I gradually began to open my eyes, my wounds had been fully healed without a trace and perhaps the strangest thing before me was the sight of so many people but altered physically.
As if someone waking up randomly was a normal occurrence, a group of people had gathered around me, each with distinct physical traits.
A girl with blonde hair and crescent shaped eyes, red and yellow uniform, who looked roughly the same age as me opened her mouth. I tried to make something out of what she was saying, but I was just too exhausted. Tilting my head slightly towards her, I looked into her eyes before passing out.
I woke up after what felt like an eternity, there she was again. As if time had repeated itself, I was surrounded by the same people, this time, I had enough time to look at them all.
A lanky man who wore a purple sweater with ripped jeans had an arm of an insect. Tilting my head ever so slightly, was what appeared to be a person coated in fur similar to a wolf in a military uniform.
The last person was also another girl, with black hair and a chuunibyou like outfit, however she had an eyepatch covering her right eye, aside from that, there wasn't any discerning feature like the rest of them had.
Closing my eyes for a brief moment, I rose up.
"How did you manage to beat your Shribel," the wolf man stared at me while asking.
"You're awfully young, did you get lucky," The lanky man remarked.
"Are you feeling better?" Said the girl with blonde hair.
"Do you also have the power of a dragon sealed within your eyes," said the one who looked like a Chuunibyou.
Overwhelmed by all the questions, I had to compose myself quickly, but there was just too much to think about at the moment. I was about to die to Shribel before blacking out, and judging by their questions, it seems they've all beat Shribel. Which would suggest that Shribel wasn't actually its name and it lied to me.
I glared at the chuunibyou dressed girl.
"What nonsense are you on, of course I don't have a dragon sealed in my eyes," I turned to the blonde girl. "Thank you for asking, I feel fine."
"She's ignoring us, why did she only talk to you two?"
"Because the dragon within my eyes compelled her to!"
A soft sigh could be heard from everyone except the chuunibyou.
"Let's introduce ourselves in the order she saw us," said the wolf man.
"I'm Celeste, Celeste Awa."
"You can call me Argalia Pall, now what's your name?"
"I am Bellimund Clair."
Excitedly, she jumped like a child before shouting at what I assume to be the top of her lungs.
"I AM LUKA SAMSA"
I didn't feel compelled in the slightest to respond or even give them my real name, perhaps I should just use an alias. However, the only thing that would come to mind would be names of fictional characters.
I took a breath and responded in an arrogant tone, "I am known as Sakuna Fishadori, you all should be glad I have graced you all with my presence for I am almighty!"
"Sakuna like Sukuna? You're not fooling anyone, maybe if you didn't say Fishadori as well."
"Bellimund has a point, we're all from the same world, so we've read it as well." Celeste was almost shooting daggers at me with her eyes.
However, it seemed only one person was convinced.
Like a child who had just discovered raising their voice could grab the attention of people nearby, Luka kept shouting at the top of her lungs.
"MS SAKUNA FISHADORI, I AM GLAD TO MEET YOU. PERHAPS YOU ARE INTERESTED IN THE POWER I HOLD WITHIN MY EYE AND WHY I SEAL IT?!"
I felt sick, she was shaking me too much. I shoved her away before glaring at her.
"No, not at all, in fact I don't want to find out."
It seemed Luka was really like a child as her excitement had disappeared entirely after I expressed my disinterest, perhaps a bit too harshly. Luka sank to the ground and began sulking from the looks of it.
"False introductions aside, we would like you to join our group," Celeste said while still staring at me.
In the corner of my eye, I saw lots of other people who were on the floor passed out, I gazed back at Celeste.
"Why, and why me?"
"We need 5 people to participate, and you look somewhat normal compared to everyone else who passed out."
"Participate in what?"
"Why so full of questions, isn't life more exciting when it's a mystery. I'll say this, let's flip a coin. Heads, you join, tails you don't."
She was still staring at me with daggers in her eyes, but a coinflip and refusing to answer my questions. I would definitely get wrapped into something strange if I agreed, then again it didn't seem like she had the slightest intention of me leaving.
"Sure." I spoke hesitantly.
She flicked it up into the air, and flew straight down into her palm. It landed straight on tail, I got ready to leave before she exclaimed something strange.
"I won, you have to join!"
"What?" I turned around in confusion and saw the coin on head. "I just saw it on tails, you flipped it when I turned around."
The coin face was still tail, so why did she say that? Just then, it felt like something had invaded my head, something was pulsing in my head, a strange feeling washed over me. Before I knew it, a voice in my head could be heard.
"You're actually weak aren't you? You couldn't see my magic at all and not only that, you didn't even notice when I was about to stab you. I'm telling you this for your own sake, join me and you'll be a lot safer. I know just by this much, you didn't actually beat your own Shribel. I'll protect you if you do."
I wanted to protest about the unfairness of all this, I blacked out and now I was being forced into a group. But, something was strange, she didn't even chant anything. Shribel was hiding something from me,and I couldn't even ask him as he was nowhere to be found. In defeat I could only agree to Celeste's invitation.