I hastily exited the washroom stall. I had hoped to escape before anyone could associate me with the barrage of swearing.
'I'm so embarrassed!'
A huge blush gradually formed on my face. I was aware how stupid it looked, which only amplified my embarrassment. On a girl, it might've looked cute and endearing. But, on an average-looking male, it was definitely ridiculous.
'A-anyways, I gotta leave quickly.'
I looked for the nearest exit and ran towards it. While doing so, I felt that, for some reason, I was slower than normal.
'Not only that. Everything looks larger than normal, too.'
A second after thinking this, I tripped on my foot and fell to the ground.
"Shit!"
I swore once again and then held my hands out to the nearest thing to me - the washing sink. Thankfully, I caught myself before I could get hurt.
"Phew... I better leave and find out what's happening, and wher-
Before I finished my sentence, I paused. For a moment, disbelief and shock overcame me. To explain:
Since there was a mirror above each sink, I inadvertently glanced at one of them. This was all fine and normal.
The reason I widened my eyes was that the reflection which showed...
Was that of a cute, young girl with short, chocolate-brown hair, and grass-like pupils. In terms of physical appearance, she was somewhere around 11 years old.
It was not the face of the generic, boring young man which I had gotten used to seeing every day in the mirror.
"What the fuck is this?"
As I spoke, the loli's[1] lips synced up with mine. No, that suggests that her face isn't mine.
In reality, I actually became the loli.
From all these things, I could only come up with one conclusion:
'I'm dreaming. Yeah, this entire situation is simply just a dream. If I pinch myself, I'll wake up...'
I raised my right hand and pinched my face with it. There was a stinging pain, but I didn't care about it.
In fiction, a normal person would go into a hyper-panicking mode right now. However, in reality, humans are extremely capable of adapting to situations. I was a normal human, so, therefore, I was capable of adapting.
Because I was a normal human, I didn't get nervous.
'For some reason, I'm not waking up. Weird. There's no way this can be real, though. But, just to be safe, I should interpret it as such. After all, I don't lose anything from that. Now then, in that case, I should take care of my most pressing problem.'
The moment this thought went through my head, I took my pants off. Then, I scrutinized my bottom half for a bit, until finally, I noticed a small baby-carrot sized rod.
"Oh, thank God."
My joy was a result of the fact that I had still retained the 'thing' that identified me as a male.
*Phew!*
My mouth let out a sigh of relief, and my greatest worry was dispelled.
"W-what a-are you d-doing?!"
"E-Eh?"
I turned behind me, where the voice came from. Standing there was a woman, with a face full of shock.
I met the woman's eyes and stared into her eyes for a few seconds. Then, a shameful plan hatched in my mind...
"U-Um, big sister, let's keep this a secret between ourselves~! In exchange, I'll help you if you ever need it in the future!"
I let out the cutest voice possible. It definitely would've sounded disgusting if I was in my normal body. However, in shota[2]-form, such problems were eliminated. I was still a little bit cautious, so to reinforce my success rate, I even made a cute pose.
'WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH ME?!'
While watching the ridiculous-looking boy in front of her, the woman stood still in place. She resembled a statue. The entirety of her body was frozen, except for her face.
She was blushing at a level which made her look like she was about to light on fire. No doubt, she was a 'shotacon'[3].
"Y-Yes! I-I'll remember to k-keep t-this between us t-two! I-In e-exchange, p-please keep your promisssseeee!"
She ran out of the washroom with an obvious nosebleed she failed to cover.
'No way, that actually worked?!'
*
I left the washroom and explored my surroundings. After a bit of walking around and overhearing conversations, I found out a few things. The ones that seemed to truly matter only numbered only three:
First of all, I was in a school named 'Regine'. The moment this piece of knowledge came into my mind, a nagging feeling appeared. I felt like I recognized the name, but I couldn't pinpoint why so I just ignored it.
Secondly, the people who attended the academy were all roughly eight-years-old to eighteen-years-old. There seemed to be a dress code, as most people wore white clothes. There were also some in black clothes scattered around, though. I was included in the white clothes 'group'.
Thirdly, it seemed that most of the students in the school lived in dorms. At first, this came up as a slight problem. If I didn't have a key, then I would have to sleep out in the streets in a place foreign to me. Luckily, I easily solved the problem by searching my pockets. In the last pocket I checked, I found a key which read 'C-105'.
After a bit of thought, I decided to go to the dorms. Since I didn't know where the dorms were, I just followed other people.
*
'What the hell?!'
The moment I arrived at where the 'dorms' were, I let out a yell of surprise. Those 'dorms' which I heard about were easily describable as 'apartments'. They towered at six floors tall, and each floor could probably fit around thirty rooms.
Still, I managed to calm down and entered the 'C' dorm. As I did so, the thought of, 'What am I gonna do if I have a roommate?' popped up. A split-second later, I shrugged it off.
At the time, I wasn't taking anything too seriously. I was still treating it as if it was a dream.
"God, what the hell is with this design? It's so big, but there are no elevators."
Normally, I wouldn't be so cynical. However, because of how unused I was to my new body, I couldn't help but let out a complaint. As a result, a few surrounding people muttered things like
"Such a cute girl shouldn't be swearing."
Statements like these made my blood boil a little. Thankfully, my tolerance for anger seemed to have transferred over. Although physically, I became a child, I was mentally still an adult and fully capable of not getting angry over minor things.
While wondering when my dream would end, I walked up to a door which read 'Room-105' and tried to use my key. It worked.
*Kachink!*
When I opened the door to the dorm, the first thing that appeared in my vision was an orange-haired woman. She was somewhere around seventeen years old. Her pupils were intense, almost like flames. Even looking at them caused me to feel a little bit hot.
She was chanting in a calm voice.
"O thy flames of undefeatable legend, manifest as a blade which tears apart the heavens themselves! [Conjuring Spell: Ignis Ensis]!"
The moment the girl finished her chant, a sword compromised of only flame appeared in her hands. Even from ten meters away, I could feel the heat. Yet, the woman seemed completely unaffected.
I was stunned.
A part of my surprise came from the fact that an impossible phenomenon had occurred, in front of my eyes, no less.
Even with how incredible that was, it was only a small percent of 100%.
The majority came from the fact that I recognized the chant the girl spoke.
Not only that, but I also recognized the girl herself.
She was Lantana Redsky, the teacher of one of the Hero's party members. The spell she had been casting was an Advanced Magic of the Fire Element.
Why did I know this?
It was because I wrote it.
At that moment, while staring at the woman who seemed like the Goddess of Fire, I held in my breath and said something.
"This isn't a dream."
It had to be true. The feeling of the flame warming my body, the sight of the beautiful girl in front of me...
Everything, absolutely everything was real.
The orange-haired woma-, no, Lantana, gave an uproarious laugh,
"No, Astrea! It's not a dream! Revel in shock! I, the most elite of the genius on this continent-no, in this entire world, have become an [Advanced-Ranked Mage]!"
I stared at Lantana, who didn't know the true meaning of my words and began to feel my good impression of her crumble.
'That's right. I almost forgot. Before Soren defeated Lantana, she had an arrogant and spoiled personality. God, why do I have to become this woman's roommate... Wait, even if I've confirmed that this is a real world, it's still up in the air as to whether or not this is the world I wrote. Then, to confirm...'
"Lantana?"
I spoke in a voice that was neither quiet nor loud. If that was actually her name, she would hear it and respond. If not, then she would also hear it. But, in the latter case, there was the possibility of playing the "Oh, I didn't say anything, I think it was your imagination" card.
"What is it?"
The moment I heard her response, I inwardly chuckled. Her response dispelled my remaining doubts. I was definitely in 'Hero of Eternity'. Even though I didn't understand how I was transported, it still made me reassured to know that I was in the world I wrote.
'Now, I'll just give a throwaway response...'
"What day is it today?"
The orange-haired woman smirked and folded her arms in an arrogant manner. Her countenance was extremely resemblant of a spoiled girl's- no, it was exactly that.
"Hmph! Why would I, the most elite of the elite, have to help you?!"
"Hmm... I guess you're right. I'm sorry."
Lantana didn't seem satisfied with my response, and sourly said,
"Why are you smiling?"
'Oh? I guess I am smiling...'
I absentmindedly traced my cheeks,
"Why, indeed..."
[1]: Little girl.
[2]: Little boy; often feminine but not always.
[3]: Japanese slang for attraction to young boys. (In this context, it's the attraction to cute things type attraction, not the pedo one).