There was once a boy who was very lonely. Don't get me wrong—he had a family who loved him. However, he felt that he had trouble expressing himself and was always thinking about how others would view him. This led him to conform to fit in; he hid his real self behind a mask, which left him scarred in more ways than one. Eventually, he believed that life was boring. He found nothing worth doing except indulging in his only passions.
He had two passions. One was reading web novels. He read everything he found interesting, from fanfictions to original stories. He had read tens of thousands of chapters, getting lost in the different worlds authors meticulously crafted.
His other passion was music. The boy loved music and didn't limit himself to just one style. Despite being English, he liked Japanese and even some Chinese music. This was probably due to his love for anime when he was younger. However, over time, he found most anime cringe-worthy—full of clichés and crazy nonsense. He had recently seen some isekai garbage about someone being reincarnated as a vending machine, which caused him to deeply question his grasp on reality.
Of course, the boy still kept up to date with anime adaptations of his favorite light novels and manga, as well as the highly rated shows everyone was talking about.
Anyway, back to the topic at hand—he liked the elegance of the piano, the sophisticated sound of the violin, the cultural depth hidden within the zither, and even the simplicity offered by the ukulele.
Most of all, he loved the stories and emotions captured in a score and portrayed by a singer or instrumentalist. The boy had once asked his music teacher, "What makes someone a great musician?"
The teacher smiled and said, "A great musician is someone who can bring happiness to even the saddest soul through song. A great musician is someone who can inspire even the most unmotivated soldier to pick up his weapon. And finally, a great musician is someone who can craft their own world into a score, use it as a hook to drag people into its depths, and give them a whole new experience."
From that moment on, he had a dream—to become a great musician. However, he soon realized that the saying "talent doesn't matter with hard work" only applies to some professions, and musician definitely wasn't one of them.
You can't become a singer if your voice doesn't sound good or if you lack vocal range. You can't play certain instruments if your hand-eye coordination and dexterity are poor, or if your ears aren't sensitive enough to catch the finer details hidden within compositions.
The boy first tried becoming a singer, but his voice wasn't good enough. So he switched to instruments. He spent a year trying to learn piano but couldn't play anything beyond simple tunes.
After a year, he tried playing River Flows in You by Yiruma—one of his favorite pieces. However, it sounded more like River Flows in Hell, and he quickly realized he wasn't cut out for the piano.
After that harsh wake-up call, he tried other instruments but quickly gave up. He realized he wasn't cut out to be a musician. This hit him hard, but he found comfort in the fact that at least he could still get lost in music—a luxury some people don't have.
The boy eventually went through college, graduating with qualifications in law, business, sociology, and psychology. He then went on to university to study law further for his degree. As for why he wanted to become a lawyer?
Well, the answer was money—a lot, and I mean a lot of money. Since he couldn't work a job he was passionate about, he decided he'd earn money to indulge in his passions as much as he wanted while helping his family and others.
So the boy drifted through society with no goal other than to make money and help those in need, hoping to earn enough karma to get an extra cool second life.
Yes, the boy believed in reincarnation—or rather, he forced himself to believe in it. He prayed every night to the goddess of reincarnation before going to sleep.
After all, what if it was real and he could live the life he always wanted—be the protagonist of his own story?
Eventually, the boy didn't know how his boring life ended.
---
"Are you done?" The woman across from him smiled, veins bulging on her forehead as she stared at the floating ball of light.
"Awfully rude for a goddess, aren't you? I can't believe I prayed to you for god knows how long. Oh wait, it should be goddess knows how long. Hahahahahaha." The floating orb had a massive smirk on his face, which earned him a punch from the goddess—or what he assumed was her fist.
"I asked how you ended up here, not your whole life story. You could've just said, 'I died,'" the woman said, blowing steam off her fist.
"But I felt like you should know. I mean, you don't look like the smartest of the bunch," the orb whispered.
The goddess lifted her fist again with a serene smile and punched him hard, sending his body flying like a ping pong ball across the white room.
"Now, let me introduce myself." The woman summoned a throne, crossed her legs, and adopted a fierce expression. "You stand in the presence of the great goddess of reincarnation, ruler of the cycle of life and death, and savior of NEETs and otakus who want to be isekai'd."
Loud laughter echoed from the floating orb. "You'd look a lot more majestic if your image wasn't that of a cute little girl."
"Hoo... hoo... keep calm... you're the goddess of reincarnation; you can't stoop to a mortal's level."
"I mean, what kind of goddess wears Hello Kitty pajamas?"
The orb continued provoking her until he was sent flying again like a ping pong ball.
"I'll have you know that this is a perfectly acceptable fashion choice—it's really popular in the realm of gods. Along with Kamen Rider cosplay, for some reason I still don't understand."
The orb sighed. "It's okay; that's a secret among men only. Those worthy know the greatness that is Kamen Rider."
"You sound exactly like another god I know. Anyway, let's get this started. I'm already tired of your presence." A condescending smirk appeared on her childish face, which made me want to punch her—but she's a goddess, so I'll restrain myself.
The goddess pulled out a list of all my life experiences and said, "You had five wishes due to your good karma. However, you sold one to bail yourself out of a problem and another to get a gold pull from a stupid game called Genshin Impact."
"Worth it. The event was about to end—I'm not missing my waifus," I said with the most serious expression I could muster as a floating orb of light. She gave me a look filled with irritation and contempt.
The goddess continued, "Anyway, you have three wishes left. Nothing too overpowered like omnipotence or more wishes. You don't need to wish to keep your memories—they come with you automatically. No point reincarnating you otherwise."
"Do I get to choose which world I reincarnate into?" The orb grew a hand and rubbed where he assumed his chin would be.
"Finally, a reasonable question. No—you don't. That part is randomly assigned, along with your race. But you do get to design what your new body will look like. Now make your choices. What are your wishes going to be?"
The goddess reached forward and grabbed the hand I'd grown, her expression curious—perhaps wondering how the hell that happened, since I was supposed to be just a floating soul.