"What the heck is your deal?"
The voice came in faint, like it was miles away. I blinked hard, trying to shield my eyes from the blinding blue sky above. As my vision came into focus, I spotted a girl standing right in front of me. She looked about my age, dressed in a black robe over a white blouse and a grey mini skirt. She was crouched down, face inches from mine, staring at me like I'd just fallen out of the sky.
Her face... was cute. Her deep crimson eyes stood out sharply against her pale skin and dark black hair. She had that unmistakable foreign look, almost like a doll. Half-European, maybe? I thought, still half out of it. But hold on, that uniform... I'd never seen anything like it anywhere.
I was still flat on the ground, completely dazed. Why am I even here? I tried to sit up, rubbing my throbbing head. That's when I realized we weren't alone. A whole crowd of black-robed people had gathered around me, staring like I was some circus act. In the distance, as far as the eye could see, there was nothing but green fields and a massive stone castle straight out of a European travel brochure.
A fantasy world? This is insane.
"Who am I...? I'm Nakamura Izumi," I answered, smacking my own head, desperately hoping this was just a dream.
"And where exactly do you come from, commoner?" the girl asked again.
Commoner? What does that even mean? I looked around at the people surrounding her. They were all holding wooden sticks and wearing the same uniform. Had I somehow stumbled into a British boarding school or something?
"Ellena, what do you think you're doing? You used a Servant Summoning on a human?" someone from the crowd blurted out. Instantly, everyone except the girl in front of me burst out laughing.
"I — I just made a tiny mistake!" the girl — apparently named Ellena — shrieked, her voice ringing out like a bell.
"What are you all on about? Nothing weird happened," I said, genuinely confused.
"Of course it did! That's Ellena the Failure for you!" another voice chimed in, and the laughter roared even louder.
I was completely lost. This couldn't be a school in England, the architecture was way too ancient. Was this a film set? No, it was too vast for that. Was there actually a theme park like this in Japan? And more importantly — how did I even fall asleep here?
"Master Conor!" Ellena called out.
The crowd parted, making way for a middle-aged man. His look was something else entirely — robes, and a large wooden staff wrapped in black cloth. What on earth? Dressed like a wizard in the middle of the day? Was he alright in the head?
A chill ran down my spine. What if this is a cult? Maybe they kidnapped me while I was out walking around the city. That glowing mirror must've been a trap! I decided to stay quiet and feel out the situation.
Ellena looked panicked, desperately pleading with the man named Conor to let her try again. I genuinely felt bad for her — she was adorable, but clearly caught up in whatever weird religious group this was.
"What is it you wish to ask of me, Miss Lawrence?" Conor said.
"Please, let me try the summoning one more time!"
Summoning? What are they even talking about?
"I cannot allow that, Miss Lawrence," Conor replied firmly. "It is forbidden. As a second-year student, you were meant to summon a Servant — a sacred creature. This ritual determines your element. Whether you like it or not, you must accept what you've called forth."
"But... I've never once heard of a human becoming a Servant!" Ellena protested.
Laughter erupted again. I was so done with this. Wizards? Servants? This had to be some new religion. I needed to find a way out. Had I been taken abroad? Was this a kidnapping? I was in serious trouble.
"Tradition is tradition," Conor continued, pointing at me. "She may be a commoner, but since you were the one who summoned her, she must become your Servant. There is no other way."
Ellena let out a long, heavy sigh, looking absolutely devastated.
"Very well. Proceed with the ceremony," Conor ordered.
"With her?" Ellena pointed at me with visible disgust.
"Yes, hurry it up. The next class is about to start."
Ellena looked at me, her expression making it painfully clear she was stuck between a rock and a hard place. She walked over.
"Hey," she called.
"Yeah?"
"You should be grateful. A noble doing this for someone like you — that's a once-in-a-lifetime thing."
Noble? Give me a break. What noble? You're all just a bunch of unhinged cosplayers! Ellena closed her eyes and began chanting, waving her wooden stick around.
"My name is Ellena Antoinette de Lawrence. Pentagon of the five elemental forces, bless this lowly creature and make her my Servant."
She kept muttering like she was reading from a spell book, then touched her staff to my forehead. Then suddenly, her face got closer. Her lips started to move toward me—
W-What do you think you're doing?!
"Be still," she hissed.
"H-hey, wait a second. I'm — I'm not ready for this!" I panicked.
"Ugh! I told you to be quiet!" Ellena grabbed my face with a firm grip.
And then... Mmm...
Her lips met mine. Soft, but I completely froze. What kind of contract involves THIS? My first kiss — stolen, in a strange place, by a weird girl with completely unclear motives! When she finally pulled back, she muttered, "Done."
Her face had gone completely red. This idiot is embarrassed after she's the one who attacked me? I thought, irritated.
"I should be the embarrassed one, not you! I'M the one who just got randomly kissed!" I shouted, but she wasn't listening.
I want to go home! I want to get on the internet! I just signed up for a dating site — I need to check my email!
Then suddenly, my body felt like it had been doused in boiling water.
"AAAHHHH!" I shot to my feet. "I'm on fire! It's burning!"
"Just hold on. The Servant Rune is being inscribed," Ellena said, completely unfazed.
"Stop it! What are you doing to me?!" I groaned in pain, but no one moved to help.
The burning slowly faded. Conor stepped forward and grabbed my left hand. On it were strange symbols carved into my skin — looked like something straight out of a cult ritual. "Hmm, this rune is... a bit different," he muttered, puzzled.
"Who are you people?!" I yelled in frustration — and was once again completely ignored.
"Alright, let's head back to class," said Conor. He swung his staff, and just like that... he floated up into the air. My jaw dropped. He was actually flying. And not just him — the other students started rising off the ground too.
I looked around frantically for wires or a crane or something, but there was nothing. Just an open field. They all drifted off toward the castle.
"Ellena, you might as well walk! A failure like you deserves a plain human Servant!" they jeered as they flew away.
Now it was just me and Ellena. She took a deep breath and screamed right in my face, "Who ARE you?!"
My patience snapped. "That's MY line! Who are YOU? Where is this place? Why can they FLY? What did you do to my hand?!"
"I'll explain," she said, with an air of superiority. "What village are you from?"
"Village? Tokyo is not a village!"
"Tokyo? What country is that?"
"Japan!"
"Never heard of it. And what's so strange about flying? What's a witch supposed to do if not fly?"
I grabbed her by the shoulders. "A witch? Where am I?!"
"This is Springvale! Springvale Academy of Magic! And I am your master from this point on — don't you forget it!"
And just like that, my confidence crumbled. A bad feeling started creeping in. "Miss Ellena... did you really summon me here?"
"That's what I've been saying! Why did MY Servant have to be a human... I wanted a Dragon, a Griffin, or at least an owl!"
"A dragon? Those actually exist?"
"Obviously. You've never seen one?" She stared at me dead serious.
Cold sweat. If they were real witches who could actually fly, then... "This is a dream... this HAS to be a dream..." I slumped down onto the ground.
"Ellena, hit me. Hit me as hard as you can."
"Why?"
"I need to wake up! I need to check the internet! My mom is making steak today!"
"Internet?"
"Forget it, you're just part of my dream anyway. Just hit me already!"
Ellena clenched her fist. "You dare act put out by being summoned by me — a descendant of the noble Lawrence family?"
"How was I supposed to know that?" I said carelessly.
"And the contract had to be sealed with a kiss... my FIRST kiss!" she screamed and punched me with everything she had. Thud. My vision went dark.
My name is Nakamura Izumi. Seventeen years old. A completely average high school student with completely average grades. Thirty minutes ago, I was still in Tokyo, having just fixed my PC keyboard. I was pumped because I was about to start looking for a girlfriend online.
Then I saw something glowing like a mirror in the middle of the road. Thanks to my curiosity being roughly twice that of a normal person, I walked over to it. I tossed a marble in — it disappeared. I stuck my key in — nothing happened. So finally, I stepped through it myself... and ended up here.
Now I'm sitting in Ellena's room. About twelve tatami mats wide, packed with antique stuff. Ellena stares at me in disbelief as I explain my world — a world with no magic and only one moon.
"I can't believe this," she said, chewing on her dinner roll.
"You think YOU can't believe it? There are TWO moons here!" I said miserably. I glanced out the window. Those forests and mountains... nothing like that exists in Japan.
For a moment I thought this was some kind of hidden camera show. I even tried searching Ellena's clothes for a hidden camera until she kicked me clean off the floor. That hurt like crazy. This was no dream. This was another world.
"Send me home..." I begged.
"Impossible. A Servant contract cannot be undone."
I tried showing her my notebook as proof of my world. She immediately assumed it was some kind of wind or water elemental device. She genuinely had zero concept of what science even was.
"There's no spell to send you back," she explained. "And I can't summon a new Servant unless you die."
"You want me to die?" I shuddered.
She went on to describe a Servant's duties: acting as a spy, gathering magical ingredients, and protecting her.
But looking at me — just a regular human — she scoffed. "At best you can probably just do laundry and clean."
Night came. Ellena started changing clothes right in front of me like I was a piece of furniture.
"W-wa-wait! What are you doing?!" I spun around, face burning red.
"Going to bed," she answered casually.
"Do that somewhere else! This is weird!"
"Weird? I don't see anything weird about changing in front of my Servant."
Great. She genuinely saw me as no different from a dog or a cat. She tossed her underwear — white, lacy — in my direction. "Wash these tomorrow."
I held them with a deeply conflicted feeling. Annoyed, but also... ugh, never mind. I wrapped myself in a blanket on the floor. This girl was something else. She didn't see me as a guy at all.
I missed my room. I missed my parents. But running away now would be pointless — I had no one else here except this insufferable, haughty girl.
Well, at least she's cute, I thought, trying to make myself feel better. Think of it as a student exchange program in a magic world. Stay flexible, Izumi. You've gotta stay flexible.
Ellena snapped her fingers, and the lights went out. Darkness swallowed the room. Outside, two moons glowed with an eerie, mysterious light.
Mom, I'm sorry. Nakamura Izumi might be out of school for a while. For now, I've gotta survive as some girl's pet.
And so, my new life began.