The week was up. It was now Friday and Yin had been occupying herself with learning different martial arts, acquiring blueprints, talking with Shizuku and Hajime and secretly interrupting Daisuke's attempts at being a prick. So all in all, she'd call her time spent productive.
As she stepped into the class, she saw Kaori greet Hajime. He was slightly more receptive to her, thanks to Yin talking to him for the past week. But the arrival of Kouki, Shizuku and Ryutaro made him grimace.
"Good morning, Nagumo-kun. Cutting it close like always, huh?" Shizuku greeted before joining Yin at her desk.
"You really are so kind, Kaori." Kouki said for what felt like the hundreth time that week.
"Forget him. There's no use talking to some gutless prick." Ryutaro chimes in.
Though Ryutaro said that, he doesn't actually seem to hate Hajime. Unlike a certain someone who was glaring hatefully at him.
Kouki steps up to Hajime, with the ever present 'kind smile' on his face and prepares to lecture him. "Nagumo, when are you going to stop fawning on Kaori? She can't give you attention forever."
Yin snickered audibly, getting their attention.
"Fawning? Are you blind or something? She talks to him of her own volition. You seem to have a problem with who Shirasaki talks to? Looks a little controlling in my perspective." Yin gave Kouki a mirthless smile while saying.
That seemed to instantly put Kouki on the backpedal while Shizuku sighed. Both Kaori's and Hajime's eyes widened as they took in her words.
"Hey, that's not-" Ryutaro started until Kaori spoke up next.
"She's right. I'm talking to Nagumo-kun because I want to." Kaori clarified.
But before they could retort, a magic circle appeared on the classroom floor, dying the room in its light. Confused and scared voices yelled out as it appeared. Yin stood up and smirked as it spread over the whole classroom.
"Hey! Everyone! Leave the classroom at once-" Shizuku yelled out before they disappeared from Earth.
The next thing they knew, they were inside some extravagant church. An old man with along beard and a large headpiece approached them as the students expressed their shock and concern. Yin kept an eye on Hajime and folded her arms.
'Time to start thinking of a plan. I'm tired of playing the role of someone I'm not. So I'm going to start gradually changing my behavior. Kinda like how I did back with Kouki. To be fair on me though, he's so damned irritating..' Yin thought as the Pope began his introduction.
She also noted how Shizuku began to stick close to her. Even as they were led to a table and given drinks. Yin hadn't touched her cup, prompting Shizuku to do the same. Yin gave her a slight nod and half paid attention to the Pope's explanation about the world. There was talk of an oracle, a God named Eht and saving humanity from demons until Aiko spoke up to protest against the Pope, claiming it was all some elaborate prank.
'You'd have to be in denial to think this is a prank. We disappeared into a damn magic circle.' Yin sighed, noticing Kouki ask the Pope some questions.
They then began to walk outside, so that the Pope could show them they were, in fact in a different world altogether. The Pope explained the races who lived there, Demons, Demi-Humans and Humans, something Yin was already aware of.
After opening the entrance, the class, mainly Aiko, was shocked that they were now somewhere in the mountains. As they all started murmuring in shock, Shizuku walked up to Yin.
"It's.. unbelievable. I thought these kinds of things only happen in anime, you know?" Shizuku exclaimed in a mix of emotions.
"A bit strange, I agree. But I'm paying more attention to his explanation about the Demons. He's painting a very 'Us versus them' picture here. Take these people's words with a grain of salt and keep your guard up." Yin replied, folding her arms.
"Wow... You-" Shizuku was cut off when a wave of complaints from the class came at the Pope.
It seemed like they weren't going to be returned back to their world. And only 'Eht' could do so. But wouldn't, since they were summoned as heroes of humanity.
"Humanity..." Yin whispered.
That word started feeling foreign to her now. In both a literal and mental sense, she did not quite feel human anymore. Not completely, anyway.
As she was thinking to herself, Kouki decided to take charge and accept the mission to save humanity, despite Aiko's insistence not to. He had easily wrangled Ryutaro on his side and was looking at Shizuku expectantly.
"Ah geez.. This guy deciding things all on his own.. Are you in, Natsume-chan?" Shizuku asked.
"Might as well. Since there's no way back." Yin shrugged and followed Shizuku to the 'Cool kids trio'.
"Yeah. We can't go back anyway. I don't like this but whatever." Shizuku replied.
"If Shizuku-chan will, then I will too!" Kaori, although nervous, pumps herself up and exclaims, followed by an avalanche of other students agreeing.
"Thank you, everyone. Let's join our strength and help the humans of this world!" Kouki exclaimed with a confident smile.
""YEAH!"" The rest of the class shouted in response.
'He's beginning to disgust me.. Even though I know he's genuine. No.. perhaps because I know he's genuine?' Yin huffed, hearing a chortle from Shizuku.
[Message: 'Dragon Heart' received. Play?]
Yin held off on playing it for now, certain the message would be more serious, as Hecate had mentioned.
After that, the class was had been redressed and led to a Knight Instructor named Meld Rogins. He gave them all metal cards called 'Status Plates', which made Yin apprehensive.
'Damn it.. Will it display my real strength? What about class? I don't even have a class..' Yin frowned as Meld explained the uses of the card.
Students then began pricking their fingers and dripping their blood on their cards, revealing their name, age, sex, stats, jobs and skills. Shizuku, who was next to her eagerly showed her card off.
"Hm.. as expected of a kendo champion. Your stats are impressive." Yin complimented.
"Thanks, but I'm sure your job and skills are going to be crazier than mine." Shizuka replied cheekily.
Yin snorted before lowering her aura and using her teeth to make the cut. Given that her skin would be hard to pierce with a simple iron pin. As soon as her blood dropped on her card, she received a message.
[Would you like to display your true stats or mask them?]
Yin immediately sighed in relief before choosing to mask them. But still, she was not prepared for how impressive they would look, even toned down.
{Natsume Okada
17 years old
Female
Class: Dragon Knight
Strength: 90 Defense: 95 Agility: 105 Vitality: 115 Magic: 50 Resistance: 112
Skills: Language comprehension, Sword mastery, Martial arts mastery, Magic eater, Elementalist, Berserker, Sure footed, Blessed by flame}
"That's incredible, Okada-san!" Kouki looked over after Shizuku coughed in shock.
"Hey hey, doesn't that look very powerful? She's similar to Kouki! He's got stats about a hundred too." Ryutaro shouted in surprise.
'Don't compare me to him. Over a hundred in this world's terms is about a thirty in my world's.' Yin fought back the prideful anger she felt beginning to rise within her.
"Way to go, Okada-chan!" Kaori smiled, missing the sight of Daisuke taking the opportunity to ridicule Hajime for his job and stats.
"What the fuck! This is shitty! What are you, an average creep!?" Daisuke laughed mockingly before going to shout a question to Meld.
"Meld-san! What is a 'Synergist'?" Daisuke asked with his hand raised.
"Synergist... It's a crafting class. It's a good crafting class, but not really useful in battle." Meld answered, making Hajime frown.
'What a complete waste of space. Fucking idiot doesn't realize how busted that could be, given we're from a more advanced world. Time to start putting those blueprints to good use. And maybe uplifting the poor bastard while I'm at it.' Yin smirked, watching Hajime get approached by Aiko, who wanted to cheer him up by showing him her low stats.
Only to get shocked by how her Farmer job is basically a Godsend for their army. One can't march on an empty stomach, or so it's said. After more information, the students each received their own rooms, where they settled in after dinner. Yin looked for Hajime's room, where she saw Kaori lingering outside his door, hand almost reaching for the handle until she shook her head and walked away with a blush on her face.
"Psh.. teenagers." Yin chortled before knocking on his door.
Knock Knock
Hajime peeked out suspiciously before seeing Yin standing outside his door.
"Yo. Mind if we talk for a bit? I think I can help you." Yin said, watching the wariness of Hajime's eyes fade away, seeing it was her who came.
"Sure. But I've been trying to think of things myself.. My stats suck. My job sucks.." Hajime slumped on his bed in defeat as Yin entered, closing the door behind her.
"Haven't tried experimenting yet though, have you? Iron swords and armor are the least impressive thing you can do. You can make things this fantasy world's never seen before. We are from a modern world, remember?" Yin explained, smirking as she saw the figurative gears turning in his head.
"You're right... But the metalworking in this world seems.. inferior? And gunpowder.." Hajime's eyes gained a focus as he began to think about it.
"There's ores, magic and materiala here that probably don't exist on Earth. Say you could.. I dunno.. make a magic railgun or something?" Yin threw out the suggestion, immediately seeing Hajime's eyes light up.
"Oh I'm so stupid... Of course! I need a workshop.. I need to figure out what works..!" Hajime muttered, cracking an almost mad smile.
"Glad I could help. You research some stuff, advance your skills and train up, I'll see what I can do about coming up with gun blueprints." Yin offered, watching as Hajime wiped his eyes.
"Thank you. I was very.. frustrated with everything. But I can see a way now. By the way, how do you know so much about guns?" Hajime asked.
"...I was in America for a few weeks. In.. Texas." Yin lied, seeing Hajime nod.
"Oh that explains it. Well thank you again. I have a lot of research to do now." Hajime bowed his head.
"Don't sweat it. We're friends. You'll probably end up cursing me when I'm training you. Guns are cool and all, but martial arts can save you if you're ever without a weapon." Yin replied, stepping back outside with a small smirk.
"But what if I put guns.. in my armor..?" Hajime muttered.
"Ooookay.. see ya later, N-..Hajime." Yin waved, leaving to her own room.
"..Eh..?" Hajime grew a bit flustered before quickly shutting his door.
As soon as Yin returned to her room, she took a seat on her bed. Planting ideas in Hajime's head worked perfectly. All she needed to do during these months of training was to teach Hajime a few moves. None of them would really grow until they were in battle. And Yin felt a little restless from not fighting anything for over a week. Yin sighed and turned her attention to the recorded message left for her.
[Playing received message 'Dragon Heart'
Hello Yin. This is recorded separately from your introduction due to the nature of the information I'm about to tell you. The Dragon Heart, is essentially the core of your being as well as a very powerful magic reactor. It will trigger via your blood when you reach a place with potent ambient mana. For you, this will be in the lower area of the dungeon.
Yin. This part is especially important, due to what you will experience upon its awakening. Your memories about your personal life, relationships and certain events are gone. But emotions aren't so simple. They've been sealed. And as a consequence, while you've been pretty close to the person you were before your death, you're not fully there.
During your awakening, you will feel the depths of the emotions that were sealed within it. Whether or not you let the negative ones control you will determine your fate as a Dragon.
Whether or not you become an Evil Dragon, who's lost all sense of self and indulges in her destructive impulses. This is a trial, Yin. I hope you pass through your complete self]