My name is Haruto Sakamaki—seventeen years old, high school senior, certified professional at doing absolutely nothing remarkable.
Average grades, average looks, average social life.
If mediocrity were an Olympic sport, I'd have at least a bronze medal. Maybe silver on a good day.
My daily routine was simple: wake up, skip breakfast, endure school, then go home and spend the night grinding levels in online games while drinking convenience-store cola. My biggest war was between sleep deprivation and my gacha addiction.
So yeah… the last thing I ever expected was to wake up in an actual war zone.
---
The first thing I felt that morning wasn't my pillow—it was mud. Cold, sticky, unpleasant mud squishing under my hands.
Then came the sound.
Not birds, not traffic—
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Explosions. Shouting. Metal clashing.
I jolted up, blinking.
All around me, soldiers were running, magic flares bursting in the air, and someone screamed something about "dragonfire bombardments."
"What the hell—?"
I looked down.
Gone were my pajamas. In their place: a full military uniform with armor plates and a weird glowing badge on my chest. A rifle—no, some kind of energy weapon—was strapped to my back.
Okay. So either I was dreaming, or I'd been isekai'd into a particularly violent JRPG.
Before I could decide which was worse, a voice barked behind me.
"Private Sakamaki! What are you doing out of formation?!"
I turned around—and my brain short-circuited.
The person yelling at me wasn't some grizzled drill sergeant.
Nope. It was a girl.
A very cute girl.
Silver hair tied in a ponytail that swayed with every movement. Eyes as sharp as ice, glowing faintly blue. Her uniform was crisp, neat, and somehow managed to look both tactical and… dangerously flattering.
"Eh? A cute commander?" I muttered under my breath. "Wait, no, that's not the main issue here!"
She narrowed her eyes. "Did you just call your superior officer cute, Private?"
Crap.
Abort mission.
"Uh—no, ma'am! I mean, yes, ma'am! Wait, no—uh—sir—uh—!"
Her glare softened into something halfway between pity and amusement.
"Relax, recruit. You must be the transfer from the reserve program. I'm Captain Celia Frostwind, commander of the 13th Battalion."
I opened my mouth. "Transfer? I think there's been a mistake. I'm just a—"
But before I could finish, five more figures appeared behind her, each looking like they'd stepped straight out of a different anime genre.
---
First, there was a girl in heavy armor, wielding a massive hammer that looked like it could flatten a tank. Her short red hair and fiery grin screamed "battle junkie."
Next came a maid—yes, a literal maid—carrying twin pistols holstered under her frilly skirt. She gave me a polite smile that didn't match the fact that her guns were probably loaded.
Floating beside her was a tiny fairy with pastel wings, about the size of a smartphone. She radiated sparkles. Literal sparkles.
Then, from behind them, two more girls walked up—one in a long coat with a sniper rifle almost taller than her, and another in a sailor-style uniform wielding what looked like… a magic staff?
I blinked.
"What is this, a crossover event?"
"Squad 13, assemble!" Captain Celia ordered.
The girls instantly lined up, standing proud and professional… well, except the fairy, who saluted upside down.
"This is your new squadmate," Celia continued. "Private Haruto Sakamaki. He'll be joining us for Operation Dawnbreaker."
Every single pair of eyes turned toward me.
The maid tilted her head. "He looks fragile. Can he even hold a gun?"
The hammer girl grinned. "Guess we'll find out soon enough."
The fairy gasped dramatically. "Is he… our token male character?"
I choked. "Excuse me, what!?"
Celia cleared her throat. "Ladies, behave. Remember: teamwork."
Then she turned back to me. "Welcome to the Cute Combat Unit, codename Charm Battalion."
I stared blankly.
"…You're kidding."
She wasn't.
"Charm Battalion? That sounds like a school idol group, not a military unit!"
The maid giggled. "We do perform sometimes—usually after victory, to boost morale~."
The fairy twirled midair. "Yay! Concert after carnage!"
"Wait, wait, wait!" I waved my arms. "I think you've got the wrong guy! I'm not a soldier! I can barely pass gym class!"
Celia just smirked. "Don't worry. The draft system doesn't make mistakes."
Then she handed me a tablet-like device that flashed with my photo, name, and… combat potential: 97% synchronization rate.
"What does that even mean!?"
"It means," she said, "you're stuck with us."
---
Before I could protest again, the ground shook.
A thunderous roar echoed across the battlefield—like an explosion, but deeper, alive.
"Enemy artillery!" shouted the sniper girl, aiming at the horizon.
"Formation Bravo!" Celia commanded.
The hammer girl charged forward, her weapon glowing red-hot. The maid began rapid-fire shooting, each bullet exploding in bursts of pink smoke. The fairy raised a shimmering barrier around us, singing something that sounded suspiciously like a theme song.
I stood there, frozen.
Magic. Guns. Explosions. Cute girls yelling attack names.
Meanwhile, me? I was crouching behind a rock, desperately trying not to hyperventilate.
"This can't be real. I'm still dreaming. Any minute now, I'll wake up in my room, and—"
A stray blast of energy struck the ground beside me, launching me into the air.
"WAAAAAHHH!"
I crashed face-first into a pile of dirt, groaning.
"PRIVATE SAKAMAKI!" Celia shouted. "Get up and return fire!"
"Return what!? I don't even know how to use this thing!" I yelled, fumbling with the rifle.
The fairy fluttered over, tugging my ear. "Press the shiny button!"
I did.
The gun fired a bright blue beam that obliterated a distant enemy tower.
Everyone stopped.
"…Did he just one-shot that thing?" the sniper whispered.
The maid whistled. "Looks like he's got potential after all."
Celia smirked. "Welcome to the front lines, soldier."
---
And just like that, my life changed forever.
Yesterday, I was a high school nobody, worried about exams and limited-time events.
Today, I was somehow drafted into a magical war alongside six of the most dangerously attractive women I'd ever met.
No, scratch that—the most attractive.
And judging by the sparkle in Captain Celia's eyes, this was only the beginning.
I swallowed hard, staring at the distant horizon, where smoke and light intertwined like the opening animation of some overly dramatic anime.
> "That time I got drafted to war with only cute girls on my squad… might actually be the death of me."
[To be continued in Chapter 1: Welcome to the Charm Battalion!]