Chapter 1

There once was an ordinary girl with loving parents. She lived a good life and was well cared for. Like most other kids, she had grand dreams and ambitions and wished to become something great. However, life had other plans and as she grew up, the more disillusioned she became, and eventually, her fire died out and she settled for mediocrity. Not that there was anything wrong with that — it just meant she had accepted reality and understood that not everyone could achieve greatness.

Every day, there were news articles of murders, car crashes, and failed bank robberies, and the more she read, the less heart-wrenching the articles became. Everything had become so sensationalized that they barely meant anything to her, and since she was so protected and insulated by her parents, she never had to witness death nor disease — it was as if she lived in her own little world where nothing bad ever happened, where only kind people were allowed to exist. The idea of death had quite been perverted in her mind, and certainly held less gravitas than it should have.

That was why it had been such a shock when she had gotten into an accident. It wasn't due to anything malicious, no, but a mere mistake on the driver's side. A short second of inattention, and poof, her life was over.

As she lay there dying, many thoughts ran through her mind. There were, of course, the basics like why did this happen to me? I'm not ready to die yet, etc.

The concept of death was a hard one to accept, especially for a young girl who hadn't yet lived. The absurdity of the idea of having to deal with such a thing at the ripe age of fifteen was neigh impossible to accept. However, she could feel herself fading fast. Her lungs were giving out and she gasped for air, she wasn't ready to go, not like this.

She cursed the bus driver. How dare they take her life away from her. How dare they cause pain to her parents. God, she can just imagine it now — her beloved parents, crying at her grave. To have to bury their own children was the worst pain of them all.

Then slowly, her thoughts moved on, desperately grasping for straws. The police and ambulance must be on their way, perhaps she could be saved. As long as she could keep on living, she was willing to take paralysis, blindness, or even the loss of her limbs. Anything. The idea of losing her stream of consciousness was the one thing she cannot bear.

She prayed. She prayed for the first time in her life. She prayed that her consciousness wouldn't be lost to the void, never to inhabit a corporeal body ever again. She wasn't sure if it had any effect, but she felt better. Less alone. She wished her parents were here with her now, to comfort and soothe her fears.

She could feel a single tear roll down her cheeks and hear a quiet sigh escape from her ruined throat. She wasn't ready to go.

Death was a hard pill to swallow. It takes you whether you're ready or not, forcing you to bow to its whims.

The loss of life wasn't a particularly bad feeling. It didn't hurt, at the very least. It felt calm, tranquil, like having a warm cup of hot cocoa on a snowy night. The raw grief and indignation at her death had soothed away into a peaceful lull, as if reality itself was cradling her very soul. She quite enjoyed it.

Time ticked by at an unknown pace, or perhaps it hadn't moved at all. It was impossible to tell. The peace and relief she had felt earlier were replaced by a growing urge of agency. There was something wrong, like something was missing, yet she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

It unsettled her deeply. But what else was there to do except to sit back and take it. She was dead, after all, and there wasn't much dead people could do. Yet the feeling persisted, never stopping in its growth in intensity.

Then it came. She could hear a low roar passing through her very being, invoking an odd feeling she couldn't quite identify. Which was then followed by the sense of warmth enveloping her comfortingly.

A moment later, she felt the energy of life flood back into her like a huge wave, crashing hard against her. The low roar rose into a crescendo, booming next to her eardrums so loudly she was worried it might burst.

So that was what had been missing this entire time. Life itself. The all-encompassing feeling of well, feeling.

She giggled deliriously, drunk on being able to feel again; to be able to feel her limbs, to sense the air around her shifting and moving about. She opened her eyes and found that she could see. She was about to celebrate before she realized how bad her eyesight had gotten — everything was blurry and she could hardly see anything. She could just about make out the faint outlines of people in the room and the fluorescent light shining on top of them. Everything was so frustratingly unclear that she decided to close her eyes again — it wasn't like she could make anything out anyway.

The slight feeling of concern was gone before it could fully form. Who cared if she had bad eyesight? The important part was that she was alive and more or less intact. She grinned and wriggled her fingers, enjoying the feeling of being able to command her body again even though it felt jerky and uncoordinated. The brief movement tired her out more than usual, and she was certain she wouldn't be able to sit up properly.

Her giddiness eventually faded away and she turned her attention back to the present. Where was she, and more importantly, whose body was she inhibiting? She briefly entertained the thought that she had never died and had instead been saved by advanced medical technology but waved it away quickly. She would be in excruciating pain if that were the case. Something was obviously off, however, and she was determined to figure out what.

Unlike her eyesight, her hearing seemed to be intact still. It was quiet, wherever they were. The silence was only pierced by a steady beeping sound she recognized as a machine. Other than that, she could faintly pick up low murmuring voices. She strained her ears, trying her best to eavesdrop. She couldn't help but wonder if this was the afterlife, and if it was, why was her eyesight so bad?

To her immense joy, the voices grew louder and louder as time passed. They were talking at a fast pace, excitedly almost. Even in her current state, she could hear the pure emotions in their voices, and it was quite infectious.

It wasn't until another voice had joined the conversation that she realized something was off with the way they spoke. She couldn't understand a single word they're saying. She had no idea how it took so long for her to notice, but now that she did, she could feel tendrils of panic begin to bloom. The words sounded entirely foreign and most definitely not English, the only language she can speak. She listened with bated breath, trying to figure out what language it was. She was sure she had heard it before somewhere.

Then it hit her. They were speaking in Japanese. All those years of watching subbed anime had finally paid off. The sense of accomplishment at having figured it out was short-lived however as the crushing realization of what it entailed hit her. She was stranded somewhere in Japan with unknown people, and her eyesight wasn't what it used to be.

Suddenly, nothing felt right anymore. It was all so, so wrong. The air was too cold against her bare skin and the unknown voices were too loud against her sensitive eardrums. Her limbs also felt different like how they always did. She cringed and felt tears start to fall against her will, which quickly turned into a full-on sob fest. Panicked wails escaped from her mouth and she cried unabashedly, her volume rising to an almost scream.

Then, she felt herself being wrapped up in a hug, or a cradle. It rocked her soothingly and she could hear someone sing to her softly. She listened, despite not being able to understand the lyrics, and despite not recognizing the song. The person had a pretty voice, much better than her own. Eventually, her tears tapered off and she was left feeling rather silly. There she was, a grown-ass fifteen-year-old needing to be sung to in order to be calmed down like a baby.

Wait. Baby?

A pit formed at the bottom of her stomach. It couldn't be, could it? Had she been reincarnated and turned into a newborn?

She dared to open her eyes again, except this time, it was to inspect her own body. It was blurry as hell, but even without good eyesight, she could spot the abnormality.

She had been reincarnated as a baby in Japan, to presumably Japanese parents. She'd laugh at her predicament if she could, but hey, at least she was alive, right?