This story is heavily fictional. Anything names of association stated are of accidental matter. Pirating content is illegal. I am not a formal announcer. Enjoy.

Suna

As the winter in Japan intensified, the surroundings gradually turned cold. Pieces of snowflakes floated about and landed effortlessly on my metal window pane. Gleaming as it bounced the light that was coming from my dimly lit bed lamp. However, rather than staring at those fluffy white structure, I’m on for a bigger mission.

BLING!

My smartphone bleeped. I picked it up from the bedside shelf and glanced briefly at the clock; 2.15 a.m. Scoffing at the late time, because I don’t care, I unlocked the phone’s touchscreen by swiping my thumb on it’s cold and slippery surface. Immediately after unlocking my screen, notifications popped out like mushrooms after rain. I clicked my tongue in exasperation and started my hunt for one notification, the only notification that I wanted to see.

“There it is!” My eyes lit up when it saw a single pink notification bar among all those white notifications. I quickly sat up, crossing my legs along the way as I tapped on the notification. A loading screen for a web novel app appeared for a few seconds—enough for me to cover myself with my thick blanket to protect me from the cold—before it loaded the home screen for the app. Then I squealed.

“It’s here!” I squealed again. This time I grasped the phone tight on my chest and rolled on the bed in excitement for several rounds, squealing and kicking the cold air vigorously. I sat back up after some time, and after feeling a numb sensation across my feet. I brought the phone screen to my face and took another few more seconds to stare at the screen. There—reflected in my eyes—was none other than the new update for my favourite romance novel “The Evil Villainess is My Lover”. It was my first ever book since I downloaded this web novel app, and it has been my favourite ever since.

It tells the story of Carter, the son of a poor farmer in the countryside. Because of how penniless they are, they have to sell Carter—who’s 18 years old that year—to the capital to work as a guard. His change started when the horse cart that brought him and 12 other village kids got ransacked by a goblin. Every single one of them died except Carter who managed to escape into the forest.

Inside the forest, he spent several days trying to find food and water, but finally gave up when he has little to none survival knowledge. He was saved—however—by none other than the evil protagonist herself, Minerva Lyle Williams. Deciding to bring Carter home, she never knew that’s when her love story with him began. I squealed again when I remembered the storyline, I’m not even reading the latest chapter yet but here I am destroying my vocal cords. I’m lucky that my parents allowed me to live alone in Tokyo because of my studies. If not, I’ll have to stay in my hometown in the region of Osaka where the internet connection is scarce.

I gathered myself and blew a sigh, trying to calm my nerve down. Then, pressing the “PAY WITH COINS” button, the screen loaded again for a moment, before the chapter unlock. I fumbled my toes, reading the chapters intently as the atmosphere quieted down.

The other reason why I was so excited for the newest chapter was, it stopped at a good part where another new character is introduced. It was a mythical dragon, named as Clairmont but people called him Harbinger of Chaos, Rodrigar. Even though he’s just introduced in about a few chapters, somehow, he immediately became my favourite. I don’t know how should I put it, but maybe I’m attracted by how the author managed to explain his appearance in detail; a dark skin tone, piercing golden eyes with a spiralling red around it’s cornea, tall stature, and leanly muscular body. The author also stated in their notes that Clairmont looked like an Arabic prince, but for me, he’s like a beautiful being, having a perfect feature that’s blessed by the author who created him.

My lips formed a smile in awe as I read this new chapter. It was at the part where Carter secretly formed a pact with Clairmont so he could gain more power to stand side by side with Minerva. Then, after a few more plotlines, the chapter ended.

I heaved a sighed of satisfaction, and maybe a little bit of regret? Because I have to wait for another three days for the new chapter to be uploaded. It was jarring, but for a story this good, I’m willing to wait. I laid back onto my bed, daydreaming about the day I’ll be able to meet Clairmont, or even every character in this story.

A bright light suddenly flashed into my room. I jolted in surprise, and automatically shielded my eyes with one of my hands as I crouched down to the bed. The light disappeared soon after, replaced with a gentle sound of chattering.

“Ricky, I told you not to prematurely chant the spells and immediately enter the portal. What do you think will happen if your body get disjointed?” A smooth—thin but masculine at the same time—voice said in a low tone, as if scolding someone.

“What? We usually do it like that, don’t we?” Another voice—deeper and huskier than the first one—retorted.

“Yes. That is if we entered a portal with the rarity purple and above. There’s still a risk in entering carelessly into a blue portal like this one.” The first voice corrected.

I slowly lowered my hands. I’m afraid, but their human-like voice caught my interest in wanting to see their face. I gasped in shock after I caught the sight of both of them.

One guy, Oh My God… Possessed the beauty that I’ve never seen in anyone before, not even in the Miss universe in my university, or not even in any idol that I’ve seen and admired before. His beauty is his own; round eyes that lined with long and curled eyelashes, a pair of shining grey eyes—like the colour of the moon, the perfect features of his face, and chest-length dark blue sparkly hair, looking almost like the night sky. I squinted my eyes, trying to eye his other features that I couldn’t determine clearly because of our distance. I’m staring too hard that I didn’t realize that the two of the have spotted me hiding behind my blanket.

“Uh-” He paused, eyes fluttering from the obvious confusion shown on his face. “Excuse me?” He greeted in English, in which I took time to understand because I’m not too fluent in that Western language.

I jolted.

“Y-Yes…?” I replied in a tiny voice, slightly wary of them and their sudden appearance. I paused again for a few seconds solely thinking for words to describe my question that I have in mind, translated in English. I finally gave up when the other guy who’s beside the beauty stood forward, aligning his higher shoulder with him. He looks very different from the first guy—who is elegant. At a glance, I swore I saw a lion beside that beautiful guy, not a human. He also possess a beauty of his own—all of them in a form of vigour. His slightly thick brows were paired with his eagle shaped eyes. The irises are golden like his short-layered cut hair that was styled neatly, his golden bangs brushed on behind his ears. As he stood beside that grey eyed guy, his body is more muscular than him, a broad shoulder that indicates a person who’s a protecter, and stunned every people that saw him.

Including me.

“W-Who are you guys?” I asked in my mother tongue, Japanese. Upon realizing what I said, I covered my mouth, eyes darted in between them awkwardly as I gradually feel shy.

“So you’re Japanese, huh?” He suddenly spoke with a fluent Japanese as he weaved a smile at me.

“Eh?” My eyes lit up.

“You can understand Japanese?!” I remarked.

“We both can, actually.” The golden-haired guy gently scratched the back of his head.

My eye sparkled with excitement, before soon after, turned into a scrutinizing look. “…Breaking into someone else’s house is a crime, you know? I can call the police if I want.” I raised my phone.

The two of them shot me a strange look, like they didn’t understand what’s the threat for them even if I called the police. The dark blue haired guy caned his chin, his other hand rested on his hips.

“…I’m sorry for trespassing into your house. I actually want to ascertain something with you.” He explained, still using a fluent Japanese that amazes me every time I heard them. He sounded like he had lived in Japan for a long time, given how fluent he speaks.

The three of us then sat on the wide space in front of my bed that I made as a small living room. Because I lived alone with my parents’ allowance, I don’t want to burden them by having to pay my rent in a bigger place, so I rented a 6-tatami mat apartment. Simply put, it’s a small apartment room with thin walls and a lot of flaws. But the room is cheap, so I scraped by with everything to make the room inhabitable.

Before inviting them to sit, I pushed any comic books and magazines that were scattered on the floor onto the side and gave the two of them a zabuton, a small pillow used as a sitting place. Surprisingly, the two of them also knew how to sit properly on a zabuton, which again raised my sense of respect for them. Though, I had to work a bit harder just to host two massive people which I guessed their height at about 6.4 foot to 7.1 foot. If these two people were to step on the 5.1 foot me, I think I’d probably die.

“I’m sorry, I only have green tea.” I served a tray filled with two cups of hot tea.

“It’s okay. We’re grateful for your hospitality.” The dark blue haired guy smiled. I have an inkling that he’ll be my next favourite stan. Well, if he’s proven to be a normal person and not a weirdo who appeared out of nowhere.

He carefully lifted the cup and handed it to the golden-haired guy.

“Here, hold it like this.” He motioned to the other guy with his hands—one hand supporting the bottom of the cup while the other one hold its body.

“Like this?” The other guy reaffirmed, doing exactly as the first guy’s instruction. Seeing them conversing to tenderly with each other heightened my bromance sense. My imagination suddenly ran wild and I giggled all by myself. My shameless act gained the dark blue haired guy’s attention.

“What’s wrong, miss?”

I immediately shook my head a no. “Nothing. Go on, have some tea.”

He accepted my offer and the two of them sipped the tea almost simultaneously. My bromance radar pinged again.

Gosh, if they continue being this close, I won’t be able to see them as mere friends anymore.

“Again, we’re sorry for suddenly barging into your house this late. My name is Noel Kieran, and this is my partner, Ricky Kruger.” He motioned to the guy named Ricky, who was enjoying the tea, now to its fullest.

I nodded in understatement. Now that I heard their names, I’m convinced that the two of them were foreigners, a ‘fluently Japanese speaking’ foreigners.

“Ah, my name is Suna Mikiya-” I paused.

…Did he just say partner?

“…Are you guys a couple?” Oops, my mouth slipped, but I really wanna ask that.

Contrary to my expectation—which I thought they’d panicked out or something—Noel chuckled to my question, as he calmly responded, “We’re not. Me and Ricky are partners who ventured together between worlds.”

…Partner what?

“What?” I fluttered my eyes. I think I heard it wrongly before, but did he said ventured between worlds? An idea sparked inside my mind, sending synapses all through my body, making my mouth curve into a grin and my body shuddered.

            “Don’t tell me, a transgressor?”

I asked. He nodded a yes as a response, earning a WOW from me.

“Awesome!”

He chuckled, while Ricky placed the cup on top of the kotatsu—a low table equipped with heater and a thick and soft futon closing in between the legs.

“I’m impressed that you didn’t get surprised by us.”

“Of course! It’s my dream to meet with a transgressor! I knew they were out there somewhere.” I heaved a determined sigh as I clenched one of my hands into a fist.

He briefly glanced at Ricky and the two of them seemed to exchange glances. Seriously, I feel like there’s more to them than just being a travel partner. It’s like they both understand each other without saying a word.

“Well then, you must know that every transgressor’s goal in venturing into another world is to seek for something, right?”

“Indeed!” I answered enthusiastically. I’ve read countless of manga and web novels with transgression as the theme, and if not to have a laid-back life, the protagonists will always have a destination inside their mind—what they wanna do and what they wanna achieve.

I guess Noel and Ricky were also the same. Them venturing into other worlds to achieve their goal, and I’m excited to be their assist in their search.

“How may I help you with your goal?”

Noel paused, looking like he’s hesitating.

“This might be too much to ask, but do you by any chance, stumbled upon an orb—a black and white coloured one like Feng Shui—anywhere?” His tone sounded unexpecting. But I hate to break this to him, so I said, “I do find it, you know?”