Chapter One: The Mysterious Café
Sunlight filtered through the spotless floor-to-ceiling windows of the little café, casting a golden glow over everything inside. AT'S_EYE—the name was simple, almost unassuming. Just a quiet little European-style café tucked away in the suburbs of Tokyo. But hidden beneath its cozy atmosphere were layers of secrets.
Sitting near the window, lost in thought, was a young man in a slightly old-fashioned, light gray suit. His expression was distant, almost as if he didn't belong to this world.
His name was Liarn, a second-year student at some second-rate university. Average looks, average grades. But buried deep within him was a fire—a dream, an obsession no one else could see. Life hadn't been kind to him. After screwing up his college entrance exams, he ended up at a school he didn't even like saying the name of.
He'd tried, once. Tried to fight back, to chase that dream with everything he had. But reality hit like a brick wall. That fire quickly fizzled out, replaced by a dull sense of defeat. Disappointment turned into apathy. Apathy into withdrawal. He moved out of the dorms and became a commuter student, avoiding people as much as possible.
Anime, games, light novels—his whole world shrank down to pixels and pages. He wasn't just a shut-in. He was extreme. Too lazy to even hit the cafeteria, he survived on instant noodles and convenience store snacks. That was his life. An entire year of slow, quiet collapse.
But fate? Fate had other plans. On a sunny afternoon just like any other, it decided to flip his world upside down.
That morning, when Liarn rolled over in bed, something felt... off. This wasn't his warm, messy mattress. This was cold. Hard. Steel?
His eyes flew open. He was lying on the floor of a small, dimly lit room. The walls were metal. The ceiling, metal. No windows, no doors. Just a square box about the size of a walk-in closet.
"…What the hell? Some kind of escape room prank?" he muttered, totally thrown.
Before he could freak out further, a voice rang out—clear, commanding, and echoing inside his head.
"GOD SYSTEM initializing—Binding Player: Liarn. Welcome to the Path to Godhood."
"…God System?"
Liarn blinked. Wait… this wasn't a prank.
"Holy crap. Did I… did I just get isekai'd?"
It was the only logical explanation in his heavily anime-poisoned brain. And the name—God System? Seriously? Could it be any more cliché?
Still, when the system interface appeared in front of him, glowing faintly with holographic light, he couldn't help but get excited. This thing was nuts. Tasks, point systems, an in-game shop with powers and gear straight out of his favorite anime and games.
Only problem? Almost everything was grayed out, labeled: Locked – Requirements not met.
"So basically… 'You can have anything you want, but right now, you have nothing.'" He let out a dry laugh.
Only one thing was clickable: Dungeon Transfer.
Before he could think twice, the room spun. Nausea hit like a truck. When he came to, he found himself right here—in AT'S_EYE café.
Wait… this place...
It clicked. AT'S_EYE—the café from Cat's Eye, the manga where three sisters run a café by day and steal priceless art by night.
Just as he was trying to calm down, the system popped up again:
Current World: Cat's Eye — Urban Phantom Heist
Main Quest: Not Yet Available
Side Quest 1: Join the Cat's Eye Crew
Reward: Game Points + Dungeon Credits
"…Join Cat's Eye? Are they seriously telling me to become a freaking phantom thief?"
Liarn stared, dumbfounded.
He didn't know all the details of Cat's Eye, but he knew enough. The three sisters were pros—stealing their dad's artwork under the noses of Tokyo police. Romantic, maybe. Noble, sure. But still criminals.
And apparently, he wasn't alone.
"You really are… Saten Ruiko?"
Liarn looked across the table at the girl sitting opposite him. School uniform, long black hair tucked behind one ear with a flower pin. Shy smile. Even if he'd only seen her in anime, he recognized her instantly—Saten Ruiko, the cheerful and lovable girl from A Certain Scientific Railgun.
"Y-Yeah… I'm a player too," Ruiko nodded, a little nervously. "System said we're temporary partners…"
Liarn gave a dry laugh. A mixed world dungeon? With crossover anime characters?
"Let me guess," he muttered, "Next stop: teaming up with Misaka Mikoto or Hatsune Miku?"
"This really is one wild crossover opening…"
"So… how do we find Cat's Eye?" Ruiko asked, worry in her voice. "All I know is, this café is their base, but the sisters aren't even here."
Just as Liarn was about to comfort her, a voice cut through their conversation.
"You've been sitting here all afternoon. You planning to leech off us forever?"
He looked up—standing in front of him was a girl with a cool, detached air. She wore a pale blue work shirt and had long, jet-black hair that fell past her shoulders. Her eyes were sharp, but held a trace of helplessness.
Rui Kisugi, the second sister of Cat's Eye.
Liarn blinked. No way—the quest target just walked up to him?
"Well, you know," he shrugged, grinning like a slacker, "The job market in Japan's kinda rough these days. Besides, we were high school classmates, right? Help a buddy out?"
According to the system, that was his preset identity—a former high school classmate of Rui, just back from "studying in America." Convenient.
"Harvard grad can't find a job? Come on, at least try to lie better."
A teasing voice chimed in as a tall, elegant woman walked over. Refined, graceful, but with an unmistakable seductiveness in her every move.
Hitomi Kisugi, the eldest sister. The face of a goddess and the mind of a master thief.
She smirked. "You're not here for a job, are you? You just wanted to chase after Rui again."
"Sis!" Rui's face went bright red. She turned and stormed off toward the kitchen.
Liarn raised both hands. "Hey, I didn't say anything!"
Hitomi leaned in, her voice barely above a whisper, lips curving into a mischievous smile.
"Maybe you should consider switching targets," she murmured in his ear. "What about me?"
Her perfume hit him like a truck. His face turned beet red.
Across the table, Ruiko stared, wide-eyed.
"M-Mister Liarn… You're kinda amazing…"
Liarn buried his face in his hands.
"Seriously… This is day one and I'm already in a harem comedy!?"