Today was a bad day for me. Yup, a very bad day. I died when I stepped out of my home for the first time in six months. And it happened because I helped save a child who fell down a train platform. How could this be? My rare good deed ended in an unexpected death? I refuse to accept this!

I remembered how it happened. I was waiting patiently for the train to the next city like every other law-abiding citizen around me. There were not as many people as during rush hour, but there was a small crowd of them. I, staying true to my anti-social tendency, stood at the fringe of this crowd.

Unfortunately for me, there was this one perfect family beside me -- a dad, a mom, and a little boy. They were such an obviously acceptable member of society unlike me that I was reminded of my deficiency as I stood next to them. This was one of the reasons why I preferred to hole up in my apartment and become a shut-in.

So as I stood there pretending to be a part of this society, the little boy from the perfect family beside me acted up as if to demonstrate to me that not everything was as I thought they are. Against his parents' and society's expectations, the boy grew restless, walking and jumping around his parents in giddiness. Somehow he was growing more active by the minute like he had just eaten handfuls of sugar. Maybe he did? Not like I know what parents feed little kids these days.

The boy's parents tried to stop him from running by calling out to him and telling him to behave. The boy, being nice people like his parents, would listen to the chiding and obediently stopped. For less than 5 seconds. Then he started again, jumping up and down, flitting away in circles around his parents, and generally just being an attention-grabbing nuisance. Which was, of course, a big sin in this society of polite and respectable people.

Not that I was paying attention to them much. Why would I? There was no reason to. I was not envious or dissatisfied with them or anything. Though the boy's mother was really pretty. She was small and dainty, her voice sweet like an anime girl, and her round face held a resemblance to Haruhi Suzumiya. She even had on a blue wide hairband to match her blue dress. The perfect waifu... Ahem! A guy could dream, okay?

Anyway, this waifu was desperate to stop the boy, calling out "Kazuki-chan, Kazuki-chan" as she reached out her hands to catch him. Such a coincidence. My name is Kazuki too. Ah, a perfect waifu calling out my name so desperately, how could I not savor it? Ahem! I was not thinking of anything dirty, I  promise.

What I was trying to say, was that she was about to catch her son when the boy swerved away to avoid her. Unfortunately, his swerve was too wide and too fast that he was unable to slow down or correct his path in time. So he went over the yellow line and fell off the platform onto the railway right in front of me.

Everyone who saw him fall off cried in horror as they jumped forward. Me, I just have to be the hero today for my waifu, that was my first thought. I directly jumped down the from the platform after Kazuki-chan and nearly broke both my kneecaps as I fell hard on my knees. I never said I know how to land on my feet, did I? At least I had the presence of mind not to land on Kazuki-chan and crush him.

I ignored my knees that were hurting like they caught on fire and immediately reached for Kazuki-chan who was crying weakly on the rails. In one move, I grabbed him and hauled him onto the platform, right into his father's arms. Such a heroic guy, me.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

The man gratefully thanked me as waifu took the boy out of his arms and carried him back behind the yellow line. But waifu didn't even glance at me as she tended to her son. Eh, she saw me diving down to save her beloved son, didn't she?

Whatever, that's for later. Now I need to get up and safely away from the railway as fast as possible. But there were no handholds or footholds to help me climb up. Not even a crack to be seen. Argh. Did the contractors need to be such perfectionists? I rolled my eyes as I recalled that yes, most Japanese contractors are perfectionists.

The boy's father and other people on the platform reached out and called out to me, encouraging me to hurry and get myself up as I struggled to find something to hold on to. Their hands grabbed at my hands and my clothes and even my backpack, and together they pulled and heaved, but they still failed to haul me up. Not that they were weak and feeble. It was just that my knees were hurting badly I couldn't push myself up. And I was too heavy.

I was not that heavy! Really! I weighed only around 70 kilos. Alright, maybe a little over 80 kilos, just a little bit, but there were many others who were fatter! At least my body was tall, not just round. I am taller than the average Japanese, I kid you not. But not tall enough to make it onto the platform easily, sigh...

The platform was a lot higher than 1 meter, I swear. If it was under 1 meter, I could have raised my leg to reach it easily. I think. 

As I struggled to climb up with everyone's help, I heard cries of alarm. And the warning horn. And the rattling of a heavy vehicle approaching the platform. Oh, no. I looked back and saw my worst nightmare. A train coming towards me head on. Immediately my mind clouded. In a panic, I pushed away from everyone and turned and ran towards the platform on the opposite side.

Did I ever mention that my worst nightmare was to be run over by a train? Yeah, it's true, I was deathly afraid of being run over by a train. And so I was able to avoid being run over by a train. Phew, what a relief.

But I still died before I reached the other platform.

How...? At first, I was clueless too. But, now that I was a ghost looking down on my charred body, I could guess. I think that with my knees hurting very badly, I had clumsily tripped on a live cable or something between the rails, and got electrocuted.

Or maybe I was struck by lightning because it was lightly raining at the moment. Does lightning strike during light rain? Eh, why not? Or it could be that the electronics in my backpack and my smartphone in my pocket conspired against me to catch the high voltage from a nearby cable and electrocuted me before I knew it. So many ways to get electrocuted at a train station, huh?

Who cared about that now. I should care more about waifu. She must be waiting for me, her hero. Where was she?

As I looked around, the train that had nearly run over me slowly left the station. When it was finally out of the way, I can see the platform clearly. But waifu and her son were nowhere to be seen there. Only her husband remained, seemed like he was waiting around for something. 

Suddenly he bowed deeply to me and called out a thank you loudly as I watch. A few other people who were still there followed his example and bowed too.

I stood there flabbergasted, thinking that maybe I should answer them because they looked like they will not straighten up from the bowing until they get my answer. But then the train attendants came over and had everyone go and vacate the station. I was about to follow them out too before I remembered that I was now a ghost. I was dead.

Now it hit hard that I was not a living person anymore. I died after I saved a boy who fell off the train platform. I did that to get waifu's attention, but contrary to my expectation, I didn't get a thank you from her at all. She didn't even glance at me. Not once. Sigh...

Why did I have to try and be her hero today? I was never that heroic to begin with. The boy's father would have jumped down too if he was closer than me. In the end, my death was not necessary to this story? 

No! I refuse to accept that! And I refuse to go to the light too, so you can go back to where you come from, light! Yes, of course I see you! You're so bright there's no I way I wouldn't notice. But it's no use. I won't go unless I get some sort of compensation for my death! No matter what, I did save the boy before everyone else does. I deserve some reward!