“Kyle, let’s go, we’re gonna be late!”

“C’mon KC, this is what we came here for!”

Kyle blinked as Nick and Tony, both dressed in butler cosplay, dragged him by his arms, which were still carrying their bags. They made their way through the convention crowd, people parting as if to make way for them. He looked down and was unfazed by the blue dress he found himself in, and only slightly wondered what had happened to the park he’d just sat down in. Before he could focus his thoughts, they arrived at their destination: a massive room for the Made in Another World panel, already jam packed with fans. The trio rushed down the center aisle and found three conveniently vacant seats in the front row.

“I first want to start by giving a huge thank you to everyone for coming today!” The panel MC sat at the far left of the table on stage, with six empty chairs set up next to them. The crowd cheered as the room lights dimmed and the stage lights came on. “Let’s begin then, shall we? As I’m sure you’re all aware, the next season of Made in Another World was announced last month, and is set to release next year! As such, we’ve got a very special set of guests for you all today! Are you ready?” The crowd went wild once more, the trio of friends included. “Well, I promise you that you’re not! Because here is none other than the cast of Made in Another World!”

The stage lights began to strobe as six figures everyone present was familiar with walked on stage. The first one out was a blue haired, charismatic hero, followed by a red haired warrior, his best friend. They stopped to wave at the crowd as a green haired, elven archer girl and a purple haired mage ran to the other side of the stage, encouraging the crowd to get even louder. Lastly, a black and white duo shyly made their way to the middle of the stage, holding hands.

“It’s them!” Nick said, barely audible over the crowd going wild. “It’s the real hero’s party!”

“How?” Kyle asked in bewilderment.

“Who cares? They’re really here! Aren’t you excited?” Tony said, giving him a light jab with his elbow. He pointed to the maid twins right in front of them, no more than fifteen feet away on the stage. And Tony wasn’t wrong; Kyle felt the excitement begin to well up within him, all the more so when the twins turned their gazes down and looked at him. He felt their piercing eyes, and watched as their fluffy cat ears twitched in sync. His face grew hot, and Kyle wished he had been wearing the butler outfit instead of the dress at that moment.

“Now!” the MC announced, “because we have such an exclusive guest appearance today, we’re going to let them invite some of you up to the stage to ask your questions and receive a prize!” People in the crowd began standing up, begging to be chosen over their neighbors. “Mr. Hero’s party, why don’t you choose the first person to come up here?”

“Very well,” the hero Andreas said, turning to look over the crowd. Suddenly, the cheers seemed to muffle as he gestured to the maids. “Kuroshi, Shiroshi, anyone you’d like to invite up here?”

The twins nodded in unison, pointing to the front row as they said together, “We choose Mr. Butler!”

A spotlight rained down from above Kyle, and the cheers returned as he was pushed to his feet. Looking down at his outfit, he suddenly found himself in his butler uniform again, holding his bag with the figurine twins inside. Before he could wonder where his backpack or the dress had gone, he was pushed towards the stage. He hesitated as he took the outstretched hands of the twins, and sheepishly turned to face the crowd. There were more cheers, and he waved to his friends as the stage lights shined brighter, almost to a blinding degree–

The glare of the sun showed through the tree overhead, directly onto his face as Kyle opened his eyes. His body felt a bit sluggish and cramped, having passed out hunched over on a park bench. “That was… one of the dreams of all time. And probably the least refreshing nap I’ve ever had.” As he sat up, he could tell the pain from his fall from earlier was dulled, but his arms still ached to move. “I wonder if there’s any pharmacies that offer pain killers? Not that I could buy any right now…”

Massaging his temples and pushing any thoughts of his weird dream aside, he leaned back to stretch and checked to make sure he hadn’t drooled over the box he’d used as a pillow. Satisfied that the box was safe, Kyle slowly got to his feet. I wonder if getting in a nap was what I needed to jumpstart any new powers? Pausing for a moment, he closed his eyes and tried focusing within himself for a minute, only to come up empty once again. No powers. No direction or help in finding out why I’m here. And no money or easy way to start my new life here. What gives?!

“This is one heck of a lame joke, if I’ve ever heard one. Am I here for a reason or not? Did someone not call me here to help? Am I supposed to figure out some quest or whatever on my own? Isn’t it about time something happens? Please don’t tell me I got dropped in a world set at the turn of the twentieth century with nothing special about it!” His complaints unending, he reached down to grab his backpack, and found nothing but air. Looking around, he realized it was nowhere to be seen. “Wait, it was right here! Or there? Where could it…” Kyle whipped his head around, wandering behind the bench to see if it had fallen over or been kicked out of sight while he was asleep.

Nothing. It was as good as gone.

Kyle squinted, looking to see if there was anyone nearby. But as far as he could see, this area of the park was vacant. “You’ve gotta be kidding me! Just hours after being dropped in a new world… with nothing but the crap I was carrying… I’ve been robbed! In broad daylight, no less!” He stomped on the arm of the bench with each breath as he cursed his situation. All the supplies he had been counting on using or needing at some point, gone in the blink of an eye. An hour long blink, going by where the sun is now, but still!

“Come on, Kyle Concord! You should know better than to leave yourself vulnerable like that, no matter how tired you are! How are you supposed to meet your destiny as a summoned hero or whatever if you’re already failing at this?” He momentarily thought of what Nick and Tony might think, if they could see him now. No, stop it! They’re not here, and that’s probably for the best for them. I’m starting to think this other world business might not be all it’s cracked up to be.

Cursing once more, Kyle stormed off. There was still a chance that whoever had stolen from him was in the area, and it’s not like his backpack was easy to disguise or play off as belonging to someone else. Aside from not knowing where they’d be, he doubted any authorities would care what some fake butler had to complain about, too, so it was up to him to try and recover his belongings. Wait, I still have this, so I could–

Kyle paused, stopping his hand from pulling out what was hiding in the back of his waistband. Nick and Tony had been right: against his better judgment, he’d brought with him his favorite airsoft gun, a Volkspistole, loaded with one magazine full of BB pellets and a brand new CO2 cartridge. The “People’s Pistol” historical replica was his first airsoft handgun, and had been with him to the local airsoft range dozens of times over the last few years. Of course, it had an orange tip that took away from the 1940’s style, but he knew that couldn’t be helped too much.

It’d cost him a year and a half of saving birthday and holiday gift money, but the design was too cool for him to pass on. And today, he’d fancied the idea of making his cosplay that of a combat butler so much, he’d ended up bringing the toy weapon with him. What’s more, the only other thing he’d gotten at Anime Exposé aside from the figurine was a replica dagger that the protagonist from Made in Another World used. It didn’t have a sharp edge, but it did come to a point; with enough force, Kyle was sure it’d do puncture damage. Overall, he felt like he pulled off the “butler who knows how to fight” vibe pretty well.

As he thought about it, though, he began to doubt himself. He’d played plenty of airsoft before, and had a fistfight one time while at the range, but that was the extent of his experience in actually fighting anyone. If it came down to it, and the culprit wasn’t willing to part with their ill-gotten goods, Kyle wasn’t sure he’d be able to fight his way to retrieving his stuff. Nobody would know these are fake weapons, so I could just make empty threats with them. But if it comes down to it, just how far would I be willing to go in a real fight before having to run away? 

As his thoughts raced, he continued his way through the park back the way he’d come, only seeing a couple of people going about their daily business. Surprisingly, he realized, there were no animals to be seen, aside from the occasional birds; no dogs were being walked, no squirrels hiding in the trees, or any stray cats hunting for their next meal. Kyle didn’t count the insects that occasionally buzzed by as part of the wildlife, and wondered how something as nature-inclined as a park could function or be the same without any critters inhabiting it.

Eventually, he found himself back at the street intersection that he had crossed earlier. From here, he could see the tops of high rise buildings off on the other side of the city. He noticed how clean the streets seemed to be as well, before realizing that the intersection itself was fairly devoid of many cars driving through it. Although, that likely had to do with the change on the other side of the street.

The crowd of suited men outside the hotel had been replaced with what appeared to be police, or some kind of law-enforcement: several tall and intimidating men in blue and gray uniforms with tall helmets wielded a mix of long rifles and pistols on their backs and hips. They all stood at attention and kept anyone from approaching the building, going as far as to bark at the people passing by, making them step into the street to round the corner. They’re packing some serious heat, there. I think I’ll try the other side of the street, thank you very much…

The crosswalk lights buried in the pavement flickered, and he hid behind a small crowd, hoping none of the enforcement people would notice him and take note for any reason. Walking up to the corner store he’d seen earlier, Kyle saw a sign that read “C’s C.S.” in massive, bold yellow letters above the door. A simple store, by the looks of it. Might be some pain meds here.

Just as he was thinking how nice it would be to take something to deal with his dull pains, Kyle became very conscious of the dead weight in his back left pocket. A part of him wondered what would happen if he tried using Earth-based money to purchase any goods, but he knew there was no chance he could convince anyone that even his coins had some kind of value in some far off part of the world, much less the paper money he had an abundance of. He also remembered the weights hanging directly on his belt as well, hidden beneath his jacket. No, I’m not about to pull a stunt like that on my first day! Shaking such a malicious thought from his mind, Kyle headed inside, curious as to what the store might hold.