Receiving the men's contemptuous and mocking gazes, Subaru sized them up in return.
They looked to be in their mid-twenties. Filthy appearances, and the kind of atmosphere that suggested the nastiness within was written plain on their faces. They didn't appear to be demihumans, but they certainly weren't good people either.
"Oh crap, a forced event has spawned."
Smirking back at the men's thin smiles, Subaru wiped his face and scrambled to his feet.
Clearly thieves — and given the world's settings, they might not just steal possessions but lives, too.
Mission 1: *Repel the thieves.* Clear condition: total elimination of the enemy. Defeat condition: Subaru's death. Something like that.
A chill raced down his spine, but Subaru slapped his own cheeks and ignored it.
Bluffing his way through was the best option in his current situation. Dithering would get him killed. Decisiveness — now that was something he prided himself on.
"Besides, this is an Otherworld Summoning. Based on my overpowered protagonist pattern, I might actually be insanely strong in this world. Maybe gravity is like one-tenth of what it was back home… Now that I think about it, my body does feel light! I might actually be able to pull this off!"
"He's over there, muttering away, isn't he?"
"He doesn't get the situation. Shouldn't we just explain it to him?"
The men's reactions were somewhat cold toward the suddenly fired-up Subaru.
But Subaru refused to be put off by their attitude, puffing out his chest as he declared: "Hey now, enjoying myself while I can is what counts. Let me warn you — a guy like me has fantasized about getting cornered by punks in an alley more times than you can count. I'll flatten you one after another and make you fodder for my tomorrow — that's experience points for you!"
"No idea what you're saying, but I can tell you're mocking us. We'll kill you."
"That's… MY line!"
Before the men could move, Subaru's preemptive strike landed first.
He lunged forward and threw his hardest right straight. It connected squarely with the lead man's nose, and the man's front teeth split Subaru's knuckle open, drawing blood.
—First time punching a person! And damn, it actually hurts more than I expected!
He'd been rehearsing the simulation in his head, but this was his first time doing it for real.
The punched man crumpled to the ground and didn't move. Riding the adrenaline, Subaru leaped at another stunned man.
"Take this! The post-shower stretch-made-possible high kick!"
"Guhaaah!"
His foot traced an arc and smashed into the man's temple, slamming him into the wall and leaving the second man writhon the ground.
His surprisingly good performance was turning Subaru's "overpowered protagonist" fantasy into certainty.
"See, I AM strong in this world! Adrenaline up to the brim, and this one's in the ba—"
Buoyed by confidence, he turned around, ready to clobber the last man standing. He crouched low, ready to spring— But the instant he spotted the glinting knife in the last man's hand, his crouching body sank lower.
"I'm sorry, it was entirely my fault, please forgive me, just not my life—!"
Face to the ground, prostrate. The ultimate — and most pathetic — expression of Japanese submission.
The fire that had been building moments ago had evaporated somewhere. Hearing the blood drain from his entire body, Subaru desperately scraped his forehead against the ground, clinging to any hope of mercy.
Because a blade was out of the question. Getting stabbed meant game over, and he had zero knife-fighting skills.
Before he knew it, the two men he'd knocked down were already getting back up. One was pinching his bleeding nose, the other shaking his dizzy head, but aside from that they seemed perfectly fine.
"Huh!? The overpowered-protagonist attack only dealt minor damage!? Isn't there some kind of summoned-one guarantee!?"
"What the hell are you babbling about! You've got some nerve!"
His prostrate face was stomped on from above, his forehead grinding against the ground until blood ran.
Then a kick to the face, and blow after blow rained down on his curled-up body.
—This is bad. It hurts like hell. I might actually die. No, seriously.
They showed no mercy since he'd struck first, and unlike his old world, there was no guarantee these punks wouldn't take a life. The possibility of being beaten to death here was very real.
Should he just go all-out with a death-before-dishonor rush? Before taking damage, that might have been viable, but now, one step from serious injury, landing even a single hit back was iffy. At the same time, dying like this was unacceptable.
"Don't you move, old man!"
"Owowowowow! It hurts, it hurts, it hurts!!"
He tried to stand, but his palm was ground under a heel and all that escaped was a scream.
Spitting and snarling, one man's face went crimson with rage. Subaru saw him flip his knife to a reverse grip.
"I'll pin you down proper before I strip you bare. The nerve, pulling that crap…"
"If, if you're after money, it's pretty much pointless. I'm flat broke…!"
"Then I'll take your weird clothes, your shoes, whatever! Become rat food in this alleyway!"
Ah, so rats exist in this world too. Sounds like a low-level monster name.
Staring at the knife about to come down, his mind drifted to that kind of idle thought.
No tunnel of light appeared. No slow-motion effect either.
Like a thread snapping — that was when it happened.
"Out of the way, get out of the way! You lot over there, you're seriously in the way!"
A strained voice rang out as someone came charging into the alley.
The men jolted, raising their faces. Subaru, still unable to move, lifted only his gaze.
A girl crossed his field of vision.
A petite girl with shoulder-length golden hair.
Her eyes spoke of strong will, with a playful pair of fangs peeking through. Bratty features, perhaps, but they could pass for cute in an age-appropriate way.
A girl in worn, dirty clothes had stumbled upon a mugging-murder in progress.
The timing felt almost deliberate, and the faint spark of hope inside Subaru pumped a fist in triumph.
This is it. This is the moment I've been waiting for. The narrative flow says this girl has a heart brimming with justice, and she's about to save my flickering little life from— "Looks like some seriously intense stuff, but sorry! I'm busy! Stay strong and keep living!"
"Wait, seriously!? You're kidding me!"
But that hope shattered into nothing.
The girl who'd made eye contact gave Subaru an apologetic little wave and, without breaking stride, sprinted down the narrow alley. She slipped past behind the men and disappeared toward what should have been a dead end.
She kicked aside a board leaned against the wall of the dead end, nimbly grabbed a handhold, and in the blink of an eye vanished onto a rooftop above.
Once the girl was gone, a natural silence fell over the scene.
She had blown through like a typhoon. Everyone present was equally dumbfounded, but Subaru hadn't forgotten that his situation hadn't changed one bit.
"Hey, with that little visit, are you maybe feeling less murderous and more merciful now!?"
"More like you just made me angrier. Don't think I'll make this quick."
The knife man's glinting eyes were dead serious, and Subaru knew this time it was really over.
His hand was still trapped under the man's heel. Even trying to stand, he was a beat too slow.
Naturally, resignation began to dominate his thoughts.
So this is how it ends. Without having done anything, in a place like this.
He couldn't exactly claim he'd lived a proper life, but even so, ending like this was far too cruel. If someone asked what he'd done, the answer would be: nothing. An unremarkable end to an unremarkable existence.
It wasn't pain.
Something other than that threatened to spill tears from his eyes.
It wasn't about being afraid to die, or not wanting to die — it was beyond that.
He simply couldn't bear the idea of ending as a complete blank, with nothing to show for it.
"—That's enough, you villains."
That voice crushed the clamor of the crowd, the men's filthy cursing, Subaru's own ragged breathing — it crushed it all and echoed through the alley.