How long is this going to take…?
Haruto stood there in silence, his mind in chaos. His thoughts kept crashing into each other like waves, and frustration slowly began building inside him.
Before he could explode in anger, the girl suddenly poked his back.
"Don't just stand there," the girl said calmly. "You might be hungry. I'll treat you to something to eat, poor thing."
Her tone sounded joking… or maybe slightly mocking. She didn't know that the person standing in front of her wasn't even from this world.
"Poor thing…?" Haruto muttered quietly. He didn't like the way she called him that, even if she meant it as a joke.
The girl suddenly looked down at Haruto's hands. "Hey, what's that you're holding?" she asked curiously.
Haruto suddenly remembered the cake he had bought for his mother.
Thanks to her question, memories of his mother flooded back into his mind. The time they had spent together… their quiet evenings… her smile.
But before he could sink deeper into those memories—
"Hey… are you still there?" The girl's voice snapped him back to reality.
"Oh… sorry," Haruto said softly. He looked down at the bag he was holding and lifted it slightly.
"Mother…" he whispered under his breath.
The girl looked at him in confusion for a moment. Then she spoke again. "Okay, let's go get something to eat. I bet you're hungry."
This time her voice sounded more polite.
"Umm… wait."
Haruto raised his hand to stop her. The girl turned around and looked at him. "You haven't told me your name," Haruto said. "And… Why are you being so kind to me? We've never met before." He truly didn't understand why a stranger would suddenly help him like this.
"Don't worry about it," the girl replied calmly as she turned her back again. "I just love helping poor people." She began walking toward the busy crowd again.
"Poor people…?" Haruto muttered.
"Oh! I almost forgot!" The girl suddenly stopped. "My name is Elina." She proudly introduced herself while turning back toward him. She placed both hands behind her back and bent forward slightly, almost like she was trying to look cute.
Haruto froze for a moment. Her beauty felt almost shocking. He looked into her eyes. They were bright blue… like diamonds.
"Come on now, let's go," Elina said as she turned around again and started walking.
Haruto snapped out of his thoughts and quickly ran after her. "Hey! Wait for me!"
…
Soon, they stopped in front of a small local restaurant.
"Welcome!" A waitress greeted them as they entered.
Haruto stepped inside while looking around the room.
Some people were drinking heavily. Some handsome men were flirting with girls. Others were arguing loudly.
But that wasn't what surprised him the most.
Inside the restaurant, there weren't only humans.
There were animal-like humans as well. Some looked like cats. Others looked like lions.
"Over here, come on." Elina led him to an empty table and sat down. Haruto sat across from her and carefully placed the cake on the table.
He felt nervous. The strange people around him made him uneasy.
"Oh right…" Haruto suddenly remembered something. "I forgot to introduce myself. How rude of me." He stood up politely. "My name is Takamori Haruto. You can call me Takamori." He introduced himself formally.
"Takamori… Haruto…?" Elina repeated the name slowly. She had never heard anything like it before. "What kind of name is that?" Suddenly—
"Ha.. ha.. ha. "She burst into laughter. "Man, you're funny!" Elina laughed while holding her stomach. "You don't have to tell me your real name if you don't want to."
"That's my real name, okay?!" Haruto shouted angrily. He had introduced himself seriously, but Elina had turned it into a joke.
"You can't be seri—" Elina stopped speaking. She looked at Haruto's face. His expression was serious. And angry. Her laughter slowly faded.
"…Maybe you really are serious." She felt a little guilty, though she didn't apologize.
"Anyway," Haruto said as he sat back down. "Where am I? And why are there so many animals that look human?" It was the question he had wanted to ask since he first arrived here.
Elina's eyes widened in shock. Her jaw nearly dropped. "Are you kidding me?" Instead of answering, she asked another question. "You don't know about Demi-humans?"
"Demi-humans…?" Haruto repeated the word quietly. That was impossible. Demi-humans only existed in manga and novels in his world. He never imagined he would see them in real life.
"No way…" He suddenly started panicking.
He remembered all the stories he had read about people being transported to another world. "Don't tell me…"
He slowly looked down at his feet. "…I got teleported to a completely different world?"
"What's wrong, Takamori?" Elina asked when she noticed how strange he was acting.
"Elina…"
"Yes?"
"Where am I now?" Haruto asked with fear clearly visible on his face.
"Well… we're in the Kingdom of Valerion, of course," Elina replied calmly.
"Kingdom… of Valerion…?"