The first thing she noticed as she came to, was the cold seeping into her warm body from beneath her. Did I fall asleep on the floor again?
She reached her hands high above her head as she sat up in a yawn...but she felt nothing happen. Her mouth didn't open, her arms didn't move, and she didn't feel the sweet sweet shiver down her spine of a good yawn.
When she opened her eyes (that felt weird), she noticed that she couldn't really see. Her vision was fixed in one direction, up toward the ceiling. That's not my ceiling... the lights on the ceiling were long and bright as if she were in a kitchen.
"MOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!"
She tried to turn her body toward the unfamiliar voice she heard but it was useless. For some reason she was stuck in place staring at the ceiling...wait- am I even blinking? wtf is going on?
"FOOD IS READY!!!"
The voice called again. She didn't recognize the voice shouting. HEY! She shouted, but there was no evidence that she had spoken out loud. She didn't feel her mouth move, her vocal chords didn't vibrate, and the voice from beside her gave no response.
It was at this moment that she really started to panic. Where am I? Why can't I move? Who is that? Why can't I talk? Have I been kidnapped??! Oh my god that's it I've been-
"Hi everyone, I got tagged in the Takoyaki challenge by SmolByunny so here I am!" her thoughts quieted at that slight memory and she focused on trying her best to remember.
She had been in her bedroom and was checking her notifications on TakTok. There is a new challenge going around called the Takoyaki challenge where people film themselves swallowing a Takoyaki whole. Her friend online, SmolByunny, posted just an hour before their challenge video and called out SuTaRuKaMeKo, her username, to complete the challenge.
“MOOOOOM!!” she had shouted at her mom while running down the stairs, “Where’s my takoyaki??”
Her mom, a short curly haired woman, turned from the fridge, “What takoyaki?”
“UGH!” she groaned and dropped into the island chair, “Dammit mom I need Takoyaki now!”
Her mom flustered at her attitude, “We are about to leave for-”
“UGH MOM!!!” she flailed her arms in frustration, “I don’t care OK? Just make me takoyaki and be quick about it!!”
After making sure her mom began preparing the takoyaki, she flopped herself on the couch and began to scroll through more TakTok’s, Lame, she swiped up, thirst trap, swipe, pedo, swipe, slut, swipe, aw- the puppy, swipe, damn he’s hot, swipe, what an idiot, swipe…swipe…swipe…swipe.
“Takako here, they’re ready,” her mom gingerly set a small plate of 4 perfectly round takoyaki on the coffee table in front of the couch.
She sat up, “FINALLY!” her face was covered in annoyance as she grabbed the plate, “it took you long enough jeeze-” she rolled her eyes and darted back up to her room.
After a quick camera set up she began to film the video, "Hi everyone, I got tagged in the Takoyaki challenge by SmolByunny so here I am!" she held up the plate of takoyaki and made an exaggerated surprised and excited face as if she didn’t realize she was holding a plate the whole time, “OK so I’ve seen a lot of people, SmolByunny included, who had a really hard time with this challenge so- OMG I’m so nervous-” she squealed as she lifted a takoyaki off the plate and looked in the camera to make sure everything could be seen correctly, “Ahhh, I just hope I don’t look ugly oh god-” she held up the ball of fried dough above her head and opened her mouth wide, “OK here we-”
There were 3 knocks on the door, “Takako!” her mother called, “It’s time to go we are going to be late-”
“UUUUGHGGGGHHH” she whipped around and glared at the door, “MOM FOR THE LOVE OF UUURRRGGGG!!! I’M FILMING RIGHT NOW!!”
“Oh- I’m sorry sweetie. Your father and I will be waiting in the car for you so don’t take too long please…”
“FINE! GO AWAY!!” she screamed and listened carefully for her mom's fading footsteps before turning back to her phone, “Ugh whatever, I’ll just edit the cuts together-” she stopped the previous recording and began a new one. The annoyance on her face immediately left and traded for a fake smile, “AH! OK, here we go!!!” she adopted the same pose from before where she held the takoyaki high above her head with a wide open mouth, “Here goes nothing!” she dropped the ball in mouth and immediately attempted to swallow without chewing.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
It didn’t go down.
Immediately her hands went to her throat. The muscles in her neck started contracting and spasming and she choked trying to breathe. She saw her face in the video recording- her eyes were already bulging and tears began to stream from her wide eyes.
Panicking, she tried to reach her fingers down her throat but she couldn’t reach. Small squeaks were the most she could muster. Mom!! She ran for the door but tripped over a pile of dirty clothes. Trying to stand, her eyes went fuzzy.
Then suddenly she was breathing and blinking just fine. But she wasn’t in her room anymore…actually, she wasn’t even on Earth, “AHH!!” she screamed when she saw the Earth below her. Instinctively, she covered her mouth- but found she could breathe quite easily in space somehow.
“Don’t bother,” a booming voice from behind her yawned, “You’re dead anyway..”
“What?!” she turned around to face the voice and her jaw fell open in shock. There was a giant bodybuilder of a man wrapping a silk robe around his muscular body. After securing the tie, he turned to her and snapped his fingers. A large marble chair appeared out of nowhere. He grunted as he took a seat and a small cup of what looked like whiskey appeared in his hand, “Now let’s see then….” when he blinked his eyes shifted from dark brown to a fluid white. He looked at her up and down before sighing and his eyes shifted back to their normal color, “Surume Takako. 18 years old. Not a student. No employment. Overall personality…kindofabitch,” he clicked his tongue against his mouth.
“Hey-” she struck an annoyed pose, “That’s not true! I’m an influencer. I have like…a lot of followers-”
The large man groaned, “Uh huh…1,000 people- no sorry I guess it’s more 200 people and 800 bots is not what I classify as an…influencer.”
She scoffed, “Who the fuck do you think you are?”
The moment the words left her mouth the space around them went completely black with the only light source coming from the large mans hand, “Who am I?”
She gulped and took a step back.
“You humans refer to me as God, but you can call me Almightly.”
Her eyes went wide, “If you’re God…then…I really am dead?”
He took a sip from his drink, “Yup. Let’s go ahead and check how you died-” this time his eyes shifted to a fluid red color. For a few moments he was silent and then his brow furrowed.
“Hey…what’s wrong?” he didn’t respond, “Almightly…?”
His eyes shifted back to the dark brown color and he took a small breath before shouting, “YOU STUPID IDIOT-”
She started back, confused, “Huh? Hey I’m not-”
Suddenly they were in her room and watching the takoyaki events transpire. Almightly was grumbling, “I swear you idiots get dumber and dumber,” he made his voice go high to mock her, “Oh I’m an influencer, I’m just going to film myself choking- why is your generation like this? Tide pods weren’t enough?”
She watched horrified at the sight of herself dying and felt tears well up in her eyes. “What about my parents did they-”
He snapped his fingers and they were once again in space with the Earth below, “Oh don’t even start with that crap. You screamed at, belittled, and acted like a spoiled little brat all the way up to your stupid stupid death. Don’t act like you care about them now-”
“I am NOT STUPID!” she screamed at him and stomped her feet, “It was a TakTok challenge!” her throat started to go tight and tears fell from her eyes. Her voice cracked and whined with each word, “Everyone’s been doing it! How was I supposed to know- If it weren’t for my stupid mom leaving the house then I wouldn’t-”
“ENOUGH!” he bellowed, “I had hoped that seeing your own death would put some guilt and repentance into you but you’re just too stupid-” he stood and the chair disappeared as he walked toward her, “Your soul isn’t worth reusing…so let’s teach you a lesson,” he stepped closer and closer to her and now she realized just how much larger he was than her, “You will get reincarnated, but not as a human- oh no,” he bent over so his face stared down at her, “ you’ll continue to be reincarnated over and over and over again until all that’s left of your soul is smoke.”
---
SMACK!
The sound around her snapped her back to her new reality where she was stuck in place, unable to move, or speak, or talk.
“Wash your hands before you eat!” a voice from nearby commanded.
So I’ve been reincarnated huh? But not as a human…that explains why I can’t move….what the heck even am I?
Finally, something new entered her field of vision. An unfamiliar face looked down directly at her with a serious look, “Thanks for the takoyaki mom.”
She felt two cold hard things around her sides and she felt her body, whatever it was, rise up in the air.
Woooahhh woooahhh she felt her body slip slightly and now she was facing down at the same place she had been. There was a plate of takoyaki with one open spot as if someone had taken one already.
Wait…that….was I…wait…does that mean I-
The world around her seemed to move in slow motion as she became aware of the doughy roundness of her body. Her ball form moved closer and closer to someone's mouth.
Oh god- oh fuck am I really-
She felt his lips make contact with her form.
AM I REALLY A TAKOYAKI?!?!?!?
He bit her in half.
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-
-
-
-huh?
She was warm and soft and floating through the air. She could just barely make out the form under her as a takoyaki pan before she was placed on a metal wire frame to cool.
…
Oh fuck. Am I….a takoyaki again?