"The time for the walk is over!" The warden's voice echoed somewhere nearby. The time for the walk had ended, so all the prisoners who were out had to hurry and leave.
Not wanting to end up in solitary again or cause any trouble, I quickly said goodbye.
"Ah... I have to go."
I muttered it in a still confused voice, rushing to get away from here as fast as possible.
I simply couldn't stay here even a minute longer. If I stayed, even for a minute, I was afraid I'd throw up. I didn't want to accept reality.
It was painfully hard even to look at my finger, which was still throbbing.
If I were a child, I would've definitely thrown a tantrum and stomped my feet at this injustice.
Everything I had at once was gone because I ended up here!
In another world. In a stranger's body. In prison.
(I wish I had really died.)
(Then maybe it wouldn't hurt this much.)
Still in a daze, I flopped down on my bed.
(I won't accept this!)
About two minutes later
(Well, I accepted it.)
Quick adaptation was one of my personality traits, so I guess I hadn't lost my mind or anything like that yet.
The beds here were soft enough... But what was I thinking? This is prison! I'm not going to stay here knowing this is reality.
(So now I need to come up with an escape plan?)
Right.
Besides, who in their right mind would want to stay here because of the previous owner of this body?
"But how the hell am I supposed to do that..." I said quietly, turning onto my stomach and burying my face in the pillow.
I lay like that for a while, then lifted myself a bit and looked around the common room.
My gaze stopped on a girl reading a book.
Shhh. Shhh. Shhh.
Time passed, and she turned the pages, reading carefully.
She did it so soothingly that I suddenly wanted to read something too. Internet addiction quickly showed itself when you're locked up doing nothing.
(Maybe I should walk to the library?)
Thinking about it, I felt someone looking at me. Turning around to search for the person, I didn't see anything suspicious.
People were talking to each other or walking back and forth like before, not paying attention to me. Well, after last week and my suicide attempts, people looked at me like a ghost. Even if someone glanced at me, they quickly looked away.
I could swear that at least half the prison thought I was a little crazy.
(Maybe it's just my imagination?)
I buried my face in the pillow again.
The feeling of tension didn't leave me, and other obsessive thoughts about how I ended up in another world here only made things worse.
Without thinking much, I decided to do just that. Lying here was unbearable.
With measured steps, I opened the library door and was met by silence.
There wasn't even a librarian here.
Is it used so rarely? Or is the worker just slacking off?
"Wow... it really is big..."
Surprised by the large size, I started walking around, looking at everything.
Could there be something here to help me escape?
"Hah... the chance is about as likely as a dolphin jumping out of the fountain."
Time to come back down to earth.
(But even so, the books should have a lot of information about this world?)
I looked sadly at the shelves of fiction I originally came for. These books weren't going anywhere, right? So there was no point in staring like this.
Trying to push away the thought that maybe it wasn't the best time for this, I walked a little further.
Taking the first book I found, confusion froze on my face once again.
"Th-these letters..."
I smiled nervously.
(How can someone be so careless about reincarnation that I don't even know how to read? What logic is there in me being able to understand the language by ear but not being able to read a single word?)
(Of course, I thought it was strange that the language was different, but since I knew many languages in the past, I assumed it was some kind of mixture or something like that.)
Gathering information in the library didn't seem possible because I was completely illiterate.
"Is this... karma?"
No answer came, as expected.
"Ah...!" — a strange sigh sounded about ten meters away.
"What are you thinking about? Look at me," a familiar voice said quietly.
Without thinking, I shut the book and went toward the sound.
(So there really were people here...)
The man couldn't accept that she was distracted. He began to move his hips fiercely. The sound of flesh hitting echoed.
"Mmm... aaah... slower..." she whispered, hugging the man's body as tightly as possible. Because of her words, the man's eyes widened, and he, approaching climax, stopped for a moment.
(This is... really! Having sex in a place like this...)
I froze as soon as I saw this obscene scene.
(Do they really have no sense of decency? Isn't this a public place?)
"...tsk..."
I clicked my tongue in disgust.
I was still standing in the shadow of the other shelves, hiding, but the full details of the passionate scene were clearly visible.
The man leaned forward, hugging the woman by the waist.
And I saw his face.
The silhouette seemed familiar, and it really was someone I knew with long hair. Now that I think about it, I never asked his name, but without a doubt, it was him.
Feeling like I'd been caught spying like a horny teenager, I quickly stepped back.
"I think we're done. Besides, people might come in if we keep going."
Finishing up, he said to his partner. Nodding, she hurriedly covered her chest, and he buttoned his pants. Without thinking much, they left.
(Hah, I shouldn't have come here. And why did I stand here so cowardly, watching?)
"Damn it."
Turning away from the departing couple, my ears suddenly felt hot.