~Y/n pov~

It was an ordinary day, or so I thought at the time. I was coming out of the local grocery store , when I noticed this kid with light brown , curly hair and golden eyes.

I think we went to the same school , but he was in the year above me. He was crossing the road, when I noticed a truck coming around the corner at an alarming speed.

Without thinking about it, I dropped my bags and began running , I don't know what came over me, it was like my legs had a mind of their own.

I pushed through the crowds on the streets, finally making it to the road, "Move out the way."

The boy turned round and looked at me with wide eyes, he was wearing headphones so no wonder he didn't hear the truck, then he turned and noticed the truck coming with wide eyes.

Realising he wouldn't be able to get out of the way in time, I jumped towards him, trying to push him away.

I'm not sure what made me do such a reckless thing , but there was no escape.

I closed my eyes as the truck hit us both, if only I'd have been able to push him out the way, instead I killed us both.

Red flashed across my vision , before the world started to glow around me in a golden hue, that was the last thing I saw when the world went black.

In the distance , I could hear sirens and the shouting of paramedics before the world I knew faded away.

~*~

I awoke in a strange room, I was sat on the floor in some sort of circle, maybe used for some sort of ritual.

Rubbing my head, I sat up and realised I was not alone, that boy I had tried to save was here and there were three others.

My hand felt heavy, I looked to see a staff with an orange gem in the middle .

I noticed everyone else had some sort of weapon, there was a bow , sword , spear and shield .

The boy who I had saved noticed I was awake, "Hey you're that girl that tried to save me."

I sighed , "Yeah well that kinda failed."

He smiled and offered me a hand, which I gladly took.

"We've summoned the four heroes ."

"Wait but there's an extra one."

I noticed people stood around us.

Summoned? I guess that means they performed a ritual because that would explain that weird golden light I saw before I fainted and the weird circle we were all stood in.

"Please oh brave heroes, our world is in dire need of saving." The priest begged us.

The boy stretched his bow string before loosening it, "What do you mean this world is in need of saving ?"

"The story behind it all is long and complicated , but you are the four cardinal heroes , for some reason there are five of you, nevermind that though, you were summoned here using an ancient ritual . Our world is in a most fragile state and on the brink of destruction. So please save us." The priest clasped his hands together and bowed.

"I guess I could at least hear you guys out." The blonde  haired one said.

"Forget it." The black hair guy said.

"I also refuse ." The boy beside me stated .

"You can send us back to our home world right ? Do that." The blonde complained .

The sword guy pointed his sword at them, "You brought the five of us here without our consent , don't you feel the least bit guilty about it?"

"Not to mention, if you throw us out as soon as we restore peace , we have done all that work for nothing ."

I was going to speak up, but they did have a point . I mean this isn't our world, we have no reason to protect it.

"How willing are you to accommodate our requests ? Depending on your answer we may end up as your enemies instead." The blonde haired one stated.

I didn't like him one bit, he seemed egotistical.

"Before you say anymore we'd like you to have an audience with the king of Melromarc ."

Deciding to speak up I stepped forward, "We might as well listen to what they have to say, we're in a foreign place and perhaps they can help us go back home."

Reluctantly , everyone else seemed to agree as the priest started leading us to our destination .

The spear guy and sword guy were the first to follow , followed by me and the bow guy , the shield guy was a bit further behind us.

I turned to the bow guy, "What's your name ? I think I've seen you around school before ."

He looked at me blankly , "Itsuki Kawasumi, I wasn't aware you attended the same school I did , I haven't really seen you around ."

I twirled my hair nervously , "Well yeah, I guess most people don't know me, people don't really talk to me and I sit in the back of the class. And we're in different classes anyway so you'd probably only see me in passing in the hallways . Oh yeah I'm Y/n L/n by the way, nice to meet you."

Itsuki nodded , "That makes sense ."

The conversation was short and an awkward silence followed as we started up a spiral staircase .

~Itsuki pov~

I don't know what it is about the h/c haired girl but I felt oddly attached to her despite not knowing her well. Being in a foreign world too, I had the odd urge to protect her. Perhaps it was because we were from the same area.

Whatever it was, I didn't want to let her out of my site .

~*~

~Y/n pov~

We arrived at what appeared to be a throne room, the floor was covered in an elegant red carpet and at the other end of the room there were 3 steps and 1 throne stood at the top of the steps , what I'm assuming was the king , was sat in one of them.

He gave off an odd air and I wasn't sure if I liked him.

"You are the four cardinal heroes , I am the king of Melromarc , my name is Aultcray Melromarc. Welcome heroes." It seemed, then he noticed me, "Another hero? Legend has it a staff hero was once summoned in a different land, it seems those rumours may have been true , but if you're here that means the previous staff hero is dead, since you're not one of the four cardinal heroes you could make your own party or join one of the cardinal heroes ."

He seemed to just be talking to himself so I didn't respond though, the other gave me a few side glances , noticing this, Itsuki stepped closer to me , but I'm not sure why.

"Anyway back to the main subject , please identify yourselves ."

The sword guy stepped forward first , "Ren Amaki , I'm a high school student and I'm sixteen years old."

Then the spear guy stepped forward , " I'm Motoyasu Kitamura, college student , twenty-one."

I decided to speak next, "I'm Y/n L/n, a high school student and I'm sixteen ."

"I suppose I'm up next ," Itsuki walked forward like everyone else and stopped when he stood beside me, "Itsuki Kawasumi, still in high school and I'm seventeen."

"Guess that leaves me," the last guy stood up and was about to introduce himself but the king cut him off completely.

"Ren, Motoyasu, Y/n and Itsuki." He started only to be cut off by the shield guy.

"Yo king aren't you forgetting someone ."

Itsuki turned to him and scolded him, "You can't just say 'Yo king' you have to address him properly ."

"So what then ? His majesty?"

"That might be a bit too formal."

The king cleared his throat, "King is fine."

"Alright whatever you prefer ," The shield guy scratched his head and then stepped forward , "I'm Naofumi Iwatani , college student , twenty years old."

For some reason, the king seemed somewhat annoyed for a second but in an instant he brushed it off , "Now then I suppose I should explain why we brought you here . The country of Melromarc and the entire world surrounding it are heading down a path to certain ruin."

He explained about these waves , where demonic creatures came from some sort of portals or other world and wreaked havoc on this world . And we had been summoned to help fend this place . Every country has a dragon hourglass , which counts down to when each wave will hit, so we have some idea and time to prepare . The first wave already hit and by the sounds of it they barely scraped by but I'm assuming other places weren't so lucky.

This sounded a lot like a video game that I had played once , but I couldn't think of the name, come to think of it I'm pretty sure there are only four classes . I don't recall their being a staff class.

"We have no time to lose and that's why we request your help." The king finished his explanation.

Ren stepped forward , "We'll help you but don't expect us to do so without some sort of reward ."

"Once you repel all the waves , I assure you we will reward you handsomely ."

"Yeah?" Motoyasu raised his eyebrow , "Well it seems we have no choice but to help out."

Just by his tone of voice , I could tell how much of an asshole he was .

Itsuki smiled , "We won't put up with you looking down on us."

Their words seemed harsh but I'd have to agree , "Don't think you can tame us and make us do every little thing you want for personal gain."

Everyone else nodded in response.

Naofumi smiled almost nervously , "What these guys said!"

"If I can trust we have reached an agreeable arrangement , I would ask you to check your statuses." The king explained .

What did he mean by status ? And how exactly do we check it?

My questions were soon answered when Ren spoke up, "Are you guys dense? It should've been the first thing you noticed . See those three dots in the bottom corner , focus on them."

And he was right, after focusing on the dots , some sort of menu came up, at the top was my name and underneath that it said 'Staff hero'.

There were two bars , one I'm assuming was health but I'm not sure what the others were . There were other various stats and such, but what caught my attention was 'Level 1'.

Seems like we had to level up quite a bit in order to be strong enough to take on the waves .

"Only level one ? Well that concerning." Itsuki frowned .

"Yeah no kidding , who can tell if we can even fight like this?" Motoyasu replied .

"That just means we'll have to work hard and level up." I said with a determined look on my face.

"Yeah you're right ." Itsuki agreed , smiling at me.

"What is all this exactly ?" Naofumi asked .

"It's called status magic, an ability that only the heroes can use ."

"Where do we go? What's the first step?" Ren asked .

"You should set out on an adventure , to help develop skills and your legendary weapons ." He explained .

"Can't we just wield other weapons until these are useable ?" Motoyasu smirked.

"We'll have to figure that out as we go." Ren replied , "Regardless looks like we've got a lot on training ahead of us."

Itsuki lifted his bow to rest on his shoulder , "We'll have to level up hard and fast."

"Then once the five of us feel like we are ready we can form a party and..."  Naofumi was cut off.

"One moment , I forgot to mention, the four cardinal heroes can't work together as their weapons will repel eachother ." The noble man smirked , "Although I suppose if one of you could convince Y/n to be on your team you'd be really strong with two powerful weapons rather than one."

Everyone turned to look at me for a second with almost a pleading look.

"Since the sun is about to set, I suggest you rest here and set off on your adventures tomorrow." The king suggested , "We have prepared rooms for you all."

A maid approached us and escorted us to them.

~*~

We all shared a living room and kitchen, then there was a small corridor leading to five separate rooms. How convenient it all seemed.

Everyone sat in the living room, I guess we were all going to discuss everything we'd just found out.

"I guess if you're heroes you get special treatment ," Motoyasu gloated , "The girl who showed us here was cute too!"

"And though it did taste unusual our dinner was quite sumptuous ." Itsuki added .

"Doesn't this kind of seem like a video game?" Naofumi asked .

He seemed to be asking a lot of questions as if he didn't know anything about what was happening .

"That's because it is a video game, it's exactly the same as emerald online ." Motoyasu explained .

I had played a game like this but I'd never heard of the game he spoke about .

"What are you talking about ? This isn't some online game." Itsuki looked as puzzled as I was .

"Yeah isn't it called something like dimension web?" I agreed .

"Yeah that's right , it's a new console games." Itsuki nodded .

"No all three of you are wrong , everything about this place is identical to a vr mmo called brave star online." Ren cut in.

This confused me, we all seemed to know this place but something didn't seem right .

They started arguing about facts in Japan.

"Wait a minute," I cut off their useless arguing , "We're all from Japan , but maybe not the same Japan."

"Oh you mean different dimensions ?" Itsuki asked .

Ren nodded , "That'd make sense ."

"Huh? I guess.." Motoyasu agreed, "Wait , I almost forgot , your Y/n right ? Pls join my party."

He got really close to me and grasped my hands in his, with sparkly eyes.

From what I'd seen he was an arrogant flirt, I backed away, "Uh no thanks..."

Itsuki appeared at my side , quite close may I add .

"You're making Y/n uncomfortable ." Itsuki sighed .

"There is something else that doesn't add up," Ren stated, "How is Y/n even here ? And how come she's from the same dimension as Itsuki."

I put my finger on my chin, "You're right it really doesn't add up. Not to mention I'm not even a cardinal hero but I still seem to have a legendary weapon . The last thing I remember was me and Itsuki getting hit by a truck, so does that mean we're dead? And then a golden light surrounded us."

"Huh? That's weird..." Ren sighed , dropping the subject .

"Wait a minute, I've no idea what anybody is taking about." Naofumi interrupted .

Everyone just stared at him blankly .

"What are you looking at?"

"Oh nothing ," Itsuki dismissed, "I just assumed it was because you were the shield hero."

Itsuki sat down on the sofa and I sat next to him.

"Huh? You too?" Motoyasu asked .

Ren closed his eyes in thought , "I mean it only makes sense ."

"Huh? Why is there something wrong with the shield ?" Naofumi asked frantically .

"Calm down." Motoyasu then began to explain stuff about this world.

I sighed not bothering to listen to information I already knew .

"So Y/n?" Itsuki had turned to face me on the sofa, "Are you going to make your own party or join one of ours ?"

"Well I would say with being a staff hero, I'm probably not that good at fighting head on and I don't really know any spells. So that would be something I'd have to learn. I'm not very comfortable just being thrown into this situation so I guess I'd want to stick around to something that might remind me of home? I guess what I'm saying is , I'd like to be in your party if you'd let me join." I explained in thought .

Itsuki smiled , I swear his cheeks were slightly flushed but I brushed it off as a trick of the light , "I'd love to have you in my party , if you didn't say so yourself I would've asked you."

~Itsuki pov~

I'm so glad Y/n joined my party and not anyone else's . I don't know what this feeling is but if she was in someone else's party it'd make me almost angry?

This is strange , but I'm suddenly so overprotective about Y/n , perhaps it's because she tried to save me before we were brought to this world.

~Y/n pov~

I looked outside and it was starting to get dark, "I guess I'll call it a night."

Accepting the party invite , me and Itsuki joined a party , his name appeared under mine and his basic stats . The same happening on his menu.

Itsuki nodded, "Right , I suggest you all turn in soon, who knows what tomorrow will bring."

With that he followed me out of the room and into the corridor , where we both chose a room and bid our last farewell.

I wonder what tomorrow will have in store, with that final thought , I drifted into a somewhat peaceful sleep.

~*~

We entered the throne room to see a line of people in front of the throne .

"We've gathered the greatest warriors in the land," the king started , "These brave souls will fights the wars beside you. Y/n did you join one of the heroes parties or are you starting your own party."

Itsuki spoke up, "Me and Y/n have both decided to form a party together ."

"That is fine." The king responded , "Our future champions , the time has come to start on our journey ."

After he said that, the other adventurers walked towards us and chose whose party to be in.

A few minutes later , three people had stood behind me and Itsuki , Motoyasu had four people , most of them were girls but that's not a surprise . Ren had five people, I wasn't expecting that. And Naofumi had been unlucky enough to have no one .

"Huh? Three there , four there and five there . This isn't fair!?"

"Even I was not expecting that." The king said in a calm voice as if he didn't really care , "I guess you'll have to recruit your own people ."

Suddenly , the girl with red hair in Motoyasu's party raised her hand, "I'll be willing to switch."

"Are you sure ?" Motoyasu asked.

She smirked and nodded. Something about her seemed off, I just couldn't put my finger on what.

"Ahh well so be it." The king dismissed , "Every month we shall supply every hero with the funds they require . This one time though Master Naofumi's funds shall be higher than the others."

At that , Naofumi's face lit up.

Both me and Itsuki received 600 silver coins each.

"Get all necessary equipment and set fourth." The king commanded .

We all bowed in unison, "Sir!"

"Best of luck with your recruiting ." Itsuki wishes Naofumi.

"See ya." Motoyasu exclaimed .

"See you around ?" I asked .

"Bye." Ren walked off.

Everyone formed their parties and left .

Me and Itsuki walked towards the three of our party members.

"Can you all introduce yourselves please?" I asked politely .

They nodded .

A buff looking man in chainmail armour with a battle axe stood forward , "My name is Nakei Takeo , pleased to be of service ."

We accepted his invited .

The next person stepped forward , it was a girl with blonde hair and green eyes , she was holding a spear in one hand , "Nice to meet ya, my name is Morino Masami , glad to be in your party.

We accepted her invited.

The last person seemed timid, they were wearing a cloak and seemed to be a magic user, their hair was short and pink , their eyes the same colour as their hair.

"H-hi my name is Akiyora Sora , please just call me Aki." She bowed respectfully.

We accepted her invite.

They all seemed to have weapons and armour already, while both me and Itsuki had our legendary weapons , we didn't have any armour , we were both wearing our school uniforms and probably looked quite weird .

"I think we both need to get some armour before trying to level up and we also need to try and blend in more ." I explained .

"Right seems like a good idea. Does anyone know any good armour stores?" Itsuki agreed then turned to ask the rest of the party.

"There is a small one a few miles from here." Morino nodded .

"Please lead is there ." She nodded and we set off.

~*~

We arrived at the armour store and it was indeed small like Morino had told us.

"Greetings adventurers!" A brown haired man smiled at us, "What can I do for you?"

"Both me and Itsuki would like some starting armour please ." I smiled back.

"Right." He started shuffling through various shelves and pulled out bits and pieces , "Do you have a budget ?"

"Around 200 silver pieces each." Itsuki responded .

After a bit of looking and matching , me and Itsuki both managed to get some armour for 180 silver pieces . We also discovered that we could only wield weapons that matched our legendary weapons .

Itsuki was wearing a green cape with a shoulder pad on one shoulder , it seemed more for style rather than protection , his clothes were a clothes material and he had small gauntlets and boots . He had light clothes because he was an archer and needed agility .

My armour consisted of a chest plate attached with a short sleeved , f/c dress underneath , it reached to just above my knees and I wore black stocking that stopped just under my knees, I had shoulder plates and small gauntlets and I was wearing small boots. (A/n a bit like Erza's armour.)

"If I recall there are some ballons monsters in a field just outside the village." I remembered .

Itsuki nodded , "Those are the easiest monster in this game so we should head over there and start gaining levels ."

On the way to the field , I slipped into a spell shop to ask about my magic type and it appeared to be fire and ice ,
which apparently was an unusual combination .

The woman in the shop was kind enough to give me all the books she had about basic magic and those areas of magic for free.

I decided after today I'd start studying them and learn some spells .

~*~

We killed those balloon monsters left and right , and gained levels and experience quite quickly .

Everyone is the party was pretty helpful , I didn't really know any spells so I just hit them with my staff but that seemed to do the trick.

Putting the balloon fragments into the orange crystal on my staff seemed to upgrade the level of my staff, unlike Itsuki I only had a few forms for my staff. I could make it shorter and longer and change the end into some sort of dagger so I could stab things but that was about it. It seemed by feeding it monster remains, it upgraded the levels of the staff.

However, I would need more powerful monsters to upgrade my staff.

The sun started to set so we decided to call it a day, we collected all of the ballon fragments and intended to sell them.

"I think tomorrow we should venture further out and maybe try out a dungeon or something ." I suggested .

"Yeah these monsters aren't giving us much experience anymore ." Itsuki agreed.

We had all reached level 10 and then the experience wasn't really doing anything .

We managed to sell our fragments for 100 silver pieces , we decided all our profits to be split 50% to me and Itsuki , so we each got 25%,and the other 50% to be split between anyone else in our party.

This was so that they would be able to buy their own equipment and weapons .

We found an inn to have a meal in and then we all got our own rooms to stay in, we agreed to all meet up in the morning and have breakfast before heading out.

~*~

I decided to learn some basic spells , I learned a few healing spells , a fireball spell , a teleport spell and an ice shield spell.

Not realising how late it was, I noticed that the sun had started to rise and call it a night.

~*~

A few hours later I heard a knock on my door , I blinked tiredly .

What time was it? It had to be early morning around 7 or 8 am.

I opened the door to be met, with Itsuki fully clothed .

Yawning softly and rubbing some sleep from my eye I asked , "What is it?"

"It's an emergency, we've been summoned by the king. Get dressed quickly , I'll see you downstairs to eat breakfast in ten minutes ." Itsuki explained , smiling kindly .

"O-ok , be there in a bit." I mumbled closing the door.

I wonder what the emergency is and why he summoned us.

Not sure how long it'd been since I was clean, I decided to get a quick shower and get dressed.

I chucked my books in my satchel and in this world my hair seemed to dry super fast because it was already dry.

Styling it in my signature hairstyle, I adjusted my staff on my back and checked the room to make sure I wasn't forgetting anything and everything was in my bag.

~Itsuki pov~

I felt bad waking Y/n up so early, she looked tired but the way she yawned and rubbed her eyes was so cute. I wasn't sure what this feeling was but I was sure it would get stronger over time.

~*~
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4397 words

A/n I haven't seen a single Itsuki x reader so I've decided that I'll make one myself though I'm not sure how many people will read it, this chapter alone took me 5 hours to make though so when you see this the next updates may be slow but I assure you it'll be worth the wait. Btw I wasn't sure if the party members had names and couldn't find them I just know two of them were girls and I got a small glance at them so I've tried to the best of my ability.