"Gods… from the heavens?"
Tsuna froze. The words hit him like a switch—suddenly, scattered fragments of memory he couldn't quite place before began to surface. That odd sense of familiarity he'd been feeling since yesterday finally made sense.
Loki… Falna… the Great Feud… Silence… Gluttony… gods who descended from the heavens… Danmachi.
Now he knew exactly where he was. What he hadn't expected was that his deliberate dimensional jump would land him in this world.
"Whew…"
Taking a slow breath, Tsuna organized the pieces in his head. When everything clicked into place, he spoke up calmly.
"I think I get it now. Actually, I might know more about this world than you do. But this isn't really something we should be discussing over breakfast. There's… something unusual we need to talk to Miss Loki about."
"'We'?" Finn asked, puzzled.
"You three are the pillars of the Loki Familia—you deserve to know. But no one else should hear about this. It could cause trouble. And before we go, I should warn you: don't overreact to what we're about to talk about."
Still confused, Finn, Gareth, and Riveria followed Tsuna out of the dining hall and toward Loki's room.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!
Footsteps shuffled inside. The door opened to reveal a bleary-eyed Loki, her red hair a bit messy from sleep.
"What's this about? It's barely morning."
"Miss Loki," Tsuna said seriously, "I just remembered something important. We need to talk in detail."
"…Come in."
Her eyes sharpened at once. She could tell from his tone—he wasn't lying. That only made her more curious. What could this kid have remembered that he brought the entire executive trio along? Still intrigued, she gestured for them to enter.
Loki's room was larger than most, though the furnishings weren't too different. The main difference was the cabinet to the side, filled not with books but with bottles of liquor—apparently she really did enjoy drinking.
"So?" Loki asked, folding her arms. "What exactly did you remember?"
"Before I explain, please take a look at this first, Miss Loki."
Tsuna opened his palm. A book appeared in his hand, its cover worn but colorful. Loki accepted it curiously, only for her expression to shift the instant she saw the front.
"Well, well… so that little shrimp's still wasting her days in Heaven, huh? No one down here should even know what she looks like except us. Tsuna, what did you remember? You even know about that runt, Hestia?"
Her surprise quickly turned to amusement.
"This book," Tsuna said, "tells a story. It's about a boy who dreams of becoming a hero and saving the world. A newly descended goddess meets a young adventurer who just arrived in Orario, searching desperately for a Familia. The story's called 'Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?'"
"Hah. 'Picking up girls in the Dungeon,' huh? Sounds like the kind of naive dreamer this city eats alive." Loki chuckled, shaking her head.
"So, Tsuna, is that what you remembered? That our world exists as a storybook somewhere? Or do you think that now that you've appeared in it, the story's already set in stone?"
"No," Tsuna said quietly. "I'm just worried you might take it the wrong way."
"What wrong way?" Loki raised an eyebrow. "Honestly, I've heard stranger things. The stories of gods have a way of spreading—across worlds, even. They get retold, reimagined, twisted into myths, plays, or… apparently, storybooks. This wouldn't be the first time."
She sighed softly, then frowned, almost offended at the implication. Did he really think I'd freak out over something like this?
Loki beckoned him closer with a crook of her finger. Tsuna blinked, confused, but stepped forward. Before he knew it, she'd hooked an arm around his neck and pulled him down beside her on the bed.
"So what's this really about, huh?" she teased, leaning in. "You think I can't handle something like that? Or do you just find it weird that your world's got a book about us?"
"I'm just… curious," Tsuna admitted. "That story's already written pretty far along, if I remember right."
"Ah, so that's what's bugging you." Loki's tone softened. "You're worried this world will follow the same path as that story."
She smiled faintly.
"You don't have to. Stories chase drama and happy endings—but reality rarely plays along. A single difference at the start can change everything."
She leaned back slightly, twirling a lock of her red hair.
"Take your 'story,' for example. The boy chasing his dream of an encounter meets that tiny goddess, and things start rolling. But Orario isn't some fairy-tale city. It's dangerous—ruthless. A naive kid wandering around looking for a Familia? The wrong people would notice him fast."
Her smile turned sharp.
"An innocent boy like that would catch plenty of attention on his first night here—especially from the Amazonesses in the Pleasure Quarter. With his looks?" She tapped the cover. "No way Ishtar would pass up a fresh-faced boy like him. And if he ended up there… well, his story wouldn't have a happy ending. More like being completely drained dry."
Finn, Riveria, and Gareth all winced slightly at her blunt tone. Loki just shrugged.
"The boy meeting the little goddess is just one possible outcome. The moment even one thing changes, the entire story takes a different path."
She met Tsuna's eyes, her expression turning serious again.
"The story you know is only one version of events—it's not this world's destiny. Fate's something even gods can't control, let alone a book."
"But," she added with a smirk, "that doesn't mean your knowledge is useless. If that story holds information, patterns, or hints, it could still help you here. The path won't be the same—but knowing one version of it might just give you an edge."