"No, you can't train her while she's unconscious. Seriously, White, that's a bit extreme no matter how you look at it."

The words made no sense to Main, but she was somehow conscious enough for her mind to start processing what was going on. She was currently floating in a warm darkness, calm and embracing, much different than the raging fire of uncontrolled mana.

What had she been doing? She tried to focus, bringing back what little she could remember from the murky depths of her memory. She had gone to the temple, and talked to the High Priest for hours. It had been too late to go back home, so she had stayed in her room at the orphanage. She frowned, drifting in the comfortable darkness.

She had found a door where there shouldn't have been one… and then the Devouring…

Her eyes snapped open, and it took her a moment to take in what was happening around her. She was sitting on a very comfortable chair, and had been resting her head on a table. But this wasn't her home. This wasn't the orphanage, the temple, or even her old home back in Tokyo… It was a bar. But not the type of bar she would find in her current homeworld.

It wasn't a tavern… it wasn't an inn, or a smelly hole where criminals would gather—not that she had seen them, but her dad mentioned one such place once—no, it was a bar like the ones she'd seen in Shinbashi, even if she had never stepped in. Most of the bottle labels were printed, and the shapes and sizes were clearly not something a medieval society would produce frequently.

Across from her, two women seemed to be trying to stare down one another. She slowly started recognizing them. The one on the left was Sunset Shimmer… an otherworlder who had stopped by the Gilberta Company with another woman to buy some questionable materials.

The other, she hadn't talked to, but she was just too memorable to forget. Tall, slender, ivory skinned, and long, straight white hair. Furthermore, although Main couldn't really tell exactly what the issue was, there was just something wrong with her red irises.

"Awake," White muttered, closing her eyes and turning to face Main slightly, while Sunset blinked, also turning to look at Maine.

"Oh! Are you feeling better, Main?"

Main nodded as things slowly started to click into place, but… she felt a chill in the pit of her stomach. "Oh no… how long was I out?"

"Oh… about ten minutes or so, but time doesn't pass outside the bar, so don't worry people won't be missing you on the other side quite yet."

"Wait, only ten minutes?" Main's eyes widened. That was not normal. Usually she'd be out for at least a day if she was lucky.

"Yeah, I hope you don't mind, but we extracted the extra mana that was burning through you," Sunset said, shaking her head. "You need to be more careful, that uncontrolled buildup was pretty dangerous."

"Y-you extracted it?" she asked, not quite believing what she heard. "How?"

"She's Sunset Shimmer."

Main and Sunset both looked at White for a moment, but then the bartender (or was she a knight?), shrugged. "I guess that's true."

"That doesn't explain anything!"

Sunset laughed, then walked over to the bar. "Let's get you something to drink. What would you like? Tea? Soda?"

"Soda!" Main replied immediately. "I haven't had soda since… since… ever in this world!"

"Wasn't it close to bedtime for you though?" Sunset asked.

"I might be in a little girl's body but I was a grown up before!"

Sunset chuckled, but shrugged. "Anything in particular?"

"Melon Soda!"

"Alright, one melon soda coming up."

"Two."

They glanced at White, who had sat at the bar and was playing with a little, if dangerous-looking spider.

"Two melon sodas," Sunset said, going around the bar to retrieve the drinks. "So, Main… do you go by any other name?"

Main grimaced. "I used to…" she shook her head. "But that life's over. I'm Main now." She smiled, looking down at her tiny hands. "I worked so hard to become a librarian, and just as I did…"

White tilted her head in a small sign of understanding.

"I see," Sunset said, placing a glass of soda in front of the mysterious woman, and walking over to sit across Main at her table, sliding the glass with ice and the sweet, effervescent contents to her. "I'm sorry to hear that."

Main sighed. "Me too… but…" she shuddered. "I think that I've started to appreciate a lot of things I didn't back then."

Sunset raised an eyebrow. "Oh?" she said, taking a seat next to the child-like otherworlder. "And what is that?"

Main shifted in place before sighing. "Back in Tokyo I was… very self-centered. I love books, you know? They're absolutely the best thing in the world! But…" she held the glass in both hands, watching the ice cubes shift when she tilted it slightly. "A-anyway, I used to focus completely on them even if… other things were happening in life."

She sighed, letting out the air in her lungs slowly. "I never got to say goodbye to my mom."

Sunset patted her shoulder. "What happened?"

"Earthquake." Main glanced up from her drink, her cheeks tinged pink. "I had several bookshelves-worth of books land on me."

"Oh."

"And I came back to a world with no readily available books!" Main whined. "My last wish was to be near books in my next life! And now I have to make them on my own because they're so expensive!"

Sunset blinked. "Wait, is that what you've—"

"Yes. That's why I was at the Gilberta Company. I'm making paper, writing stories, adapting the scriptures for kids… all of it, even becoming a priestess is because I want my books." Main snorted, then smiled little by little. "But I got much more than I had before. I have friends, and I'm much closer to my family than I ever was in my previous life. Plus, I got to re-arrange the whole library in the temple!" She grinned, a glint of greed crossing her features. "All those books and scrolls!" She swooned. "I got to organize them by genre! By author and subgenre!"

"Huh. I should introduce you to Twilight, you'd be best friends pretty quick."

Main looked up. "Who?"

"Princess Twilight Sparkle," Sunset said, summoning a picture from the wall and showing her to Main.

"She looks like she's holding a gun."

"Wrong Twilight Sparkle," Sunset said, switching the picture with another. "She's the Princess of Friendship in Equestria, and also was a librarian, a teacher and loves books and organizing them."

Main stared at the picture for a moment. "She's a horse? No, a unicorn with wings?"

"A pony. When we have wings and a horn, we're called Alicorns."

"But wasn't the alicorn what they called the horn in a unicorn?"

"Cultural differences in nomenclature that got lost in translation."

"So it's not that people got lazy and mixed—"

"Cultural differences in nomenclature that got lost in translation."

Main gave her an unamused glance. "Right." She considered the picture. "Wait, you said 'we', does that mean you're an alicorn too?"

Sunset smiled. "I used to be a unicorn, but I crossed over to another world, and well… ta-dah."

"What about White?" Main asked, glancing over to the other woman. "Was she a pony too?"

White allowed the little spider in her hand to spin a web around her fingers. "Spider."

Main blinked. "What."

"White's not from my world," Sunset said, "I met her some time ago, when she was… different, and needed a drink."

White nodded.

"Let's just say she really needed a change in scenery and food."

White nodded repeatedly.

"Oh."

"So Main, what's the deal with the mana surge?" Sunset asked.

Main grimaced. "It's called 'The Devouring', and it affects children of common people that have the ability to cast magic. We are not taught how to handle it, and magical items to drain it are very expensive, so most children that suffer from it die."

Sunset grimaced and glanced at White, who shook her head. Main didn't know them that well, but the look was familiar. It was just the way things were, not only in her new life, but everywhere. Those that had money, status, or power—whether earned or not—would always have advantages over those that didn't.

"Buying a magical item was too expensive, worth hundreds of gold coins, and not something the daughter of a city guard could ever hope to obtain. So I started a business."

Sunset laughed and shook her head. "It must've driven them nuts."

"Oh, it did!" Main's smile grew. "I have a lot to learn about this world, but I managed to create paper, find a patron, and even join the clergy as a blue-robed priestess, with the same rights as nobles. And now, whenever I am not doing some duty or another, I can at last read my precious books!"

Her smile soured a little. "Now, if I could only convince the high priest to let me into his private library..."

"Hm. Introducing you to Twilight might not be the best idea."

Main blinked. "Did you say something?"

"Nope! How's the soda?"

Main gave the bartender a half-lidded suspicious look, before shrugging and taking a deep pull of her drink, leaning back and exhaling in satisfaction. "Delicious! I have really missed this! Maybe it should be my next project?" She tapped her finger on the table. "But, what fruit should I use? We don't have melons…" Her musings were interrupted by a long yawn.

"I'm sure you'll figure it out," Sunset said, "but it seems it's time to sleep?"

"Ugh, I don't like being a little girl all over again," Main sighed. "I get tired so easily, although at least now that I'm in the temple I don't have to worry about my mana getting out of control too often."

"We're not training her," Sunset said when White opened her mouth to say something. The… spider lady… pouted, but shrugged and went back to her drink.

Another yawn shook her small body, and despite feeling better with her mana being drained, Main couldn't deny that she needed sleep. "I think I might need to go back… but..." she glanced around the room at all the things that brought back memories from her previous life. She paused. "Wait, you can move to other dimensions?" She bit her lip. "Can… can I ask a favor?"

本須 麗乃

The gray, granite slab of the family grave had her name written on it. Well, not her name, not anymore. It was very early in Tokyo, and other than an occasional shape in the distance, there were no people in the Yanaka Cemetery. If there were, they would be surprised by the decidedly non-japanese girl that stood in front of the small grave, praying.

"Oh."

A familiar voice made her flinch, and she fought the urge to turn around too quickly.

"I'm sorry for scaring you… did you know Urano-chan?"

Mom. It's so early, you shouldn't be here at this hour. "Um… yes."

"I see."

The woman walked up to stand next to her and bowed her head, pressing her palms together. "You must have just met her before…" she trailed off. "But I'm glad she made an impression on such a young lady as yourself."

Main forced a smile and nodded, forcing herself to look at the grave, and not at her mother. Her heart ached. "She told me she loved the food you made for her."

Her mother went really quiet.

"And that she always felt bad that she kept reading when it was dinner time."

"I—"

"She loved making things with you. She loved the craft classes even if she complained that she wanted to read books. She felt so proud every time you were able to make amazing soaps and candles!"

"She told you about that?"

"She never ate that dinner that you made a-and she never apologized to you and she was so sorry! She really, really loved you. And never got the chance to say goodbye..." Main struggled with the need to throw herself into her mother's arms, but it seemed her training under the High Priest was at least yielding some results. She took a deep, shuddering breath, keeping her focus on the grave.

After a moment, she stopped and took a deep breath, sliding her hand into her small purse to procure her little offering.

It had taken some convincing, but with Sunset's help, she had managed to get her old library card back, and with White's assistance, and some amazing threading, she had encapsulated it in a weather-resistant, transparent material. She gently traced her fingers over the list of books she had taken out and returned. She had almost filled this one out too.

Gently, she arranged her dress so it wouldn't get dirty, then she kneeled down to leave the card leaning against the granite.

She forced a smile and spun in place, bowing deeply to her mother. Wanting to tell her all the things she couldn't… she knew it would only hurt her mother even more than it would hurt her. "Thank you. Thank you."

Her mother seemed to hesitate.

"Thank you. I'm sorry. Thank you." Main could feel the tears welling up and spilling onto the ground below, but she dared not open her eyes. She clenched her hands into small fists. "I-I have to go."

Before she could finish turning around, she was pulled into a hug. Her mother held her close, allowing her to cry on her shoulder. She couldn't see her face, but she could smell her shampoo, and imagine her kind smile.

"Take care. Be strong. Be kind," her mother whispered in her ear. "And thank you for coming back… just for a little bit."

"Main," Delia called, waking her up. "Breakfast is ready. I'll be up there to help you dress in a moment."

Main opened her eyes and stared at the canopy over her bed. Had it all been a dream? She turned to the bedside table, where a small, printed book waited for her, a gift from her former mother. She had been intending to leave it at the grave… it was the last book she had taken from the library. Her mother had bought it and was going to leave it at the grave as an offering.

Main sat up and took it in her hands, opening the cover to find a silver business card inside.

Closure.

And people who would understand her.

She glanced at the door of the orphanage. People that trusted her, relied on her, and respected her.

She turned to the window, overlooking the city. A family. Friends. Peers.

It had all started with tragedy… but maybe… it also came with change for her. And change was good. Somehow she felt she could handle the future with a lighter heart.

Author's Notes:

Main/Myne and White will return in future chapters. If you're into Isekai literature/anime, keep an eye for the occasional "An Isekai's Isekai" chapters!