After the initial chaos, Steven sat on the couch, breathing heavily, trying to collect his thoughts. His heart pounded, but the adrenaline was slowly fading, replaced by cold, creeping anxiety. "Okay, okay. Think, Steven. Don't panic. Freaking out isn't going to help right now."
He glanced around his apartment. The objects he'd unintentionally levitated were now scattered on the floor, a reminder of the powers he now possessed.
"I can't just go around like this," Steven muttered, pacing back and forth. "People will freak out. The government… the military... they'll hunt me down and try to experiment on me. Hell, I'd be all over the news in minutes." He glanced out the window, paranoid that someone might be watching. But everything looked normal—just an ordinary day in the city. People walked by below, completely unaware that something insane had just happened in Steven's apartment.
They can't know.
Steven realized he needed to lay low, blend in as much as possible. But how? He didn't really look human anymore. How was he supposed to live his life like this?
As he paced, a new and terrifying thought crept into his mind. "Wait… what if I'm not the only one this happened to?"
The notification—The Anime Isekai Questionnaire Survey—had felt so random, but what if it wasn't? What if other people received the same notification? What if they had filled it out too?
He quickly grabbed his phone, scrolling through his notifications, hoping for some kind of clue. However nothing new appeared. "Damn it, there's no way." He opened up his social media, scanning through posts, searching for anyone mentioning weird notifications or surveys. But it was all normal—cat videos, memes, nothing about cosmic transformations.
Still, the thought nagged at him. If it happened to him, why wouldn't it have happened to someone else?
"What if people around the world are being turned into anime characters? Or worse... villains like me?" He shuddered, thinking about the chaos it could unleash. Steven might have ended up as Kaguya, but someone else could've turned into someone far worse—Saitama, Goku, or god forbid, the Omni King.
The Universe could fall apart.
Steven's mind began spinning in darker directions. If something as bizarre as this could happen, if he could transform into an anime character just from a random notification, then what did that say about reality itself? Was this just a glitch in the universe? A cosmic joke?
Or worse… was someone—or something—behind it?
His thoughts spiraled further. What if there were cosmic beings, gods, or entities manipulating things behind the scenes? Maybe they had grown bored and were playing games with humans, using them as pawns in some twisted experiment.
"I mean, if a survey can turn me into Kaguya, what else could be out there?" He had always joked about the idea of multiverses and alternate realities in anime, but now it didn't seem funny anymore. It seemed terrifying.
"What kind of gods exist if they can do this to me?" Steven's gaze darted around the room, as if expecting to see some hidden observer watching him from another dimension.
Steven shook his head, forcing himself to focus. There was no point in getting lost in cosmic speculation. What mattered now was survival.
"Okay, first things first… I need to hide this. I can't let anyone know what happened. If the world finds out about me, it could be a disaster."
He walked over to his closet, rummaging through old clothes. "Maybe if I layer up enough, I can cover up most of this… goddess crap." He pulled out a long hoodie, oversized jeans, and a baseball cap. They looked ridiculous on Kaguya's slender, regal frame, but it was better than walking around in robes with a glowing third eye.
After a few minutes of awkwardly dressing, Steven stood in front of the mirror again. His reflection looked strange—like someone trying to cosplay as a homeless person. The hair was still a problem, so he stuffed as much of it into the hoodie as possible, though some of it still spilled out.
"Okay… this is as good as it's gonna get," he muttered. His third eye remained visible, though, no matter how he adjusted the cap. "Maybe people will just think it's some weird fashion choice?"
He looked down at his phone, fingers trembling. "I've got to find out if anyone else is dealing with this. If there's someone out there like me, they might not be as cautious. If they start showing off powers, or worse, try to take over… things could get ugly fast."
Steven sat back down in silence for a while then started staring at his hands again. "I have her powers," he whispered to himself, still trying to wrap his head around the fact. He could warp dimensions, destroy worlds, create life from nothing. The potential was both intoxicating and terrifying.
He thought about using those powers—to fix the situation, to undo whatever cosmic prank had turned him into Kaguya. But what if that only made things worse? One wrong move with abilities like hers, and he could tear a hole in reality.
"Maybe I should just… stay quiet. Try to live normally, as much as I can, and figure this out." He thought of going to work, of seeing friends, but immediately shot the idea down. "I can't let them see me like this. Absolutely not."
Whilst Steven was talking to himself his phone buzzed.
He picked it up cautiously, half-expecting another strange survey notification.
But it was just a text from a friend.
"Yo, we still on for drinks tonight?"
Steven stared at the message, his mind racing. How could he explain his situation? How could he possibly act normal now?
He texted back, hands shaking: "Not feeling great. Rain check?"
After sending it, he tossed the phone aside and stood up. "I need to figure this out before something worse happens. I need to know if I'm the only one... or if the world is about to get a lot more dangerous."
He clenched his fists, the immense power of Kaguya's chakra coursing through him. "One step at a time, Steven. One step at a time."