“Is this…
a city?”
Appearing abruptly in a bustling corner of the city, Shiratori stood beneath a roadside utility pole with a blank gaze, her eyes stinging slightly from the sunlight after just escaping the darkness.
Reaching up to rub her eyes, Shiratori began to survey her surroundings.
Tall, towering apartment buildings, neatly manicured roadside bushes, a clean and peaceful street, and crowds of people crisscrossing past one another.
This was a scene she had never witnessed before—a peaceful, prosperous metropolis, a thriving sight that could never exist amidst a great war.
Perhaps because the swallow-tail design on the back of Shiratori’s outfit was a bit too peculiar, the glances directed at her began to multiply.
However, they quickly shifted away, returning to whatever they were doing.
Of course, that didn’t stop a few people from being captivated by Shiratori’s face.
The faces of Spirits were all like enchanting flowers, each unique while remaining exceptionally pleasing to the eye.
Yet, these gazes made her feel a slight sense of discomfort, driving her to walk into a nearby side alley.
“Did I achieve a Silent Manifestation in my sleep?”
Pondering the reason behind her sudden appearance in the city, she swiftly removed the swallow-tail design from the back of her clothes.
Still, this uniform was far too eye-catching.
Shiratori peeked halfway out of the alley to look outside, thinking this to herself as she compared her outfit with those of the passersby.
Immediately after, a burst of light flashed across her body, instantly swapping her uniform out for a sailor suit.
The Allied emblem on her chest still flickered, her black thigh-high socks reached just to her knees, and a pair of black-framed glasses rested on the bridge of her nose.
Her delicate appearance made her look like a gentle literary girl.
If she looked like this, there shouldn’t be any problems.
Shiratori felt satisfied with her current image.
Even if she bumped into the AST, they would never be able to tell her apart unless they pressed a sensor directly against her body.
The afternoon street wasn’t particularly crowded.
Aside from the staff, most of the open shops had very few customers, likely due to it being a weekday.
Everyone was either busy working or at school, leaving mostly housewives out shopping.
What on earth are all these things, though?
Stepping out of the alleyway, her eyes first fell upon the various magazines displayed outside a nearby bookstore.
Printed on the covers were all sorts of trendy modern fashion, including a women’s magazine featuring bikini recommendations.
Reaching out to pick one up, Shiratori pressed her fingers against the title page and flipped through it rapidly.
Within that split second of flipping pages, her eyes accurately captured every single pixel printed on them.
“Pretty nice.”
Offering a brief evaluation, she found this unfamiliar style of magazine quite novel.
Setting the book back down, she picked up a manga next to it.
“Mm—is this a bit improper…”
Just as she opened the first page, the shop owner was staring at her with an inscrutable gaze.
Since she had just casually flipped through the magazine—at least, that was how it appeared to others—the owner hadn’t treated Shiratori like someone trying to read for free.
But seeing her pick up the manga, his gaze turned sharp.
As a side note, she didn’t possess a single cent of this country’s currency.
The only money she had was last century’s US dollars and half a minecart of gold ore.
“Ah…
what a hassle.”
After putting the manga back, Shiratori connected her Angel’s storage space to her pocket and pulled out a few US dollar bills.
Can US dollars with these old serial numbers even be used anymore?
Holding those rather old-looking bills in front of her eyes to inspect them, Shiratori harbored deep doubts.
Still, she had to try, so after asking the owner for directions to the bank, she walked over with a sense of perplexity.
After some time had passed…
“Thank you very much for your patronage!”
The sweet voice of the teller echoed from inside the bank.
Stepping out of the automatic doors right after was Shiratori, carrying a large leather suitcase.
“Mm…”
Standing outside the bank doors, Shiratori looked down at the suitcase packed with Japanese yen, feeling somewhat helpless.
Slightly different from her previous guess, those old serial number US dollars were still usable.
However, because they were so old, selling them as collector’s items might have fetched a slightly higher price—though that fell outside the scope of bank services.
“Why on earth is gold ore worth so much money, though…”
Letting out a sigh, Shiratori knit her brows slightly.
In her original world, gold ore was everywhere, to the point that when she was calculating her wealth earlier, she had subconsciously ignored it.
Yet, every nation still treated it as war capital; under normal circumstances, a minecart of gold ore was worth several thousand dollars.
Over here, a piece the size of a fist was worth millions.
So, after going through the trouble of fishing out a piece of gold the size of a fingernail from her pocket—she really couldn’t find anything smaller—and enduring nearly an hour of inspection by the bank, they finally paid her 500,000 yen.
As for why she didn’t open a bank account: first, Shiratori lacked an ID card; second, she worried about revealing her identity; third, it was a hassle with far too paperwork involved.
“The common sense of this world really has issues, but now I can explore to my heart’s content.”
With a soft heave, Shiratori lifted the suitcase and began moving toward the commercial district.
In short, she would experience everything that caught her interest.
Since she wasn’t short on money now anyway, she would first head to the bookstore to buy books she liked, then go to a cafe, and let her intuition decide the shops after that.
Carrying the suitcase with one hand, Shiratori retraced her steps along the route she had come.
And then…
Thump—!
In an instant, a faint dull impact hit her head, forcing Shiratori to take a few steps back uncontrollably.
“Ouch, my butt hurts…”
“Hm?”
Around the corner, a boy with short blue hair appeared.
At this moment, he was lying rather pathetically on the ground, his right hand reaching back to rub his swollen, sore butt that had come into intimate contact with the earth.
Shiratori picked up the notebook lying nearby.
Written on it were the four characters “Shido Itsuka.” He looked like a student from a nearby school, and this time of day happened to be right when classes let out.
Shiratori scrutinized the boy before her.
A school uniform, and…
And nothing else.
As far as Shiratori was concerned, that was pretty much the only notable feature he had.
“Are you alright?”
Shiratori blamed herself for being too out of it, then extended a hand toward him.
“I was running too fast, I’m so sorry…”
“Are you in that much of a rush after school?”
After pulling him up, Shiratori complained as if venting a mild grievance.
She then picked up the boy’s notebook, blew the dust off it, and handed it over to him.
“Thanks a lot, sorry for the hassle…
Eh?”
The moment his gaze shifted to Shiratori’s face, Shido froze right in his tracks.
“Is something wrong?”
Seeing his suddenly dazed expression, Shiratori tilted her head, expressing her confusion.
“So beautiful…”
“—!”
“S-Sorry!
You’re just really pretty!
I wasn’t trying to hit on you or anything, just now was really just a coincidence!
It’s a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding!”
As if blurting the sentence out sub-consciously, Shido began explaining in a flustered panic despite not understanding what she could have “misunderstood.” After all, if he didn’t handle this properly, his series of actions just now would definitely be seen as an intentional attempt to pick up a girl.
Especially after Tohka Yatogami transferred into his class, Shido’s reputation had taken a sharp nosedive.
If another rumor started about Shido liking to hit on beautiful girls using dating sim openings, it would absolutely become a new dark history.
The dating sim training instantly dissolved into bubbles in his mind, leaving his head filled only with thoughts of how to avoid creating a new dark history.
“Mhm, I believe your explanation.
Also, thank you for the compliment.”
Shiratori brushed off Shido’s panicked explanation with light indifference.
Then, without a moment’s delay, she picked up her suitcase, stepped around him, and continued moving toward the commercial district.
“Mm…
feels like I just had some kind of…
strange experience?”
Recalling that moment of close contact with such a cool, aloof beauty, Shido suddenly felt his cheeks burning slightly.
As if trying to etch Shiratori’s image into his mind, Shido looked back at her receding figure as she walked away into the distance.
“So beautiful…”
“Is he picking up girls again?”
“What a piece of scum.”
“Majikoiwa~.”
Only then did Shido realize that a trio he absolutely did not want to run into was standing on the opposite street, whispering amongst themselves.
And just like that, Shido’s reputation plummeted to an unprecedented new low.
PS: The cover art I commissioned someone for doesn’t seem to be passing review—this is already the third time the review process ate my cover!
There’s no helping it then…
I can only find a random image online.
Though the chapter edit review is so slow, it’s impacting the reading experience for the first chapter.
I’m sorry!
But the author remembers that words inside single angle brackets didn’t use to get eaten before?