My Parasite Skill System - Chapter 86
I–
I don’t know what’s happening?
Someone, wake me up?
What–
What are we doing … in here?
Someone…?
I want to sigh.
And sigh, and sigh, and sigh again.
I just want to do that.
Sighing would be the theme of my day.
I don’t like to curse.
But…
…My name is Shoyo Haruto, and I don’t enjoy cursing: goddamn it.
Is this some kind of a joke? Surely, it is not, correct?
A joke. How would that be a joke, hm? I mean, I need to repeat myself … and concentrate on that very question–I’m sure in the end, it will give me some more understanding about this situation.
So … okay. How would that be a joke, hm?
Jokes, I have seen plenty of them.
Jokes of this kind, correct.
These kinds of jokes were called pranks.
They would be called ‘pranks,’ wouldn’t they?
And this … no.
This does not look nor feel like a prank in any way to me. I can assure you this.
Still, though–
“Ha–Haruto…!”
And someone called my name–I was indeed Haruto.
I remember my name clearly, too, by the way. That must be another thing I take into account … undergoing my thoughts process.
“It–It really happened! Woah, dude!! We really got isekai’d!!!”
Oh, and Todora. Would you please not yell?
I’m trying to make a sense of this whole (damn) thing, here.
Come on.
With the corner of his eyes tearing up–most likely from excitement and euphoria–his dumb lips grinned the best they could.
That dude really has got a problem to himself, right.
I tried to keep my calm. My calm, my cool, my whatever you’d call it. I needed to get it together. I needed composure in order to assess and decide on my … or our … next move…?
“What do you even mean, ‘isekai’d’?!”
And why wouldn’t he just stop fidgeting the way he was like crazy, “It really happe-e-ened! I say this: we’ve been chosen! Cho-o-osen and teleported to another world! We’re new-worlder, dude! Ne-e-ew-Worlder! Ain’t that, oh so magnifico-o-o?! Haruto, I’m talking to you right there!”
Oh, gosh.
What was he on about, now?
He really has that thing to tick me off, sometimes. It’s … disturbing.
And I already was very much disturbed.
Knowing this, why would he even be adding more fuel to the fire, hmm?
…Never mind, actually.
Knowing him the way I know him, that Todora mustn’t even be aware of that.
“I’m trying to make sense of this … nonsensical situation … of right now!” I yelled at him, my breathing was ragged, but I managed just fine, “You have to calm yourself down, okay?!”
“Aren’t you the one panicking like a little chicken-chiken, though, Haru-chan, huuuhhhhh??? Dare you tell me to calm down again, heh! Look–I even still got my udon bowl in my hands! We’ve just been transported to a-n-o-t-h-e-r world, eh!”
That’s true he still had that udon bowl in his hands, but maybe it was just part of the trick–I didn’t know.
And what’s more, ‘Haru-chan’??
“Shut–Tsk.”
And thinking of telling that guy to shut his mouth for a bit, I thought better of it.
Ignoring him:
This was a serious situation … it seemed?
Nothing to scoff at, am I not correct?
Was it a ‘prank’? I talked about pranks earlier.
Did that girl … that, at first glance is in her twenties, really is … the princess she says she is?
What was it again that she said we’d been summoned into?
Some Rinceville’s castle of some sort, I believe?
Too many questions were flooding my mind. But I held it just fine. I was not to panic. I held it just fine. I only did that. It wouldn’t be too tricky, correct?
And … more importantly, what was the track of my thoughts about just before?
‘Pranks!’
That is what they are called.
These ‘pranks’… I have never been a huge fan of these. But let’s talk about it. Since I myself have seen quite a few many, be it on this or that occasion, I know a bit about them.
Yes, let’s just talk about it.
Pranks.
This setting, we were in a castle, just like the so-called princess said. And so it was a castle. From the inside. We were inside of it.
Surrounding us were many … well, layers by layers, there was the foreground first.
Turning around, scanning and analyzing our surroundings, I could see and count four, five, six of them.
That is correct. I could count six black-hooded dark cloaks.
Frowning and squinting my eyes at one of them … they were just humans, it seemed.
Forming a circle around me and my friends, all of them simply were extending their arms towards us, chanting and mumbling words that I could not comprehend … even after much effort to do so.
This was just spooky, in a few words.
But no, my ragged breathing knew to stop its comedy.
Mingled up in that spooky array they were forming–let’s not say ‘ritual’ they seemed to be performing–was the one who’d refer to herself as a princess.
Rinceville’s princess, I was sure of.
“Whoever you might be, this isn’t–”
I shut myself before finishing.
Let’s not panic. I’m having this, and I’m cool with this.
And she only smiled at me awkwardly, twirling her bright, blond hair with one finger, few beads of sweat on her forehead, “It’ll–It shall be fine … hahaha … it shall just be fine, okay??
“Heroes from another world, you are welcomed to our land–and this is right, you are indeed other-worlders.” And only say this, as she sort of also shut herself before actually finishing her speech.
I ignored it, I had better things to concentrate on.
A prank.
It may be a prank. But I have to consider all things maybe it wasn’t just a prank? No … most likely, anyhow, this must be a prank.
Continuing on with the setting of the (supposedly) prank:
This palace … it was quite broad … “Hey, Haruto, why don’t you just relax, dude, we’re coo-o-ol, aren’t we?! And more importantly … this is it! Our romance, comedy, action, adventure, harem little world’s just come true!” … I ignored Todora.
It was quite broad.
Going from beneath our feet, into two opposite cardinal directions, a long, red carpet was to be laid down.
And on both ends of it either were two shut sturdy classy wooden gates–or a mighty throne resting on an elevated plateau, coming up a few stairs.
Paving the ground, in the surroundings and the middle ground of this place, super-wide and square, originally white, and very smooth cobbles and bricks.
And standing above these, either chatting or just silent, were, in their turn, to be found here, other humans.
Some of them looked at us, as if we were animals, with insistence and persistence.
Some others had just grown tired–or simply used to it, most likely–at some point and were just chatting with their peers still paying us a bit of credit nonetheless.
“Romance, comedy, action, adventure, harem own little world, Haruto!!
“I’m telling you this is no jo-o-oke (uhh, I should stop speaking like that, by the way) my dude.
“Just loosen up a bit.
“Here, have some of my udon … I figure you were only holding your chopsticks when we got teleported with the girls … ain’t a problem if you lost your udon …. here, have some of mine.”