"How? Did you manage to convince her, Chika?" At a glance, I already knew the answer—she hadn't. Her confidence faltered, and her face lacked the cheerful expression she had earlier.
She looked at me with a hint of regret. There was no anger or any other emotion, just pure regret, which, admittedly, wasn't something I expected. But, in hindsight, it was better that way. I mean, I've never been one for drama, especially when it comes to women. I only enjoy the good parts, like the sex.
Even though I already knew the answer, I still asked about her well-being. After all, I'm not a menace MC from next door, like that one guy—Incest Pendragon, was it? Yeah, I'm not him.
Did I say something out loud?
No, I didn't.
Let's get back to the topic at hand.
"No... Hah... How about tomorrow, Miyuki?" she sighed, but then quickly cheered up after the momentary disappointment. I paused, thinking for a second.
Did I have anything planned for tomorrow? Honestly, I wasn't sure. It's always better not to promise anything when you can't be certain. Breaking promise is a jerk move, and while I may act like a jerk sometimes, I don't want to make promises I can't keep.
So, I gave her a vague response.
"We'll see," I said ambiguously. She nodded, still smiling, her cheerful expression lingering on her face.
"For now, I'll head to the library. See you later, Chika."
"Yeah, see you later, Miyuki."
...
"Your complexion seems off, Miyuki. Did you come across something in the book that didn't suit your liking?" Yukino Yukinoshita asked with a rare hint of concern on her typically cold face. It was quite unusual for a woman like her—cold and tsundere in her anime series—to even be capable of asking such a question to someone she had only recently met, like me.
Despite the fact that she had a good impression of me, if this were a non-reversed anime world, she probably wouldn't have asked, and maybe never would.
But, well, this is a reversed world, where men are sometimes treated like kings if they play their cards right.
Unfortunately, most of the men in this world have developed spoiled, unlikable attitudes, which irritates many women, making them unwilling to engage in romance with such men. Instead romancing them, they prefer resorting to coercion, rape, and sex, rather than genuinely investing emotionally in any real connection.
That's what I've gathered so far, based on my observations of this world.
"I'm fine. Was Cleopatra really a man?" I asked, feeling the urge to vomit in disgust as I read more about the history of Ancient Rome in this world.
Gaius Julius Caesar, here, is a woman, bearing the feminine name Gaius Julia Caesaria, while Cleopatra is named Cleo. Their genders are completely flipped, and I felt repulsed by the revelation that Cleopatra, someone who had been a part of my jerk off routine, was a man in this world. His attire, in my opinion, was utterly ridiculous—like a sissy wearing a slutty dress.
To make things worse, back in my original world, I often fantasized about Cleopatra, using her as part of my sexual imagination.
Now, you're telling me that in this world, Cleopatra is a man?
Fuck this.
I was disgusted, and my imagination ran wild as I realized I had been fantasizing about a male version of Cleopatra instead of the woman I had often sexualized.
"It was obvious, wasn't it?" Yukino rolled her eyes at my question, probably thinking it was foolish.
"You told me you enjoy reading books, so why would you even ask something like that?"
"I just had a terrible dream," I sighed, completely lost in my feelings. I felt like a man out of his time, out of place in this world.
Everything feels strange to me now—what was once common sense in my previous world, along with things I thought I knew, have become totally alien and bizarre in this one.
"Do you know why I told you it was a terrible dream, Yukino? There are two kinds of dreams: the bad and the terrible. Bad dreams I can cope with. They're just nightmares, and the end eventually. I wake up. The terrible dreams are the good dreams. In my terrible dreams, everything is perfect. Too perfect even, the world treated me like I was the king of the world. Everyone loved me, no one ever truly abandoned me, I have great friends, I have a loving family and I have a caring lover by my side. None of the bad things that were supposed to happen in the real world happened. Everything's wonderful and normal and fine. And then I wake up, and everything that happened is nothing more than a dream. And that is truly terrible."
I paused, my gaze drifting. "Now, I wonder if this is just another one of those terrible dreams, or if it's real."
"You mean to say," Yukino began, surprisingly serious, "that you experienced another life in that dream, and that dream at the same time made you feel out of place in reality? And now, you find it difficult to adapt because you can't distinguish between what's real and what's a dream? Is that what you're trying to convey, Miyuki?"
Instead of mocking me, Yukino studied me with an intent expression, analyzing my every word. Her perceptiveness startled me.
"Close enough," I replied with a nonchalant shrug, as though it didn't matter much. But Yukino's expression remained serious, her brows furrowed in thought as she pressed on.
"If that's the case, then I think I understand the problem you're facing, Miyuki. You feel like you're trapped in your own terrible dream. You believe that this world, everything happening around you, even me... you fear that it's all just another one of those terrible dreams. And what you're really scared of is what will happen when you wake up. But what you need, I think, isn't some fleeting experience of youth. What you need is to truly integrate into this world. In other words, you need to prove to yourself that everything you're experiencing isn't a dream but something real."
I was genuinely surprised at how close she came to identifying the deep problem I've been struggling with, the hidden fear I carry towards this world. Because, to be honest, everything that has happened so far seems too good to be true. For someone like me, who has faced nothing but hardship and oppression in my past life, this perfect world feels like it could only be one of my terrible dreams.
Despite that, I didn't let her analysis show on my face and simply grinned.
"You're overthinking this, Yukino. It was just a terrible dream, nothing more. Life goes on. I'm not as fragile as you think, and I don't dwell too much on dreams."
"And besides, I'm really enjoying our discussion about the book. Why don't we shift the conversation back to that instead of lingering on these sad topics?"
She nodded, understanding my desire to move on. After that, the conversation about the book we were reading never really happened. We both turned our focus to finishing our books, and silence settled between us.
...
Question: Should I create this crossover where there are supernatural elements and magic, or should I use the method where the MC experiences one world after another?
What I mean is, MC could transmigrate from one anime world to another. For example, one could be a rom-com anime, and after the MC dies or reaches the end in that world, he would transmigrate into another world like Strike the Blood, Seraph of the End, Fate, High School DxD, Tokyo Ghoul, and many more.
Of course, all of these worlds would be reversed worlds. It wouldn't be limited to modern settings; there could be isekai worlds like Overlord, Frieren, Shield Hero, Redo of Healer, Mobuseka, and others.
For the crossover aspect, I would also include fantasy worlds for the sake of balance. I would introduce a mechanism like the "Gate" from the anime Gate, where the MC could travel to fantasy worlds, allowing modern characters to visit fantasy realms and vice versa.
Vote here:
1. Crossover World
2. Endless Transmigration