A fracture reopened in the hotel room, where (Redacted) was staying in the original world. His white head popped out of the fracture, looking around for people.
(Redacted)- [Wiping of sweat] Whew, there's no one here.
He stepped out with fresh new clothes. It's just a pink Hawaiian shirt, a pair of dark-colored cargo shorts with sandals, like someone who's an oddity specialist or a beachgoer would wear.
He started to pack his things after dusting off his clothes, which were few in number. His combat halo, a simple handheld brown leather suitcase that straight up belongs to a steampunk era, and his pretty futuristic earpiece.
He got out of the room and rushed down the stairs. The camera passes through the floor to get to the ground floor. Not much later, (Redacted) came down the stairs and checked out at the reception table, which looks pretty humble for the quality of the rooms they provide.
He quickly said goodbye to the receptionist and got out of there as fast as possible.
The camera cut to the side of the street, opposite the hotel. The street was empty, except for some pedestrians. (Redacted) came bursting through the front door with his suitcase, earpiece in place, checking the current news or something.
He quickly opened up a small fracture and threw his suitcase into it. He grabbed the halo from one of his pockets. It was a small halo with no discernible color or features. A transparent halo was put behind his head. [Click] It connected with something, but there's no connection. Soon, the halo starts to vibrate, changing its color to a faded pink. Right after that, the capital letter J appeared inside the halo of the same color as the halo. The halo starts to stabilise after expressing some features after the connection.
(Redacted)- That's done. Let's go. I know a place where I can get into a squad.
He pointed his thumb to the left of him. The camera followed, showing a somewhat rural town in Japan. There were more people than expected for a rural village in Japan. Some commute to work, some go in and out of small home shops. A few stand out tho. They were wearing armored clothes, it seems. Some carry guns, and A select few carry what seem like close-range weapons like swords and spears. All of them, including (Redacted), share a trait that you've seen just before. They are all wearing halos, but they are all different from one another, in color, shape, size, and different symbols as such.
The number of people with a halo in view can be counted with just fingers. The camera took a long shot, along the other side of the street, with (Redacted) walking on the other side.
(Redacted) tapped on his earpiece. An upbeat but kind of relaxing song started to play. He snapped his fingers twice. Lyrics started to appear as props on the side of the streets, the environmental sounds rhyming with the song, as he advances down the street.
After about an average length of a song, the song comes to a stop in front of a café. He taps on the earpiece again to set it to standby mode.
He opens the door, and A little bell chimes; time slows, the camera slows. All background noise vanishes, and People chatting with their friends are gone. The time seems to have been set before dusk. The sun is beaming down on the café through the glass doors facing toward the beautiful lake, casting the café in a friendly yellow tint.
The camera cuts to a leg of a chair, and a white cat's tail falls from the chair. It cuts again to the head of it—white cat ears of human size twitch. A small, lean, yet sexy human body stretched like a cat, and a girl's yawn echoed through the empty café.
Unknown - Nya ... [Cleaning oneself] That was a good nap.
He was standing still with the door handle in his hand, still in the position of entering the café. He shot a glance straight at the table where the cat was resting. The camera cuts to a close-up shot of (Redacted)'s face. His face was putting on a small smile, with his forehead and eyes covered in a shade from nowhere.
The bell chimed once again, and Time was turned back to late morning/early noon. The people returned to their respective seats, chatting away like nothing had happened.
(Redacted)'His face was back to normal, eyeing up a table with three people sitting. He went to join the table.
(Redacted)- Yo, can I join your squad?
The 2 dudes looked up at me, with the girl still eating her cake.
[Translation - Japanese -> English ... Complete, live translation online]
Man - Yeah, you can join us. We are lacking one person anyway.
The girl paused her eating. She said with her mouth full.
Girl - Sensei, can we really add him to the squad? The other one is not here yet.
Boy - [Sips soda] Well, knowing her, she might not object anyway.
Man - Then, do you two agree?
Girl - Let's hear him out first.
Man - Ay, how about you sit down, and talk with us for a bit?
The man patted the seat next to him, signaling him to sit down.
(Redacted)- Thank you very much, and nice to meet you.
He bowed and quickly took a seat.
[DIng][DIng][Ding]
{Character Name - Ryo
Nickname - Shadow Parasite}
{Character Name - Akane
Nickname - Wolf's eye}
{Character Name - Peter
Nickname - Gambling duelist}
Each of the little windows appeared on top of their heads. They still display minimal information, but they'll get more information later.
Ryo - How about you introduce yourself?
(Redacted)- Well, Name's (Redacted). Nice to meet all of you. I'm a solo/freelance mercenary. I specialize in support and utility, and am categorized as a frontliner support.
They seem to be impressed by it.
(Redacted)- I also use dual akimbo pistols as range options, and these hands for close-quarter stuff.
He puts down his dual pistols, which he pulled out of nowhere. When did he get that?
They start to introduce themselves one by one.
The one with the most "protagonist" looking face with a short introduction. His halo is writhings of black and hard tentacles with a speck of red.
Ryo - Hi! I'm a Frontliner, specializing in stealth, categorized as a support and damage dealer. I am currently in the companion path.
Peter introduced himself right after with a big smile. He's an older man, maybe right in his mid-40s, with a small scar on his left cheek. His facial features say he's been through a lot. His halo is a playing card and a coin, floating in a yellow halo.
Peter - Hmm, how can I say this? Not technically a frontliner or a backliner either. I'm more of a midrange, specializing in crowd control, categorized as a damage dealer, and am currently in a dual path utilization.
Akane is the final one. She has striking red hair that goes to her thigh, and calm eyes of a predator. She was sitting beside her BIG rifle that could be half her height. Her halo is a wolf's eye in a crystalized red halo.
Akane - Yo, I'm currently in the mind path, categorized as a damage dealer/scout. Extremely long range cuz of my rifle, that's about all of it I can say for myself.
(Redacted)- OOOO, You guys are pretty balanced.
Peter - Well, one member is taking a No.2. She's coming a bit later.
Akane was eyeing up the dual pistols since he put them down. (Redacted) took notice.
(Redacted)- Can I check your rifle? That rifle looks like it packs a punch. You can check out my pistols in return.
Her eyes lit up.
Akane - Well, you can check mine out, so I'll be checking that.
She grabbed the dual pistols and immediately started to inspect them very intently.
(Redacted)- Oh yeah, what are you guys planning to do today? Going to the local gate?
Peter - [Nods] Yes, we were planning to go to it sooner, but we had to wait for her.
Akane - We stopped by this small café to rest up after the trip. Also, where the heck did you get this from?
(Redacted)- I built it myself.
Akane seemed to be surprised by it. The rest jumped a bit because of Akane.
Akane - You built it yourself!?
(Redacted) - Yeah, yours is great too, but there are some inefficiencies. This model is a Barrett M82A2, right? This thing has been modified, but I can recognize this model from a mile away.
The Sniper seems to be modded with a shoulder mount, a pretty cool-looking custom body, with a little sticker of a stylised drawing of a glowing ruby on the side of the scope.
[OOOOOOOOOO]
Suddenly, Sirens start to blare. It's not like a tornado siren or any other type of siren. The sound was unique, then ...
(Announcer)- Warning! Warning! Warning! A fracture formation has been detected at a nearby location, and Ravagers have been spotted. Non-combatants, please evacuate to the nearby bunker immediately. This is not a drill! I repeat, This is not a drill!
All the people were dumbstruck for a good moment. After that, people from the street, inside the café, started running.
Announcer - All combatant units, please gather at the north eastern section of the town. I have alerted the military, but we will still have to hold. The ravagers are very close, and quickly approaching.
We all looked at each other, knowing what to do, and nodded at each other..
Peter - She will come later. First, let's go to the area. When nature calls, you can't deny it.
Akane gave the pistols back, and also gave the rifle back to her. We took off immediately to the area.
They are gone from the café, but the camera is still here.
A second later, (Redacted) came back, rushed to the cash register, and put 50000 yen in there. Then, He took off like a bullet.