Yukito sat in the back of his classroom listening to his teacher drone on and on while he busily wrote equations on the whiteboard. It was already 7:45 PM and he had literally been doing school related stuff all day; just as he did every day, six days a week. His parents were strict and wanted him to get into a prestigious school like Tokyo University, which meant that after he finished regular school, he took a train for an hour to get to cram school. Why can't I just have a life. Hell, at this point I'd settle for just being able to sleep in and play video games for a little while here and there. Yukito propped his head up with his hands trying to fight off the sleepiness that the teacher's voice induced. It was almost time for him to get out of here and it couldn't happen soon enough.

Once class ended, he would head back home, do homework, and then have maybe a half hour of free time before he had to go to sleep; ready to start the process over anew tomorrow. He had wanted to join some clubs this year, or at least find time to do something remotely fun like play video games or watch some anime, but it just wasn't in the cards for him.

The last fifteen minutes seemed to drag on forever but once it was done he hurriedly gathered his belongings and headed to the train station. I have to hurry or I'll miss the last train. He shoved his way past his classmates and walked at a brisk pace to get out of the building as fast as possible and into the fresh night air. God I hate being forced to go here. I wish I could've stayed in Kendo club at least...

He pulled out his phone as soon as he got to the outside and whipped out his Bluetooth headphones. At least I can listen to music on these long train rides. He turned on some music and ran toward the train station. The streets were busy as always and he had to push his way through the crowds. He seriously thought that no one ever slept in Tokyo. It was a cold February evening and his breath puffed out before him as he moved along.

When he finally got through the train station and got onto his train he was surprised to see that there was actually a seat free for once and he wouldn't have to stand for the hour it took to get back home. He sat down and closed his eyes. He was happy to be able to relax after such a long day and allowed himself to zone out and listen to the music as the train pulled away from the station. In just a few minutes, he had fallen asleep.

Ugh... Did I fall asleep? He rubbed his eyes and looked around with bleary eyes. The train car was empty and there weren't any lights on or anything. He couldn't see out the windows, either; everything was pitch black outside. Shit. I must've slept all the way to the last stop. My parents are going to kill me. He pulled his phone out of the pocket of his hoodie and unlocked it. The time on the phone was 4:07 AM. I'm dead. Literally, they are going to murder me when I get home. he sighed. He opened up his messages, intending to text his parents and let them know he was probably at the end of the line and wouldn't be back until late, but there wasn't any signal.

"That's weird," he said.

He got up and moved around the interior of his train car while holding his phone up to see if he got signal in a different spot, but there still wasn't. I guess I'll try to go outside. I must've really ended up in the middle of nowhere or something. It took a bit of effort, but he was able to pry the doors of the train open and what he saw didn't make any sense. The door opened up to what looked to be the inside of some sort of church. There were stained glass windows surrounding the large room he saw before him that depicted various entities that he assumed were some sort of gods. The floor was made of a beautiful polished marble and he saw there was some sort of glyph on the floor pulsing with an eerie blue light. 

What the heck is going on? He turned around and saw that the train car's dark interior was still there. I must still be dreaming. This is totally surreal. I've got to stop spending so much time reading Isekai manga on the train. The glyph on the floor began pulsing faster as though with a sense of urgency. Yukito decided that if he was dreaming, then he may as well let it play out. He took a deep breath and stepped onto the marble floor in front of him. The world went black.

"Choose your form and power," a voice boomed from all around within the void.

"Form? Power?" he asked.

"Choose your form and power. Time runs short."

Heroes never get enough time to think things through in these kind of stories. he sighed to himself. "I don't understand what you mean exactly by form. I need a little time."

"Very well. You have chosen."

"Wait! Wha—?"

The darkness blinked out of existence and he stood in the center of the glyph, which had stopped glowing. Seriously? How did it take THAT for an answer? What the hell? He was scared to even look down at himself, but forced himself to look anyway. He held his hands up before his face and saw that they were still human. He let out a sigh of relief and reached up to run his hand through his hair like he always did when he was nervous and felt two fluffy cat ears atop his head? A moment of panic crossed his mind and he reached up and grabbed his chest. Yep. Still male. So... I'm a cat... boy, then? It was then that he noticed there was a room full of priests in grey robes and a beautiful woman with blonde hair tied in a single braid that lay across her shoulder and down the front of her all the way to her waist staring at him.

"Greetings, hero! I am Selene. Welcome to Neverenthia. Our world is in desperate need of your help! The Cyrulenthian Empire seeks to rule the world and our tiny nation has been locked in a desperate bid to retain its freedom. Legends say that in times of great need we must summon a hero from another world to aid us. It is foretold that such heroes are given a choice of a special power that they can use to save us." she said in a kind, melodic voice.

He stared at her with a blank look on his face. The stupid thing didn't give me a chance to choose a power. Or at least I don't think it did.

When he didn't answer her, she continued, "May I ask what ability you were granted from the gods?" 

"Uh... I don't know what my power is... it didn't give me time to—"

"Another dud! Hmph! Toss him out. It'll take days to prepare for another summoning," Selene said.

The priests walked over to him and grabbed him by the arms, forcefully dragging him backward toward the doors of the church. "Wait? You summoned me here and now you're throwing me out? How do I get home?" he yelled back toward the woman.

"You don't," she sniffed. "Be gone, loser."

That was the last he saw of her as the men had actually picked him up and threw him out the door and down the steps. He rolled painfully to the bottom; his new tail was crushed repeatedly as he rolled over it on his way down the 6 marble steps. "Screw this dream. I want to wake up." He pinched himself hoping that would do the trick, but it didn't. The blood drained from his face and his mouth went dry with the realization that he really was in an another world and that he wouldn't be waking up. He had been tossed to the gutter like trash without any explanation of this new world that would now be his home.