Stranger’s Handbook

Chapter 1: Hello, New World

When I came to my senses I was inside a dimly lit room.

I’m Kato Toshiaki, a middle-aged man, age 32.

I go to work as always and buy a coffee at a convenience store, as always.

As usual, I drive my car while smoking a cigarette.

As usual, I drink my coffee at the intersection with a long wait signal.

Right after that…..

What didn’t go as expected was…..

Suddenly, the ringing of an early earthquake warning was heard.

The shaking was so violent that I could feel it even from inside the car.

My surroundings were filled with the screams of people who jumped out of their cars.

“Whoa! Are you serious!? Another earthquake!? What is the magnitude scale for this one!?”

I, as well, left the car and sat-down on the ground, waiting for the shaking to stop.

Or that’s how it should have been…..

And then, when I came to my senses, I was inside this dimly lit room.

Checking my surroundings…

There are about 10 people here, from young to old…….

There were young boys and girls too and I wondered whether they were high school teens.

There were also some white-haired individuals and it wouldn’t be wrong to assume they were old people.

But what was the strangest thing about this whole situation was the fact that we were all naked.

In normal circumstances, looking at the bare skin of young women is something that one would gratefully accept.

I’m an ordinary man after all!

However, in such a strange situation you can’t merely enjoy the view.

It is clearly an abnormal situation.

Just imagine.

One day, you find yourself in a 20 tatami mats room, dimly lit, alongside other 10 or so individuals of different ages, all naked. It is NOT normal!

“S…something is happening, right? This…..”

All I could do was mutter to myself.

“F…for the time being, since there are also young people around here, all women should gather over there. All men come over here. As much as possible, don’t look at the other party! This is the sensible thing to do.”

The one who did the dividing was an old man with gray hair.

An old woman, who might have been his wife, was talking to the girls while gently stroking their heads.

The young women were crying.

No wonder…

It’s such an abnormal situation.

No matter how you think about it, it’s unusual.

The fear and embarrassment of having their naked bodies gazed upon, it’s too much for them to handle.

Everyone listened to the old gentleman and separated into two groups, but, as one could easily guess, it was quite stimulating for the young males and their eyes kept flickering towards the women’s group.

It would have still been all right if only for the looking…..

“Say, since we’re already in such a situation, we will probably get killed by terrorists, right?”

A man in his 20’s.

So he started, his appearance would be, in normal circumstances, truly herbivorous.

“It seems so. If we’ll all get killed by terrorists anyway…..”

A teen boy started to speak as well.

Terrorists?

Before one could actually notice, the fact that we’ll get killed by terrorists was already confirmed, it seems.

‘Terrorists, huh…..They purposely stripped us of our clothes and locked us in this room. Moreover, it happened in the midst of an earthquake……What sort of advantage could terrorists take by locking their prisoners, their hostages all in one room, regardless of gender or age?’

While I was lost in thought, the two men, disregarding the other guys’ restraint, were approaching the women’s group, wearing broad grins on their faces.

“Hey, you! What are…!?”

The old woman, seeming to want to protect the girls, was shouting in front of the two men.

Ban!

It was simultaneous with her screaming.

The door was slammed open roughly and two people wearing armors and helmets, who looked like some sort of European knights, started entering the room.

“W…what the hell do you……”

Something shined brightly.

Before the first lecher was able to finish his line, shining lights could be seen from the direction of the knights’ hands.

“Low-life individuals who won’t even help their fellow countrymen and who try to assault weak women are needless to us.”

“T…they killed them……”

One had his head cut right in half.

The other one had lost his head completely.

If one would survive this, they would be either zombies or gods or such.

Kyaaa….uwaaa….hiiii….

The knights began their speech regardless of all the noises and interjections in the background.

“It is not our interest to kill or harm you without a reason. But we have no intention to spare the lives of fiends, like these two guys. For now, you’ll leave this room and follow us.”

They announced coldly and left the room.

“E…everyone is probably confused, but for the time being it seems like a good idea not to disobey those guys. Let’s follow them.”

Resting on the old gentleman, the women were crying…

The men, while shaking, were trying to get up.

“You haven’t even flinched while witnessing such a terrible scene. Police? Self-defense forces? You sure have a strong stomach!”

The old gentleman approaches me.

“No, I’m in the uninteresting sales business.”

I answered with a smile.

“Oh! A salesman. Well, with someone reliable as you around here everyone will feel a little bit more at ease.”

“Hahaha! Please don’t expect too much!”

After I gave my modest answer, the old gentleman left the room followed by everyone else.

“Erm! Aren’t you leaving?”

One of the women addressed me.

“Ah! I will leave last. You should all go ahead. I’ll come too after I finish this last thing.”

The woman left the room while nodding her head in understanding…

Well now…..

I was scared shitless and wet myself a little…

I started rubbing my wet legs and nether region on the carpet of the floor.

I’ll catch up with everyone once I’m done cleaning myself.

I was sure as hell scared to death!