...

And so, my life ended.

It was quite a shock for me when I realized it.

… At one moment I was feeling fresh like lettuce, and at the other, I was lying dead on the pavement.

Ah, how fragile life was...

It really made one think deeply about it... Though, not in my case. I was already dead.

There was no use in thinking about life when I didn't have one in the first place.

What's more, I suppose all those people who once told me "You have no life" when I played certain video games are now laughing happily in their chairs since I literally didn’t have a life anymore.

Oh, the irony.

Anyway, leaving that aside, I've been wondering for a while... Why am I so calm about my own death, to the point that I’m making jokes about it as if it was something funny?

Has my incredible humourous side finally taken over?

No, wait, I didn't have anything like that.

Or did I have it, but it was a hidden talent, and dying somehow awakened it?

If that’s the case, then I have to say that it’s a really bad moment to awaken such a talent.

What use is there in having a good sense of humor when I’m dead?

…

… Well, considering that I have just died, I guess these jokes will make this depressing situation a bit more… lively.

Hahahaha... Ha…

…

... Man, what's with the jokes? I've just died, and all the years of effort that I had put into that life have gone to waste.

To top it off, now that I’m dead, only an uncertain future awaits me.

How can I still make jokes in this situation?

I don't even know what will happen to me now!

Will I enter into a cycle of reincarnation? Will a God come and judge me? Or will a Devil come to bring me to its apartment in hell?

'Let's just hope that if it's the latter, there will be internet there'

Oops, and there goes another joke...

Was I this humorous before but didn't notice? Or am I actually just losing my sanity, and that's what is causing me to say so many stupid things for no reason at all?

Honestly, if it was the latter option, then this place might as well be actual hell... Despite its strange appearance.

Well… If I continue being here for long enough, eventually this place will become hell… That’s for sure.

The place where I was right now looked nothing like heaven, hell, nirvana, or anything similar to that... No, it was more like I was floating somewhere in space.

Want a more detailed explanation?

There were stars all around me... and void... Endless void. And I was just floating in the middle of that.

Nothing more.

If someone were to float in space, completely alone, that person would see the same as me.

Though, in their case, they would probably see the Earth, the sun, or the moon… which was not my case. I was in an empty void that seemed to be in the middle of space, with nothing but small stars around me.

However, unlike space, it wasn't cold. Or at the very least, I wasn't feeling any cold.

Not that I had a body to feel whether it was cold or not, though…

I was dead, remember?

Which in a way, was fortunate.

After all, if I had a body, then I would have frozen to death.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Or at least, that’s what would have supposedly happened… According to movies.

Whether that was true or not, I had no idea.

"..."

Ahem.

"..."

The place was also pretty lonely.

"..."

It made me wonder if this was what an astronaut felt like when being in space.

Hmm?

Oh, I think I had an idea about what might be happening now!

Suddenly, while my mind was looking for anything to think about so that I could divert my attention from the fact that I was trapped in an endless void, I had a revelation.

There were some movies in which people believed that their ancestors turned into stars after death and observed them from above from then on.

Was I gonna become something like a star or something like that, then?

But who would I observe? I didn't have a girlfriend before dying, let alone a kid to observe, so let’s not even mention descendants.

Besides, I couldn't even see Earth. So let alone observing my descendency, there wasn't even a thing to observe here.

Even my body seemed to have ceased to exist, and now only my mind was left. So even observing my own body was out of the question.

Damn, I think for the first time in years, I find my own body to be "Lacking". Hehehe...

Damnit, I think I'm going crazy... I need to breathe!

Oh, right. No lungs. Hehehe...

AHHHHH, Come on God, if you are going to appear, do it fast. I can already feel myself losing my mind. Why do you think I keep saying stupid things one after another?

-Tzzzzz...-

AHHHHH! The fucker really appeared!

Suddenly, while I was still lost in my thoughts thinking about anything that would come to my mind, an enormous figure emerged from a portal in front of me, surrounded by a mysterious and unsettling black mist, and slowly approached me with a steady pace. Floating through the space as if it was an easy matter to him.

Since it was still a bit far away, it was a tad hard to discern its appearance.

However, eventually, it approached enough so that I would be able to see it.

... And... oh god... Have mercy on me...

What the fuck is that?!

When the figure in front of me was finally revealed, I let out a horrified mental scream as I recognized the lifeform before me.

With two short legs, a curved body without arms, two floating hands on its sides, and a strange backpack on its back, a crewmate from Among Us was standing in front of me, imposingly.

-Swish!-

Oh, it also had a knife. So I guess it was an Impostor.

Mentally correcting my previous statement, I glanced at the mysterious entity and wondered what its purpose in coming here was.

Did he want to kill me? It had a knife, so surely it was able to do something with it…

Am I gonna die again? Is that even possible?

Am I gonna get stabbed to super-death?

Damn.

As I was panicking inside, wondering what the vicious creature that eradicated crewmates left and right inside the game would want from me, suddenly a thundering voice reached my ears and made me look at the impostor in front of me with widened eyes.

It was as if it was... Telling me something.

『Vð¢åvêrµñ† mê Ðåêmðñïµm, ê† £å¢†µ§ §µm ïllï§ µñµ§...』

Hmm...

『... ðmñïå, µ† åÐ §ê þêr†ïñêrê†, þðþµlå†ï §µñ†. Ävårï ¢rê况råê... ïÐêð êï§ £å¢†µ§ §µm Ðïåßðlµ§. Ú† Ðê§ïñêrê§ ðþµm §ïñê £ïñê £åmêm.』

Aha...

『†åmêñ ïñ £ïñê, ê†ïåm §ï Ðïåßðlµ§ £å¢†µ§ §µm, êð§ þrðhïßêrê ñðñ þð†µï... Vêñïêñ†, hðmð, mµñе§ qµï ñïhïl þð†ê§† ñï§ï vïÐêrê, §ï¢µ† Ðêvðråñ† ðmñïå qµåê ïßï §µñ†, µ† ¢ðmêÐåñ†.』

I see…

『Ègð 嵆êm, ïñ mê ïþ§ð, ñðñ §ïñåm êð§ ålïµÐ Ðêvðrårê... Hïñ¢ ꧆, hðmð, vïñÐêx m굧 £ïê§.』

Got it

『... ÐꧢêñÐê§, þrðþµgñå†ðr m굧, ê† ïllð§ ðþþrïmê§...』

Understandable

『... £å¢ µ† †ïmêåñ† þråê§êñ†ïåm mêåm ï†êrµm...』

Profound words indeed

… In case you didn't notice, I didn't really understand a thing of what it said. However, since I wasn't sure if it would kill me (Again) were I not to nod my head at it, I just agreed to whatever the guy said to make it pleased.

After all, it was better to be cautious around this guy. He had a knife.

Who knew what he could do with it?

『̆êrµm grå†ïå§, hµmåñð...』

Suddenly as I was nodding my head absentmindedly, the giant impostor nodded its head at me as it uttered some more unknown words, before it walked back to the portal where it had emerged from and disappeared for good.

Sigh…

… Leaving me alone once again in the middle of the void, fated to float in nothingness for the rest of eternity.

Well, at least that was an interesting experience...

...

-Swooooooosh...!!!-

Huh?!

However, while I was still processing what had happened, suddenly a portal like the one from where that Impostor had emerged appeared below me and started sucking me in.

What the fuck?!

Did I say something that annoyed that guy?

Damn, I must run!

Oh, right, no legs... Hehehe

Why the fuck am I making a joke at a moment like this?!

Sigh...

Well, whatever, it was a good afterlife…

Giving up instantly after seeing that I couldn't escape, I let out a long sigh of resignation, before I started remembering all those beautiful moments that I experienced...

My memories here, in this empty space...

Floating around, without a destination...

Meeting an impostor from among us...

Sigh...

Truly, I had lived a blessed afterlife...

-Whoooooooosh...!!-

Then, as I saw that I was about to get sucked into the portal, I closed my imaginary eyes accepting my fate, and waited for Death 2.0 to come.

-Whooooooooh...!!-

However, just as I felt myself disappearing into the portal, a primal instinct took over me, and I glanced at the starry sky with a furious expression. Letting out one final yell expressing my anger against the one who had probably created this portal.

"Impostoooor!!"

I didn't know if I yelled it or not since I didn't have a mouth. However, the intention was still there.

Hopefully, that guy would have heard it and felt the anger and grudge from my last moments.

‘If I become a ghost, be sure that I will haunt you for the rest of my life!’

...

°

°

°

|Somewhere else, sometime later...|

...

Huh...

...

I said that I would haunt him if I became a ghost... But what is this?

My hands, which didn't use to be there after I died, were now back. Though, now in a very small version...

In fact, I could feel how my entire body had shrunk to a very questionable size... It was not only my hands.

Sigh...

Yeah, that much was enough to understand what was happening... To a certain extent.

Though, I still couldn't help but ask...

'... Why did I become a baby out of nowhere?'

...

-To be continued-

°°°

(A/N: ඞ)