Chương 56: [The Isekai Trope]

The town moved around them. A few people nodded as they passed, already getting used to the sight of the newcomers. One of Agnes's friends spotted the group and waved, her eyes lingering on Torren. The big half orc grinned and waved back.

"Popular as ever. So, pub?" Parmo laughed.

"Yeah man," Leo said.

"I'm starving." They hadn't made it two more streets when a door opened ahead and a cat shot straight out between the woman's legs, hit the pavement, and bolted. The woman came out after it already reaching forward. The cat stopped when it saw the group. Looked at all of them. Then settled its eyes on Shai. Luka crouched and scooped it up before it could go anywhere. He handed it across to the woman, who let out a breath.

"Thank you so much. He's used to being able to wander and he's been cooped up since all of this started. I don't want him going past the barricade and not finding his way back." She tucked him against her chest.

"Seriously, thank you."

"No bother," Luka said. She gave them a grateful nod and went back inside, the cat watching the group over her shoulder until the door clicked shut. They started walking again. Phil looked at Shai. Her tail was going. It wasn't subtle.

"Shai," Phil said. She looked at him. He pointed at her swaying tail.

"Never seen a cat before?" He smirked. She realised what he'd noticed and grabbed it, pulling it still.

"You really do just love anything small and cute don't you?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Your tail doing the same thing as when Luka mentioned rabbits is just a coincidence I'm sure." Her ears went flat. The tips of them, anyway, which Leo thought may be the equivalent of going red.

"I was surprised."

"You wanted to touch it didn't you?"

"Phil."

"What, nothing wrong with wanting to touch the cute little kitty cat." He laughed. She laughed too despite herself.

"Oh fuck off. You're going to regret this when we get back on the training field." Phil's face dropped.

"Woah, let's take it easy. We're all friends here. It was a joke."

"I wonder why your world doesn't have cats," Sam said.

"Like, just as animals."

"We did think magic existed on your world once," Torren said.

"Long ago. Maybe there's a connection."

"I mean, there's Egypt," Leo said.

"And Japan. Complete opposite ends of our world. Egypt treated cats as sacred, associated with one of their gods, you could be executed for killing one. Japan has the whole good luck thing with them, figures everywhere."

"Could just be coincidence," Phil said.

"People used to worship the sun as well."

"Yeah but the sun was crops and survival, made sense to revere it. Cats are a bit more specific."

"Fair point."

"So maybe your lot has ties to cats on Earth," Parmo said.

"Way back. Like, what if when the magic left, beastkin with no magic to sustain what they were just..." He made a vague downward gesture.

"Turned into cats. Over time." Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. The group looked at him.

"That's a total stab in the dark by the way," he added.

"I've got no basis for that whatsoever. Sometimes I just say things without thinking."

"Nah man," Luka said.

"We've seen weirder stuff in the last few weeks. At this point I'm not ruling anything out."

"I don't know enough about your world to say whether that's possible. But if it is..." She looked at the door the woman had gone through.

"Your people have been keeping mine as pets." The five lads looked at each other.

"Yeah not touching that," Phil said.

"So to bring the conversation back a little, I bet you three didn't realise Japan and cats have another connection. One Leo knows a little more about." He eyed Leo, an evil smirk telling him exactly where he was going with this. Leo froze.

"Phil. Please don't."

"Anime," Phil said pleasantly.

"Specifically a certain type of character that comes up a lot in anime. Very popular. Leo's always been a big fan." Sam, Parmo and Luka looked at Leo. They didn't help, just waited. Like sharks that had smelt blood in the water.

"What's anime?" Rika said immediately.

"Animation from Japan," Sam said.

"Stories told through drawn moving pictures. There's a whole genre of it."

"And within that genre," Phil continued, hands in his pockets, the picture of innocence, "there's a very beloved character type. Human in most ways. But with cat ears. And a tail." Leo's eyes snapped to the ground. Shai turned to look at Leo, her tail was going again.

"Is that true Leo? You're a fan of stories with cat beast-kin?" Parmo decided to stick the knife in further.

"Cat girls is what they go by on earth. He loves them."

"I'm going to kill the lot of you..." Luka was shaking his head, grinning. Parmo while smirking gave Phil a thumbs up. Even Sam, who had the decency to look elsewhere, wasn't fooling anyone. Rika looked between all of them, then at Shai, then at Leo, then back at Shai again. Whatever she put together in those two seconds lit her face up like she'd just won something.

"Well," Torren said, warm and entirely unbothered.

"He has good taste. If the cat-kin in these stories are anything like our Shai here I'd very much like to watch some of them." Leo looked up at Torren, he couldn't tell if he had just been thrown a lifeline or this was the big man's way of teasing him too.

"The tv's work you know," Phil said.

"If we can find the right dvd..."

"Phil," Leo said.

"I'm just saying. Entertainment. Cultural exchange. The solar cost would be worth it."

"I will end you."

"What's in these shows then?" Rika asked.

"Besides cat-kin."

"Depends on the show," Sam said.

"Some are action, some are about everyday life, some are fantasy. Big magic battles, heroes with ridiculous powers, stories about ordinary people in extraordinary situations. It's a massive genre, there's something for everyone."

"How do they make them?"

"Artists draw frames by hand. Thousands of drawings per episode, played back fast enough that it looks like movement. Voice actors do the dialogue over the top." Rika's wings shifted.

"Thousands. By hand. Gods, that sounds amazing."

"It is, the skill and time to make even one episode is mind blowing." She looked over at Torren, he looked just as impressed.

"Oh yeah," Phil said.

"Forgot we had a second weeb in our midst." He nodded at Sam.

"I'm a man of culture. Don't be jealous," Sam said.

"I watch plenty of stuff."

"Football and Top Gear don't count."

"I watch way more than that."

"Oh yeah. I forgot, you love Friends and Breaking Bad too. The epitome of a refined individual," he said in a mock posh voice.

"You can get off your high horse Lord Farquad. I know the sort of stuff you and Leo watch."

"Yeah man, what's the name of that one they were telling us about again? Something DxD?" said Parmo.

"You can't talk Parmo. You watch Twitch streams like they're the height of entertainment," Luka said, laughing. Leo had stopped looking at the pavement. The conversation had moved far enough from him that it felt safe to surface.

"Some of the animation is genuinely incredible," he said.

"Like, scenes that would cost millions in a live action film, done by a team of artists working insane hours. People don't appreciate it because they write it off as cartoons. There's a reason Attack on Titan is in the top twenty tv shows of all time on IMDB." He looked over, sneaking a glance at Shai. She was watching him, a smirk on her face. He quickly looked away, his face going red again.

"You know, our situation is actually a really popular genre in anime. It's called Isekai. The fact we're living one is so fucking weird," said Sam.

"Yeah, and we didn't need to get hit by a truck to get here," Leo laughed.

"Any idea what these two nerds are talking about?" asked Phil.

"Yeah actually," Luka said.

"Konosuba's class."

"Oh for fuck sake, I'm surrounded by weirdos," said Phil. The King John's came into view ahead, the smell of burger and chips drifting out onto the street.

"Food," Parmo said, with some feeling.

"Seconded," Luka said. They filed in, the conversation still going, Rika already asking Sam something about isekai, Torren ducking the frame without thinking about it. Lauren looked up from behind the bar, noticed the group, and smiled. Leo held the door for the last few through. As Shai passed she glanced at him, the same quiet look from the street still there.

"Anime," she said.

"I want to hear more about it sometime." He couldn't tell if she was winding him up or not.

"Yeah, okay," he said. She smiled and walked in ahead of him.