?!"
"I wasn't… I wasn't talking 'like this' about her! And I tell you, it wasn't my fault that she… disappeared. It wasn't. Just get away from me, or… Or I will have to defend myself. I WILL defend myself!"
The boy who said this clenched his visibly shaking hands, but still glared defiantly at the two delinquents in front of him. The pair, who brought baseball bats with them for this, glared back. They were so focused on this that they didn't even react to Shin's appearance.
'This smell! Boss, do you smell this? There's another one like us. This one, the shortest.'
Shin nodded inwardly. It seemed like he found another summoned person, which was great news. This boy was already going off the script.
"Yes, go away, you two," Shin said loudly. "I know what you were up to, and I already called the teacher. He will be there soon."
Three pairs of shocked faces turned to Shin.
"What?! How did you unlock the door?"
"With a key, of course, dumbass," the other delinquent berated his friend. "D-damn, we really should go, Daisuke."
"But don't think that I believe you for a moment," Daisuke growled at the third boy. "We will just find you later, understand? If you don't come to school, we will find your home, I swear. I will avenge Yuki-chan!"
After this, they ran away in a hurry, and Shin moved to the side to let them pass. As soon as they did, he closed the door behind them and turned to the other remaining boy.
The boy stared back at him with wide eyes. "You… You didn't really call the teachers, didn't you?" he asked. "My d—I can feel that you are… like me. Right? You must be!"
"Summoned, you mean?" Shin asked, approaching.
From closer up, he saw that although the boy looked boring overall, his eyes were an unusual blue color. Shin didn't think he gave that feature to the protagonist of this story.
"Yes!" The boy beamed at him, then jumped into a straight position and bowed deeply. "My name is Murai Tadahisa, I'm 21 years old, and I work in accounting. Worked, I suppose. Nice to meet you!"
"I'm Kugutsu Shin. Did you go through the Court of Words, too?"
"The Court?" Murai looked at Shin with confusion. "Do you mean that terrifying place with demons? Yeah. I was just watching some TV before bed, when I suddenly… got sucked out of my body? I don't know. It was a blur… Though I remember something about the Fourth? And, well, that demon thing…"
Murai shuddered, hugging his shoulder.
"If I knew that reading so many horror stories will lead to this, I'd stick to romance."
Shin's curiosity perked up. "You read horror stories?"
"Yeah. They are so cool in that gruesome way… Is this weird? Not as weird as being transported into another world, I guess. Actually… I feel like this world is familiar, Kugutsu-san," Murai admitted. "I remember reading a story that feels similar to that. About people disappearing because of a monster, but some thugs blame the protagonist instead and beat him up. It was kind of boring, though, so I forgot most of it."
That was a connection. And with all Shin knew, this meant…
"In that story, there was a mention of the Fourth God," Shin said. "In all stories of this author, there's a mention of his name, like an Easter egg. I think that… even if they forgot the name, as long as they saw it once, those people were summoned in this world."
Murai gasped. "R-really? Then how many people there will be?!"
Shin recalled the minuscule views count on his novels.
"Not that much."