I woke up the next morning to the sunlight streaming through the bedroom window. The bed was incredibly soft, way better than the one I had back in America, but my chest felt weirdly heavy.
I blinked a few times, clearing the sleep from my eyes, and looked down.
There was a small, steady weight resting right on top of me. I lifted the edge of the blanket and saw Koneko. She was curled up on her side, her face pressed flat against my chest, using me as a mattress. Her white hair was a messy halo all over my shirt.
She shifted a little bit, her golden eyes slowly fluttering open. She blinked up at me sleepily.
"Morning," I said, my voice still a little rough from sleep.
"Morning," she mumbled back, burying her face into my chest for another few seconds before finally letting out a quiet yawn and rolling off me.
We both got out of bed. I grabbed my clothes off the chair where I had tossed them the night before and quickly got dressed, pulling my white t-shirt, black jeans, and dark gray jacket back on. Koneko walked over to her closet and slipped into a really oversized, comfortable-looking pajama shirt and some loose shorts.
We walked downstairs together in comfortable silence. The house was quiet, and the sun was fully up now.
Koneko went straight to the kitchen and started pulling out a frying pan and some eggs. I walked over to the small dining table and sat down in one of the wooden chairs, resting my chin on my hand as I watched her cook.
I just sat there, my brain finally waking up enough to process everything that had happened last night.
I stared blankly at the kitchen wall. I literally got a blowjob from myself.
A heavy, incredibly confused sigh escaped my lips. I rubbed both of my hands over my face. It was just so crazy to think about. I had shared an intimate moment with a girl who had the exact same soul as me, just shoved into a different universe. My mind kept trying to figure out how weird that actually was, but every time I thought about the wet sounds or how good it felt, my brain just short-circuited all over again. I decided it was best to just stop thinking about it completely before I gave myself a headache.
A few minutes later, Koneko walked over and set two plates on the table. It was a simple breakfast—just some perfectly fried eggs, rice, and a little bit of fish.
"Thanks," I said, grabbing my chopsticks.
We ate in silence. The food was really good. It tasted exactly how I would have cooked it, which made sense. After we finished, I took the plates, rinsed them off in the sink, and set them on the drying rack.
I turned back to her, dusting off my hands. "Well, I should probably head out now. The orientation speech is probably about to start back in my world."
"Wait," Koneko said, putting her hand up to stop me. She stood up from the table and walked over to me. "Are you really just going to go back without even knowing what your cheat does?"
I paused. I actually hadn't thought about that at all.
"You got the Allen Walker power, right?" she continued, crossing her arms. "You should at least test it out here first to see how it works. If you accidentally blow up the auditorium back in Beacon because you don't know how to control it, you're going to draw way too much attention to yourself."
I thought about it. She was completely right. Going into a school full of monster hunters with a power I hadn't even turned on yet was a terrible idea. If I embarrassed myself or accidentally broke something on the first day, people would look at me. I hated people looking at me.
"You're right," I agreed, taking a step back into the center of the living room to give myself some space. "I'll test it right now."
I closed my eyes, trying to remember everything I knew about Allen Walker from that old anime. His power, the Innocence, was bound to his left arm. It was a parasitic type weapon.
I focused all my attention on my left arm. I didn't know exactly what the trigger was supposed to feel like, so I just imagined pulling that power up to the surface, wanting it to activate.
Suddenly, a sharp, burning heat flared up in my left shoulder.
It wasn't painful, but it was incredibly intense. The heat rushed all the way down my bicep, past my elbow, and straight into my fingertips. A bright, blinding flash of green light erupted from my left hand, illuminating the entire living room.
The bright green light faded, and I looked down at my left arm.
It had completely transformed. From the shoulder all the way down to my fingertips, my arm wasn't human anymore. The skin was replaced by grey metallic, braided muscle. layered armored plates, like overlapping grey and silver steel, snapped into place from my shoulder to my elbow. My fingers grew elongated and ended in vicious, sharp grey claws. Right on the back of my hand was that glowing green cross.
I flexed my new fingers, watching the grey joints move seamlessly. Despite looking incredibly heavy and monstrous, it felt completely natural, like it didn't weigh anything at all.
I threw a light, experimental punch at the empty space in front of me. The sheer force of the casual swing made a sudden gust of wind that actually rustled the curtains across the living room.
I wasn't done yet. I pushed more energy into it, focusing on the word Sword. With a loud, complex clack, the entire armored left arm re-configured. Plates of metal shrieked and shifted, sliding over one another. The claws retracted, and the mass of grey metal flattened and elongated. A second later, my entire left arm was gone, replaced by a massive, multi-part grey and silver Greatsword, with a giant cross etched deep into the flat of the blade. I was suddenly effectively one-armed, balancing the incredible length.
I took a light stance, balanced only on my right foot, and took an experimental swing causing wind to pick up around the area.
"Damn," I mumbled, genuinely impressed. "That is... wow."
I didn't want to accidentally break her furniture, so I just thought about turning it off. The burning heat faded instantly, and the massive sword shifted right back into my normal, human arm shape. Even my jacket sleeve was completely fine.
I looked at my normal hand, and then at the floor where the wind had cleared a little patch. I couldn't help but grin, just a little.
Damn. That was actually incredibly cool.
"See? Now you're ready," Koneko said, though she sounded a little bummed out.
"Yeah. Thank you for the reminder," I said. I opened the system menu in my mind, finding the dimensional travel tab. The glowing 'Return to Native World' button appeared. "I'm going to head back now."
Before I could even reach for the button, Koneko stepped forward and grabbed the hem of my jacket with both hands. She looked up at me, her golden eyes wide and slightly glossy, throwing a massive, pathetic pout.
"Do you really have to go right this second?" she asked quietly, tugging on my jacket. "You can stay a little longer. We can just hang out on the couch."
I looked down at her. With her messy white hair and those big, pleading eyes, she looked exactly like a clingy, sad cat that just realized its owner was leaving for the day and didn't want to be left alone in the house. It was honestly a little cute...
But I had a Huntsman academy to attend, and putting it off wasn't going to make it go away.
I reached out and gently patted the top of her head, ruffling her hair. "I have to go. But I'll come back and visit later. I promise."
She let out a long, disappointed sigh, her shoulders slumping as she finally let go of my jacket. "Fine. You better."
I gave her a small nod and pressed the return button on the system screen.
The quiet, sunlit living room vanished in an instant.
BAM.
A massive wall of noise slammed into my ears. The loud, echoing chatter of a thousand teenagers, the hum of the giant air conditioning vents, the scraping of folding chairs against the floor.
I blinked, my eyes adjusting to the harsh artificial lights of the Beacon auditorium. I was sitting in the exact same folding chair near the back of the room. The guy sitting two seats away from me was still right in the middle of the exact same yawn I saw before I left. Up on the massive stage at the front, Headmaster Ozpin was just stepping up to the microphone, raising a hand to quiet the crowd.
I stared straight ahead, feeling a sudden, intense wave of dizziness wash over me.
My brain completely short-circuited for a second. I had just spent an entire evening and morning in another dimension. I had slept for eight hours in a comfortable bed, eaten a full breakfast, got a blowjob from my alternate-universe demon self, and tested out a magical arm and sword.
But here, in this room, absolutely zero time had passed. Not even a single millisecond.
It was a huge mental whiplash. My body felt fully rested, but my brain was struggling to piece the two entirely different timelines together without spinning.
I rubbed my eyes with the heel of my hand and took a slow, deep breath to ground myself. After a few seconds, the dizziness faded. I shook my head slightly. I was fine. I just needed to focus on the present.
The noise in the massive auditorium finally started to quiet down as the last few students filed in and found their spots. I stayed in my seat near the back, keeping my arms crossed and my head down.
Finally, a man walked out onto the stage and stepped up to the microphone.
I squinted a little bit. It was Headmaster Ozpin. He had the dark green scarf, the round glasses, and the cane. Strangely enough... he didn't act or seem different at all, carrying himself with a quiet, solid authority. He didn't look scared or timid. It was weird, but I decided not to overthink it and just focused on what he was saying.
He tapped the microphone. "I'll... keep this brief," he started.
He began talking about how we all had knowledge, but we were lacking purpose, or something along those lines. Honestly, it was a really cryptic speech. He didn't give us any actual instructions on where we were supposed to go, what classes we were taking, or what the rules were. After about a minute of listening to him talk in riddles, I felt myself getting incredibly bored. My attention started to drift to the ceiling tiles.
Then, two distinct chimes rang in my head.
Ping. Ping.
I froze. I didn't even need to open the blue screen to know what that was.
My hands gripped the edges of my folding chair. Esdeath and Scathach. The pictures. They actually sent them.
I really, really wanted to look at them right now. The urge was pulling at me hard, but I hesitated. I was sitting in a brightly lit auditorium surrounded by hundreds of Huntresses-in-training. Considering what had just happened with Koneko in the other dimension, I knew my new body was extremely sensitive. I genuinely didn't know if I could look at those pictures and actually stay calm. If I pitched a tent in the middle of my school orientation, it would be a complete disaster.
I stared straight ahead, trying to resist. I tried to focus on Ozpin's voice.
I lasted exactly ten seconds.
I couldn't do it. I was a guy, and the temptation was just way too strong. I carefully opened the system interface in my mind, keeping the semi-transparent screen small and angled so absolutely no one around me could see it.
The chat room loaded.
[Scathach]: Here is my end of the deal. Look closely.
[Esdeath]: The tailors worked fast for their general. Enjoy.
Below the messages were two image files. I held my breath and opened the first one.
It was Scathach. She was wearing dark, form-fitting lingerie that left almost nothing to the imagination, leaning against a stone wall with a confident, challenging smirk on her face. I swallowed hard.
I immediately clicked on the second image. It was Esdeath in a completely custom-made, incredibly tight black bunny suit, complete with fishnets and the little bunny ears, sitting cross-legged on a fancy chair with a teasing smile.
They both looked awesome. Actually, ridiculously awesome.
A sudden, intense rush of heat went straight to my face, and my heart started hammering against my ribs. The physical reaction hit me almost instantly.
I frantically swiped my hand through the air, closing the system screen completely before my body could betray me any further.
"Um, excuse me... are you feeling alright?" a quiet voice whispered next to me.
I turned my head. Because the folding chairs were packed so tightly together, my face ended up being only a few inches away from the guy sitting next to me. He was a smaller guy with messy brown hair.
"I am all good," I whispered back, trying to make my breathing sound normal. "I just thought of something really embarrassing."
The guy didn't lean back. Instead, his face instantly flushed a dark cherry red. He just stared at my face, his eyes going wide.
"Y-your eyes," he stammered quietly, looking back and forth between them. "They're really... pretty."
Ew
I blinked. For a second, I was completely confused, but then I remembered my reflection in the camera when I took that picture for the groupchat. Right. The heterochromia. One red eye, one gray eye. I completely forgot about that.
"Oh. Thank you for the compliment," I said simply.
The guy immediately whipped his head away, staring straight ahead as his shoulders hunched all the way up to his ears. He looked incredibly flustered, refusing to look back at me.
I frowned slightly, leaning back in my own chair. Why was he acting so shy and weird? A brief, uncomfortable thought crossed my mind. Was this guy gay? Was he trying to hit on me? I felt a sudden spike of being grossed out, crossing my arms a little tighter. I definitely did not swing that way.
But then, I thought about the newspaper I had read in the alleyway. Maybe he wasn't gay. Maybe he was just incredibly shy and terrible at talking to people, exactly like my old middle school friend, Hayata. Hayata used to get flustered and hide behind his jacket collar over almost anything.
Yeah. The Hayata theory made much more sense. Deciding on that, I let go of the grossed-out feeling and didn't push the guy away. We just shared some quiet, simple small talk while we waited for the headmaster to wrap things up.
Eventually, Ozpin finally got to the point we actually cared about, announcing that we would all be sleeping in the main ballroom tonight and that orientation was over.
As soon as he dismissed us, I grabbed my suitcase and left the auditorium completely by myself. I honestly wasn't tired at all. I had literally just slept for eight hours in Koneko's bed in a different dimension. I was just incredibly bored and wanted to find a place to sit down.
I followed the massive crowd of Huntresses to the ballroom. Once inside, I completely ignored the loud, chaotic groups of girls fighting over floor space and walked straight to the farthest, darkest corner of the massive room.
I set my suitcase down against the wall. I mentally opened up the system chat again, figuring I could maybe look at those pictures of Esdeath and Scathach one more time now that I was away from the main crowd.
While the blue screen hovered invisibly in front of my face, I started loosening my clothes to get comfortable. I took off my dark gray jacket and tossed it onto my bag. Then, I grabbed the hem of my white t-shirt and started to pull it up over my stomach.
"Um... e-excuse me!"
I paused, my shirt pulled halfway up my chest. I turned my head to the side.
Sitting on an unrolled sleeping bag literally two feet away from me was a girl. She had short black hair with red tips and was wearing a bright red cloak. I hadn't even noticed her there because she had been sitting so quietly in the corner. Ruby Rose.
We just stared at each other for a second.
"Hey," I greeted her casually, and grabbed the collar of my shirt to pull it the rest of the way off.
Ruby let out a loud, high-pitched squeak of absolute pure panic. Her silver eyes went wide as saucers, her face turning entirely crimson. Before I could even get the shirt over my nose, she lunged forward, grabbed the bottom hem of my shirt with both of her hands, and frantically yanked it right back down to my waist.
———
[Ruby Rose POV]
I sat on my unrolled sleeping bag in the darkest, most isolated corner of the giant ballroom, hugging my knees to my chest.
Everywhere around me, massive groups of girls were laughing, having pillow fights, and aggressively comparing their weapons. It was way too loud. I just wanted to be left alone so I could read my comics in peace.
Honestly, I didn't really get the whole obsession everyone else had with romance and boys. My older sister, Yang, was completely boy-crazy. Right now, she was probably out there in the middle of the ballroom, cornering some poor, defenseless guy against a wall and sexually harassing him with terrible pickup lines. It made me cringe just thinking about it.
Real life was just too complicated. I played my fair share of video games, and honestly, I was perfectly happy sticking to my 2D boys. They didn't require awkward small talk, they always had cool weapons, and they never did anything unpredictable.
I let out a soft sigh and reached into my bag for my scroll to play a game.
But then, out of nowhere, someone dropped a heavy suitcase right next to my spot.
I peeked up. It was a guy. He had messy white hair and was wearing a dark gray jacket. He completely ignored the rest of the room, didn't even look in my direction, and just started taking his clothes off.
He tossed his jacket aside and immediately grabbed the hem of his white t-shirt, pulling it up over his stomach.
"Um... e-excuse me!" I squeaked out, my voice cracking entirely.
He stopped, his shirt pulled halfway up his chest, exposing his stomach. He turned his head to look at me. He had two different colored eyes—one red, one gray.
"Hey," he said, completely casually, and started to pull the shirt over his head.
My brain completely short-circuited. What is he doing?! In a moment of pure, blind panic, I lunged forward. I grabbed the bottom of his shirt with both hands and violently yanked it right back down to his waist, completely covering him up.
"Are you crazy?!" I whisper-yelled, looking around frantically to make sure none of the older, scarier girls had seen him. "What are you doing?! You can't just take your clothes off in the middle of a room full of girls!"
He just stared at me, blinking.
"You need to be more modest!" I reprimanded him, my face burning so hot I felt like I was going to melt into the floorboards.
"A boy shouldn't be showing off his skin like that in public! Do you know what happens if one of those aggressive upperclassmen sees you stripping in a dark corner? You'll be swarmed! Keep your clothes on and go change in the designated boys' bathroom!"
I stood there huffing for a second, my hands still gripping his shirt.
Then, I suddenly realized what I was doing. I had just yelled at a complete stranger and practically tackled him to put his clothes back on.
I immediately let go of his shirt like it was on fire and scrambled back to my sleeping bag.
"I-I'm so sorry!" I squeaked, hiding my face in my hands. "I didn't mean to grab you! I just panicked! Please don't call the teachers on me!"
———
[Katsuya Akiya (MC) POV]
I was completely caught off guard. One second I was taking off my shirt to get comfortable, and the next second, a small girl in a red cloak was tackling me and lecturing me about modesty.
I sat there for a moment, processing what she had just said.
She was right. I completely forgot the rules of this flipped society again. In my old world, taking your shirt off in a room full of guys to sleep wasn't a huge deal. But here, boys were supposed to be the modest ones. If I flashed my skin in a room full of hyper-aggressive Huntresses, it would draw exactly the kind of loud, annoying attention I was trying to avoid.
She had actually just saved me from a massive headache.
"Thank you," I said simply, smoothing out the wrinkles in my white t-shirt.
Ruby peeked through her fingers, her silver eyes looking incredibly confused. "Huh? You're... you're not mad?"
"No. You were right. I wasn't thinking about the crowd," I said, sitting down against the wall next to her and crossing my legs. "It was a good catch. I don't want anyone bothering me."
She slowly lowered her hands from her face. Her cheeks were still a bit pink, but she didn't look completely terrified anymore. "Oh. Um. Okay. You're welcome."
An awkward silence fell between us. I didn't really mind the silence, but she looked like she was vibrating with nervous energy, fidgeting with the edge of her red cloak. I figured I should probably say something to smooth things over, since we were going to be sitting next to each other all night.
"I'm Katsuya Akiya," I said.
"Ruby Rose," she replied, her voice stammering slightly. "I... um... I like your hair. It's really white."
"Thanks," I said. The conversation was starting out pretty rough. She was clearly struggling to come up with things to say, keeping her eyes darting between me and the floor. I noticed a handheld gaming console sticking halfway out of her open backpack.
"Do you play a lot of games?" I asked, nodding toward the bag.
Ruby blinked, looking down at her backpack. "Oh! Um, yeah. A little bit. Mostly RPGs and fighting games. Just to pass the time."
"I like fighting games," I said casually, though I honestly had no idea what kind of games people even played in this world. "I don't really know what's popular around here, though. What kind of games do you have on that?"
Instantly, the nervous, stuttering girl completely vanished. Ruby's eyes lit up like a pair of floodlights, and a massive grin spread across her face.
"Are you kidding?! I have all the best ones!" she gasped, suddenly leaning toward me and pulling her console all the way out of her bag. The awkwardness completely evaporated. "Right now I'm playing Dust Arena 4 and Grimm Survivor. Have you ever heard of them? They're so good!"
"No, I haven't," I admitted, getting a little more comfortable against the wall. "How do they work?"
"Well, Dust Arena is a classic fighter," she explained rapidly, her thumbs already flying over the buttons to boot the device up. "You pick a Huntsman class and just brawl. I usually main the dual-wielding characters because they have the best speed and their combo potential in the air is absolutely insane! But a lot of people like the heavy brawlers because they deal massive damage in single hits."
"I prefer the heavy characters," I nodded. "They're slow, but you don't have to think too much. You just wait for an opening and punch hard. It's simple."
"No way, speed is totally the best strategy!" she argued, turning the screen so I could see the character select menu. "You just have to know how to dodge! Look, I actually have an extra controller in my bag. Do you want to play a round?"
"Sure," I said.
I settled in against the wall, taking the second controller she handed me. It was much easier to talk to her now. As long as the topic was games, she didn't stutter at all. It was just a simple, quiet hangout in the corner, which was exactly what I wanted.
———
[Yang Xiao Long POV]
"Come on, don't be like that," I purred, leaning my forearm against the wooden wall of the ballroom, effectively trapping the guy in front of me. "I just wanted to get to know you a little better. It's our first night at Beacon, after all. We should be making friends."
The boy pressed himself flat against the wall, looking like a deer caught in the headlights. He was decently cute, with perfectly styled blonde hair, but right now his face was scrunched up in absolute disgust.
He tried to duck under my arm, but he completely miscalculated the space and ended up wedged awkwardly between the wall and my chest.
"Ugh! Back off, you brute!" he squealed, pushing frantically against my shoulders with manicured hands. "Do you have any idea how much my skincare routine costs?! You're going to completely ruin the pores on my face with your sweaty combat hands! I am not ruining my complexion for some aggressive meathead!"
I blinked, staring down at him as he frantically tried to smooth out the wrinkles I had supposedly put in his designer silk pajamas.
My playful smirk instantly dropped into a deadpan frown.
"Right," I sighed, taking a large step back and letting my arm fall. "Never mind, then."
The boy immediately scurried away, practically running into the crowd of girls while aggressively brushing off his shoulders like I had covered him in dirt.
I rolled my eyes. There was absolutely no point in hitting on a complete narcissist. I liked guys who were a little timid and cute, but not ones who cared more about their pores than a fun time.
So many of the guys here were total divas, which made finding a decent, chill one incredibly exhausting.
I stretched my arms over my head, letting out another heavy sigh, and popped my neck. I was bored now.
"Guess I'll just go tease Ruby," I mumbled to myself, putting my hands on my hips as I scanned the massive, chaotic ballroom.
It took me a minute to spot her. My little sister usually tried to find the darkest, most isolated corner possible whenever we were in a crowded room. Sure enough, way in the back, far away from the pillow fights and the loud groups of upperclassmen, I saw a familiar pile of red fabric.
I started walking over, already forming a joke in my head about her choosing to spend her first night of high school reading comic books in the dark.
But as I got closer, I stopped dead in my tracks.
Ruby wasn't alone.
Sitting cross-legged right next to her, leaning comfortably against the wall, was a boy. And not just any boy.
He was wearing a simple white t-shirt and dark jeans, with striking, messy white hair that made him stand out even in the dim lighting. He looked completely relaxed, holding a gaming controller in his hands, staring intently at the small screen Ruby was holding between them. He didn't look terrified, he didn't look like a high-maintenance diva, and he wasn't cowering in the designated boys' section of the room. He just looked cool... And incredibly hot.
I stood there for a second, my jaw dropping slightly as I watched them. Ruby was laughing, her thumbs flying across her own controller, actually leaning closer to him as they played.
I was completely shocked. I was surprised anyone was actually sitting down and playing video games with my socially awkward little sister, let alone a boy who looked like that.
A slow, impressed smirk spread across my face as I watched them play.
Damn... my sister sure has some skill!