"Ah, Hunter x Hunter is fun after all."
It was my day off. I was killing time at home reading manga. I decided to reread Hunter x Hunter for the first time in a while, and as expected of a masterpiece, I found myself reading about ten volumes before I noticed. What was I doing with my precious free time...?
"I wish I could go to the manga world."
Muttering such nonsense, I lay down on the sofa to rest my eyes. In the past, I used to indulge in such delusions often. I would seriously create "My Strongest Nen Ability" without any meaning. What kind of ability did I make again? I've already forgotten.
If I recall correctly... I would transfer into the HxH world as an original character, with Nen talent at the highest level of humanity, a super vast amount of aura, a Specialist constitution, and on top of that, I'd be incredibly beautiful... Ugh, remembering it makes me embarrassed. It's completely dark history.
Now then, let's stop thinking about stupid things and use time more meaningfully. Thinking that I might fall asleep if I stayed lying on the sofa, perhaps due to the fatigue of binge-reading the manga, my consciousness sank into a slumber before I knew it.
"Oof!?"
An impact ran through my buttocks. As if the sofa had vanished in an instant, my body had fallen onto the floor.
No, it wasn't just the sofa. The ceiling, the walls, everything was gone. What I was sitting on wasn't a floor, but the ground. I was currently outdoors. There were no artificial objects around, just a desolate natural landscape spreading out.
"...Huh?"
I was sleeping on the sofa, and in an instant, I was thrown out into an unknown wilderness. Faced with a phenomenon beyond human understanding, I could only be dumbfounded. And the abnormality didn't stop there.
My body had shrunk. Like Conan-kun who was made to drink a drug that turns you into a child... that might be an exaggeration, but my physique was clearly smaller. The jersey I was wearing as loungewear was baggy, with the hem and sleeves hanging loose.
What changed more than anything was my hair. It had grown long enough to reach my waist, and the color was silver. Not gray hair, but beautiful hair with a platinum luster. It shone in the sunlight, and when touched, it flowed through my fingers like silk.
"Haaaaaaaa!?"
Incidentally, even my voice had changed. It had become a voice like a cute girl's. Thinking 'no way,' I placed my hand on my chest.
Squish
Two soft swells that could be felt even over the jersey. Then I put my hand on my crotch.
Whiff
Nothing. The symbol of a man, the partner I had shared joys and sorrows with, was gone without a trace.
"Ha, haha, hahaha..."
I could only laugh. How did this happen? I had turned into a girl. Being told it was a dream would be more convincing. But the scenery spreading before my eyes, my body, and those sensations were undoubtedly reality. Had I gone crazy?
I organized my confused thoughts. Just a moment ago, I was certainly enjoying my leisure time at home. Reading manga, and thinking things like 'I wish I could go to that world'...
"Don't tell me, I really transferred to the manga world?"
It was a ridiculous story, but the situation I was placed in now was already ridiculous. As for the complete change in the surrounding environment, one could forcefully explain it by saying I was carried out while unconscious. But the fact that my body had become female was impossible no matter how I thought about it.
Assuming I did transfer, was this the world of the source material? Then, were the requests I thought of just before also reflected? If I possessed humanity's strongest class of Nen talent and aura amount... a sense of expectation suddenly welled up.
But then, why did my body turn into a girl? I only wished to be beautiful. Beautiful... true, I didn't specify a gender. But there was no need to make me a woman, right?
Well, fine. No, it's not fine, but complaining won't help. Strangely, experiencing the clearly unrealistic event of becoming a woman made me calm down instead. If I had come here in my previous form, I might have felt like I was encountering a halfway realistic bizarre phenomenon and been more upset.
Or maybe I'm just escaping reality. There is no guarantee that this is the same world as the original work. If I could use Nen abilities, I could be certain.
"Hah!"
I tried psyching myself up and taking a pose like the Kamehameha, but nothing happened. Well, since I only requested talent and aura amount, maybe training is necessary. Nen has the aspect of ability battles, but basically, it is a martial art where you become stronger by diligently training. It's not something you can use overnight.
Anyway, first I need to gather information. Let's meet people and listen to what they have to say. If I ask about various proper nouns that appear in the world of HxH, my concerns will become clear. I have to know where this is to start anything.
If I haven't transferred to another world, that would definitely be better. If I can't return to my original place, I'll worry my family and friends. In that case, I'll have to think separately about the problem of my gender changing.
I looked out over the wilderness. It really was a place with nothing. The exposed ground was covered with withered grass, dry and cracked. Only thin, distorted trees grew sporadically and sorrowfully. The sunlight was strong, and sweat came out just by standing there.
This might not be the time to think about whether this is another world or not. If there isn't a town nearby, my life is in danger. Water, food, wild animals—there are mountains of potential problems. I can't stand here forever. Let's take action.
"Haa... haa..."
How long had I walked? I was completely out of breath. Compared to my body when I was a man, my physical strength had dropped significantly. I was nothing more than a frail girl, just as I looked.
When I first started walking, I still had some mental leeway. I was excited imagining various things, like what I would talk about if I met characters from the original work, or what kind of "Hatsu" ability I would create.
That was only at the beginning. The intense sunlight mercilessly evaporated my physical strength. I took off the top of my jersey and was in my underwear. My interest in my chest, which had transformed into something feminine, ran out early on, and I concentrated solely on walking. I no longer had the leeway to hesitate about exposing my spotless white skin to direct sunlight.
I couldn't take off the jersey bottoms. This wasn't a matter of shame, but because I didn't have shoes. I was using the hem, which was loose because my body had shrunk overall, as a substitute for shoes by dragging it. Naturally, it was hard to walk. My waist had also become much thinner, so the elastic of the pants was loose and they kept slipping down. It made walking even harder.
Frequently, gusts of wind blew as if remembering to do so. Faced with strong winds mixed with sand that slammed into me, my vision was blocked, and I could barely stand. I had no choice but to crouch and endure until the gust passed.
No matter how talented I might be, or how much more aura I had than others, it was useless against this nature. If this condition continued for a few days, I would die—no joke. No, it was doubtful if I would even last today. Hunger aside, my thirst was close to its limit.
Gradually, the sun began to set. The temperature would drop once night fell. In dry climates like this, the temperature difference between day and night is significant. If wind was added to that, the sensible temperature would drop rapidly. I had to find a place that could at least shelter me from the wind before nightfall.
As if mocking my impatience, the scenery of the wilderness did not change one bit no matter how much I walked. There was something like a mountain far in the distance, and I barely managed not to lose my sense of direction, but it wasn't any salvation.
I looked beyond the horizon countless times. Was there a road? Was there a building? Thinking 'could that be it?', I approached only to find a simple tree or a rock. They say people stranded in the desert see illusions of oases beyond mirages, but that was neither metaphor nor exaggeration. I wasn't escaping into fantasy because I was cornered. To survive, whether it was a mistake or whatever, I had to go and check.
I shouldn't have wished to go to the manga world. I don't need talent or aura, just give me food and water. Just as I began to pray to God to let me redo the transfer, I saw something beyond the horizon.
At first, I didn't know what it was. I saw a red dot. As I got closer, that red something grew bigger and bigger. It wasn't a mistake. It was definitely there.
An artificial object!
My strength, which had been fading, returned. My pace quickened. A sense of relief that I was saved surged in.
But as I got closer, my doubts grew. I couldn't understand the true nature of that 'Red Thing' at all. In the middle of the wilderness, there was a place where bright red objects were densely packed. Even from a distance, it was quite a scale. At first, I thought it was a building. Indeed, the 'Red Things' were about that size, and multiple of them stood as if lined up side by side.
It wasn't a town. No, it wasn't decided that there were no people yet. It was clearly alien only in that spot. Someone might be there. Betting on a ray of hope, I advanced toward the dense area of 'Red Things'.
"What is this?"
A hoarse voice leaked out. What I arrived at was something indescribable.
The 'Red Things' appeared to be made of minerals. Their shape was close to a cactus without needles. Giant protrusions that were rounded, with radial slits extending from the center. A cluster of such succulents was growing from the ground.
The sizes varied; some were as small as a pinky finger, while others were tall enough to look up at. All of them were a beautiful, transparent red like ruby. Illuminated by the setting sun, the stones reflecting the madder red shone dazzlingly. It was truly a sculpture made of jewels. The sight was mysterious, but at the same time, it incited an unspeakable fear. I felt a grotesqueness as if looking into the entrails of a living creature.
The texture looked smooth and hard like polished stone. It didn't seem to be a living thing. But if this wasn't a living thing, for what reason did it take this shape and exist here? Was some eccentric sculptor displaying their work here as art?
I don't know the details. I just need to confirm if there is anyone here.
Ideally, just approaching such a clearly abnormal place might be dangerous. The world of HxH features many dangerous creatures that easily prey on humans. If possible, I didn't want to step inside. However, if asked if I wanted to ignore this and continue walking in the wilderness, I would immediately deny it.
Frankly speaking, I didn't think I would find a human settlement even if I continued walking. Even looking around the vicinity of this red cluster, there was nothing until the horizon. I had long passed the stage where I could harbor hope that a town might be beyond it. My body could still move, but it would be too late once I reached the state of "can't move anymore." If I couldn't find people by then, I would die. Or, assuming these red things were living creatures, maybe there was water here. There might be something edible.
I stepped into the red forest. Carefully, cautiously, I moved forward. The 'Red Things' grew closely packed inside the forest too, but there were gaps wide enough for a single person to pass. The wind passing through the gaps made a sound like a moan.
I had just entered, but I didn't want to be here anymore. It was creepy and unbearable. Still, it was better than spending the night in the wind-blown wilderness. It was still evening, but it was already getting chilly. My stamina was at its limit too. I struggled with whether to stay or leave.
"Wah...!?"
Perhaps because I was groggy from fatigue, I tripped on a stone at my feet and almost fell. Was there a stone here a moment ago? Just as I wondered, the stone began to wriggle.
Click, click, click
No, this isn't a stone. It was a bug. It was shaped like an insect, but its exoskeleton was large, heavy, and stout like armor. The size was huge too. It was about 20 centimeters. I mistook it for a stone because its exoskeleton had exactly the same texture as the surrounding 'Red Things'.
The giant insect approached me while clicking its mandibles. I dodged and put distance between us, but it still aimed for me and drew near. Its movements were quite slow, so escaping was easy, but the movement clearly showing it was targeting me was scary.
"What the hell is this...!"