2 Hello, World.

Confirming with her armlet the arrival of another 'fresh' person, Rita Stronoff finished her drink in one go and stood up. Watcher's room where she rested until a moment ago was rather small, but that is to be expected. The Tower in which Rita served was one of the smallest on the continent, having only 3 arrival chambers.

After rinsing the mug in a sink, Rita opened a safe. Inside the sink were two books that looked rather old and heavy. 'I wonder if Natasha and Khrille haven't returned yet or already left again.' She was curious since only one set of books was in the safe.

She pulled them out, laying a folded brown cloak on top. Before leaving the Watcher's room, Rita checked her appearance in a large wall mirror. There was a not that young, but still quite attractive girl little under thirty. A red hair recently cut to a shoulder length, bothered her a little. 'Shouldn't have cut it that much, I guess.' She adjusted her shirt collar and left the room.

On her way to the guards' room, she wondered who will be her next 'freshman'. Rita Stronoff served in this tower for 9 years and there were only two emergency arrivals, but both were imprinted very strongly in her memory. Thoughtfully she touched her chest, where one of them left an ugly scar.

'I hope this freshman will be a good person.'

-

A brown-cloaked person lay on a thin mattress in a brightly lit room. The oval room was spacious but surprisingly empty. In addition to the said mattress, there was a brown table with a girl standing behind it, and a big metal-plated door with two guards by its sides. And walls, entirely covered by metal tablets.

The cloaked person began to move. 'What happened? Where am I? Where is Kanbara-san?' The flow of questions belonged to Orihara Satoru.

His body was all numb, he felt literally nothing. So it took him some to finally stand up. 'Damn, why is it so hard to move? It's like I'm drunk or something.'

It took him another minute to ascertain his surroundings. Satoru noted strange tablets that covered the walls. 'There are hundreds of them. Am I dreaming? Though I was never able to have a lucid dream, maybe that's it?' His eyes focused on a girl at the far end of the room, behind the table.

After making sure that his head was pointed in her direction, Rita smiled and begun gesturing. 'I wish we weren't forced to cover their heads with hoods, it's hard to get when they are looking at us. But rules are rules.' Her smile was stiff and wary, but none the less she perfectly repeated the same gesture again and again. 'Come closer, come closer. It's easy, c'mon, please, understand it!'

Satoru began to move towards the girl. His every step was shaky due to the numbness, and he felt horrible as if his entire body was alien to him.

'It's either some kind of nightmare, or I'm a unicorn princess'. His internal critic kicked in, helping him with growing uneasiness. 'It's hard to move, I can't even feel my body. And unbearable, crushing silence!'

When he was a few meters away from the table, Rita motioned with a 'Stop' gesture. Now Satoru has a chance to take a good look at her.

A girl of the same height, a bit younger than him. Red, curly hair, green eyes. She was dressed in a kind of formal attire — a white shirt, a dark-blue vest with a large cleavage emphasizing the chest, and a dark-blue lengthy skirt. He also noted that the girl was nervous.

'I wonder if it's a D-cup, or even E?' Satoru's attention was quickly grabbed by an obvious spot.

Meanwhile, Rita changed her gesture once again. First, she pointed down to the table. There were two big books and a tablet, similar to those hanging on the walls.

'I'm no linguist, but I can't even recognize letters on that tablet, huh.'

After a few seconds, Rita gestured to the tablet, slowly raised her hand to her eyes, and then made a round gesture towards the walls. 'That's the hardest part. Please, understand it!' She thought nervously. It was a critical moment in her job, the hardest and the trickiest one.

'It looks exactly like a flight attendants' safety instruction on the plane.' Satoru was side-tracked by a flashback when the girl slowly repeated the same series of gestures — tablet, eyes, walls. 'Do I need to take a look around?' He finally understood her instruction. "Geez, why can't you talk? Stupid dream. And now what? When I'll turn around, you'll shapeshift into a giant monster and attack me?'

When he turned around and went to the nearest wall, Rita quietly exhaled. 'Yay, another pantomime — success!'

Satoru arrived at the wall and found out that it was indeed covered by the tablets. 'Well, they look the same. I can even see something like a serial number on each tablet.' He scratched his head musingly, without taking off the hood. 'But what the hell is written on them?!'

He glanced at several tablets, but could not identify any of them. Some tablets contained letters, of that he was sure, but others? 'Is this some kind of Rorschach test?' Dumbfounded, he looked back at the table girl. She just smiled awkwardly, then nodded and pointed to the wall again.

'Guess I have to look for something? A clue of some sort? I hate those escape room games and I always sucked at Cluedo'.

But he kept looking, tablet after tablet, one row after another. More than ten minutes passed. With each passing minute, he felt even more irritated by the whole situation. 'Body is still numb. Stupid tablets. What's going on?! Please, wake me up!'

And then it happened. The first tablet at the top of the column was kind of familiar, as well as the second one. 'This one is French, I'm sure. I remember those letters and even words from my auntie's postcards when she was in Paris.' English, German and Chinese followed and finally, he saw the text in Japanese.

EVERYTHING IS ALRIGHT

KEEP CALM

POINT AT THE TABLET AND COME TO ME

I WILL EXPLAIN EVERYTHING

A cold sweat struck Satoru. 'Something is really wrong here. Is this really a dream?' He pinched himself painfully in the leg, but nothing happened. 'What the fuck? Is this for real?' Panic crawled inside. He turned around on shaky legs and pointed at the tablet.

'Whew, he succeeded somehow. Hope it's his native language and not something he barely knows.' Rita gestured him to come back. She then skimmed through her notepad, finding the number of the tablet there, and opened the first book on the corresponding page. The book contained a basic level of information, but she already knew what was written there. 'Hooray, it's Earth. Nothing dangerous! And even Japan, a land of calmness and shyness, as they say. Jackpot!' Rita's nervousness gave way to lightness and calm.

When Satoru approached the table, Rita gestured him to stop there. Then she put her left hand on the open book and pointed at Satoru with her right. 'What is she doing, huh?'

Then he finally heard something for the first time. The girl opened her mouth and quickly spoke:

"-%$&@#~ $@ചű৻ ▣ಎ#%$!-"

Surprise from an unknown language immediately changed to another, bigger surprise. A small green circle appeared at the tip of her finger. The next moment a bigger green circle appeared under Satoru's feet. After hovering around for a second, it suddenly flew upwards right through his body and disappeared.

'What. Was. That. Just. Now.' It was like Satoru's mind was hit by a truck. It was hard to focus and process the situation. As if to finish him, the girl spoke again:

"Do you understand me? If you do, please, nod. Just nod is enough." After saying all this Rita had another, pleading thought. 'Please, just don't faint! Keep it together!'

As the truck was not enough, now Satoru's mind was hit by a train. 'Oh, don't be a pussy, it all looks kind of fun.' His internal critic kicked in. 'Let's just assume it's a dream and play along for now.' After calming him down a little he nodded.

"Splendid! Now I will ask you a number of questions. You might find them strange, but, please, reply by nodding or shaking your head. I would not understand other replies yet."

"And why is that?" Satoru asked, a bit irritated by this strange statement.

"I'm sorry, but I do not understand your language. Right now, only you can understand me." This was another tricky part that she had to overcome quickly. "So I will ask questions, and you will either nod or shake your head, okay?" Satoru nodded, visibly confused.

"Do you remember your name?" Nod.

"Do you remember your age?" Nod.

"Do you remember where you are from?" Another nod.

"Are you familiar with the concept of being transported to another world?" He was about to nod, but then the meaning of the phrase reached him.

Satoru's mind went blank. Fragments of thought moved chaotically in his empty head. When he was about to dive into a full-panic mode, his mind resisted again. 'Now-now-now, if I had hands, I would rub them now. Sounds hella fun!'

As instruction said, Rita handed him a glass of water. "It's water. Simple, clear cold water. It will help you calm down a bit."

After making a sip, he nodded.

"Good, good." Rita braced herself, preparing for the hardest part. "It pains me to say this, but I have to. As you are standing here and now, it is clear that you died in your own world. It is sad, but don't worry, you are alive and kicking right now, and a whole new life awaits you here, in Lazra!" She quickly rattled the whole phrase to prevent another panic attack.

'Well, that makes sense.' Satoru calmly thought. As his job required, his mind was quite flexible and open to new things. 'I mean if this all is real… Wasn't I hit by a truck? Damn you Mirai with your foreshadowing!' A concerning thought returned to his head. 'I wonder how is Mirai herself? Is she alive?'

"Now I will explain some basic principles." Rita recited a perfectly memorized paragraph. "First. We do not possess a method to send you back." She paused, but Satoru just calmly waited for her to continue.

"Second. You have only one life, if you die here, that's it."

'Yes, people die if they are killed.' Satoru remembered a famous quote and chuckled.

"Third. Your appearance has changed, as well as your age. Later you'll be able to take a closer look." Satoru nodded. "Now I will cast another spell and we will finally be able to communicate!" This was a happy moment for Rita, too.

She opened the second book. After going to a specific page, she placed her left hand on this page and pointed her right at Satoru again.

"-Tomecraft: EaJa Lazra speech!-"

Another green circle appeared beneath Satoru. This time, however, it didn't disappear immediately but continued to spin.

'I wonder what this skill system looks like.' While waiting for the circle to disappear, Satoru dived deeper into his beloved theorycraft. 'Was this her skill? Or did it come from the book? If so, can I use it?' Deep in his thought, he finally took off his hood scratch his head. 'Hmm, looks like I have a long hair. Oh, well, doesn't matter. Back on topic, if this was a skill, how are they being taught? By book or scroll? Or by reciting a phrase? Or maybe there is a special trainer who will teach you after a suitable fee?'

When it became clear that Satoru was very deep in thought, Rita decided to interject.

"I'm sorry, are you alright?" After not getting an answer, she tried again. "I'm sorry, miss, is everything okay?" Still no answer.

"Miss, should I call a Healer?" Anxiety appeared on Rita's face. "Lady, how are you? What's wrong?"

'Who is she talking to?' Satoru wondered and looked around, but there was nobody else in the room.

"Miss? Do you need a Healer? Miss?"

Realizing that she was talking to him, Satoru was struck by a bizarre idea. He pulled his hands out from under the cloak. They were white, thin and tender hands. Checking for the second time his long brown hair, he finally made an obvious move. Pulling off the edge of his cloak, he stared at two neat breasts.

'A surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one.' His calm critic supplied in an absent tone, and they both passed out.