When May, Lia and Tammy awoke, Belle had already left camp. Searching for her was out of the question, and so they waited.

“The sun’s halfway through the sky…” Lia muttered while lying on her grass bed. “I thought Belle said we’d be home by noon.”

“That’s, like, only the first sun.” Tammy pointed at a smaller sun that had only just risen.

“Jeez, Belle’s fighting goblins and we can’t even tell time.” May sighed. “Will we really be going home like this?”

A vague feeling of dissatisfaction had spread through the group. Ever since Belle rejected their offer to help, the trio had begun to resent their position as bystanders. At first, they had been terrified of this unknown world. Now that they’d survived for a day, that fear had begun to morph into curiosity.

“Hey…” May was the first to cave. “Maybe we should go looking for Belle?”

“J-Just for a little bit.” Lia followed suit. “We won’t go too far or anything.”

“Yea, like, what if she’s hurt?” Tammy added.

The trio stood up and gathered the supplies that Belle had left behind. After a moment’s hesitation, May also took the rabbit horn dagger. The girls walked to the edge of camp and then looked at each other. They nodded in unison and took their first step outside of the safe zone.

*thud*

All three of them froze. The trio hadn’t forgotten that sound. How could they? It was the first time they had genuinely feared for their lives. May, Lia and Tammy slowly turned around to see Belle standing at the other edge of camp. Once again, she had another body in tow. This time, however, it really was a human.

“Where were you three going?” Belle asked. With her casual tone, she could have just as easily been asking what brand of clothes they wore on the weekends.

“Nowhere!” The trio replied in unison.

“Well, come over here. I found our way home.” She pointed to the aging man lying at her feet.

The man had dry white skin and a long grey beard. The top of his head was bald, but he had a crescent of long spindly grey hair growing below it. Despite his age, the man’s eyes were burning with defiance. His white and gold clergy robe had been warped by the ropes that bound his arms and legs.

“Untie me this instant!” The man yelled while writhing on the ground. “Do you bandits know who you’re dealing with?”

“Huh!? Bandits?” May placed a hand over her mouth.

“Don’t worry about him.” Belle turned around and began to walk away. She tugged on the man’s rope, dragging him behind her. “Follow me.”

Lia looked like she wanted to say something, but Tammy patted her back. The trio followed Belle and her captive in silence. Belle stopped at a seemingly random area in the plains. The girls were confused, but after a few seconds they understood its significance.

“This is, like, where we were summoned!” Tammy exclaimed.

Belle nodded. She drew her sword and began clearing away grass from a small section of the area. When she was done, the trio could see golden lines drawn onto the ground.

“I-Is that what I think it is?” Lia stammered.

“HEY!” The five of them turned their heads towards a new voice. “What do you think you’re doing to our party member!?”

A group of four burst out of the tall grass. One of the boys was equipped with chainmail and a short sword while the two girls each carried a robe and staff. The boy at the center of the group stepped forward and thrust his sword out towards Belle’s party. Clearly different from the others, he wore plate armor and carried a longsword that radiated light.

“This is as far as you go, bandits.” The boy wore a grin that was neither conceited nor malicious. “Your luck ran out the second you messed with the Hero’s party!”

“No, I’d say we were exceptionally lucky.” Belle muttered as she cut the ropes binding the old man.

“Huh?” The hero and his friends lowered their weapons in surprise.

“I’m glad that you were still exploring the nearby dungeon. Searching the rest of this world would have been a pain.”

“W-Wait, I’m a bit lost here.” May raised her hand timidly. “Where did you get this old man? And did this guy just call himself the Hero?”

“This girl is insane!” The old man yelled. “She kidnapped me while my party was taking a breather in the dungeon. I told her my name and title at swordpoint and then she dragged me here without another word.”

The man stumbled towards the Hero, but he froze when Belle pointed a sword at his back. The Hero tensed up, but Belle raised her other hand.

“I didn’t free you so that you could run away.” Belle released a vexed sigh. “Now I’ll tell you my side of the story. Yesterday, I suddenly found myself in this field along with my three classmates. I found a magic circle on the ground that was clearly used to transport us, but there was no sorcerer in sight. After investigating the surrounding area, I noticed a group of five enter a dungeon. I tailed them and learned that four of them had been summoned here.”

“…Then you’re also from another world?” The Hero asked. His sword was still raised and he hadn’t taken his eyes off his aging companion.

“Yes, by the same man who summoned you.”

“Melchior summoned us because this world is in peril. There’s a monster threatening humanity that can only be killed by this legendary blade. But it can only be wielded by…”

“-Yes, yes, I don’t care.” Belle waved her sword back and forth. “You can do all of that after Melchior here sends my classmates and me back home.”

“I’m telling you, you have the wrong person!” The Hero snarled. “We were summoned as chosen ones. Even a great sorcerer like Melchior can’t just bring people here by accident.”

“-Oh!”

Everyone stopped to stare at Melchior, who had bent over to examine the magic circle. After a few tense seconds, the sorcerer raised his head. His cheeks were beet red.

“Whoops. I left this circle running.”

“What?” The Hero dropped his legendary sword in surprise.

“I’m really sorry about this, girls.” Melchior stood up and brushed himself off. He smiled warmly. It was a complete one-eighty from the irate scowl that he’d worn earlier. “This is so embarrassing. Give me a minute, and I’ll send you back.”

“Huh? I thought he couldn’t do that?” Someone in the Hero’s party whispered.

“So, this was just a misunderstanding.” May said with a heavy sigh.

“Like, I don’t even know what to say.” Tammy muttered.

“C-Could you at least teach me some magic?” Lia tried to ask, but she couldn’t speak up.

“Get on with it.” Belle ordered.

Melchior nodded hurriedly while Lia hung her head. The sorcerer uttered a short chant and then clapped his hands together. The surrounding grass waved furiously as the magic circle lit up. The girls were bathed in a golden light, and then everything went black.

~ ~ ~

“Bonjour, mes filles. Aviez-vous une bonne petite somme?”

May, Lia and Tammy jolted up from their seats. The entire class stared at them as they frantically swung their heads left and right like chickens searching for grain. Belle watched as well, while resting her head on one hand.

“Huh?” May exclaimed. “Where are we?”

“EN FRANCAIS, mademoiselle!” Their teacher shrieked.

“OÚ SOMMES-NOUS!” May yelled in a panic.

After an awkward pause, the trio sat back down. Then, the rest of the class burst out laughing.

May, Lia and Tammy spent the rest of the day in a daze. Miraculously, even though they had spent over twenty-four hours in the other world, no time had passed on Earth. There was no dirt on their clothes from sleeping on grass, and the uncomfortable sensation of digesting horned rabbit meat had vanished.

“W-Was it all a dream?” Lia asked her friends after their final class ended.

“No way.” Tammy shook her head. “Dreaming about, like, the exact same thing is impossible.”

“Plus, I found this in my pocket.” May produced the sharpened rabbit’s horn that she’d brought from camp. “I’m not sure why this was the only thing that travelled with us, but it’s undeniable proof.”

“Let’s find Belle.” Tammy said.

The other two nodded in unison.

They waited at the school’s entrance, but Belle didn’t show up. The trio decided to search the school and that’s when they noticed her enter a classroom. The girls slowly crept their way to the door and peered inside. Aside from Belle, the only person there was a boy sitting at his desk. The boy’s looks were above average and his emotions were hidden behind a deadpan stare. However, the first thing the trio noticed about him was his bright blue hair.

“Do you think that’s dyed?” Tammy whispered.

“I always thought Belle’s was, but now I wouldn’t be surprised if it was natural.” May whispered back.

“So, what do you want, Sis?” The blue-haired boy glared up at Belle as she casually planted herself atop a desk.

“I got summoned to another world today.” Belle announced with a grin. “And this time you weren’t there.”

“Oh? That sounds terrible. Do you need a shoulder to cry on?”

“That’s what I should be asking you…” Belle’s grin widened. “Little brother.”

“WHAT!?” The boy suddenly stood up, pushing his desk out. “I was born first and you know it!”

“I was trapped in that world for one and a half days. You were born fifteen minutes before me.” Belle held up her hands in an exaggerated shrug. “I don’t think math is on your side.”

The little brother slumped back into his chair. “If I’d known this would happen, then I wouldn’t have refused that offer to train in the chamber of time…”

“Sucks for you, Kazama~”

“By the way, were you actually alone?” Kazama looked up. “I heard something weird happened in your French class today.”

“Ah, three other girls got caught up in it.” Belle scratched her head.

Belle’s back was away from the door and the trio couldn’t see her expression.

“Were they ok?”

“None of them were injured.”

“You protected them? That’s good. Maybe they’ll become your friends?”

“Unlikely. They were scared out of their wits.”

“By the foreign world or the monsters?”

“I think they were mostly afraid of me…”

Kazama snickered and then Belle smacked him. The sound that rang out did not resemble a girl’s slap in the slightest.

“D-Don’t underestimate the suspension bridge effect.” Kazama pulled his face out of his desk. “At least now they know you exist. I keep telling you to talk more, but you never listen.”

“The more we talk to people, the higher chance they’ll get caught up in some weird event. No one wants to deal with that.”

“Hmm~ I don’t know.” Kazama raised one eyebrow and glanced at the door.

The trio quickly ducked.

“-Anyways, I’m going downtown today, so you’ll have to walk home by yourself.”

Kazama stretched lazily and then got up. He walked over to the door, paused, and then turned the handle. After he left, Belle opened the door to find three people waiting for her.

“Um, we still don’t really understand what happened to us.” Lia muttered, making and breaking eye contact every second she spoke.

“If you don’t mind, we’d like to hear more about you.” May followed up.

“Plus, we, like, owe you for feeding us.” Tammy smiled. “I’ll pay for anywhere you want to go...so long as it’s an actual restaurant.”

Belle blinked slowly.

“Uh, sure. That’s fine, since you owe me.” Belle fumbled for words as she closed the door behind her.