First friendly contact with another person in this other world.
Approximately thirty minutes had passed since that heartwarming exchange, and he had offered to help her.
"—Just what is going on here?"
The investigation was proceeding with impressive sluggishness.
The girl's interrogating gaze was cold, and being on the receiving end of those dissatisfied eyes was yielding Subaru with one new discovery. Namely— "That even though she's looking at me with such cold eyes, I'm getting tingles... Could it be? No way. Me— this guy here— is an M...?"
"I don't know what an M is or isn't, but I can tell you're saying something incredibly stupid."
Crossing her arms, the girl sighed without making the slightest effort to hide her exasperation.
It was a pretty damning assessment, but it could also be read as a fair evaluation of Subaru's performance over the past thirty minutes.
Subaru had volunteered to help search for the girl's missing item, but several problems had surfaced, making the investigation extremely difficult.
First, he had no knowledge of the area.
Honestly, all he could say on that front was "please forgive me, I just got summoned to another world," but the girl was equally unversed in the local geography, so that didn't help either.
The two of them had spent ten minutes wandering through back alleys on the assumption that she knew the way—a story that was now laughable, if you could bring yourself to laugh.
Second, the writing was completely incomprehensible.
Their conversations flowed just fine, so he'd let his guard down, but looking around now, handwritten glyph-like symbols were everywhere.
He hadn't noticed at first, but since they appeared on shop signs and such as well, they were almost certainly the writing system of this world—unless they were some trendy anti-curse charms going around. Thanks to that, he couldn't distinguish one shop from another by its sign, nor could he ask for directions by reading a guideboard.
In short, the summoned-person's classic perk of "language you somehow understand and text you can somehow read!" had apparently only applied to the former.
Still, considering that without even the former he'd have been left to die on the streets, it was maybe a slight improvement.
"Even so, the difficulty curve is spiraling way out of control..."
This was supposed to be the grand opening of a fully loaded cheat-tier isekai story, not a sloppy prologue riddled with deficiencies.
And the fatal issue that had really earned the girl's displeasure was— "For starters, you've been hiding behind me this whole time and haven't been the slightest bit useful."
"Well, talking to someone you've just met is kinda scary, you know..."
"You're not a child..."
She furrowed her well-shaped brows as though nursing a headache, her voice taking on a tone that was almost pitying.
Just as Subaru himself had feared, the hurdle of approaching a complete stranger with questions was absurdly high. This was the guy who had spent the past year sprinting up an endless hill of social anxiety at full speed. Like a shy toddler clinging to his mother, he'd done nothing but trail behind in silence.
He wanted to defend himself against the girl's disappointment, but his own inadequacy was all too evident, and no words came.
It was then that the small cat, who had been sitting silently on her shoulder, twitched its tail and spoke.
"Don't worry. ...He doesn't have a malicious bone in his body."
"That's even more unfortunate. I'd honestly find it easier to accept if it were deliberate sabotage. ...Useless goodwill is harder to deal with than outright malice."
"You're learning, aren't you?"
The girl sighed at the cat's detached, observer-like attitude.
Then she turned her gaze back to the street and prefaced with "Still, though—"
"It really might be pretty bad, huh."
She murmured those small words of defeat under her breath.
They had moved from the earlier back alley—and from the main road it connected to—into a slum district far removed from the bustle of shops and commerce.
Continuing their questioning, however reluctantly, had led them to this rough approximation of a trail.
"They said stolen goods get fenced through the slums or the shanty towns..."
"We know where it is and what the culprit looks like. Couldn't you just leave the rest to the police— I mean, the guards or something? A manhunt would solve it in a flash."
From a shop owner two streets over, they'd learned about a narrow alley leading into the slums.
The sun was already beginning to set, and despite being just one block away from the main thoroughfare, the atmosphere here was dim and oppressive for reasons beyond the lack of light.
A damp, stale smell hung in the air, and Subaru grimaced involuntarily.
"The air, the atmosphere, and probably the people living here are all bad news. We should call for help—that'd be the safe play."
"No."
It wasn't that she was being timid or cowardly—it was a proposal made after carefully weighing her own capabilities against the girl's safety. But it was shut down with a crisp, decisive rejection.
As Subaru's eyes widened at the finality of her answer, the girl looked slightly apologetic.
"I'm sorry. But we can't. I don't think the guards would bother mobilizing for some petty theft like this... and besides, there are reasons I can't rely on the guards."
She pressed her lips together and looked at Subaru with an almost beseeching expression. "I can't tell you why," her eyes said.
She didn't want to be questioned about it, he gathered, and he raised a hand in acknowledgment. He wasn't the type to pry into other people's affairs anyway, and getting deeply involved was just a hassle.
If he had the social initiative to build relationships, he wouldn't have become a shut-in in the first place.
"So, what do we do now?"
While declining to press for the reason, Subaru asked about their next move.
Not prying into her circumstances and not cutting off his cooperation were two different things. He didn't know her situation, but he had no intention of being an ingrate.
The girl looked faintly surprised, raising her eyebrows slightly at his offer—as if she'd been expecting him to bow out. The cat on her shoulder took a light step and said: "See? I told you. No malice whatsoever."
With its usual air of feigned obliviousness, it pointed a paw at Subaru with evident delight.
But then the cat's expression suddenly turned serious.
"Just be careful, okay? —It's almost nighttime, and I won't be able to help anymore. I'm not worried if it's just some thug or two, but... caution is important too."
"Right. ...Yeah, I'll think about it. I'll think about it."
The girl's answer to the cat's proposal was noncommittal.
While she wrestled with her decision, Subaru turned a question that had occurred to him toward the cat.
"Going by what you just said—what's the deal? You can't come out at night?"
"It's less that I can't come out and more that—I look like this, cute as I am, but I'm a spirit, you know. Just maintaining a manifested form consumes a fair bit of mana. So at night, I return completely to my vessel and focus on replenishing my mana. Ideally, that's between nine and five."
"Nine to five, like some kind of government worker... The employment conditions for spirits are surprisingly harsh...!"
Specialized terms like "spirit" and "vessel" were flying around freely, but Subaru's modern, anime-and-game-poisoned reading comprehension made it easy enough to piece together.
Either way, the small cat in front of him—Pack, rather—would be off-duty at nighttime. He looked completely unreliable given his appearance, but judging from how badly those alley thugs had been intimidated, Pack himself aside, it was probably true that "spirits" as a category wielded considerable power.
A girl who could conjure blocks of ice with magic—and this cat was apparently even more feared than she was. For all its utterly pastoral demeanor, it might well possess habits like "devours human flesh and relishes the scent of blood."
"Now that I think about it, that's terrifying. Let me just say—I'm pretty sure I'd taste terrible!"
"I can sort of read minds, so I'll say this: you're pretty dumb."
It came out like the cat had tried to wrap the thought in a nice bow but failed, and then Pack scrunched up its face, drawing its bushy eyebrows together.
"Oh right, we haven't exchanged names yet. We haven't done introductions, have we?"
"Oh, you're right. Okay then, I'll go first."
Subaru cleared his throat, did a full spin on the spot, and struck a pose with one finger pointed skyward.
"My name is
"Just hearing that is enough to know you're in a hopeless situation. Yup. And I'm Pack. Pleasure."
Pack dove headfirst into Subaru's offered hand for a vigorous handshake—one hand meeting an entire body, so from the sidelines it looked like Subaru was crushing the cat.
Soothed by the same pillowy fluffiness as when it was giant-sized, Subaru then turned his gaze to the girl at his side. She was watching their exchange with a flat, dead-eyed stare.
"Why can't you save that unnecessarily familiar attitude for more appropriate moments?"
"I'm on edge and grasping at any thread I can find, okay?! Damn it, I'm not letting this connection slip away... I'm gonna be emotionally dependent on it to survive!"
"What a pathetic resolution. ...More to the point, do you even remember what capacity you're currently accompanying us in?"
"Of course. This started as a search-and-retrieve and has turned into a search-and-find. And I'm the only one who knows the seeker's description... You think I'd let myself get tossed in the junk heap? I'll never talk...!"
"While you were eavesdropping and mumbling behind us like 'blonde hair... teeth, ah, never mind'—the general description leaked, you know."
"You exposed my hand, you little—!"
Subaru clutched his head and crouched on the spot.
It was like playing poker with his cards face-up. And from that position, negotiation was a laughable prospect.
This was supposed to be his first friendly contact in this world, and yet the anxiety of severing the thread he needed to cling to gnawed at him. Watching Subaru's turmoil, Pack gave a wry smile.
"Well, everyone's got their circumstances, I guess. As for Subaru's—I'll hear that later. For now, let's take care of the other business first. Anyway, it's a rare name. Nice ring to it."
"It is. You wouldn't hear a name like that around here. Come to think of it, your hair and eye color, your clothes—they're all quite unusual. Where are you from?"
"The cliché answer would be: probably some tiny country to the east!"
The well-worn isekai trope. A hidden Japan-like nation existing somewhere on the far side of the world.
In a country with virtually no foreign relations, the magic formula was that claiming to have washed ashore from there would satisfy most people.
But— "Lugunica is the easternmost country on the continental map... There's nothing east of this kingdom."
"No way—seriously!? This is the edge of the east!? So then—the legendary Nippon!?"
"You don't even know where you are, you're completely broke, and you're too scared to talk to people. ...I'm starting to worry about this guy's future from every possible angle."
Facing the flustered Subaru, the girl's eyes began to flicker with restless unease.
She was prickly on the surface, but her tendency to worry about others was seeping through around the edges. She was probably beside herself over how utterly defenseless Subaru was.
Pack watched the two of them fret with an amused smile. He flicked the whiskers on his cheeks with a paw.
"Let's hash out the details as we go. For now, let's head deeper in—though I should mention I've got less than an hour of manifestation time left. I need an answer."
"—I'm going. There's no way I'm letting this chance slip. If I wait until they've taken it somewhere out of reach, it'll be too late."
Responding to Pack's prompt, the girl turned to Subaru.
"All right, we're heading in. From here on, be on higher alert. It'll be dark soon, so there are bound to be people with unsavory ideas, and this is the kind of place where the residents are used to violence. If you're scared, wait here, or stay behind me like before."
"If I start saying stuff like 'I'll wait here,' how much of a chicken would I be?! Let's go! Like a guardian spirit!"
"No option to move to the front, I see... That's actually easier for me since I won't have to worry extra."
The girl sighed—how many times was this now?
Since they'd met, Subaru reflected, her expression had been nothing but clouded. Thinking back, he still hadn't seen her smile once. She looked great when she was angry, sure, but she'd probably be absolutely gorgeous if she laughed.
"Orange on a soda can!!"
"...What was that just now?"
"Nothing. It's not working, why...? Ah—! Wait! They don't have soda cans in this world! Um, um—okay, the stove goes flying... wait, no stoves either!"
"He's suddenly showing signs of abnormality... This isn't some kind of curse effect, is it?"
"No, it's entirely self-generated. He's remarkably earnest about it, though. Just pointed in a completely useless direction."
Whether Pack had grasped the root of Subaru's struggle or not, the cat's interpretation was surprisingly generous. For the girl, though, who could only see a man who'd apparently malfunctioned, it only planted more suspicion.
Lamenting that his repertoire was overloaded with jokes limited to his original world, Subaru racked his brain at full speed. Getting too caught up in the matter at hand and losing sight of the bigger picture—another of his bad habits.
"What about 'My leg cramped, so I can't go home'?"
Finally, a line that didn't depend on modern knowledge, but the girl's response was to turn her face away—brutal.
Her gaze was fixed on the alley ahead. That was likely her way of saying she couldn't afford to humor him any longer.
His fleeting desire to see her smile ended in failure.
"—You done, Subaru?"
The girl called out to Subaru, who was drowning in maximum self-loathing over the result and the process alike.
Being called by his name for the first time—and being addressed so familiarly by a woman—made him flutter with a nervousness he couldn't suppress.
"O-Oh yeah. T-T-Totally fine. Seriously fine. I'm good, piece of cake."
"Why are you so flustered... I get that you're scared, but we haven't even gone in yet. If it's really that frightening, you could just wait."
Misreading the situation as concern for him, the girl cut off her accommodation toward Subaru with a short breath.
Following behind her as she stepped into the alley, Subaru suddenly realized that even after she achieved her goal, she had no intention of abandoning him.
Saying "wait here" meant she intended to come back after the item was found. He'd learned enough about her in this past hour to know she was constitutionally incapable of making calculating lies.
"Oh man. I look so pathetic."
He'd offered to help, turned out to be completely useless, and on top of it all was making the girl worry about his safety after she completed her mission. He was practically a kept man.
He slapped his own cheek, jolting his consciousness back to alertness with the pain.
His whining and self-pity were still bottomless. Anyone dropped into another world without protection would end up lost like this. He couldn't yet bring himself to think of that as wrong. Still— "Being carried on someone's back or in their arms is lame. At least walk behind me on your own two feet, come on."
Even in depending on her, he'd stand on his own legs.
—For a man who had supposedly awakened, Subaru's ambitions were remarkably small.
"Oh, by the way."
He called out from a slight diagonal behind her, and the girl glanced back through a gap in her silver hair.
Even that sidelong glance was so alluring it made him shrink, but Subaru posed his question to her white profile.
"I realized—I heard the pet cat's name, but I never got yours."
With a hint of playfulness in the question, the girl returned her gaze to the front and fell silent for a moment.
That reaction made him panic inwardly: "Did I screw up?!" The fact that she hadn't volunteered it earlier might have been a silent indication that she didn't want to say it.
Unable to read the hearts of others or the minds of women, the social cripple—had that trait reasserted itself in full force, just as regrettable as ever?
"...
"Oh?"
The girl's sudden murmur caught Subaru off guard, snapping him out of his spiral of inner conflict.
Without turning around, the girl addressed him once more in an emotionless tone: "You can call me Satella."
Even after giving her name, her attitude was practically a refusal to have him use it.
Subaru had privately wished for a family name that was easier to call out, but unable to bring himself to say it, he fell silent. For now, settling for a second-person pronoun would have to do—that was his cowardly compromise.
Behind the two of them, buried in the silver hair, Pack murmured one quiet line: "—That's in poor taste."
It was a remark that reached neither Subaru nor the girl.