While one falls asleep, another falls into despair
I wake up.
Well, if we can call it "waking up."
Because honestly, finding myself trapped in a flabby, tiny body, unable to control anything except my eyelids… that's not really what I'd call a wake-up. It's a joke. A very bad joke.
I try to move. Result: a wet, pathetic squeak.
Charming.
Arms grab me. A voice whispers, tearfully: "He's beautiful…"
Another, deeper, panting: "You were amazing… We did it."
I wish I could understand what they're talking about. But seriously? I'm just here, looking at them like an idiot, with this damn body that makes me look like a used tissue. Their words pass through me without stopping. This language makes no sense. It's all a jumble I can't grasp. And yet, they seem so emotional. Tears, voices breaking… Why does it feel so disturbing?
Congratulations. You've just given birth to a lost spirit, sarcastic, and deeply offended to exist in this form.
I try to speak. Nothing comes out. Just a shrill, ridiculous cry, like a broken toy horn.
And of course, they applaud. They cry. They laugh.
As if drooling and screaming is the local equivalent of a Nobel Prize.
Then it happens.
A voice. Coldly mechanical.
[ Launch ]
[ Loading interface… ]
Ah. Here it is. Another voice in my head. Maybe this one will be more useful.
[ Analyzing body… Synchronizing… Failure. ]
What? What is… already what? Did I miss something? Is this system malfunctioning, or am I just completely lost?
[ Error ]
[ System retry… ]
[ Error ]
[ The system is unable to load the creature's profile for an unknown reason. ]
Great. I don't even know what that means, and it keeps bombarding me with incomprehensible stuff. Is this system supposed to be helpful? Because right now, I'm just lost in a stream of sounds and… what, symbols? Maybe I'm getting notifications like a cheap robot. I try to grab something intelligible, but nothing works. It's just a continuous stream of noises I can't grasp. And the worst part is, I'm too stuck in this damn body to even react properly.
[ Full synchronization failure… Restarting system ]
[ System shutdown ]
Excuse me? What? I guess I'm supposed to understand, but it's like all of this makes no sense. If I could not care, I would. But right now, it's like they're telling me I'm a defective version, with no instructions on what to do. Is it messing with me or what?
I close my eyes. Not to sleep. Just to isolate myself from the humiliation.
Anyway, how did I get isekai'd?
From my last moments and what I remember.
That day, everything should have gone as planned.
Just another school day. A boring class in a room as inspiring as a toaster. The smell of chalk. The monotonous voices of the teachers. The routine.
I looked around. Same faces as always.
Shouta, scribbling horrors in his notebook, probably hoping to one day become the next Van Gogh of high school.
Reina, hiding behind her phone, giggling halfway.
And Saiko in the back. Back against the wall. Absent. Almost unsettling. An aura of "don't talk to me, unless you want to see your karma go up in flames."
I think she wasn't kidding.
And me? I don't even know if I was looking out the window. Or if I was just daydreaming. Maybe I was just thinking about how hollow everything was.
Then… a sound. No. A crack. Like the air itself had slipped, opened up.
I saw it. Suspended there, in the void. A ray of light in the sky.
And I knew.
No panic. No screaming. Just a cold observation. The world was collapsing. And me? I was watching. Unmoved.
If this is the end, then it seriously lacks stage direction.
Then, the white.
Not darkness. No. An utter absence. Like even the concept of nothingness had been erased from the script.
Then, the cold. From within. Like my soul had been poorly reconnected.
And now here I am, in miniature mode.
Damn isekai…
And as if the joke wasn't humiliating enough, another scream rises.
Identical to mine.
Great. A twin. Because it's not hard enough being alone, now I have to share the humiliation with someone else.
Anyway, recap time.
I'm probably a human child, judging by the looks of these parents.
I hear their weird voices without understanding what they mean, so clearly, they're not speaking Japanese!
And there's this robotic voice in my head… Like I need that to come off as crazy. And even that, I don't get what it's saying.
Damn it, in isekai stories, people at least wake up with the ability to understand, or a damn goddess who explains that you need to lift the demon king. But even if there were a demon king, I'd let him have fun on his own!
"Two children? My goodness, I didn't expect that!"
A female voice rises again — probably my mother? Hard to say, everything sounds strange to my ears.
"Honey, calm down, let the system install itself properly!"
"You're right! When I was young, I was afraid there'd be a problem when it installed for me!"
Hey! I don't understand any of this! Do something, damn it!
Okay, I know I'm a child, so it's normal I don't get it… but this is an isekai!
[ System restart ]
Oh, the voice in my head! Damn it, give me the ability to understand!
[ Multiple comprehension errors detected, correction in progress… ]
[ Message from the Central System ]
[ The central system has ordered a memory scan ]
That doesn't seem to be giving me any abilities!
[ Launch ]
And before I can understand anything… my brain explodes in a fiery heat. Is this thing digging through my head or what?! Is it supposed to help me or lobotomize me?
[ Memory access failure. ] [ Loading recovered fragments… ]
The pain fades!
[ Test… can you hear me? ]
Oh? I hear it!
"Yes, I hear you!"
[ Test successful. I am the System of the World. My goal: to assist all humanoid beings. ]
[ Current location: Empire Keren, at the outskirts of Keren'zar capital ]
Ah, perfect. Even the place names sound like they came from a fantasy game on sale.