A Strange Space, A Strange Man (1)

At first, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me.

How was I supposed to know that a status window — the kind of thing that only shows up in web novels — was going to pop up out of nowhere right in front of my face?

I was twenty-two, a fresh-faced college student... which is to say, so worn down by the endless avalanche of assignments that I honestly wondered if I was hallucinating something that wasn't there.

So I should have just ignored it.

Any sane person would have.

And I chose YES.

It wasn't as if I pressed a button on the status window or anything.

I just... imagined myself pressing YES. That was all. A daydream of tapping it.

But I mean... wouldn't anyone do the same?

Getting prettier, getting popular — everyone dreams of living some fun, glittering life like that, right?

So did I.

It was nothing more than the same vulgar little wish anyone might have thought, anyone might have wished for.

And as the price of wishing it, I was sucked into another world.

"Ugh... uuuugh... Hah?"

"Hello there. You're awake."

"Hnnk! Mmph!!"

"Full of energy today, as always."

I opened my eyes.

Pure white walls and ceiling, a room so immaculately clean it didn't look like a single speck of dust had ever touched it, a light too bright glaring down into ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠my eyes... and a strange man standing there.

His skin was unnaturally pale white, and the pitch-black hair and eyes set against it looked less mysterious than outright grotesque. Even though he wore clothes that hid absolutely nothing of himself, the heavy dark circles hanging under his eyes clashed strangely with his solid build — one glance was enough to tell he was heavily muscled beneath it all.

"Now then, let's give it our all again today."

"Mmph! Mmmph!! Hnnnngh——!!"

Whether I struggled or not, the strange man ran those pale white fingers of his along the nape of my neck today, same as every day.

Not that I could have done much struggling — my body was bound to a bed of cold, hard steel, incapable of real movement.

Both arms were stretched wide and locked into restraints at the wrists.

My legs were spread too, and the cold air of that white room hit everything between my thighs, making it shiver and tremble entirely without my consent.

My mouth was gagged as well, so I couldn't even speak.

The strange man only removed the gag at fixed hours to inject nutrients into me, or on those days when he suddenly decided to relieve his own lust.

The moment the strange man's hand touched me, the status window appeared before my eyes.

My status window — it had been with me even before I was dragged into this other world.

I'd been looking at it ever since then, and I still don't know what exactly this thing even is.

"As I warned you yesterday... today I'm adding Permanent to Crossbreeding."

"Hnnnn..."

"I made your body capable of crossbreeding, after all. It would be a problem if you could just erase it with Recovery."

Recovery was the first magic I'd ever learned.

Every time the strange man carved open my stomach and rummaged through my organs with a knife, he'd complained that casting Recovery himself was too much of a hassle — so he forced it on me instead.

I don't remember how.

All I remember is that after he kept casting Recovery on me over and over, one day my status window simply had [Recovery] added to it, saying I could now learn it.

And after that, the strange man checked my status window and pressed [YES] without a second thought.

Even now, I don't understand it.

Who is that man, that he can see my status window and mess with it however he pleases?

"Haah... What is this? You erased Crossbreeding again, didn't you. You used Recovery on it."

Checking my status window, his face twisted into sudden fury and he grabbed me by the throat.

"I told you not to erase it. Why won't you listen to me? It's been quite a while since we met — why do you keep doing this?"

"Kkh! K—keh...!"

"Now I have to remake your body for crossbreeding all over again. Do you have any idea how much of a pain that is?"

I couldn't breathe.

Saliva leaked out from around my gag, soaking my cheek and pooling beneath my neck.

"Filthy little..."

Whether it was the drool on his hand or not, the strange man released my throat.

Instead, his hand slid slowly downward until it seized my breast.

"These feel a little bigger than when you first arrived here. Wouldn't you say?"

"......."

And then he pinched my nipple between his fingers.

"Hnnp?!"

That goddamn Estrus and that goddamn Lewd Body.

Phrases the strange man had embedded into my status window — phrases that, at a single glance, were clearly nothing good.

Because of them, my body burned hot on a regular cycle.

Right then, if I didn't have a finger — anything — shoved into my pussy, it felt like my brain would catch fire.

"Perfect timing! The status window I sent you back then was definitely [Do you wish to become beautiful?], right? Congratulations. Your breasts got bigger, so you really have become more beautiful, haven't you? See? I keep my promises."

What the hell kind of nonsense was that?

I never asked for anything ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠like this.

I... I just... I don't even know anymore.

My life in the original world already felt impossibly distant.

All I could remember was the three syllables of my name — Oh Serin — and the fact that I'd been a twenty-two-year-old college girl.

"In a few days, it'll be exactly two years since you came here. Time really does fly. I never knew it could flow this quickly."

...So I was twenty-four now.

If I'd never fallen into this place, I'd be getting ready to graduate right about now...

"Now then, let's focus. I have to open up your stomach again today, after all."

"Nnnghh!!"

The strange man's pale fingers touched the spot just below my sternum and slid straight down, slowly, like a blade.

A cluster of tiny bubbles burst up from my stomach like droplets of blood welling to the surface, and with a sound of skin splitting open, the flesh peeled wide apart.

"Uuungh!! Uuuuughh!!"

"Shh, shh~ Quiet now. How many times have I opened up that belly of yours? You should be used to it by now. Come on, Recovery! Recover and it won't hurt!"

I don't know what trick the strange man had pulled, but even casting Recovery did nothing but burn through mana — unless he permitted it, the split-open stomach never sealed itself back together.

It only stopped hurting, exactly as he said.

Not a shred of grace beyond that.

Whether there was simply no way to do more, or whether he just couldn't be bothered... knowing him, it was surely the latter. The strange man only ever inflicted pain for the sake of torturing me, nothing more.

"Haaah~... This is something I put real work into modifying, you know... This is all your fault, understand? It's not just me who suffers — you suffer more for it too. Look, now we have to go through that whole painful process all over again from the very beginning?"

When was it...? My sense of time had been so thoroughly mangled since I was locked up in here that I couldn't say for sure, but he'd once declared he would modify my body so that humans and monsters could breed with one another.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

That time, too, he'd split open my stomach, dug past my organs, lifted my womb right out, and carved something — something I couldn't identify — into it.

After that, [Crossbreeding] appeared on my status window for the first time.

When the strange man first threw me into this prison, I'd focused hard on my stomach and cast Recovery, and it had vanished.

"Uuungh?! Hnnnngh!! Mmph! Uungh?!!"

But today, [Crossbreeding] had appeared on my status window once more.

At that, the strange man sealed my split-open stomach back together again.

"Ugh-hnngh...!!"

"There, surgery complete! Hm, maybe because we did it once before? This one went surprisingly fast."

Even with my mouth gagged, the screams still came out, and my throat ached every bit as much as the stomach that had been split and resealed.

"My, my... at this rate... I could add Permanent to [Crossbreeding] today, couldn't I?"

"Hnnp?!"

"Last time, I burned through so much mana experimenting — trying everything I could think of just to make crossbreeding possible in the first place. But right now, I've got mana to spare... Hm, this is perfect timing!"

Permanent.

That goddamn word, permanent.

That loathsome little tag hanging behind [Estrus] and [Sensitive Body] on my status window.

And of course, all of those were the strange man's handiwork as well.

He claimed to have some grand purpose behind it all, but as far as I could tell, he'd just stuffed his status window with freakish phrases straight out of an eroge so he could get himself off.

And the (Permanent) hanging after them — that was, quite simply, a curse.

Those weren't things that could be erased ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the way [Crossbreeding] could.

No matter how much I cast Recovery — focusing, refocusing, keeping at it, casting until I went mad, casting and casting and casting — [Estrus] and [Lewd Body] would not leave my status window, branded into me like a cattle mark.

Because of that goddamn word: permanent.

"Hnnngh! Mmph!!"

"Okay, enough of that! No rebelling. Your mana's already down to 21%? And just so we're clear — you'd better give up any thoughts of using Recovery."

The strange man's fingers slid down and began feeling between my thighs.

"Mmph?!"

With practiced ease, his fingers parted my pussy and slipped smoothly into the entrance.

And there was the status window, popping up again.

What did it want me to do about it?

When [Estrus] set my body ablaze, coherent thought grew harder to hold onto as time passed, and before I knew it, I'd end up touching myself.

Then [Lewd Body] made that fevered heat burn even hotter, and — like the status window just now — the stage of estrus climbed higher.

But if I sat still and endured it instead, the unsatisfied estrus only climbed the stage anyway. Either way, the result was the same.

Cock.

What I needed was cock.

To escape this goddamn estrus —

I needed the cock of that strange man who was nothing but my enemy.

I wanted him to ram that huge cock into me right now, this instant.

But he only stirred my pussy with his fingers, and he would not, would not, take out his cock.

Then I'd just have to take it out myself.

If only these restraints weren't here — if only that was all that stood in the way.

So let me go. Now.

I had to get these goddamn restraints off and devour the cock hiding inside those pants.

My head hurt.

So let me go. Hurry.

It climbed again.

I was seriously about to lose my mind.

Clank!

That was when the restraints holding my body came undone.

I could move my arms and legs freely again.

The gag came off too, and thick saliva drooled from my mouth — but I couldn't have cared less.

I had no idea why the restraints had released, but this was a chance.

Straining my stiff, numb body that had lain sprawled here for who knew how long, I dragged myself up and crawled toward the strange man.

I sat myself before his lower half and pulled down his pants.

The pants slid down without a hint of resistance, and there it was — the huge, imposing cock I had craved so desperately.

"Haaaah~♡"

Just breathing in its scent made my consciousness blur at the edges.

I wanted to bite it. Lick it. Suck it.

Every filthy thought imaginable was raking through my brain.

And while my mind reeled, I was already swallowing his cock into my mouth.

"Schlp... schlp, schlp... shluurp..."

"Feels good?"

I felt the strange man's hand stroking my head.

Did it feel good?

It felt so good I thought I might simply ascend.

"And with you this far gone, I'll just——..."

I heard the strange man say something, but I couldn't make it out.

All I wanted right now was to hurry up and have that monstrous cock shoved deep into my pussy.

"There. All done."

"Complete. Now you won't be able to erase it whenever you please."

The strange man murmured something else, then lifted me up and laid me down on the hard floor beside the steel bed.

"For now... let's enjoy ourselves, shall we?"

His cock drove deep into my pussy with a single, forceful thrust.