There were three things Kaito Nakamura loved more than life itself: anime, arguing about anime, and fanfiction crack theories that spiraled into philosophical debates about whether Goku could survive in the Marvel Universe.
It was nearly midnight when the debate started.
Kaito lounged in his room, buried under a tattered All Might blanket, surrounded by what could only be described as a shrine to otaku excess. Shelves buckled under the weight of manga, figurines, and a few very strategically hidden NSFW doujinshi. His triple-monitor setup glowed with tabs opened, a paused episode of Dragon Ball Super, a wiki page on chakra nature transformations, and a long-scroll Reddit thread titled "Goku vs Naruto: The Final Verdict."
And of course, Discord was open — his digital arena of choice.
[OtakuThrone_420]: "Y'all are trippin'. Naruto claps. Dude has Sage Mode, Kurama, AND he's got talk-no-jutsu. Goku's dumbass would be converted in 2 episodes."
[KaitoKamehameha]: "Bro, Goku can survive in space and breaks reality with his punches. Naruto cries when Sasuke gives him the cold shoulder."
[BleachLover98]: "Ichigo solos both. Don't @ me."
Kaito snorted and cracked open a can of Monster. "Ichigo? My guy couldn't even hold his powers for a full arc without losing them. Again."
He grabbed a handful of popcorn and leaned back in his gaming chair like a king presiding over a digital court of clowns. His messy black hair stuck out at odd angles, his T-shirt read "Power Levels Are Bullsht", and his eyes gleamed with the fire of petty online war.
Tonight felt good.
He hadn't felt this alive in weeks.
His room was a blend of organized chaos, laundry that smelled faintly of soy sauce, a body pillow of Hinata (modded to wear Saiyan armor), and enough glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling to simulate Namek's sky. It was the sacred space of a man who had chosen anime over ambition and proudly showed it.
College? Nope, dropped out just to buy the limited edition Female Goku poster during the final exams that where happening.
Job? What job, other then freelancing as a QA tester for hentai games and editor for light novel translations on the side line.
Social life? Who need's that, discord, gacha pulls, and fanfics were over enough of a social life.
He didn't mind. Not really.
Sure, his mom sent the occasional "Are you okay?" text, and his old high school friends had all either moved on or ghosted him. But when you were part of seventeen fandom servers, got regular DMs from fujoshis debating power couples, and had your own semi-popular abridged YouTube series?
You were doing just fine.
Tonight's topic? A tier list stream.
He clicked over to his OBS overlay.
"Alright, degenerates, it's your boy KaitoKamehameha, back again to solve the eternal question: who's really top-tier in the anime battleverse meta?" he said into his mic. "Spoiler: Yamcha's not dead weight if you actually scale his early Z feats."
The chat exploded.
"This guy again 💀"
"Do Yamcha stans exist fr?"
"Bet he dies by slipping on a Senzu Bean."
Kaito smirked and tossed a popcorn kernel into the air, catching it in his mouth with a satisfying crunch.
"I live for this."
And then, mid-rant about how most people underrated Krillin's Destructo Disc, it happened.
A soft pressure in his chest.
He blinked.
It was subtle at first, like someone briefly leaned on his ribcage. He brushed it off. Kept talking. Kept laughing.
Then came the second wave of pain.
Sharper.
Heavier.
His hand reached up instinctively, pressing against his chest. The can of Monster slipped from his fingers and spilled across his keyboard. The screens flickered. Static noise buzzed in his headset.
His hand bumped the bowl of popcorn that was on his desk over. Kernels scattered like shrapnel across the carpet. One lodged in the corner of his mouth as he gasped for air.
`Popcorn, you traitor!!` he thought as he wheezed between coughs, the absurdity of it barely registering through the panic.
[BleachLover98]: "Yo, Kaito? You lagging or what?"
"I'm fine…" he muttered softly as his body slumped forward.
He tried to stand up again.
but he couldn't.
His heart thundered in his ears like the rumbling of a dying space pod. His fingers curled around the desk's edge, his knuckles turning white as he starts coughing with all his might.
[BleachLover98]: "Yo, Kaito? what's happening man. Shit, someone call the emergency, dude look's like he's about to kick the bucket."
The popcorn piece still lunged in his air pipe.
He dropped to his knees while struggling to breath.
[OtakuThrone_420]: "Fuck man, the call final got though, there on the way to his place now. Kaito just hold on man, the ER will be there soon."
The room blurred and started to spin.
He couldn't feel his legs.
A strange calm washed over him, even as panic screamed in the corners of his mind.
Not like this.I don't want to be remembered as the guy who died by choking on a popcorn piece.
As his body hit the floor with a loud thud.
All he could think of was that dumb argument he never got to finish.
"…Ultra Instinct… solos…"
Darkness crept in like ink spilled on a blank page.
But then out of nowhere, light appeared.
Soft. Warm. Glowing.
It wasn't the harsh bright light of his apartment.
It was… a void of nothingness?
Kaito blinked his eyes or what he would presume is his eyes as he floated. Literally. There was no ground, no sky. Just endless white and strange digital symbols forming in the air around him like glitchy subtitles of a shit fan sub.
Then a soft ding went off, like a notification ping from a gacha game.
[Initializing Multiverse Chat Group System…]
[Welcome, Beta Tester: Kaito Nakamura]
[Error: Host Body has been found to be Deceased. Initiating soul transfer…]
"What in the seven hell's…?"
Kaito tried to look around, but couldn't as he had no body.
All he had was his self awareness and this massive screen hovering in front of him, glowing neon blue.
[System Notice: Congratulations! You have been chosen to participate in the Multiverse Chat Group: New Game+ Edition.]
[World Assigned: Dragon Ball Universe]
[Rebirth Countdown: 00:00:15]
[Starting Package Granted: Beginner's Luck x1 | Passive Skill: Adaptable Physique | Bonus Pull: SR Technique – Shadow Clone Jutsu]
[Tip: Try not to die this time on popcorn.]
"…Wait. Wait wait wait. What?"
It all clicked at once.
The death.
The void.
The glowing UI.
He'd seen enough isekai anime to know exactly what this was.
"No. No way. This can't be real. This is either a coma dream or the best acid trip of my life…"
But then again, he did just die while choking on popcorn.
[10 seconds remaining.]
Kaito's mind raced as he thought about it.
He was going to be reborn? In the Dragon Ball Universe ?
This was his dream. His fantasy. His obsession His wet dream.
But also.
This was the world where people sneezed and blew up planets.
Where death is treated as a joke.
Where villains vaporized cities as a warm-up
Where humans were… well, Yamcha'd.
[3... 2... 1...]
A pulse of light suddenly surged through him like lightning made of nostalgia and warmth.
He opened his mouth to scream or cheer but no sound came out.
Only bright light.