A faint breeze swept across the grassy plains of Agathor. Drakes crowed overhead as they lazily floated through the sky. Patches of tall grass would periodically stir as horned rabbits searched for food along the ground. At the center of this serene landscape, there was a certain group that was less than calm.

“Um. We were in French class, right?” A young woman spoke timidly. She flinched as a patch of grass rustled, only to reveal another disinterested hare. “I’m not crazy, right?”

“No. I’m sure we were.” Another girl reassured her in a quavering voice.

Four girls huddled together in the middle of the plains. They all wore the same navy blue school vest and skirt combo. Four sets of eyes frantically searched in every direction, and they all came to the same set of conclusions. One, they were no longer at their high school. Two, they weren’t even on Earth. Three, they were the only humans around.

“May, I’m scared.” The jumpy girl whispered. She clung to her friend’s shoulder.

“I am too, Lia.” May admitted.

“This must be, like, some sort of prank.” A tan girl roughly patted both Lia and May’s shoulders. “Don’t worry, someone’ll jump out of those bushes any minute now with, like, a camera or something.”

“Hehe. You’re always the optimist, Tammy.” May managed a weak smile.

The two of them approached Lia, whose trembling had only gotten worse, and simultaneously embraced her.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but we’ll get through this.” May promised. “And we’ll do it together.”

Time seemed to stand still as the three of them shared their warmth. For an instant, the girls felt as though they could overcome any challenge this strange world threw at them.

It was only for an instant, though.

“Hey, did any of you bring a pocket knife?” May, Lia and Tammy leapt back in unison as the fourth girl burst through a pocket of tall grass. The girl’s long pink hair stood out even more than usual against the dark yellow grass.

“Um, you’re Belle, right?” May recovered first. “Why would we have-”

“-Wait, I can just use the horn.” Belle exclaimed. She nodded and the other girls cocked their heads.

Belle reached back into the grass and produced the corpse of a horned rabbit.

“Ta-daa~, or whatever.” Belle rolled her eyes while the other girls stared on in horror.

“W-When did you…?” Lia trailed off while pointing a limp and trembling finger at the rabbit.

“While you three were hugging it out.” Belle answered flatly. “I don’t know how long we’ll be stuck here, but I don’t plan on starving to death.”

Belle proceeded to snap off the horn, which sounded about as pleasant as one would expect. The trio continued to squeal and flinch as Belle stripped off the remaining flesh and cleaned the horn with clumps of grass.

“Ok, that’s a decent weapon.” Belle muttered as she held the horn up to the sunlight.

“Like, what is wrong with you!” Tammy shrieked. “You’re way too calm!”

“I’m used it.” Belle answered without looking up from her horn.

~ ~ ~

Evening fell and the trio found themselves huddled together at their makeshift campsite. Every rustle of grass brought a fresh wave of terror to the group. Yes, they were worried about what sorts of monsters would appear at night. However, there was a very real threat that took precedent over those invisible fears.

“Like, when is she coming back?” Tammy whispered.

“I don’t know.” Lia replied. “Hopefully never.”

Tammy nodded emphatically.

“Don’t say that.” May scolded them. “Belle fed us and found a decent place to build camp. I don’t know why Belle’s acting like this, but I’m glad that she’s with us.”

“Speak for yourself.” Lia shot back. “Belle killed those rabbits like they were nothing, and she even knew how to clean and skin them. We live in the city! Where did she learn something like that?”

“Yea and, like, her expression never changes. I always thought she was kind of creepy.” Tammy leaned in and lowered her voice to a whisper. “You two, like, don’t think she’d try and use that dagger on us, do you?”

Lia and May shivered. The dagger that Tammy mentioned was a rabbit’s horn that Belle had sharpened.

“T-There’s no way she would.” May stammered. “Rabbits are one thing, but I don’t think Belle would kill a person.”

*thud*

The three girls slowly turned their heads towards the noise. Belle had returned. She was standing at the edge of camp with a sour expression. Laying at her feet was a human corpse.

Too scared to even scream, the trio stumbled backwards while clinging to one another. As Belle stepped forward, they noticed a glint of steel beside her. Her makeshift dagger was gone. It had been replaced by a short sword.

“Huh?” Belle looked at each of her classmates in turn. “Why’d you all jump? I’m not going to cook him into our next meal.”

“W-W-What are you saying!?” May shrieked. “You’ve killed someone!”

“Look again.” Belle ordered, shaking her head.

Tammy and Lia cowered behind May as she leaned forward to examine the corpse. It was difficult to see in the evening light, but the victim’s skin was green and bumpy. It wore a ragged cloak and had razor sharp claws. Belle pulled its hood back to reveal a bald head with a hooked nose and pointed ears.

“See, it’s just a hobgoblin.” Belle reassured them.

“O-Oh.” May sighed in relief but her shaking didn’t subside. “Why is there a hobgoblin here? Actually, more importantly, how did you kill a monster like that!”

Belle held up her sword, without giving a verbal reply.

“And where did you get that?” May asked. Her eyebrows began to twitch.

“Found it in a treasure chest.”

“In the middle of a field?”

“No, there’s a cave nearby that leads to a dungeon and…”

“-Can you please stop jerking us around!” Lia yelled, cutting Belle off. “You told us to stay put and so we’ve been huddling together in this campsite all day. We’re tired and scared, but you don’t seem to care at all. How the hell did we get here and when can we go home!? You know something, but you’ve been avoiding us this whole time!”

After finishing her rant, Lia bent over and put her hands on her knees. She began gulping in air and Tammy patted her back in support.

“…I’m sorry.” Belle’s reply was barely a whisper.

“I was scared to ask…” May stepped forward. “…But please, Belle. Tell us what’s going on.”

“Ok.” Belle nodded in resignation.

Belle walked past the girls, lit the campfire and then sat down on a nearby log. The other three quickly found their own seats.

“Well, to start…” Belle drummed her fingers on her knee. “You’re all extras. I’m sorry.”

“HUH!?” The three girls yelled in unison.

“What I mean is, you three were brought here because you sit near me in class.” The space between Belle’s eyebrows creased as she put on a complex expression. “That’s why I apologized.”

“Then, like, what about you?”

“If you’re extras, then I’m the main character.” Belle’s frown deepened. “I’ve never seen this place before in my life, but I’ve had similar experiences in other worlds. Summoning, monsters, the kind of stuff that happens in books and games…I’m like a lightning rod for weird events.”

“So that’s why you didn’t panic…” May muttered.

“A lightning rod, huh?” Lia huffed. “It sounds ridiculous, but I don’t know what else to believe.”

“Then you’re, like, also trapped here?”

“Yes. I was minding my own business in French like the rest of you. I don’t know who summoned us here or why.”

“Well, at least we’re, like, all in the dark together.” Tammy grinned. “And those fantasy worlds may be for gross nerds…”

Belle’s brow twitched sharply, but May was the only one who noticed.

“…But if it’s a matter of life and death, then you shouldn’t have to do everything by yourself.”

“Y-Yea. I want to help too.” Lia stammered. “But I can’t kill cute things like those rabbits.”

“So you could kill, like, a hobgoblin?” Tammy snickered. She wrapped her arms around Lia, who tried to push her away.

“My brother likes fantasy games, so I’ve seen these kinds of monsters before.” May announced. “It might take a long time for us to reach your level, but I’m willing to learn. At the very least, I want to be able to protect myself and these two.”

“Yea!” Tammy raised her fist. “My family owns a karate dojo. You’ll be able to take me into dungeons in no time.”

“D-Do you know if there’s magic in this world?” Lia raised her voice and her eyes were shining. “I always thought it would be fun to be a mage.”

The trio crawled over to Belle’s seat and were practically clinging to her lap. Belle suddenly stood up, pushing them back.

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about that stuff.” Belle waved one hand dismissively. “If everything goes well, then we’ll be home by tomorrow afternoon.”

“…huh?” The trio exclaimed again, but with much less energy than before.

“Get some sleep. I’m tired so I’ll explain later.”

Belle stepped over her log and curled up on a makeshift bed of grass.

“I spread that hobgoblin’s blood around the edge of camp. Monsters living in the plains won’t come near us.”

May opened her mouth but she was interrupted by light snoring. The three girls stared at Belle in stunned silence. She’d already fallen asleep.