Versatile: Alternate World

This cold weather is turning out worse than I expected. It was not this bad when I entered the game earlier while writing the letter for everyone, how come it comes worse already?

Everyone is looking like they won't move away in front of the fireplace and if the fire on the fireplace went out, they will immediately try to revive the extinguished fire as soon as possible.

The first to notice me is Suhei who is near the end of the sofa and beckons me to join them. He also tapped Janus who was sitting on the carpet below the sofa also huddled in a blanket.

"Ah, finally Manato, you are finally outside. I thought you already died from being frozen in your room. I thought of barging inside but I am currently too lazy to return especially with the cold weather covering the whole place!" Janus also beckoned me to join them.

"Hey there, Manato. You can join us if you are cold. It's warmer if we huddle together with everyone in here," Suhei smiled and moved to the side to give me some space.

"Hey there guys, thanks for the offer but I think I will pass for now. I will have to call my parents and see if they are alright. I will also be going out to grab some groceries too. With this weather being this bad, having some extra piles of food and supplies will help us avoid getting outside in case things will get worse."

"Huh? Are you sure about going out there, Manato? The weather is especially bad and I doubt going out is a good idea! You might turn into a popsicle there without us knowing!" Janus protested.

"Don't worry, I can handle myself. Now if you guys don't want to join me, you guys can go and sit there and wait for me to come back. I will be back with some supplies with me soon."

As expected, no one volunteered to join me for the shopping. With the coldness seeping all around, it was clear that they will just remain inside their houses. I even think the saunas right now are fully packed, looking for some good amount of warmth to keep themselves shivering from the cold.

"Oh, that's too bad. Then we will remain here for a little while longer until the coldness around the house has diminished a bit. With the heater operating to its maximum output, we can finally have a bit of a good way to lessen the effects of the cold weather. You should call them if they are fine. The news said it's happening almost all around the world already."

I nodded and went to the telephone before dialing the telephone back in my mansion to check on them.

After a few minutes of ringing the phone was finally been picked up by someone on the other line and the one who picked it up is my mother.

"H-hello? T-this is the T-tsukasa residence..."

"Mom? Are you guys alright over there?"

"M-manato? Yeah, we are fine in here. I-it's a bit cold but we are fine. We are currently underneath a kotatsu to warm ourselves up. Though it is still a b-bit cold, we can manage to endure it. A-are you fine over there, son?"

"Yeah, no worries. I will come to visit soon enough and once the cold subsides. You all should warm yourselves properly, this cold is no joke."

After confirming that my parents are safe and sound, I started preparing for my venture outside. With the cold weather outside, it is clear I needed more than my abilities to warm myself up. Thankfully, I have plenty of heat packs bought before and put a few on my coat, pockets on my jeans, and the coat's pockets. With the heat they emit, I no longer felt the cold.

"I will be back a bit later, you guys should also make sure to warm yourselves up properly. When I get back, I will be bringing a few heat packs for you all."

Then I opened the door and the cold air wafted through my whole body. Despite the heat packs in my body, the cold feeling still creeps into my body and I shivered when the slightest wind entered my coat. It also didn't help that my face is very vulnerable and with only a hat and hoodie to shield my head from cold, it is clear that it isn't enough to handle everything.

With this cold weather that seems to freeze me anytime, I stood still, I have to get moving. As much as I wanted to use a car, I am quite sure that it won't properly work and there is a big chance that the engine will fail in this cold weather. The motorcycle is also a no-go too, seeing the road is covered with a thin sheen of ice, the chances of slipping on the road are very high and accidents will occur.

Only one way to do it is by going on foot. I have to hurry.

...

...

...

My movements are sure and firm to make sure that I won't be slipping while running. I can only keep on running due to the heck of a cold wind blowing all around the place and I don't want to keep on staying outside like this. It was like we are going to undergo the ice age once again.

"I am quite sure that this event did not exist in the past timeline. So what the heck is happening? I am also sure this isn't something I have caused since I didn't change any kind of events that would be involved in the weather or anything revolutionary that would change the world. How come something like this is happening? Is this perhaps the thing that I keep hearing about what will happen if I change the future like in some novels, anime, and movies where a disaster will occur if I change the future?" I murmured to myself.

However, that shouldn't be the case if something like this would indeed happen. If something like that happens, it should be not as big as this and the disaster should be just around me in the meantime. Not something that would immediately affect the whole world. Not only that, if it was a disaster due to me changing the future, why is it that it is freezing the whole world?

As much as I want to think much about it, I don't think I have any sort of solution to that. I am not someone who can solve everything.

With the whole street being empty, I can easily move without worrying about a car going to crash on me if I use the main road to traverse into the market.

With the streets desolate from people and cars, my arrival at the nearest supermarket allowed me to arrive much sooner than expected. I am expecting more that the market is jam-packed with people trying to buy supplies, but to my surprise, I barely see any. Maybe because it was too cold that they didn't even think much about going there?

Entering the supermarket, the cashiers and other people working there are all huddled on the corner with the heater on. Although it isn't that cold compared to outside, the weather is still unbearable and the cold winds in winter are a far cry from the winds we are experiencing now.

I didn't disturb them and went straight to the heat packs being sold. During spring and summer, the sales of heat packs are lower since it's not that useful but in winter, the sales go up easily. I am not surprised that there aren't that many supplies left of the heat packs here, I am guessing the staff took some and used them for themselves to combat the cold. But since they are still plenty, I bought a lot to make sure that everyone in our house can benefit from them.

Next are the groceries. Food, bottled water, snacks, and daily necessities, I purchased them all. I am not worried about the number of groceries I will be purchasing as I can just teleport back to my room without a problem.

I don't want to stay too long out in the open here so I made sure to finish the groceries as fast as I can. Thankfully, the staff is also fast in their work. With the cold weather, they definitely wanted to finish their job as soon as they can to immediately return to the heater. Borrowing a cart, I carried all of my stuff outside and went to the nearby place where no one can see me before I hold all of the groceries in my hands I activated my teleportation.

Going outside my room will raise a lot of questions especially since it is also Suhei and Pandora who don't know about my skills, if they aren't here, I would have gone outside using my door but I needed to make sure of this and decided to exit my room using the balcony outside, and carried the groceries in front of the front door before pushing the doorbell. While waiting for the door to open, I suddenly sense something.

For some unknown reason, the whole surroundings seem to have been covered in mana. It was like the storm that is brewing is exclusively made of mana. Just this alone made me frown, something is happening, I am sure of it.