"Hey, you bratty goddess! Explain why my boxers were listed in the shop inventory!"
Sebas roared into the empty air, face flushed with righteous indignation.
"Hmm? Oh, that?" Angel's voice dripped with faux innocence. "Must've accidentally tossed them in while cleaning out junk. My bad~ Let me fix that."
A flash of white light later, Sebas' beloved boxers reappeared — snugly in place.
"Ahhh…" He sighed as the familiar fabric shielded him from the coastal breeze. "Clothing. Truly mankind's greatest invention."
(Though he couldn't remember where he'd heard that before.)
"Anyway!" Angel clapped her hands — metaphorically. "Mission briefing time! Your ultimate goal in this world is—"
"Hold on. What 'ultimate goal'? You never explained anything!"
"Ugh, are you illiterate? Check your system panel. Must I spoon-feed you like some shut-in? Pathetic."
Grumbling, Sebas pulled up his interface:
MAIN QUEST UNLOCKED
» Graduate from Izu University
REWARD: 500 TP
NOTE: Completion triggers world exit. Proceed to Celestial Realm for next assignment.
"…The hell? Izu University? That sounds Japanese. Why do I have to redo college?!"
"Less whining, more doing!" Angel chirped. "Oh, and the real moneymakers are the daily quests — keep an eye out for those. Toodles~"
Her voice vanished — then popped back like a buffering stream.
"Oops! Forgot your newbie gift pack. Can't have my recruit looking like a total scrub."
A rainbow light show exploded over Sebas' head, flooding his brain with: the local geography, regional customs, fluent Japanese, one Izu University acceptance letter, and a set of assorted fake IDs.
"Byeeee~"
And she was gone — for real this time.
Sebas stood motionless, eyes glazed, as the information rewired his synapses. When he finally rebooted:
"THIS IS BULLSHIT!"
He hurled the acceptance letter onto the rocks.
"That damn gremlin! Drops me here with zero instructions, a garbage quest, and — oh crap—"
A gust nearly took the paper into the sea. Sebas belly-flopped to rescue it, then shook his fist at the sky.
"Just you wait! I'll claw my way to a heavenly bureaucrat position and become YOUR boss! Thirty years east, thirty years west — don't underestimate this young man's rage!"
Thus, on a lonely reef, a hungover nobody named Sebas pledged celestial vengeance.
---
Evening — Izu Coastline
As tourists retreated to their hotels, Sebas crept from the rocks onto the deserted beach.
Bare-chested but — crucially — no longer bare-assed, he strolled into town, earning nothing but passing glances from locals. Tourists, after all, were tourists.
Going shirtless was socially acceptable in a beach town. Pantslessness, as Sebas had learned earlier, was decidedly not.
Now fully clothed, he wandered the streets as his stomach growled in protest.
No money. No food. Nowhere to sleep.
A dark aura of despair settled over him as he muttered under his breath.
"That damn brat goddess… when I get my hands on her—"
"Hey. You okay?"
A deep, friendly voice cut through his brooding. Sebas turned to find a broad-shouldered middle-aged man in a bartender's uniform, holding a bouquet of roses.
"Me?" Sebas pointed at himself.
The man smiled warmly. "Yeah, you. It's getting late — you'll catch a chill walking around like that."
"Thanks, but… I'm broke right now. Not sure where to go."
The bartender's expression turned serious. "You in some kind of trouble? Want me to take you to the police?"
"N-no! It's nothing like that!" Sebas waved his hands frantically.
"Well, either way, I can't just leave you out here." The man chuckled and shoved the roses into Sebas' arms. "My bar's dorm room is empty — my part-timer just left for college. Why don't you crash there tonight?"
Sebas blinked. Why is a stranger helping me?
The bartender seemed to read the look on his face.
"Coastal folks stick together. Back in the day, fishermen survived by looking out for each other." He winked. "Besides, I like seeing people smile. My bar does well with students — fair prices, good atmosphere."
Sebas hesitated, then sighed. Might as well.
He reached into his waistband — ignoring the bartender's alarmed expression — and produced his crumpled acceptance letter.
"Ah! An Izu University freshman? And an international student!" The man's eyes lit up. "You're practically my old employee's junior! This is fate!"
"International student…?"
Sebas finally looked at the letter — and nearly combusted.
NATIONALITY: Kingdom of Angel
("Pledge undying loyalty to Her Magnificence, the Great Goddess Angel! All hail!")
"KINGDOM OF ANGEL MY ASS! THAT BRAT IS DEAD MEAT!!!"
His scream echoed into the night.