TheTimePiece
Roleplay Artist
This is a submission for the January 2024 Isekai Hell Resolutions Writing Event featuring my character Ryuuji Kamimura.
----
It was the start of a new year and Ryuuji had some personal goals which he wanted to reach since being reincarnated in this new world. There were all sorts of skills that he could probably get involved in to help him make some serious cash. There was a persistent dream which he had been having however. It was related to who he had encountered on the way to investigate those ruins with Saoirse..that young woman had seemingly taken an interest in him if he had been reading her correctly. Not only that she had been pretty..he couldn’t help but wonder if the Witch had been in a relationship or not, had he not been a slave, he might have considered asking her out had he gotten more time to get to know her. Sometimes he thought about what could have been under different circumstances, like what if he had met her back in Japan, what if he had ended up getting married and having a family? While that wasn’t necessarily a current goal there was part of his life which he wanted to explore more thoroughly.
In his last life Ryuuji never really spoke to women, outside of business, and that was a part of living which he had severely neglected in favor of profits. While profiting was still extremely important to him in this life so he could live an as comfortable one as possible away from the horrors it had to offer, Ryuuji was determined this time around, that at the very least he’d entertain the idea of going on a date at least once. Then he could just say that he at least did it once. Time really had gone by in his last life, while he wasn’t exactly old when he died, he had been an adult man who had gone through the necessary graduate school programs and he worked his way up in corporate. Despite his situation of being enslaved, he felt envirogated, now was the time, who cared if he was enslaved?! Or wasn’t exactly like those greek statues he’d seen of guys like others seemed to look like in this world, or if that strange fae or beast, or whatever she was had called him pretty and laughed at him for it..he knew at least one lady who had appreciated his looks! Under different circumstances he would have totally asked out! He would have been cool as a cucumber! He had the cool and collected look down, he had to present in front of people in high places and hoped that they wouldn't take out any bad news he had to deliver on them, why was this any different?
While these thoughts when through his head, he eventually got himself up. He went through his morning routine. Then after getting permission from his mistress to go downstairs to the dining portion of the tavern which he had spent the night at, Ryuuji was feeling determined to see if that earlier encounter had just been a fluke or not, the first viable target which he set his eyes on, he’d make a go of it. Sure he was a slave, a human one at that in the West Empire of all places, the lowest on the caste system, but you missed one hundred percent of shots not made. Plus this was just testing the waters! He justified to himself. Of course the first person he set his eyes on was on a raven haired beast who had medium length hair and what looked like silvery grey wolf ears, she was wearing a vibrant red and yellow one piece silk garment, which went well with her amber eyes, she had wooden dark sandals which clacked gently on the floor, she was currently in the process of bringing out breakfasts for beasts. Ryuuji waited patiently until he saw an appropriate opening to make his way over to a seat to make it clear he was intending to dine. He took a seat in the corner of the room and took a glance out the window which gave him a view of the street just outside where people were going about their day. The sun shining down on the street.
Eventually the beast woman approached him, “<I presume you’re here for our breakfast? It’ll only be a moment, we have options for herbivores and carnivores alike.>” She said in beastial, with a fairly friendly tone.
Of course..Ryuuji didn’t understand a word she spoke..well that didn’t matter, she looked to be in a good enough mood so he figured he’d just start speaking in common and hope that she understood what he meant.
“I’m..Ryuuji Kamimura it’s nice to meet...” He’d pause presuming he’d get a name before continuing,
“Lei.” She interjected.
“You then Lei..” He said getting up and giving her a bit of a formal bow.
“Apologies I’m afraid I didn’t quite catch what you said, I was a bit distracted, the sparkle in your eyes was just so bright, that I’m surprised the sun itself isn’t jealous…” Ryuuji said, leaning forward a bit, with a soft smile, really trying his best to play up his features, giving a as tender and interested look as he could muster her way, making some intentional eye contact while he was at it.
“Oh, that’s not a problem at all sir. I can speak common too!” She said with a smile before reiterating “You’re here for our breakfast then? If you inform me of your dietary needs I’d be more than happy to serve you, we have a few options.”
Ryuuji maintained the same smile before feeling like he wanted to kick himself, that was really the best line he had? Ouch. It was pretty clear she hadn’t even understood it...or out of kindness had decided against laughing at him. It felt like he still had a lot of work to do this year if he wanted to capitalize on the potential he had felt during that earlier encounter. He may have just lost the battle but the war was far from over! If he was given a new opportunity for life by that god or whatever it had been then he was going to make it a good one gosh darn it!
----
It was the start of a new year and Ryuuji had some personal goals which he wanted to reach since being reincarnated in this new world. There were all sorts of skills that he could probably get involved in to help him make some serious cash. There was a persistent dream which he had been having however. It was related to who he had encountered on the way to investigate those ruins with Saoirse..that young woman had seemingly taken an interest in him if he had been reading her correctly. Not only that she had been pretty..he couldn’t help but wonder if the Witch had been in a relationship or not, had he not been a slave, he might have considered asking her out had he gotten more time to get to know her. Sometimes he thought about what could have been under different circumstances, like what if he had met her back in Japan, what if he had ended up getting married and having a family? While that wasn’t necessarily a current goal there was part of his life which he wanted to explore more thoroughly.
In his last life Ryuuji never really spoke to women, outside of business, and that was a part of living which he had severely neglected in favor of profits. While profiting was still extremely important to him in this life so he could live an as comfortable one as possible away from the horrors it had to offer, Ryuuji was determined this time around, that at the very least he’d entertain the idea of going on a date at least once. Then he could just say that he at least did it once. Time really had gone by in his last life, while he wasn’t exactly old when he died, he had been an adult man who had gone through the necessary graduate school programs and he worked his way up in corporate. Despite his situation of being enslaved, he felt envirogated, now was the time, who cared if he was enslaved?! Or wasn’t exactly like those greek statues he’d seen of guys like others seemed to look like in this world, or if that strange fae or beast, or whatever she was had called him pretty and laughed at him for it..he knew at least one lady who had appreciated his looks! Under different circumstances he would have totally asked out! He would have been cool as a cucumber! He had the cool and collected look down, he had to present in front of people in high places and hoped that they wouldn't take out any bad news he had to deliver on them, why was this any different?
While these thoughts when through his head, he eventually got himself up. He went through his morning routine. Then after getting permission from his mistress to go downstairs to the dining portion of the tavern which he had spent the night at, Ryuuji was feeling determined to see if that earlier encounter had just been a fluke or not, the first viable target which he set his eyes on, he’d make a go of it. Sure he was a slave, a human one at that in the West Empire of all places, the lowest on the caste system, but you missed one hundred percent of shots not made. Plus this was just testing the waters! He justified to himself. Of course the first person he set his eyes on was on a raven haired beast who had medium length hair and what looked like silvery grey wolf ears, she was wearing a vibrant red and yellow one piece silk garment, which went well with her amber eyes, she had wooden dark sandals which clacked gently on the floor, she was currently in the process of bringing out breakfasts for beasts. Ryuuji waited patiently until he saw an appropriate opening to make his way over to a seat to make it clear he was intending to dine. He took a seat in the corner of the room and took a glance out the window which gave him a view of the street just outside where people were going about their day. The sun shining down on the street.
Eventually the beast woman approached him, “<I presume you’re here for our breakfast? It’ll only be a moment, we have options for herbivores and carnivores alike.>” She said in beastial, with a fairly friendly tone.
Of course..Ryuuji didn’t understand a word she spoke..well that didn’t matter, she looked to be in a good enough mood so he figured he’d just start speaking in common and hope that she understood what he meant.
“I’m..Ryuuji Kamimura it’s nice to meet...” He’d pause presuming he’d get a name before continuing,
“Lei.” She interjected.
“You then Lei..” He said getting up and giving her a bit of a formal bow.
“Apologies I’m afraid I didn’t quite catch what you said, I was a bit distracted, the sparkle in your eyes was just so bright, that I’m surprised the sun itself isn’t jealous…” Ryuuji said, leaning forward a bit, with a soft smile, really trying his best to play up his features, giving a as tender and interested look as he could muster her way, making some intentional eye contact while he was at it.
“Oh, that’s not a problem at all sir. I can speak common too!” She said with a smile before reiterating “You’re here for our breakfast then? If you inform me of your dietary needs I’d be more than happy to serve you, we have a few options.”
Ryuuji maintained the same smile before feeling like he wanted to kick himself, that was really the best line he had? Ouch. It was pretty clear she hadn’t even understood it...or out of kindness had decided against laughing at him. It felt like he still had a lot of work to do this year if he wanted to capitalize on the potential he had felt during that earlier encounter. He may have just lost the battle but the war was far from over! If he was given a new opportunity for life by that god or whatever it had been then he was going to make it a good one gosh darn it!
