My Accidental Isekai

Chapter 1 (Edited)

            Two silvery musical notes chimed from its place on the table, so Mara grabbed her phone and activated the screen. When she saw what had prompted the notification, her green eyes narrowed. Another text from Garry stretched across her Hunter x Hunter wallpaper, whining to know where she was. Letting out a frustrated sigh, the girl tossed the device back onto the dining room table, making the plastic Madoka Magica charm clack against the wood. About three seconds later, Mara picked the phone back up with a grumble and slipped it into the pocket of her purple hoodie. Her innocent phone did not deserve her ire, and she was not willing to pay for the consequences of cracking the screen.

Besides, Mara knew that she could only stall for a few more minutes before Garry's impatience would result in him forgoing the annoying texts in favor of knocking at her door. In fact, Mara could see the schmuck from the dining room window, leaning against the fence that denoted the property line between her family's property and his family's land. He had been lurking there for about half an hour, sending Mara needy texts and inching closer and closer to the edge of the divider every minute. Garry had been living next door to her since the kindergarten, and he had been Mara's inseparable best friend in their younger years. Every day, they used to walk to their neighborhood school together, joking and talking about the nerdy things they liked.

During middle school, Garry's "gentlemanly" personality had begun to feel more condescending than charming and he never seemed to mature beyond age thirteen. This shift caused their relationship to curdle, and Mara's animosity towards him had only grown in high school, when Garry had tried to romantically pursue her. Aparently, he'd had a crush on her since sixth grade, but only grew the balls to tell her his feelings in freshman year because he thought that high school confessions were a sure thing. Now, in senior year in high school, Mara had rejected Garry thousands of times. However, Garry never seemed to hear her rebuffs and Mara's parents had actually had to chase him off her property twice when he had tried to come over "like old times," after Mara told him to leave her alone at school. It got to the point that Mara couldn't even walk to school in piece without Garry's unwelcome buzzing. Since her dad's job started well before Mara awoke, Mara's mom would drive her to school before she went to work. Yet, every month, Mom was called away to a staff meeting on the same day, and Mara's grandma was the only one around to be the girl's lift. Today, as usual, Mara's grandma had texted that she was too hungover to drive. Though she used to have aunts and uncles that lived in the area, they had moved away from the area years ago due to a tragedy, believing that the area was cursed. Grandma had been the only one who stayed around. Due to Mara's sick days already having been used up by a bout of pneumonia earlier in the year, she had to walk to school one day each month. Having grown up around Mara's family, Gerry knew about her grandma's drinking problem and always tried to take advantage of it. Mara shuddered then slung her backpack, which was stuffed to the seams with textbooks, binders and novels that she liked to read for pleasure, over her shoulder. On her way out, she grabbed a can of pepper spray from the bowl where keys were kept. Sitting at home scared wouldn't solve a damn thing, so she always made sure that she had a weapon.

At the first sound of the door opening, Garry perked up and stepped onto the sidewalk in front of Mara's house. After locking the door behind her, Mara turned around with a glare on her face and a hand on the pepper spray in her pocket. Flipping her dark purple braid over her set shoulders, the girl marched down her driveway then down the street towards her school. Her small, suburban street intersected at the corner with a larger street that stood between her and school. Though there were crosswalks, cars did not always stop for pedestrians. Of course, Garry followed her along her path. "You made me late for anime club!" He whined, brown eyes wide and shining in an approximation of puppy eyes. "If we don't hurry, we won't be able to go to the club at all." Mara had attended anime club before school for about two months in freshman year. Though Garry's uncomfortable pursuit always happened during the club hours, it was only one factor among many that led to her leaving the organization. Chief among those factors was the sheer toxicity generated by the other members, from the boy's waifu battles that actually turned violent a couple times to the constant yaoi shipping wars from the girls to the constant bastardization of the Japanese language by pretty much everyone.

"No, you made you late, Garry." Mara snarled, "I have told you many times that I am never going to that club again and to not wait for me when I'm home. You should have walked ahead and leave me alone. I would rather hang out with Fallon, Zika, and Georgia any day of the fucking week than with you or that horde of uber weebs."

"Aw, come on, MarMar, don't be like that!" Garry pouted. "You know that I hate when you hang out with those dirty normies. They'll never understand anime the way I do. You should make friends among your own kind, it'll be better for you." Mara scoffed. Not only were her friends nerdy as hell, they were diversely nerdy and could engage her interests that went outside of anime. Plus, they were better to talk to than anyone associated with Garry. "Besides," Garry continued, "you shouldn't treat a friend so rudely, much less your future boyfriend." He ran a hand through his short, brown locks and grinned.

"You are not my friend," Mara growled back at him, "And you will never be my fucking boyfriend. Leave me alone, Garry."

For a moment, Garry was silent. Then, he exploded. "Why the hell are you like this, Mara? I know that nice guys finish last, but I'm way better than any of the other guys at school. You just resist and resist, even though I'm being nice! What is the reason that you won't say you love me?" Farther down the larger street they were walking towards, out of sight of the two teens, a semi-truck stopped at a red light. "Do you like not being treated like a lady? Honestly, I don't get why you're being so rude, Mara. After all, I'm the nicest guy in school."

Mara whirled on him. "You think you're a fucking nice guy? Huh?" Her voice lowered from her usual warm alto into a gravely baritone. "You think you're an nice guy? Do you understand what you just did to me? Since you think you're such a fucking nice guy, you've decided that I should just magically return all feelings you have. It doesn't actually matter to you how I feel, does it, because you're so fucking nice! As far as you're concerned, I am an object that needs to just give you what you want without question because you want it and you're being nice. Well, riddle me this, motherfucker," She jammed a finger in front of his chest. "Would a nice guy reduce a woman to an object?" On the larger street, a light turned green, large pair of breaks hissed free and several large tires began to roll into motion.

Garry just stared at Mara for a couple seconds before grabbing her extended wrist with his left hand and slapping her with his right. Green eyes wide, Mara tried to stagger backward, but the boy jerked her forward by her captured limb. "I truly don't understand why you have to be so unpleasant. Of course I'm a nice guy, Mara," he gritted. "I never swear in front of women, I'm always polite, I pull out chairs, I hold open doors, I defend the smiles and reputations of women to anyone who might wish to sully them, I would rather kill myself than cheat on a loyal woman, I would work my butt off to support you and our future kids, I see you as an angel; what else could a woman want in a man?" He began to squeeze her wrist to the point that his nails bit into her skin and Mara hissed in pain. "Your insinuation that I am not a nice guy hurts my feelings. You should apologize, MarMar."

"Apologize? Fuck you, Garry! You apologize for hurting me, you sick bastard!" Mara's free hand darted into her pocket. Garry's face twisted into a demonic mask of condescension and rage. He most definitely wasn't going to apologize; it didn't even look like he comprehended that he had something to apologize for. Baring her own teeth in fury, Mara yanked the can of pepper spray free and launched a healthy spray into Garry's eyes. He let out a yelp and staggered back; but Garry did not let go of Mara's wrist. As Garry fell backwards into the street, into the path of the semi-truck, now going the large street's full speed limit, he dragged Mara along with him. Though the truck tried to stop, the driver was too late. Both Mara and Garry were smashed into the front grill then crushed beneath its tires. Though Gerry died instantly, Mara was able to linger for a few seconds. Her last thought as she bled out was, I never got to say goodbye to Mom and Dad, or my friends. I hope they'll all be okay. Before her eyes, the world turned white and the pain stemming from having her intestines pulverized mercifully ended.