Appearing before Natsuo was a girl with long, waist-length flaxen hair.
The girl's hair was well-maintained, smooth, and shiny. Her face looked delicate, her skin milky and translucent, glowing smoothly. Her eyelashes were slender and long, her caramel-colored eyes large and bright, her nose straight and refined, and her small, cherry-pink lips were moist and glossy.
She was a girl who instantly struck people as lovely and charming.
The moment Natsuo saw her, he recognized her.
Mahiru Shiina—the Angel—was his neighbor!
That makes sense. The neighbor's surname was Shiina.
Natsuo hadn't thought much about the surname Shiina at first because he assumed this world was merely the setting of Oregairu (My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As I Expected).
But now that his neighbor's identity was revealed, he instantly understood the extraordinariness of this world.
It was likely that many people he recognized were present in this world.
If that was the case, he had to protect this world at all costs.
To be able to encounter all the others I know.
"Um..." The girl noticed Natsuo lingering at her doorway and couldn't help but prompt him.
Her voice was soft and gentle, with a delicate, silky quality.
"My apologies. I'm Natsu from next door. I just moved in recently. Please take care of me," Natsuo quickly apologized and stepped aside.
"I'm Shiina," the girl introduced herself lightly, glancing toward Natsuo's apartment.
"Shiina-san? Understood. I'll be on my way then," Natsuo nodded, not wanting to overstay his welcome, and walked toward the elevator.
The girl didn't move, watching Natsuo enter the elevator. Only after the door closed did she murmur in confusion:
"Classmate?"
A Change of Habits
Natsuo left the apartment and calmly headed to the nearby supermarket.
Although meeting "The Angel" excited him, she wasn't someone easily approached. He couldn't approach her with an obvious agenda.
I must let fate take its course.
They were neighbors, so they shared plenty of opportunities for coincidence. Furthermore, she was wearing a uniform—the Kyōshū Bunbu High School uniform.
They were even students at the same school.
There weren't many people in the supermarket, likely because the nearby area consisted of high-end apartments with fewer residents. In a more common neighborhood, it would be crowded.
Natsuo didn't rush to buy a cheap bento. He went to the fresh food section, contemplating whether to buy some ingredients and cook for himself.
With a fully equipped kitchen, eating only bento boxes seemed a slight to his second chance at a good life.
After all, to enjoy a good life, a healthy body was essential.
Natsuo planned to wake up early tomorrow and start exercising.
Before, when he was on the verge of becoming a sloppy middle-aged man, although he wasn't sick, his body was weak; he would be out of breath after running a short distance.
People rarely appreciate a healthy body until they lose it. Having been granted a second life, Natsuo naturally understood the importance of health.
The body is the foundation of the revolution.
After browsing the ingredients, Natsuo returned to the bento section. He gave up on cooking for himself.
Ingredients were quite expensive, unless he only bought bean sprouts, which were truly cheap, but eating only bean sprouts was worse than eating bento.
Besides, he didn't have oil, salt, soy sauce, or vinegar at home; he'd have to buy those too.
He was currently short on cash.
I should stick to being frugal for now.
Scanning the bento section, Natsuo found an unexpected treat: eel rice (unagi don), and it was half-price.
Natsuo bought it without hesitation.
His funds were a little over 200,000 Yen—not much, but enough to survive on bento for a good while.
The school cafeteria food wasn't expensive either.
He was confident that being a literary adaptor could make him famous because the "World" had rewarded him with powerful and comprehensive writing ability.
To put it simply, it was a master posing as a beginner.
Natsuo wasn't putting all his hopes into novel writing; he still planned to look for a part-time job. He figured he could even "sell his looks" if necessary.
It's not shameful if it's for money.
"Hmm?"
As Natsuo walked toward the checkout counter with his bento, he saw the flaxen-haired figure again.
The girl's every movement exuded a gentle, elegant aura. From afar, she truly looked like an angel.
The girl seemed to sense Natsuo's gaze. She turned her head, met his eyes, and a hint of surprise appeared in her caramel pupils.
Natsuo nodded to her as a greeting, then went to the checkout, paid, and left immediately.
The girl stood still, watching the neighbor she had seen twice in a short period walk away with a bento. A guess formed in her mind:
Is he also living alone?
The New Mission and the Pink Figure
Natsuo returned home, quickly ate his delicious eel bento, and resumed writing his novel.
With the perfect Writing Ability gifted by the "World" and his memory of the plot, adapting and optimizing a novel was easy.
Natsuo chose KonoSuba—the humorous Isekai novel. The male protagonist thought he died saving someone but was actually scared to death.
The goddess was just as ridiculous, slightly flawed in the head, and along with the unreliable and highly contrasting party members... it was difficult for this novel not to attract readers.
Furthermore, Natsuo had researched the novel market in this world and found that the themes and tropes were quite conventional. Once his unique novel was released, it would surely spark a new trend.
Natsuo wrote late into the night before deciding to rest.
After a solid half-day of hard work, he had only completed half of the first volume. After all, it wasn't a complete reproduction; he was optimizing the phrasing and sentence structure.
Saving his work, Natsuo briefly washed up and went to bed.
He slept in his going-out clothes, sensing that the situation from last night might occur again tonight.
...
Natsuo's consciousness awoke. He opened his eyes, and just as he suspected, the surroundings were the same as last night; nothing had changed.
He scanned the area but did not find Yukino Yukinoshita's elegant figure.
"Hmm?"
Natsuo suddenly froze, as a pink figure appeared in his sight, and she was walking toward the Slime completely defenseless.
"Yuigahama-san! Look out!" Natsuo urgently shouted and charged forward.
"Eh?"
Hearing someone call her name, the girl turned around, her expressive eyes wide as she looked at the approaching person in surprise.
"Natsu-kun?! Wait, you're going to—"
Natsuo quickly rushed in front of Yui Yuigahama, hugged her, and threw them both to the side.
At the exact same moment, the Slime flew up but missed them, crashing instead into a stone pillar.
BANG!
The stone pillar could not withstand the impact of the Slime's small body; it shattered and broke apart.
"Eek—!"
Lying on the ground, Yui Yuigahama screamed in shock, looking at the scene in disbelief.
"Get up quickly! Let's get further away!" Natsuo quickly spoke, pulling Yui Yuigahama to her feet, and running toward the distance.
"Natsu-kun, what is going on? Why are you in my dream?" Yui Yuigahama ran with Natsuo, unable to help but ask.
"This isn't a dream. You must have felt pain just now, right?" Natsuo asked, slowing down as they reached a corner.
"W-What? It's not a dream? Then what is this place? Why am I here?" Yui Yuigahama's eyes widened.
"I'm not sure what this place is, but we're here on a mission," Natsuo said slowly, looking at the panicking Yui Yuigahama.
"A mission?"
"That Slime is our mission. We have to take care of it," Natsuo fixed his gaze on the Slime.
The distance between them now seemed to be outside the Slime's detection range, as it remained still.
"A Slime..." Yui Yuigahama also looked at the creature, her cute face filled with confusion.