He wanted to curse—every stall was occupied.
In the end, Yazuki set his sights on the adjacent restroom.
It seemed empty.
Whatever. If they thought he was a pervert, then so be it.
He sneaked in. It really did seem empty, but the next second, he felt a tap on his shoulder. His expression stiffened, and cold sweat poured down his back like a waterfall. Even though he had prepared himself to be seen as a pervert, facing the situation in reality was still incredibly embarrassing.
Glancing sideways, he saw a fair, slender finger tapping his shoulder. Where did this person even come from? No sound at all when walking.
"Um, this is the women's restroom, you know."
A calm and unhurried voice came from behind. There was no panic or sternness typical of a woman catching a man in the wrong place—just a casual reminder, as if checking whether he had entered by mistake.
"I know. That's exactly why I came in—"
Yazuki spoke firmly, almost able to picture the dumbfounded expression on the girl behind him.
"Because I'm a girl. I just happen to look like a guy and prefer wearing men's clothes. Is that a problem?"
He brazenly lied with a straight face.
"Ah? Is that so? Good thing I checked; I almost called the cops."
The girl behind him let out a relieved sigh, but her voice was still too calm, too composed to sound truly relieved.
Wait, she actually believed him? Was this girl an idiot?
Yazuki resisted the urge to turn around and see what she looked like. The less she saw his face, the better.
"You seem to be in bad shape. Need me to call an ambulance?"
The sudden concerned question confused Yazuki.
"No need!"
His tone was impatient as he moved deeper into the restroom. There was no time for idle chatter.
"Wait, take this!"
Before he could react, she grabbed his hand and shoved a small package into it.
Without looking back, Yazuki hurried into a stall and locked the door.
"Huh? The bleeding is intense!"
That's when he realized why she thought he was a girl—his pants were stained with blood near the rear.
What the hell? Thinking back, it must have happened when he entered that fragmented space. Someone had stabbed him in the right hip, piercing through his soul barrier. He had forcibly healed it to prevent his body from exploding, but once he returned to reality, the wound must have reopened.
The package the girl gave him was something women used during that time of the month, making his eye twitch uncontrollably.
As the sound of flushing filled the stall, Yazuki finally overcame this minor crisis. He had to admit—this "giant bandage" was pretty effective at stopping the bleeding.
However, there was another problem—the blood-soaked pants were incredibly awkward to wear.
He listened carefully—no one around. Then, he unlocked the door.
"If you don't mind, here's my sweatpants. You can borrow them."
A casual and nonchalant voice came from nearby. A slender hand held out a shopping bag containing a pair of unisex sweatpants—just what he needed.
"Thanks~"
"No problem~"
The voice belonged to the same girl from before. Yazuki briefly glanced at her—a girl with a bob haircut.
After changing and stepping out, he noticed she had already left. Crisis averted.
"How did I even end up in that alternate dimension?"
The impact had been too sudden. He barely had time to process it before almost dying.
"Was that crazy dragon girl from that world?"
The dragon girl who had attacked him had an aura strikingly similar to the dragon species from a world he had previously visited. Had her attack somehow triggered his soul's reaction?
"Dragon girl?"
"Yeah. I got randomly hit by something and almost died. When I came to, I was in an alternate world next to Earth. Then, a dragon girl pounced on me with her drool-covered mouth like some kind of pervert."
"Oh~~ Is this one of those isekai summoning scenarios? Then what happened?"
"Then? I got struck by lightning. I could tell it was some disgusting god's power. And there were some so-called heroes. Hah! They all treated me like some boss monster that would drop rare loot."
"Eh? Sounds like a mess~"
"It was a mess. I honestly thought I was dreaming the whole time. I even thought I had never gone home in the first place. I was so pissed that I activated End of Days: Final Void Thunder to destroy that entire world."
"Huh? That sounds more like something a Demon King would do."
"Nothing wrong with that—I was a Demon King back then."
"Ohhh, so did you actually destroy the world?"
"Failed. Turns out the lightning that struck me was poisonous. I underestimated those gods. Ended up with a stomachache, and my Final Void Thunder got interrupted halfway through."
"Oh, I see. So that pain you were in just now—it was food poisoning? And the wound on your backside was from a fight? You should probably go to a hospital, Yazuki-kun~"
"What are you talking about? What hosp—"
Yazuki froze.
The next second, he snapped his head sideways.
Standing slightly behind him was the same bob-haired girl. She had been casually conversing with him this whole time, and he hadn't even noticed her presence.
Terrifying.
She had seamlessly inserted herself into his conversation, making him completely unaware of her existence until now.
If she were an interrogator, nobody in the world could escape her questioning.
And that serene, nonchalant smile of hers, along with her naturally unassuming presence—was she an assassin?
Who the hell was this girl?
"Who are you? Have we met before?"
She had called him Yazuki-kun just now. That meant she knew him. But he had no memory of her.
Wait—he recognized her uniform. It was from Toyogasaki Academy.
Did she hear about him from Eriri or Kasumigaoka?
"Eh? That's mean~ Didn't you ask me to take you to the principal's office today?"
Her tone was as calm and collected as ever, with no trace of resentment or irritation, just a mild observation.