"Nnghh..."

White slowly opened his eyes.

My head is all groggy... everything's so blurry... what... happened... 

As White steadied his vision, he clutched his head with both hands from the constant ringing in his mind. It was so erratic he felt like his brain was going to explode. As he visualized the image of guts exploding, he recalled what had transpired.

...That's right, I-I was shot... to death.

!!!

"AUUUEEEGHHHH!!!"

A surge of emotions overcame White, as he threw up on the ground.

...Wait a minute, ...ground?There isn't... anything on the surface... Where... am I?

The surface where he was kneeling on, was a blank canvas. There was nothing there at all, except the contents of his spit.

It was pure white, as if this place was detached from creation itself. 

He entertained the thought that someone he knew had pulled a prank on him to mess around by painting a room with white, but he quickly shook it away.

Why would she do that...

It wasn't a feasible conclusion as well, since he could not see his own shadow in this place.

There were no walls to reflect them.

Am I... having another of those lucid dreams again...

White pinched his cheek.

"Ack..."

The pangs of pain were properly signalled back into his brain.

...Doesn't seem like it this time...

As White settled down on a conclusion that he was indeed awake, he began to recall the things that had happened before he got here.

"... I was... shot to death... and before that... ...

...Eh...? ...I can't remember... anything...?"

He felt as if the insides of his mind had been blocked off with many padlocks.

He could no longer remember his past.

All he could recall, was that he had always been living in an apartment.

Alone.

In... solitude.

Since he could no longer remember anything no matter how hard he tried to, he began to show more awareness into his surroundings.

He quickly surveilled the surroundings once with a clean sweep using his keen eyes.

That was what White was good at; He was so paranoid from his delusions that his sense of crisis had kicked in before he had realized what he was doing.

...Doing what he did earlier, calling out to try and save the female clerk was a breach of values for him.

It was an inconsistent behaviour in his daily unchanged life; His usually passive demeanor was overwritten with unrealistic ideals of justice...

He had never noticed this about himself at all until now, which made him feel a little conflicted inside.

"...Nothing... there's really nothing here. I can't see anything... beyond the horizon..."

The surroundings were clear of any immediate threat. In any case, White felt safe enough to heave a sigh of relief.

Everything had happened too quickly, his mind could not process everything that fast.

Now that he had time to question why he was in this strange place, he sat back down cross-legged and closed his eyes.

Just as he began to fall into deep thought-

"-What are you thinking so hard about, White?"

?!!! 

"-WHA-?!"

White jumped so quickly away from the voice that he even surprised himself.

Since he didn't have a strong constitution from being cooped up everyday in his apartment, White over strained his muscles and landed shabbily onto the 'surface'.

!!!

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The fracture in his bones led to an inaudible scream.

"Hey, I'm appalled here. You're a very rude human, to show this kind of reaction towards me..."

White quickly regained focus onto the person standing before him.

...Hmm... person...? Much less a person... What... what are you...?!

White was looking at a tiny floating person with blue and translucent wings on her back wearing a one-piece.

Her white hair seemed to exude a blueish glow around her head. Superficial glitter was obscured around the hems of her sleeves, following her hands with a very colorful aftereffect. 

It seemed too surreal to White.

"W-who are you!? What are you!?"

"What do you mean, what am I? It's just as you can see, I'm that. Y'know that.

You've never seen one before? Aha~ You... you're a virgin aren't you~ Are you too appalled to speak from my indescribable beauty? Hmmm~?"

V-virgin...

White cautiously looked up and held eye contact with the tiny person for a second, before awkwardly moving his head down again while fidgeting. 

"...C-can I... confirm something with you..." 

"Mmn~ Go ahead~" 

"...Fairy?" 

"Yup~"

"...S-Seriously...?"

"Yup~"

"I'm... I'm not dreaming, am I?"

"In the flesh! Fairy! F. A. I. R. Y~"

White returned to look at the fairy, who was smiling broadly at him.

She was suspended in mid-air, with her wings flapping incessantly like a butterfly. The glitter was exuding out of the motion her translucent wings were making.

"...Un-Unbelievable... It's just like... a light novel..."

The fairy's expression paused for a second when she heard that.

"...Hmm..."

She squinted her eyes and nodded softly, seemingly in approval of something.

"E-ehhh...? I-Is there something on my... on my face?"

"...Ehh, don't mind it...

Anyway I haven't introduced myself right? Hey hey, let's do self introductions then~" 

"Wai-"

"-My name is Rululu. Once again, I am a fairy."

...Sh-she interrupted me...

Nevertheless...

...A fairy huh...

This kind of development... don't tell me...

It's going to be that... right?

"Your inner thoughts are leaking through your expression you know? Fufu~ How cute."

"H-hahaha...

Surreal? Is that the right word...?

Truly something... I'd have never expected to happen in my life... I thought I'd get hit by a truck or something first...

...just like how a light novel would start..."

White muttered under his breath.

"...Light novel huh..."

The fairy known as Rululu looked at White with clear interest.

"...W-what? It's...It's not like you're clear of suspicion yet. I do-do-don't know you so well... S-so please respect my personal space with some appropriate distance...!"

White had retreated a little when the fairy approached him.

He was constantly on edge, since it was hard for him to be as trusting as he was when he was much younger in age back then.

"Hmph~ What a change in attitude... Well anyway, we should probably get into the meat of the topic for now. We can't stay here for extended periods of time or the next cycle will begin..."

"...Cy...cle?... T-that's right. Why am I here... Are you here to guide me through what is going on now? Is this... a tutorial...?"

"First, the place we're in now correct? This is the boundary of life and death. The Soul Forest, as everyone calls it. 

It's where all travelling souls sprout in existence, and end after their respective journeys in life."

"Soul... Forest... There are no trees here... W-why would you call it a forest."

"It's been arbitrarily decided on the whims of a God, so that's what we're obligated to call them now apparently..."

 "...H-how flip-flippant... Besides the point, ...Nirvana...? The des-description you gave me sounded a lot like a religion on Earth. Ca-can I call this place something like heaven?"

"...Heaven...? Pff- Hahahahahahahahahaha!!!"

The fairy broke into a maniacal laughter.

"Wh-... that's... what's that supposed to mean..."

White became a little embarassed as he was probably off the mark by a lot.

Did Rululu laugh with the intent of mocking the fact that White was not good enough for Heaven...?

Or the fact that she was about to drop a bomb that Heaven did not exist, just like that time when one of his relatives cruelly told him that Santa Claus wasn't real.

"Well... Something like that.

Except... it's nowhere as pleasant as you might think. I'll give you a gist.

When people die, they come here. When people are born, they come from this black hole at the top of this space. Over there, you see that?"

White cautiously left his eyes away from Rululu and looked upwards.

Sure enough, there was a pitch black hole at the very top of this space. There were differently colored puffs of smoke exiting and entering the hole. When it had reached a fair distance away from the hole, the smoke dispersed and returned to colorless gas.

"Basically, this place, is like a transfer station for dead and yet-to-be-born people."

"...I see... so why am I-"

"Reincarnations and worldly transfers right? That's what you'd probably like to hear right~?"

Rululu interrupted once more, as if she was waiting for White to ask that exact question.

The familiarity of those words perked up both of his ears.

He had recently indulged in a number of web novels and manga that it interested him a little.

The fascination of being able to start afresh in a completely different world and armed with abilities that made the protagonist's life easy was a form of escapism for him. Reincarnations and world transfers was an overused trope, but it had become his favourite genre; It made him feel alive.

The mundanity of his life was a stark contrast to the colorful lives of the protagonists of his favourite shows and titles, where they lived however they liked with women fawning over them. A harem, as they called it. It was a very appealing thing for a growing adult like him.

But he wasn't this believing from the get go, he was very skeptical to the sweet words that came out of Rululu's mouth.

"...Conditions... There are conditions right? Why me, as a candidate of something like this."

"Well... there's nothing much, except to live on in this new world as peacefully as you can."

White fell silent and kept a distance. He did not accept what Rululu had just said, but he did not reject it either. Seeing this, the fairy continued. 

"But well, something like saving the world. You're probably obligated to do that as well... White."

"A-a bombshell of a statement...?!!!"

"...That's right. That's your duty as a cross porter of another world."