CW/TW for

Before the accident, I never stood out. The only noticeable feature I had was my darker skin, something I had gotten from my American mother. Although my pronunciation wasn’t perfect since I grew up in America, I went to Japan as an exchange student in college,

After deciding to spend her weekend having fun, I went to my favorite bookstore, one I’ve had only ordered from online. Today was also an important day for me as well—it’s the first time I’ve been out after what happened. Just thinking about it at times brings me into a panic.

Twenty years ago, I was almost killed by the man who stalked me; he wasn’t a criminal at first, he was just a normal guy I knew. When I had just turned nineteen, I meant him during dinner to get freshmen acquainted with those of their department.

Like me, his looks were exactly unremarkable...he seemed like a loner amongst the third-year students.

I wasn’t particularly outgoing, but something in me told me to say goodbye to him before I left for the night.

“Have a good night!”

I wished I hadn’t listened to myself then.

“Lucia!”

A few months later was the second time I saw him. I didn’t know his name and yet he knew my name despite me never giving it.

We exchanged no words then, he just stared at me after calling out my name.

Then, the flash of a disposable camera flashed my way.

I was dazed for a moment before I realized what happened.

He’d taken my picture.

I thought he was strange for the reaction but by the time I searched for him, I couldn’t find him again.

He ran away like a coward.

So I went about my way, arriving at my class as I’ve always done.

I hadn’t encountered him until much later when I had gotten his name after he stuck a letter in my mailbox.

His name was Hiroto Yamada.

His name was as ordinary as he was.

When I read the contents of the letter, I felt to control back the bile climbing up my throat.

It was his own disgusting rape fantasy where I was the female lead.

The letters persisted, for days, weeks, months--despite me never replying to them.

I wasn’t sure how to deal with it, I didn’t have family or friends to count on, but I dealt with it on my own initially--although eventually, I pulled together enough courage to go to the police about it.

The officers laughed in my face, saying that I ‘should’ve been glad a boy was interested in me.’

It was the first and last time I ever asked for help for my situation.

Another officer continued that in any case, they couldn’t do much since he hadn’t tried to or harmed me in any way. There weren't laws against what he was doing, everything he did was right in the legal range to do so.

Hiroto still went to the same university as me, he stared at me during school hours and left disturbing notes of what he’d do to me since we’re ‘meant to be together’. I couldn’t even get a restraining order because of that fact.

I felt like everything failed me at that point.

I ended up moving to another city and dropping out of college to escape him.

I had no other choice in the matter.

After three years, I thought I was in the clear, that things were over. I hadn’t been getting letters anymore, there wasn’t the presence of someone following her anymore. I was happy for someone. I never went back to school, but I was satisfied with how my life was. I was alone, content with things.

 I had thought so, until the day my neighbor called me.

That morning, my coffee cup shattered like an ominous sign, and I hadn’t felt ‘right’ for the whole day.

“Oh, hello. Is there something wrong?”

“Ah, why didn’t you tell me you had such a caring boyfriend? I know he wanted to surprise you, so I let him in when he was attempting to get through the gate, so I couldn’t help wanting to question you--”

“…I—I, don’t have a boyfriend.”

Before she could continue, I found myself drenched in a liquid that smelled like gasoline.

When I looked behind me, I saw him, right behind me with a furious expression as if it was saying, “How dare you to try to run away from me like that?”

I scrambled up the stairs leading to my apartment while Hiroto screamed at me that I was going to regret turning my back on him. As I raced, he continued saying things like, I was a selfish bitch, I should be happy a boy wanted me...

I was too focused on escaping that I did see the first that fell. All I could feel was my body start burning through an inferno. My body was burning, and the smell was unforgettable. He lit me on fire. His last act of aggression was killing me, a person who never even exchanged any more than a full conversation with him.

After hearing my screams, through the phone that hadn’t been hung up yet, my neighbor and a group of mothers who stayed in the same complex called the police in a panic, trying to put out the fire on my body while he fled.

It wasn’t until much later that I woke up in a hospital not too far from where I was attacked.

Almost 60% of my body had gotten third-degree burns and the odds to be alive wasn't in my favor. I was burned from the waist up, with damage to my chest and face. I spent weeks at a hospital, there to regain mobility and sensation in my arms. When I finally got to the point where I could move normally, the damage was already done.

My skin was scarred, as well as my heart.

            And the worse thing was that I never got to see the man who killed me be punished.

            Not too far from where he attacked me, he opted for a much less painful method of death by overdosing on his psych meds.

They found his body and pronounced him dead.

            He killed himself before he could even get charged.

            I tried living better, despite the accident. However, knowing how I looked like, and the memories of the event would never leave. I knew I looked like a monster when cashiers flinched away when meeting my burned skin.

            I didn’t just look unsightly, I felt it as well.

            So much, I didn’t want to go out, even with my mask.

I holed myself in my apartment.

Eventually, it became too much for me. My mental health deteriorated, nothing seemed to help.

So, I decided that morning that I would jump off the roof of my apartment building.

During my fall, something unexpected happened.

My body felt light, my eyes grew wide at the unknown sensation. It was warmth, but so unfamiliar that I didn’t feel at ease being surrounded by it.

After that feeling passed, the only thing I saw I saw white.

It was death, sweet and absolute death—or so I thought.

When I unexpectantly woke up, I heard the hushed voices of people around me.

In front of me was an elf—something I’d only read about in fantasy novels or see in RPGs.

I couldn’t tell the elf’s gender right away but surmised that he was male—a very beautiful male elf. He was very tall, probably well over 6 ft tall. His skin was white as pearls, his eyes a pale bluish-grey.

When the person begins to speak, I’m both surprised at the base of his voice, as well as the fact that I could understand him.

“Are you alright Miss?” He stares at me wide-eyed, making me instinctively cover my face with my hand.

“I am, I don’t know where I am…” I say cautiously, unable to look him in the eye.

"You were summoned by 'mistake'."

By mistake?

I clenched my fists.

Of course, I'm here by mistake. I would've been dead by now.

But no, I'm here in a strange world, with an elf staring at me.

“...Everyone may think your arrival here a mistake, but the Goddess always has a reason for everything.” He says, glancing back at me as I sat, legs tucked—on the cold, stone floor. I wasn’t sure of how to reply to his words. Did I end up here for a purpose, although regarded as a mistake?

“However, the most important thing we should do is find you proper garments.”

My face was flushed, and I felt a bit embarrassed but also curious as to why I arrived in the world naked? I was wearing pajamas when I jumped…

Covering my vital parts I look around and I spot something interesting. A crowd circled around something, someone.

It was a girl. Petite, young. Wearing clothes, unlike me. She looked a bit like an angel. This must be The Holy Saint. She had dark brown hair and light brown eyes—she was quite pretty.

Everyone seemed to crowd around this girl, not one person paid mind to me. Perhaps they hadn’t known someone was transported at the same time as the Saint.

Lost in my own though, I’m startled when a clock used to cover me. In turn, a few seconds later, I am cradled against the man’s chest, as he makes his way to another place.

But this person who carried me down a long hall acknowledged my existence...