Haruto was in his room—a dark, cramped space with no lighting whatsoever apart from the monitor humming softly in front of him. His appearance was painfully average: dark hair, dull black eyes, and deep circles etched beneath them. His cheeks were slightly sunken, and his build leaned dangerously close to skinny.
He furiously smashed the keys on his keyboard like a man possessed.
"C'mon, you guys, we're almost there!" he shouted into the microphone attached to his headphones.
Booyah! a triumphant sound effect blasted from his monitor's speakers.
"YEAH!!!" Haruto shot to his feet and yelled at the top of his lungs, as if he had just won the World Cup.
"Hey! We're tryna sleep here, you moron!" someone shouted from the room next door.
He lived in an apartment—a shared one at that. He didn't live alone, and he certainly couldn't. Not when he was a bum who refused to look for a job.
He immediately bowed toward the wall and shouted, "Sorry!"
"You're still making noise, dammit!" another voice snapped back.
Haruto winced, then turned toward his monitor and sat down again. As he looked at the screen, he froze. A message was displayed across the interface:
[Congratulations, you've achieved the highest tier: SSS TIER. As a reward, you shall be granted a wish. The wish may be anything—omnipotent and omniscient in nature.]
[Make your wish now!!]
"H-Huh?" Haruto blinked at the screen, genuinely shocked. "Are the devs making fun of me? Is it because they know I'm a lonely bum with no job?"
"Whatever… I'll at least indulge in my desires and ask for the one thing we all want."
He cleared his throat dramatically.
"Female elves!
Reincarnation!"
Both wishes slipped out of his mouth at the same time, shocking Haruto.
He hadn't even realized he had been reading everything aloud, and now the other players were already laughing at him.
"Haha!" someone snorted. "C'mon, mate, wish for the female elves so we can all have a blast." The voice carried a ridiculously deep English accent.
"What—no!! I'll wish for what I want, thank you very much! Even though… elves do sound tempting."
He took a deep breath.
"I wish for reincarnation… into Immortal Saga. As my character, Leo Crimson."
Then—silence.
A deep, unnatural silence.
It became so quiet he could hear the distant chirping of insects outside. Even the soft hum of his monitor seemed to fade away.
"Isn't it transmigration, you stupid fuck?" one of the players said.
"Haha!" another burst out laughing.
"If you mean reincarnation, that means you have to die first," a different player added, this time a feminine voice dripping with amusement.
"H-Huh!?" Haruto gasped. He clutched his chest and slapped a hand over his mouth, as if he might actually keel over right then and there.
"Then I wish t— kgh!!"
Haruto choked midsentence, still clutching his chest as he gagged violently.
His eyes shifted from black to a lifeless grey. A strangled groan tore from his throat, as if invisible hands were squeezing the breath out of him. Then, all movement stopped for a moment as he vomited onto the floor. His body trembled, and he weakly pushed himself upright.
"W‑What… the hell is happening…?" he whispered, his voice faint and fading.
Ba-dump.
His heart stopped instantly.
Haruto collapsed face-first onto the floor.
"Oi! Stop fakin' it, mate! We know you're acting!" one of the players scoffed. "Everyone knows that in Japan, to actually reincarnate, you gotta get run over by a truck!".
The players over the microphone on the headphones laughed, it was honestly almost harmonious as if a church choir.
How shocking it must have been for the Haruto, laughing one moment, to become a lifeless body sprawled on the floor the next. Yet, in a strange way, it underscored the importance of even the smallest things in life—paying attention, taking things seriously, and maybe even going to college and looking for a job. Though the ideas sounded similar, whether they meant the same thing in the eyes of the other players… was another matter entirely.
…
"Huh… where am I?" Haruto muttered.
He looked around. The ground beneath him was soft, like clouds, and the sky above mirrored it—billowing and white, but pierced by a glaring sun. The sun seemed unnaturally large, almost uncomfortably so, yet it didn't burn. Instead, a slight chill lingered in the air, brushing against him like a quiet warning.
"Hello!? Anyone there!?" Haruto shouted.
"He—!"
"You don't have to shout. We can hear you perfectly."
A voice echoed around him, calm and clear, yet its owner was nowhere to be seen. Haruto flinched, his heart—or whatever he had now—tightening in fear.
"Am… am I in Heaven? I'm pretty sure I died," he asked nervously.
In response, a brilliant light burst forth from the enormous sun overhead. The radiance gathered and shaped itself, forming a staircase of pure light that descended from the sun directly to where Haruto stood.
As the light solidified, two more stairs began to materialize. From each staircase descended a being, three graceful forms approached him.
Their hair shimmered with a radiant glow—bright yellow, almost white—and they wore flowing garments reminiscent of ancient Greek robes. Their eyes gleamed golden, and every movement they made radiated elegance and poise.
The beings were… indeed, female.
Haruto was utterly stunned. He could hardly breathe at the sight before him. The goddesses were excruciatingly, impossibly beautiful, as if every fiber of their existence had been crafted to perfection.
"We can hear you, so please… just don't shout," one of the goddess-like beings said, her voice calm yet commanding.
"Allow us to introduce ourselves. My name is Gaia, and I am the Goddess of Creation."
As she spoke, her radiant hair shifted from glowing gold to pure white, and her eyes shone a steady, clear yellow. Gaia had descended from the middle staircase, standing with an aura of serene authority.
The goddess on the left stepped forward. "My name is Persephone, the Goddess of the Underworld." The bright glow around her faded, leaving her with golden hair and piercing yellow eyes.
Finally, the goddess on the right spoke, her voice both melodic and powerful. "I am Hecate, the Goddess of all magic in existence." Purple hair and purple eyes.
Haruto's jaw dropped. The three goddesses stood before him, each radiating power and beauty that felt almost impossible to comprehend.
"We listened to your wish for reincarnation, and we have granted it," Gaia said calmly. "However… we are only here to inform you that what you expect will be entirely different."