// Equipped Companion(s) //

// //

___

"Alright... I'll hang up for now. Call me again if something happens." Shu says before hanging up.

Shu takes a sit on a couch that is across from you as you are trying to figure out how to use other controls from your phone as you deeply explore it- I swear the future sometimes confuses you with the new features-

You take tiny glances on Shu to see that he is sitting nicely with his legs slightly crossed as he dozes off to gaze at the window, chin resting on the palm of his right hand.

Ah, why do you meet so many pretty men??? You sometimes wonder why are you even still here, breathing the same air as them so casually....-

You look at the window as well to see how high the penthouse is, and heck it is, you could see a very small public pool from afar...- The penthouse is one of the only rooms that can look like mostly a kitchen, bathroom, bedrooms, and living room floor unlike the other floors. At this point, it makes you think like it is a work-headquarters building or some sort...-

Oh, it seems the phone battery ran out.... :c

You sigh, slightly regretting, as you try to at least find some place where you can somehow charge it by looking around the penthouse floor. Your handbag didn't bring a portable charger besides the wire for your dismay...

"Mm..? Looking for something?" Shu notices your slight distress as he tilts his head slightly, seeing you looking around the room.

"Ah... Is there some place... where I can charge a futuristic phone...?" You ask with an unsure tone, not sure how this phone can even charge in a present timeline-

Ike did say something that there's another way of charging through sunlight... But when was the last time you saw daylight after leaving 1969???

"Ah- I see... do you have a wire for it." Shu hums understandingly. Shu stands up from the coach and walk towards the nearest charger spot and motions on it for you.

You're surprised that someone from the past knows technology pretty well- but then he must have stick around long enough in the modern times than you do in the past and future timelime...-

You take out the wire from your bag and quickly walk to where Shu is(who is now thinking about you running like a tiny hamster by seeing you-), You we're about to insert the plug in until you realize-

That the freaking plug has a weird shape- It has 5 tips rather than 3??? And so small???

"Oh- so that's really the latest update..." Shu comments once he sees the plug shape. He slightly laughs quietly as you look at him with an embarrassed look.

"E-Eh??? What's so funny???"

"Sorry- it's not you, plugs are indeed looking funny- who even got the idea of making the plug look like a pouch that is stabbed by needles???" Shu laughs more before diminishing it into a small chuckle.

"Good thing I can offer you shupport for this."

Shupport?

Shu says as he hands out his hand for the phone with a smile. You hesitantly hand it, making you both have your fingers in contact-

Oh gosh..-

Shu looks like he is brushing off the gesture so smoothly, unlike you who must be looking like as pink as a peach- but little did you know, Shu is actually hyperventilating on the inside as he smiles when his face is trying not to sweat so HARD-

"Watch and learn~" Shu then says before making the phone slowly floating by some purple flame force.

The phone looks like it's burning-

You panic at first until your realize there are also some purple floating holograms of data charts and codings displaying in Shu's angle. Shu then twists some wheels and turn up some levels from the hologram screens, making the phone screen turn bright and slowly but unnatural quickly gets the battery increase into a 100%.

"W-Woah???" You say, now filled with overwhelming astonishment . "How???"

"A form of sorcery-" Shu answers it without seeing the need to elaborate. Smiling at you once again before handing your phone back to you, still looking as new as before.

"I-I see...??? Hehe... Thank you, Shu...!" Nonetheless, you thank the sorcerer with a very grateful smile. Super happy that your phone is back to life, now running up once again.

"You're the best- A great shupport~!"

He raises an eyebrow. You nearly take your words back until he then chuckles with his signature beak smile. "... I like how that sounds from you."

You nearly choked-

.

.

.

"I have a question, Shu...?" You ask randomly. Making Shu look back at you as he just finished playing a valorant match from the giant tv screen the Luxiem Lounge has-

"Ey?" Shu says as a way to know that he's listening.

"When I was at the museum with a friend... I couldn't learn about you when I stop by to look at your portrait- the button for the voice tour guide wasn't working for some reason-" You explain, finding yourself twiddling your thumbs with a shy look, the Sorcerer can only do nothing but listening to you intently as he waits for your words to process patiently.

"How is your backstory like- may I ask?" You finally ask as you timidly glance at Shu's sharp eyes. Who merely look blankly back at you as if processing before he moves once again.

"Ah sure, well- I pretty much got my butt cursed by someone else's poop-"

Shu straight forward says, without HESITATING-

"HUH???" You're now looking much more confused, that just sounded like a different vibe compared to that bad*ss painting you just saw at the museum-

"Oh wait, sorry- let me start from 0." Shu assures as he sweatdrops by your concerned look.

You both make sure you're both sitting comfortably, before Shu activates his mana once again to make a magical hologram of a small doll scenery.

___

{I can't believe I'm going to write this but at least it'll still be worth it bc it's Shu we are talking about lol-}

When Shu was a child, a man tried to trick him into stepping on poop, but failed.

This poop turned out to be a magical poop that flew at Shu and knocked him into the hearth of his house.

While on fire, Shu blurted out-

"Oh no! I'm burning eyyyyy....

I'm burning... hotter... Than your -"

This 'your mom's joke caused the gods to transport Shu and his house forward in time to the present day.

But not only that.

Before he got transported, Shu was the transformed into a much older version of himself- purple flames slowly displaying behind his back, as his eyes started to glow through flames.

He inherited his parents' abilities as a sorcerer. He uses jujutsu, a type of sorcery related to curses, which relies on natural or other mythical powers to augment and cast spells.

Did he cast a spell on the person he just flew his poop on him? He did.

Because that's what karma is like.

And now Shu is an Isekai figure with a past that is now known as a myth by the common eye of the present.

THE END.

___

"..." You are left speechless by the short yet meaningful story- Blinking slowly.

Gosh, you kind of laugh at the amount of times Shu says "eyyy baby-" while telling the story. Which seems to make Shu look happier and pleased than ever.

You surprisingly are taking this serious despite of how funny it sounds. This sorcerer somehow can make people respect him without using much effort, it seems...-

"Wow... I really never expected that...!" You say with an impressed look. "I wonder what kind of curse did you put in him...?"

"Ah, something that is not necessarily important to know- oh. Are you hungry, we have food and dessert in the menu- I'll go downstairs to buy it for you."

"...I can buy it instead you know...?"

"I insist. :)"

'W-What's with them insisting to buy snacks or bringing stuff for me...???? Huh??? ówò'

Eventually, you pick what you want from the menu and Shu made his way to go to the downstairs' staff with the menu he got for you and the list.

____

"Wait- where's Mysta and Luca...???"

The four boys were making their way to the Luxiem Lounge by walking. Well, more like only 2 boys were actually remaining as Ike was looking back to see a certain fox and a lion on the loose, missing.

"This is the last thing I want to expect to happen..." Ike says with a tired look, "I really, really didn't sign up for this..."

He just wants to get the difficult things over so he could finally get to check on his lovely little Y/N and fix her feral, time machine....

"If I am Mysta, and/or Luca.... What place would they suddenly be interested to check on when passing by...?" Vox suggests the question as he looks at Ike.

"Of course, that arcade...-"

Ike responds as he quickly walks back to the direction they passed by as Vox is calmly following his pace beside him. They both enter the arcade room without hesitation, which happen to be near them and somewhere in a center of marketing place full of shops and one park in the center.

They are able to see Luca and Mysta playing on a 2 player arcade machine. A shooting zombie game.

"HOLY SH*T- THEY LOOK SO F*CKING DISGUSTING OMG-" Mysta yells for his dismay, as Luca laughs like a crazy dork while having the time of his life with the gun controller.

"BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BAN-" Luca chants while being able to shoot a couple zombies that are targeting him, and then the ones that are attacking on Mysta's side.

The Novelist and the Voice Demon can see a crowd of people looking at them from the loud commotion.

"Ah sh*t- thanks, man..- BE CAREFUL-"

More zombies appear in both sides of the screens, making both players get drowned by the big crowd. The screen changes into a "GAME OVER" with red font.

"...That's it, I won't play these kinds of mechanisms ever again....-" Mysta promises himself as he quickly stands away from the arcade as if it was the deadliest plague itself.

"Awww.... Already over?" Luca whines, yet takes out another a couple of coins from his pocket to insert into the machine. "Come on, Mysta! One more time!"

"H*LL NO-"

"There you guys are- omg..."

"IKE!!! SAVE ME FROM LUCA, HE KEEPS PUSHING ME TO DO THIS SCARY STUFF!!!" Mysta loudly pleads as he sobs while wrapping his limbs around Ike's leg.

"Hahaha..." Vox covers his mouth as he tries to muffle his laughter. Luca merely whines before encouraging Vox to play with him- who smiles back in return as in accepting the invitation. Ike is about to protest, until Vox whisper to him for "6 more minutes" as the Mafia Boss already inserted the coins on the machine for another round. So Ike has to now go and comfort Mysta by letting him play on a much more friendlier game on one of the other arcade machines. Car race games.

___

It has been... 2 hours-

The four find themselves on the counter of the arcade where they serve drinks. They end up discussing more things to reflect and share things to each other about what happen to them lately.

"I... heard something about vtubers." Mysta mentions it. The boys were looking curiously at him, until Ike remembers something.

"Mm? Oh right, you mentioned that before when you were talking to a bartender."

"Yea- I was planning to be a vtuber, so I can get the public's attention to be able to catch the thief as a way to go back home! But...

The thief is actually now dead- if Vox's witness statement was right..." Mysta explains as he turns his head to face a wall. You can imagine his fox ears drooping slowly.

"I mean- I did accurately witness Alban falling in a hole- however...." Vox trails off, making the 3 look at him with confusion. Though, the Voice Demon seems to have something to explain more about his story.

"I didn't explain much about this- as I wasn't planning to sound harsh as you are all freak out by the news- but now I'll tell you the entire thing... I did witness Alban running, until he fell down the hole...

But as I approach, peek in the hole to call out Alban, there was no response as the hole looked dark. So I took out Onigiri from my waist belt so he could lend me his little lantern torch-

There was no one found in the hole-"

"Exactly, just as I thought....-" Ike says with a thinking look.

"What did you think???" Mysta questions.

"I know what Yugo is capable of- so is impossible that he would just get exterminated by a crowd of 4 androids from the future-" Ike starts, continue to rub his chin for a moment. "And knowing Alban from Y/N, he's actually a very fast person with great stealth and quick thinking- he must have already landed smoothly after suddenly falling form that hole and able to quickly sneak away through the tunnel instead...-"

"-Like a cat!" Luca jumps in, making small cat motions with a smile.

"That reasonable guess seems to pretty much make sense..." Mysta agrees, humming as he stops drinking his soda can. "One of the robbery cases related to the Phantom Thief was located in one of the tallest skyscrapers- witnesses were barely able to see who exactly is but they were able to someone inhumanely jumping out of the window with a full bag on one of their pockets-" Mysta explains with a serious look, checking on his notepad and taking some notes while remembering one of the 36 cases Alban have done in about 3 months....

It seems the detective went to his deduction making phases...-

"That thief seems to be already prepared to dodge and find loopholes from the death flags, even when he is in complicated predicaments and being surrounded by an unfamiliar environment. Far from home and time." Mysta ends his explanation.

"Insane... Pog!" Luca comments. The others merely look back at him.

"I mean... Unpog..?"

.

.

.

"Being a vtuber still seems like a cool idea...-"

"Yeah- now that I see it from the videos- it looks very pog."