Dimensional Quest: I Was Reincarnated Into My Trashy Fanfic

As David was plating the last of the pancakes, he felt calm as he listened to the hushed chatter of the women in the living room.

Since they seemed to want to keep their conversation private, David lowered his senses so that he wouldn't eavesdrop.

Before he could call out to them to go to the table for breakfast, he felt his phone buzz in his pocket.

'Hm?'

He quickly rinsed off his hands and dried them on a black spider-motif kitchen towel he created earlier.

Taking his phone out, he unlocked it to see a new message on LINE.

--Shouko Komi--

Good morning… (sun emoji)

Um… thank you for yesterday.

Have a nice day today.

--End--

David read the message and saw who it was from, causing him to grin like an idiot.

⟪ I don't think I would've ever expected Shouko to text me first, especially not with someone she only met in passing. I can already see her erasing and re-typing the message a hundred times before finally sending it nervously, haha! The image of that is too cute. ⟫

...

On the 22nd floor, Shouko Komi was sitting on the edge of her bed wearing long black cat onesie pajamas with the hood up, showing cute black cat ears.

Her hands were shaking as she held her phone in front of her and stared down at it, waiting for David's response.

When she heard what David said in his inner voice, she blushed and her body trembled violently, excited to see David's response.

--David Star--

Good morning, Shouko. 

You don't need to thank me for anything, I used to have problems communicating in the past as well so I know how hard it can be. You texting me first was actually a big step and I have to say, I'm impressed.

I know it might be hard for you to continue conversations so I don't want you to feel obligated to respond or message me. Just text me when you feel comfortable doing so and if I have my phone, I'll reply.

And thank you, I hope you have a nice day, too.

--End--

When she finished reading David's message, Shouko fell on her bed and laid on her stomach as she kicked her feet excitedly.

[Shouko] 'I did it! And he responded! He was right, I did have to erase and retype it a bunch of times, but I actually sent it! Should I send another message? What would I even say? I know he went to the gym this morning and ran into our neighbor. I know he's making pancakes for his daughter, too. That's so weird, he's my age and he has a daughter... I wonder if she's as cute as he says she is?'

Shouko's thoughts ran in overdrive as she thought about what else to say to David, but there were too many things she wanted to ask him.

It took her 10 minutes to type up another message and finally send it.

--Shouko Komi--

I will try my best.

I haven't tried texting much before, but it's easier to talk this way.

--End--

--David Star--

I take it you want to talk to people more in person?

--End--

Shouko paused as she tried to gather her thoughts. Not knowing exactly what to say, she decided to just say everything.

--Shouko Komi--

Yes, I really do want to speak, but my face freezes up around people. I guess I'm just scared.

When I approach people, they get nervous. Some faint or even hide.

I think they hate me. No, I know they hate me...

When I was in junior high, it was so hard, especially during lunch. I hated eating alone. Everyone would chat and eat. 

I was so lonely.

I tried to talk every day for three years, but my voice wouldn't come out.

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't talk to anyone.

What should I do? How can I talk? What should I do after that? What if they reject me? What should I say next? What if they say I'm boring? If I can't smile right, then what? What should I do?

In the elevator, I wanted to ask you if you were going to go to the same school as me, but I froze up and hid in the corner.

I was happy when you came up to me and gave me your contact information, but I wasn't sure how to start a conversation.

I want to make friends, but I'm worried I'll repeat my junior high mistakes in high school.

...

I'm sorry for saying so much, I just felt comfortable finally having someone to talk to outside of my family... (raincloud emoji)

--End--

Unlike in the original work when she just had hiccups, Shouko was actually tearing up when she thought about how alone she had been during junior high and how grateful she was to David for him taking the initiative to talk to her, even when she couldn't respond to him.

⟪ Loneliness is a painful thing... If I had remembered that Shouko felt this way, I would've invited her to have breakfast with us... If she could understand that people don't hate her, I'm sure she'd feel better. She's so beautiful that she just intimidates others, similar to how Shikimori scares boys off with her 'cool beauty' demeanor. ⟫

Shouko felt her heart ache as she silently cried, thinking about how nice it would be to eat with David and have a conversation with him in person. Then she thought about her neighbor, Miyako Shikimori, and how they might be somewhat similar like David had said.

It was a little hard, but once she started venting to David, she felt much lighter and wanted to tell him about all of her problems.

⟪ It might seem sudden, but I'll invite her over for lunch today. All I had planned was just some work on the game engine, but that can wait if it means I can help Shouko with her insecurities. I had originally wanted her to fall in love with me, but if I can just be the friend that she needs, that'll be enough for me. Loneliness is a painful thing... ⟫

The cat ears on the hood of Shouko's onesie twitched as she thought of having lunch with David.

She was scared, but decided that she would accept his invitation if he offered it. When she thought of falling in love, Shouko shook a little and blushed, not sure about anything concerning romance as she has no experience with it.

--David Star--

I hope you don't think I'm flirting or just trying to flatter you, but you are incredibly beautiful and I think that your beauty and silence intimidates a lot of people. You seem like a very sweet girl from the brief encounter we had and I don't think that you'd be capable of accidentally offending anybody, thus I'm positive that nobody hates you.

The easiest way to learn how to talk is through practice. You can start by writing to people until you get comfortable enough to use your voice.

If you can't use your voice, don't feel discouraged because it would just take some time.

I will be your practice partner if you'd like?

As far as not being able to smile right, who determines what's a right or wrong smile? I've never seen your smile, but I'm certain that any smile you make, whether it's a half-smirk, an awkward smile, or a slight lip raise, would look beautiful.

To answer your unasked question, I am going to attend Hoshinoumi Academy on Monday, but I'm not sure if you're going there as well.

If you're afraid of being unable to make friends, I'll be your first friend. My wives would probably like to be your friend as well, especially my first wife. Her name is Marin Kitagawa, lives on the 25th floor, and she's exceptionally friendly.

You may get a little overwhelmed by how energetic she is, but I think she'd fawn all over you, lol. (laughing emoji)

I was going to make a big lunch today and we probably won't be able to eat it all if I make too much.

Would you like to come over to have lunch with us? If too many people are problematic for you at first, I can send the others off somewhere while we have lunch by ourselves, just you and I?

--End--

Shouko read David's message multiple times, hugging her phone to her chest intermittently.

She could now say that she has a friend and while the thought of being around multiple new people in a closed environment like David's penthouse suite slightly scared her, she wanted to take David's advice seriously and try to make friends.

After another grueling 10 minutes of trying to think of what to say in response, Shouko ended up just sending a simple response back.

--Shouko Komi--

I would like to come up for lunch with everyone.

I will also be going to Hoshinoumi Academy and am happy that you'll go there as well.

Thank you for being my friend, David. (smile emoji)

--End--

Shouko hid her face behind her phone, afraid to read the next message that would appear.

⟪ Ugh, Shouko is a sweetheart. She's someone we must protect! Heheh, I'll have to tell the others about her and let them know to go easy so they don't scare her away. ⟫

--David Star--

Sounds good, I'll let everyone know. Lunch will be ready at around 1:00 PM, but you can come up here whenever you want. Since we're friends now, my door will always be open to you and your family.

And you're very welcome, Shouko. I hope we get along well in the future. (smile emoji)

--End--

Shouko rolled around in her bed as she read all of David's messages over and over again.

"I hope we... get along well, too... David...," Shouko said meekly to a cat plushie she had on her bed, smiling as she tried to get her words out.

⟪ I wonder if I could make a spell for her that would allow her to write in the air using light magic, similar to Makoto's spell in his original work? It wouldn't be possible for her to use it until the world changes and allows people to use magic, but it would be good to prepare it beforehand. I hope she's able to speak by that time, but if not, I'll do whatever I can to accommodate her. ⟫

"Magic... I want... to use magic...," Shouko said, getting off of her bed as she started looking for clothes to wear for lunch.

...

After breakfast, David kneeled down and used water manipulation to create a soft ball of water that he used to wipe the blueberries off of Komoe's face.

"Are you planning on heading to the dungeon after this, Komoe-chan?" David asked with a concerned, yet gentle smile.

"Yes! I'll bring you back a lot of meat, Papa! You don't have to worry about me, you know I'm strong, heheh!"

"Yes yes, my daughter is the strongest, haha. You could probably kill anything with a single punch, but I still worry about you. After all, that's what a Papa does, right?"

Komoe hugged David and said, "Yep! My Papa is the best in the whole world!"

David rubbed her back and chuckled, "Heheh, and my daughter is the sweetest in the whole world. Go ahead and change into your normal dungeon-exploring clothes and have fun. Be back before the afternoon if you can since we'll be having company over for lunch and I want her to meet you if it's possible."

"Okay!"

Komoe stopped hugging David and ran upstairs, entering the door to the mansion and preparing herself for another casual dungeon run.

David stood back up and started clearing the table.

Marin and Mio were already in the kitchen, starting their cleanup while the others were all out in the living room.

"I have a new friend coming over in about four hours for lunch. She has trouble talking and she just wants friends, so I hope that if anyone is here at that time, you can be welcoming and try to be friends with her."

Marin looked back and asked, "Who is it~? Do I know her?"

"I'm not sure if you do or not. Her name is Shouko Komi and she's also going to Hoshinoumi Academy. Y'know, it seems like a lot of people are going there. Is the school really that big?" David asked.

Marin stopped what she was doing and gave David a weird look.

"Did you not look at the school's information before you enrolled?"

"Eh... No, not really... I got a letter in the mail that said I'd been accepted and I remembered that it was one of the schools I applied to, so I just shrugged it off and figured I'd find out more during the opening ceremony. I know they have dorms and that's about it."

"...I don't know why I'm not surprised... Anyway, just to briefly go over it, Hoshinoumi Academy is a relatively new school that has absorbed the student bodies of multiple existing schools. They start from pre-school and go all the way up to high school and college prep schools."

"There are many buildings for different types of schools, each with different uniforms, but they all have a Hoshinoumi Academy badge to show where the students are from. There's a huge faculty with many teachers, principals, and a single dean."

"The whole school is technically run by a board of directors that consists of three people that nobody really knows anything about, but they are the ones who created the school to allow for students to be better educated in a more centralized environment."

"The opening ceremony takes place in a massive auditorium that can fit thousands of students and is hosted by the dean. Classes start right after the opening ceremony and it's really just an introduction to the teachers, classmates, and the syllabus."

"There are also multiple student councils that manage various groups of the student body, and each student council president reports directly to the dean. Student council elections take place a week after school starts and they always accept at least one member from the first year as a rule."

"Students can also join clubs and they're not limited to only one, but they have to show some involvement at least once every two weeks, save for the sports clubs where daily participation is mandatory."

"Hmm, what else is there that I can think of... Oh yeah! There are apparently some student bodies that are completely segregated from the rest of the students due to them having a special curriculum. I mean, we can interact with them, but we'll never have classes with them or go on trips with them."

David stared at Marin wide-eyed as he tried to take in all of the information.

"...How the hell do you know all of that?"

"Ehh~? It's all public information, you just need to look for it!" Marin said with a teasing smirk as she turned back to continue cleaning.

⟪ Am I actually pretty stupid for not knowing how big my high school is? What if I don't get to be in the same student body as Marin? Wait, a while ago, I accidentally killed the protagonist of Maken-ki! and was curious as to why Tenbi Academy didn't exist... Is one of the segregated student bodies related to that franchise? That'd make the most sense... ⟫

[Wow, way to use your brain for once. Yes, Tenbi Academy stopped existing and all faculty and students have been moved to a separate campus in Hoshinoumi Academy.]

⟪ Huh? Isn't it all just one big campus? ⟫

[...No, there are separate campuses for separate grades and schools. Hoshinoumi Academy is big enough to be considered as a separate Ward in Tokyo. I take back my compliment from earlier, you seem to enjoy turning off your brain.]

⟪ To be fair, life is easier when I'm dumber. I figured out how to activate and deactivate my super-smart mode, but there's too much of an information flow. That's also why I try to limit my senses. Sure, it could help find out if someone is following me or if something crazy is happening, but it's a hassle trying to sort through all of the information I get. I dunno how those super smart and observant protagonists do it, it's better to just relax and let things happen. ⟫

[Uh-huh... So you would prefer to just let the franchise plots happen and ignore all the bad shit?]

⟪ No, this and that are two completely different things, Chaos-chan. Take the plot in High School DxD where Asia Argento gets tricked and kidnapped for example. If that were to happen, I'd be on full-alert so that I can kill all the Fallen Angels and save Asia before any bad shit happens. However, if someone wants to attack me and I don't notice until I'm already being attacked, why would I care? It just means that my attacker doesn't know the kind of power I have and they'll either be asking for an early death or an eternity in one of my Lands of Repentance. ⟫

[I feel like you're purposefully making your life more complicated that way, but whatever. Also, stop talking to me with your inner voice. I don't know how many girls out there know about my existence now and it'll be troublesome if they find out.]

⟪ Meh, it'll be fine, quit yer bitchin'. ⟫

David finished clearing the table and took in a deep breath, enjoying his relaxing slow life.

"Since I still have some time before Shouko shows up, I'll be in my office working. Same as yesterday, I won't have the time dilation barrier active so if anybody needs me, you know where to find me. There are enough seats in there for a few people to hang out, but I'll be expanding it sometime soon so Komoe and whoever else can have more free space to play around."

The girls all made some noise of affirmation, causing David to chuckle as he went upstairs.

⟪ I'm happy to see all of these different girls getting along. I was especially worried about Isane and Rangiku trying to target Yoruichi, but it seems like that was a needless worry thanks to Marin. Heheh, she's the same as yet completely different from her character in the original work. I definitely love this version of her better. ⟫

David sat in his office chair and started programming once again.

⟪ Ugh, I still feel guilty for how I thought about Utaha yesterday... I'm sure she's different from her character in Saekano as well, yet I judged her based off of what I knew from my memories. That's probably one of the reasons why Kurumi placed those seals on my memories now that I think about it... ⟫

[WHAT THE FUCK, DAVID?!]

'Oop... It'll be fine, right...?'

...

In a forest out in the mountains, Kurumi, Sawa, and Shiro were constructing a building when they heard David mention Kurumi and the seals.

Sawa and Shiro slowly looked over at Kurumi, only to see her trembling with a scary smile on her face.

Knowing what was about to happen, Sawa grabbed Shiro and teleported all the way back to Ochanomizu, looking back at where they just came from and erecting a barrier around the entire mountain.

"Chaos-chan made another mistake and made Kuru-Kuru angry," Shiro said, smiling like it wasn't a big deal.

"Indeed she did. It seems Chaos doesn't care about her promise to us and I can only say that I feel sorry for her. She said she'd likely be able to form her body around this time, right?" Sawa asked.

"Yup! She said she would be able to go to school with all of us after it started, heheh~," Shiro replied, jumping up and down excitedly.

*KABOOOOM!!!*

Right after Shiro responded, the mountain they were just on was blown up in a massive explosion of dirt and trees, causing shockwaves to ripple and deform the entire land.

"Wooow~! Kuru-Kuru's punches are getting stronger and stronger!"

Sawa just shook her head and sighed, "Haaa... At least she knows not to use her magic when she's this upset. Do you think the surprise we had for David is ruined now?"

"Nope~! He didn't mention us, so I think we're still a secret, heheh~. Even if he did find out about us and got upset about it, we built Roselia Heights and Hoshinoumi Academy just for him~! When he finds that out, he'll be happy!" Shiro said, skipping around Sawa as she giggled to herself.

*KABOOOOM!!!*

"Once all of the seals are released, he'll understand why we did it, though he's on the right track now. I just think Kurumi's obsession with David will make her do more drastic things if Chaos spills any more secrets before she has the chance to tell him herself."

Shiro looked at Sawa and tilted her head in confusion. "Eh? Your obsession with David isn't much better! You used to always talk about him, saying 'David-sama this,' and 'David-sama that!' Speaking of which, how's your little club going?"

Sawa gave a perverted smile and said, "Heheh, it's going very well...," before she snapped out of it and cleared her throat.

"Ahem, I mean it's fine, you don't need to worry about it. Just focus on The Twilight Accord with Kurumi and wait patiently for our time to be with David...sama..."

*KABOOOOM!!!*

Shiro giggled, "Heheh~, I knew you couldn't resist it. And okay~! I need to tell Kuru-Kuru about a new faction that I brought in, too. They were a bit under the radar at this point in time, but I want to make sure they don't follow what they did in the past as I'm sure David would really like some of the girls that were killed last time."

"What's the faction called?" Sawa asked.

"Don't worry about it~, I want to take care of it and I don't want you to mess around with my job like you did with The Velvet Division!"

"I only did that to get rid of some trash... You should know better than anyone what those people deserved. Whatever franchise they're from, I did them all a favor by removing any problems ahead of time."

Shiro crossed her arms and pouted. "Still, I wanted to kill some of them... If David knew I tortured them, I bet he'd be really happy! You let them off too easy!"

Sawa shrugged, "I admit I let my emotions get the better of me, but anybody that would lay their hands on children need to be eradicated. Torture is your and Kurumi's specialty, I just want to get rid of them all for good."

*KABOOOOM!!!*

"Kuru-Kuru is really mad this time... The old man might get angry and scold her again..."

"No, I think he's more worried about The Convergence next year instead. We haven't heard from him in a few years so I'm certain he's got better things to do. Besides, it's not like Kurumi is shattering reality this time. She has good control over her strength now, I'm certain she doesn't want to repeat the incident from 16 years ago."

Shiro shuddered as she thought about the incident Sawa mentioned.

"Kuru-Kuru almost erased David's reality, that was definitely a big no-no..."

Sawa nodded, "Yeah... All because she wanted to torture some trash and bring back that one girl, too. Big Red was pissed..."

"That old man is no match for Kuru-Kuru! If she wasn't hit by the backlash, she would've punched the old man right on the nose!"

Sawa chuckled and grabbed Shiro as they teleported right next to Kurumi.

"Feeling better, Kurumi?" Sawa asked.

"Fufufu~, Chaos has one more chance and if she screws it up, I'm seriously gonna beat the crap out of her," Kurumi said with a chilling smile.

"Sawa-chan and I talked about it and we don't think David would get upset over anything once he gets all the memories back and knows what we did for him," Shiro said with a smile.

"Yeah, he'll probably just be frustrated he didn't figure it out himself, but he'll get over it. So cheer up and fix this damn mountain. We only just now started construction, okay? I hate doing things over...," Sawa said with a sigh.

Kurumi stood at the edge of the crater, arms crossed as she looked over the ruined mountain.

"...Tch. What a pain."

She raised her left hand and snapped her fingers.

"Zayin."

In an instant, the land rewound. Dirt, rocks, trees--everything that had been blown apart rushed back into place like a video played in reverse. The crater smoothed out, the forest grew back, and the mountain returned to how it was before she lost her temper.

When it was done, Kurumi dusted off her hands and turned to the others.

"There. Good as new."

Sawa shook her head and said, "Thanks..."

They all walked toward the construction site they were working on and threw the negative thoughts about their surprise being ruined out of their minds.