Sol and Subaru stood in the center of the bustling plaza, a jarring contrast of neon-tinged tactical gear and a bright orange grocery-store tracksuit.
Subaru was currently spinning in circles, eyes wide, looking like he'd just won the lottery and had a panic attack at the same time. Sol, meanwhile, was doing a mental sweep. His eyes tracked the movements of the crowd, the structural integrity of the stone buildings, and the lack of any visible wiring or holographic emitters.
No chrome. No signals. No screams from the Net, Sol thought. He felt the heavy, cold weight of the Sandevistan against his vertebrae. It was the only familiar thing left.
"Hey," Subaru whispered, leaning in toward Sol. "This may sound weird, but do you happen to come from Japan? I can see you've got... well, not a tracksuit, but you definitely don't look like these fantasy RPG extras."
Sol looked at Subaru. He remembered his first life—the asphalt, the accident. Then the years of blood and neon in Night City.
"Originally? Yeah," Sol replied, his voice calm and slightly dry. "But I've been away a long time. Place I just came from makes this look like a retirement home."
Subaru's eyes nearly popped out of his head. "Wait! You know about Japan? I'm not the only one who got summoned? This is great! We're like... a party! A two-man protagonist cell!"
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Sol said, glancing at a giant lizard pulling a carriage. "We don't have weapons, we don't have money, and you're wearing pajamas in a medieval market. Our 'MC status' is currently 'vulnerable civilian'."
"Cool! Now let's go explore town! The cute girl that summoned us awaits!" Subaru shouted, ignoring Sol's pragmatism entirely. He struck a pose. "By the way, I'm Natsuki Subaru! What's your name, partner?"
"Sol," he answered shortly. "And stop doing that pose. People are staring, and in my experience, being the center of attention is a great way to get a bullet—or an arrow—in the head."
"Jeez! Just trying to set the mood! Come on, let's find that lady!" Subaru started running in a random direction.
Sol exhaled a long, tired breath. He's impulsive, loud, and has zero situational awareness. Great. He's going to get himself killed in ten minutes if I don't follow. He fell into step behind Subaru, his hand instinctively hovering near the small of his back.
Their first stop was a fruit stall.
"Hey boys, those are some weird looking clothes you're wearing. You're not from around here, are ya?" the vendor asked, leaning over a pile of red, textured fruit.
"Hey! They speak the same language!" Subaru whispered to Sol, before turning back to the vendor. "So are these...?"
"These are Appas, the freshest you'll find."
Subaru, with the confidence of a man who hadn't checked his pockets, tried paying with a yen coin. The vendor's face immediately soured. A few minutes of shouting later, the two of them were being chased off.
Time Skip
The two of them were now sitting in a damp alleyway. The initial high of being "isekai'd" had clearly worn off for Subaru, who looked thoroughly defeated.
"What happened to my MC status?" Subaru groaned, leaning his head against the cold stone. "Aren't we supposed to be OP characters? This doesn't make sense. Hey, Sol, why don't you use... I don't know, a magic sword or something?"
Sol was leaning against the opposite wall, his eyes fixed on the alley entrance. "I don't have a sword, Subaru. And 'magic' isn't a superpower you just turn on like a light switch. We're lost, we're broke, and we're in a blind spot."
"I have some snacks and a flip phone," Subaru said, rummaging through his plastic bag.
Sol pulled out his own device—a sleek, cracked high-end handset from Night City. No signal. Just a glowing screen showing his remaining battery and a few saved data-shards. "I've got a bricked comms-unit and a nervous system that wants to fry itself. We're a real power-couple."
"Wait, is that a smartphone? That's way better than mine!" Subaru's brief moment of jealousy was cut off as three shadows fell over the alley entrance.
Three thugs. The same trio from before.
"What are you talking about? If you don't want to get hurt, give us all your stuff!" the leader commanded.
Sol didn't move. He didn't panic. His mind went into a cold, analytical trance. Three targets. One knife. No armor. Narrow space. High risk of Subaru getting caught in the crossfire.
"You're a bit young, but who cares? You'll do!" Subaru shouted, looking past them as a yellow-haired girl—the one from the marketplace—sprinted past the alley entrance.
"Move it! Outta my way!" she yelled, disappearing over a wall in a blur of speed.
"Seriously?!" Subaru yelped. "That was our savior! That was the 'deliberate timing' girl!"
"Nope. If anything, things just got worse," the big thug growled, cracking his knuckles. "By the way, you're going to get jumped now."
All three thugs suddenly lunged.
Subaru ducked, catching a clumsy kick to the ribs and falling back. "Stay in there, Subaru!" Sol barked, stepping forward.
Sol dodged a wild swing from the short guy, his movements precise and economical. He shoved the big man back, but the skinny one pulled a knife, his eyes gleaming with genuine malice.
"You should listen to your friend, punk. This knife doesn't care if you're scared or not. You'll still get cut."
Sol's hand twitched. He felt the heat in his spine. He could end this in a second, but the "cooldown" in this world was an unknown variable. He didn't want to blow his hardware on three street-level thugs if he didn't have to.
"Subaru, get behind me," Sol said, his voice dropping an octave, becoming deathly calm.
"But Sol, he's got a—"
"I know what he has."
Just as the thug stepped forward to plunge the blade, a clear, commanding voice rang out from the alley entrance.
"That's enough!"
Sol didn't relax, but his eyes shifted. Standing there was a girl with flowing silver hair and eyes like amethysts, her hand raised as motes of blue light began to dance in the air.
Target acquired, Sol thought, his analytical brain finally finding a variable that didn't involve getting stabbed. And she looks a hell of a lot more dangerous than the guys with the knife.