Chapter 1: Beyond the Door
The prefectural finals of the national high school kendo tournament. What should I say to the students who are crying, looking down in frustration after losing by a narrow margin?
Until last year, our school’s kendo club was supervised by a famous charismatic Sensei in the kendo world. When that Sensei transferred, the principal, who knew about my grandfather’s iaido dojo, appointed me as the next advisor. However, while I had experience in iaido, I had none in kendo and couldn’t provide the guidance the students wanted.
Some students were disappointed and dissatisfied with me becoming their advisor.
Still, the second and third-year members who had been trained until now were strong. We achieved second place in the prefectural tournament, and in yesterday’s individual competition, team captain Domoto Kyohei brilliantly won first place, securing a ticket to the national tournament. Among the girls, third-year Kimijima also placed third in the individual competition.
“The team competition was close, but let’s focus on practicing for Domoto’s national tournament.”
“Tch… You don’t know anything about kendo…”
Third-year Kohinata mumbled. This guy had a particularly strong hostility towards me.
“A-Anyway, it’s time for the closing ceremony. Second place is a great achievement. Go out there with your heads held high.”
I somehow encouraged the students to head to the closing ceremony venue.
We were in the spectator seats on the second floor of the gymnasium. The players from each school had secured their places in the stands. Looking down, preparations for the closing ceremony had already begun on the first floor of the gymnasium.
“Hey, first-year! I left my shinai bag in the lounge. Can someone go get it?”
As we were about to leave, third-year Sato called out to a first-year student in a tracksuit sitting in the spectator seats. Nishina, who was nearby, replied, “Yes, I’ll go,” and followed.
We should have been able to exit to the hallway through the door behind the spectator seats and go down the stairs to reach the venue immediately.
Domoto pulled open the heavy iron door and went out. The other students followed. I also went through the door after the students and entered the hallway.
A few steps after passing through the doorway, I bumped into Nishina who was walking in front. Lost in thought about the students’ reactions earlier, I hurriedly apologized to Nishina.
“Ah, sorry. …Huh? Where are we…?”
I felt something was off and looked around. It should have been the gymnasium hallway, but we were surrounded by rough rocks, as if we were inside a cave. When I turned around, the door we had come through was nowhere to be seen. Domoto, who had entered first, was also looking around in confusion.
‘”Sensei, where is this?”
Nishina asked, sounding a bit scared, but I couldn’t answer him either.
Looking around, it seemed to be a dimly lit cave, but there was a certain amount of brightness. In front of us was what looked like a stone altar, an artificial structure. The light seemed to be coming from a circular hole in the ceiling, about several meters high, above the altar.
Like me, the students were bewildered and raised their voices. At that moment, I saw Domoto walking towards the altar-like structure. With a bad feeling, I called out.
“Domoto! Don’t touch it carelessly!”
It happened the instant Domoto approached the altar. As if the light from the ceiling had come directly above, a beam of light shone straight down, perfectly matching the shape of the altar.
Kiiiiiii!
At that moment, the altar also emitted a dazzling light as if responding to the beam, illuminating the entire cave. In the blinding light, I felt something inexplicable flowing into my body.
Then that power overflowed, and a shock like an explosion coursed through my entire body…
…and I lost consciousness.
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“Hm… Hmm?”
I’m not sure how long I had been unconscious, but when I opened my eyes, I was lying on a bed. I hurriedly tried to get up, but a wave of dizziness hit me, and I failed to stand, my legs giving out.
…Where is this? Where are the students?
The room I was in was a Western-style room about eight tatami mats in size. Looking around, I found my shoes placed beside the bed. The clothes I had been wearing were folded and placed on a shelf, and I was wearing something like pajamas.
Gradually feeling the dizziness subside, I managed to change back into my original clothes. My steps were still unsteady, but I needed to confirm the safety of the students. I put on my shoes and, with great effort, reached the door and peered outside. …A long corridor stretched beyond the door.
As I stepped into the hallway, I sensed a presence from the right. While slightly on guard, I looked in that direction and saw a woman’s face appear from the stairs. The woman was dressed in clothing reminiscent of what a clergy member might wear. Her facial features suggested a Westerner, and her blonde hair only reinforced that impression. Long ears protruded from her flowing blonde hair.
The woman climbed the stairs, turned in my direction, and quickly noticed me. After a slightly surprised look, she immediately showed a smile and approached me.
“Excuse me. Where is this…?”
“■■■■■■■■■”
“Huh?”
W-What is she saying? Is this even a language? The pronunciation was completely different from any language I had heard before, be it English, French, or Chinese.
“I-I’m sorry. …I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
“■■■■■■■■■?”
The woman seemed to quickly realize that I couldn’t understand her language. She made a gesture as if telling me to follow her. I made up my mind and followed the woman.
The woman went down the stairs she had come from, descending to the floor below. This floor also had a corridor stretching out like the floor above. She walked down the hallway and stopped in front of a room.
The room I was guided to was quite spacious, with several tables arranged inside. It felt like a cafeteria or school dining hall. Inside the room, the students were happily having their meals.
“Oh, you’re all safe!”
The students turned towards me at the sound of my voice. But compared to my relief at seeing them unharmed, the students’ reactions seemed somewhat muted.
“Hm? What’s wrong with you all…?”
Curious, I asked, and Domoto answered.
“Ah, Sensei… You’re awake.”
“Huh? Well, of course I’d wake up. …Hm? Was I asleep for that long?”
“About three days. Seems that light was too much for an old man.”
“O-Old man?”
The students chuckled at Domoto’s words. I’m only thirty-two, how am I an old man? More importantly, light? Come to think of it, I remember that light from the ceiling filling the entire room when we were at that altar. Indeed, I have no memory after that light.
But still, I was asleep for three days? I don’t understand what’s going on. There’s so much I want to ask that my head is in a whirl, but first, I need to confirm if all the students are here.
If I remember correctly, there were five male players who were heading to the closing ceremony: third-years Domoto Kyohei, Kohinata Akira, Sato Tetsuya, Tsuji Daiji, and second-year Ikeda Tomoki. For the girls, there was third-year Kimijima Yuzuki who participated in the individual competition, and first-year Nishina Takato. Hm? Why is the first-year girl Sakuragi Miki here?
“Sakuragi? Were you there too at that time?”
“Haha. I was just about to go to the bathroom, so I ended up coming along.”
“I-I see. …So where is this place?”
When I asked the students, Kohinata answered with a smirk.
“It’s what they call another world. An old man like you probably wouldn’t understand.”
I felt uncomfortable with Kohinata’s way of speaking, but I held back and asked further.
“Another world? What are you talking about?”
“Come on. Does getting older mean you lose your ability to adapt?”
Kohinata spoke even more rudely, as if mocking me. This time, I couldn’t help but admonish him.
“Hey, Kohinata. There’s a better way to speak–“
“Shut up! This isn’t Japan. Don’t act like a Sensei here!”
“W-What?”
I was speechless at Kohinata’s words. Then, team captain Domoto stepped in front of me.
“I understand you’ve just woken up and haven’t grasped the situation, but we’ve painfully realized over these three days that we can’t return to our original world.”
“C-Can’t return?”
“…Come with me.”
Domoto stood up and motioned me towards the window. I followed Domoto’s lead and approached the window.
Outside the window, an extraordinary sight unlike anything I had ever seen spread out before us.
The building we were in was situated on what seemed like a small island, and below it, instead of the sea, we could see clouds. Several similar small island-like structures floated around, and on some of the larger islands, there were buildings connected to each other by what looked like suspension bridges.
Everything appeared to be floating in the sky.
“W-What… What is this…?”
“We’ve been transported. It’s what they call isekai transfer. You’ve heard of it, right?”
“Isekai… transfer…”
Isekai transfer, I know it’s a common setting in the light novels and comics that students often read. Is that what happened? I can’t make sense of it.
I try desperately to calm myself, taking deep breaths. …Then I notice my mind starting to settle surprisingly quickly. It’s strange how calm I’m becoming.
…Right. I need to keep it together as the adult here. With that resolve, I looked around at the students.
Domoto observed my expression with curious eyes and continued his explanation.
Apparently, the other students also lost consciousness after being exposed to that light, but only for a short time. It seems I was the only one who remained unconscious for so long.
TL Note: The first chapter of this novel is mostly an info dump, but it gets really good later. Please be patient.
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