Risa had always dreamed of adventure—just not like this.

One moment, she was in math class, doodling questionable dragons in her notebook. The next, she was sucked into a glowing portal with her classmate, Aila.

When they landed, face-first, in a suspiciously picturesque fantasy village, a crowd of robed villagers surrounded them.

“The prophecy foretold your arrival!” they cried, pointing dramatically at Aila. “You are the Chosen One!”

Then they turned to Risa.

Silence.

A cricket chirped. A tumbleweed rolled by, even though they weren’t in a desert.

“…And, uh, who’s she?” one villager asked, scratching his head.

“She was standing next to me when we got sucked in,” Aila said with a sympathetic shrug.

“Ah. A background character.”

And just like that, Risa was demoted to “that one extra who photobombed destiny.”

--

Life in the village was not great.

Aila was showered with gifts, given a magic sword, and trained by legendary warriors. Risa, on the other hand, was handed a mop.

“Your duty,” the village elder declared, “is to clean the sacred training hall of the Chosen One.”

Risa blinked. “Ah. Yes. The noble calling of janitorial work. Truly, I am honored.”

“Oh, and don’t touch the food offerings. Those are for the hero.”

“I hate it here.”

Aila, to her credit, at least tried to help.

“Maybe Risa could train with me?” she suggested.

The elder gasped. “Absolutely not! If she fights, she might… die.”

Risa crossed her arms. “And?”

The elder coughed awkwardly. “Uh… that would be very unfortunate…?”

But the truth was, the villagers didn’t care if Risa was eaten by a rogue goblin. Whenever Aila was around, they put on fake smiles, but the moment she left?

“Oops!” A villager “accidentally” knocked her soup onto the ground.

“Clumsy one, aren’t you?” Another tripped her in the marketplace.

“I saw her breathing near the sacred potatoes. That can’t be good.”

And then someone started a rumor that she was mooching off Aila’s greatness.

“We shouldn’t be feeding freeloaders!”

“She’s probably a demon spy!”

“She looked at me funny!”

Things escalated quickly.

One morning, while Aila was off battling a swamp ogre, the village elder approached Risa with a bright, almost-too-cheerful smile.

“Good news! We’ve decided to banish you!”

Risa blinked. “I—what.”

“Your presence is upsetting the crops.”

“…The crops?”

“Yes, they are… uh… wilting.”

“I saw a leaf fall this morning! That’s a bad omen!” another villager added.

Before she could argue, they shoved her things into a sack, handed her a piece of stale bread, and practically yeeted her out of the village gates.

“Good luck not dying!” they called before slamming the gates shut.

And so, Risa found herself alone in a world where she had no special powers, no allies, and a very strong urge to punch every villager in the face.

She trudged down the dirt road, muttering. “This is fine. This is totally fine. Who needs dumb magical villages anyway? I’ll find my own adventure. Maybe I’ll become a queen! Maybe I’ll find an ancient treasure! Maybe I’ll—”

A giant bird swooped down and stole her sack.

“…You have got to be kidding me.”

Now she had no food, no money, and absolutely no clue what she was doing.

Somewhere in the distance, she could hear Aila battling a mighty beast, probably gaining XP and getting stronger.

Risa kicked a rock. “Stupid isekai world.”

After an hour of aimless wandering, Risa decided that step one of her grand adventure should be "find food before I die."

Unfortunately, food did not magically appear just because she willed it.

She found no fruit, no bread, and definitely no isekai convenience store selling instant ramen.

Just trees. Lots and lots of trees.

Her stomach rumbled aggressively. "Alright. Time for Plan B: meat."

There was just one tiny problem.

She had never hunted in her life.

"How hard can it be?" she muttered, eyeing a rabbit in the distance.

She picked up a rock, took a deep breath, and hurled it with all her might.

The rock missed by a mile.

The rabbit blinked at her in pure disappointment before casually hopping away.

Risa glared. "Oh, come on."

Determined, she tried again. And again. And again.

She threw rocks, sticks, even her own shoe at one point.

Nothing worked.

An hour later, she was sweaty, exhausted, and ready to fistfight nature itself.

“Fine,” she panted. “If throwing things won’t work, I’ll just… set a trap!”

She had no idea how to make a trap.

But, using sticks, vines, and pure desperation, she managed to assemble something that vaguely resembled a snare.

She stepped back, admiring her work.

"Okay. Now I just have to wait."

Five minutes later.

Snap.

Her trap triggered.

Risa fist-pumped the air in victory before running over—only to find she had successfully caught…

A very angry, very large squirrel.

The squirrel hissed.

Risa blinked. "Oh. Uh."

It lunged.

Cue five minutes of chaos.

By the time the battle ended, Risa was covered in scratches, the squirrel had escaped, and she was seriously questioning her life choices.

But she refused to give up.

After several more failed traps, missed throws, and deep personal regrets…

She finally—FINALLY—managed to hit a small bird with a rock.

It was the most pathetic victory in history.

Still, food was food.

--

Hunting was hard.

Cooking? Even worse.

Risa quickly realized she had no idea how to start a fire.

She rubbed sticks together for what felt like an eternity.

Nothing.

She gathered dry grass and tried hitting rocks together.

Nothing.

She smacked the rocks together harder.

Nothing—

Until suddenly—SPARKS!

The grass caught fire.

Risa stared, stunned. "Oh my god. I’m a genius."

Then the flames spread way too fast.

"OH MY GOD, I’M AN IDIOT!"

She panicked, frantically kicking dirt over it until the fire was somewhat under control.

After a near-death experience with her own stupidity, she finally had a small, sad fire burning.

Now came the next challenge: cooking the bird.

She skewered it on a stick and held it over the flames.

It immediately caught fire.

Risa yelped, waving it around wildly. The bird was now charcoal.

Her stomach growled.

She sighed. "Guess I’m eating charcoal."

She took a bite.

It was the worst thing she had ever tasted.

Burnt, bitter, vaguely smoky—but also somehow raw in the middle.

Her soul left her body.

But she forced it down.

Because after all that suffering, she refused to go to bed hungry.

Risa sat alone, eating burnt sadness on a stick. She stared blankly at the fire, chewing slowly.

"...I hate this world."

(TO BE CONTINUED… if she doesn’t die from food poisoning.)

After barely surviving her berry-induced near-death experience, Risa decided it was time for Step Two of her Totally Epic Isekai Adventure: find a place to sleep before something eats me.

Unfortunately, the only available “shelter” was the tree she had just suffered under.

She sighed and leaned against it.

“Well, this is fine. I love sleeping outdoors. With no blanket. Or fire. Or protection against whatever eldritch horrors live in this stupid world.”

A distant wolf howled.

Risa exhaled through her nose. “Right. Of course. Why wouldn’t that happen.”

She scanned the area. No weapons. No food. No allies.

Her only options were:

Climb a tree and risk falling to her death.

Stay on the ground and definitely die.

Accept her fate and haunt Aila out of spite.

Risa considered option three for a long moment before reluctantly choosing option one.

She grabbed the lowest branch and hoisted herself up. It was harder than she expected.

“Wow. I really should’ve done more PE.”

After much struggling (and a few embarrassing near-falls), she finally settled on a thick branch. It wasn’t comfortable, but at least it was above ground-level murder range.

She stared up at the sky, sighing.

Somewhere, Aila was probably sleeping in a soft bed, surrounded by adoring villagers, basking in the glory of her Chosen One-ness.

Meanwhile, Risa was a homeless tree goblin.

She closed her eyes. “I swear, if I get isekai’d into another world after this one, I’m demanding a refund.”

The Not-So-Restful Sleep

Risa had just started to drift off when—

SNAP.

Her eyes shot open.

Something was moving in the bushes below.

Slow. Heavy. Breathing.

Her brain went into immediate panic mode.

“Okay. Okay. It could be anything. Maybe it’s a cute little forest animal! A fluffy bunny! A—”

A deep, guttural growl rumbled from the darkness.

“Nope. Not a bunny. 100% not a bunny.”

She clutched the tree trunk, barely breathing. Whatever it was, it was big.

A shadow shifted. Glowing yellow eyes locked onto her.

Risa internally screamed. “WHY IS THIS HAPPENING.”

The creature circled the tree, sniffing the air.

Risa had exactly one plan.

“Maybe if I stay completely still, it’ll think I’m part of the tree.”

A long silence.

Then—

The creature stood on its hind legs and started climbing.

Risa’s soul left her body. “IT KNOWS. IT KNOWS.”

She grabbed the nearest branch and started scrambling upward like her life depended on it. (Because, well, it did.)

The creature growled and swiped at her. She barely dodged.

“NOPE. ABSOLUTELY NOT. I REFUSE TO DIE IN A TREE.”

Desperate, she grabbed a loose branch and—

WHACK!

She smacked the creature right across the snout.

It yelped and dropped back to the ground.

Silence.

Risa, still clinging to the tree, stared down in shock.

“…Did that actually work?”

The creature growled, clearly furious.

“Okay, cool, never mind, goodbye.”

She immediately threw the branch at its face and booked it.

She didn’t know where she was going. She didn’t care. All she knew was that she was NOT getting eaten today.

Risa was running for her life, screaming into the void.

She really, really hated this stupid isekai world.

(TO BE CONTINUED… if she survives.)