Wandering consciousness.
That is the sensation of what Yasuo experienced after death. He was conscious, but he had no human senses. He couldn't tell where he was, or what was happening anywhere. He only knew that he existed.
Then suddenly, but slowly, he gained sense.
First came his thoughts.
"I'm… alive? Did someone save me?"
Second came his sense of touch.
"What is this? Grass? Where… could I be?"
Then he opened his eyes.
Yasuo looked up into clear skies. Sunlight fell on his face through the faint spaces between tree leaves.
Yasuo looked at his hand. He opened and closed it. He instinctively looked for his smartwatch on his wrist, but he had no such thing.
"This isn't good… eh? Is this my voice?"
Yasuo felt that his voice was a pitch higher than normal. He stood up looking at his hands and feet. "Who's body is this? This isn't me!!"
"Someone's awfully energetic!" a feminine voice said.
Yasuo looked around him. "Huh, what?! Who said that?!" He put his hands to his hair. "Am I going crazy?! This is some sort of dream, right?!"
"Relax, I'm right here, look up."
Yasuo tilted his head up. There was a tiny woman with four delicate wings on her back. She was flying.
Yasuo's face lit up. "Wow!! A flying tiny person! What are you?!"
"Well I'm a spirit, but it seems that I've become a fairy in this world. Call me Pixie."
Yasuo watched as Pixie flew all around him. "A spirit? Those actually exist?"
"Of course they do. The Great Heavenly Spirit of Life assigned me to watch over you during your new divine path!"
"New divine path…?" Yasuo became alarmed. "Wait, so I really did die?!"
Pixie stopped in front of him. "Yup. Dead as a log!"
Yasuo paced back and forth. "Ah, this doesn't make any sense! If I died, then how come I still have my memories? And I've started my life already into the middle of my childhood?! And my brain chip!! I don't have it! But… I'm… fine…?"
"That's all because you've been reincarnated. This body was made specifically for you."
Yasuo stopped. "Reincarnated? So that wasn't a dream? The woman falling from the sky was real?!"
Pixie nodded. "You must be referring to the Great Heavenly Spirit of Life. You should know that this planet isn't like the one you remember. Nearly all of the knowledge and technology from your past life is non-existent here, so everything is done by hand or with basic machinery."
"So that means..." Yasuo looked up in despair. "I'm in ancient times?!!!" He ran up to Pixie. "What about my mom? Did she get reincarnated too?"
Pixie shook her head. "No, it's just you I'm afraid."
Yasuo was sad at first. He thought about his past life, and all of the memories he had with his mother. He put his hands together out of respect. A single tear fell from his face. "I can only be grateful that I got a second chance at life."
Pixie was a bit surprised. "Grateful? The report stated that you were a selfish person by nature."
"I am selfish, I'll admit that. But I'm thinking that since I've got a second chance at life, I should take it more seriously."
Pixie circled Yasuo's head. "Huh, I didn't know humans had the ability to evolve. Or maybe they don't. After all you're not exactly human anymore."
Yasuo looked at her. "I'm not? What am I then? An elf, a dwarf, maybe some sort of transforming alien race?"
"You're a god."
Yasuo's face went blank. "Come again…?"
Pixie smiled sweetly. "You're a deity now."
Yasuo thought back to his previous life. Before World War III, Earth was riddled with many religions, each with their own ideals of what god was supposed to be. When all of the world's nations joined hands, all forms of religion was also abolished, as humanity became reliant on themselves, finding faith and hope in each other rather than higher beings.
Yasuo looked at his child-like hands. "So what do I do now?"
Pixie pointed in a direction. "We should head to a town so that you can find somewhere to stay and earn money. You may be a god, but you're a nameless one. You have no merit."
Yasuo got himself pumped up. "Right! I've played enough video games to know how this works! Let's go!" He marched off as Pixie followed him.
—
"Say, Pixie." Yasuo asked.
"Yes?"
"You called yourself a spirit right? Do you have any cool powers?"
"Not at all. Although I do have the ability to heal you."
"At least you're somewhat useful."
Pixie smiled at the half-compliment, then fumed. "Don't treat me like a burden!"
-
Yasuo found a dirt road that lead up to the closest town in view. He heard rumbling footsteps behind him. Soon a horse zoomed past.
"Hey!!! Watch out!!!" a voice called.
Yasuo looked behind him to see a large wagon full of various goods hurdling towards him. He instinctively held his hands out in fear of being hit, but instead of being trampled over, he simply stopped the cart.
"Huh. Looks like I'm stronger than I thought." he muttered.
A girl came running down the path. "Hey!! Thanks for stopping my cart!!"
Yasuo patted the wooden cart. "Sure, no problem, no problem. Are you a merchant or something?"
The girl bowed in thanks. "No, I'm an adventurer! Well I will be, hopefully." She started attempting to drag her heavy wagon along.
Yasuo pretended to be clueless. "What's an adventurer?" (Inner thoughts: "This world has adventurers?! Yes!! All the manga and anime I've watched is finally paying off!!")
The girl looked back at him puzzled. "Seriously? You don't know what adventurers are? Where are you from anyway?"
Yasuo nervously scratched the back of his head. "Let's just say I'm not from around here."
"Oh, uh, okay. Adventuring is the best job in the whole wide world! You get to take jobs posted or requested by other people in exchange for rewards! The higher your rank, the more difficult missions you're allowed to take."
Yasuo took a hold of the wagon. "Maybe I should be an adventurer." ("Of course it's just like what I imagined! I'll reach the top of the ranks in no time flat!!")
The girl walked alongside the wagon on their way to the town. "No offense, but you don't exactly look like the adventuring type." she said laughing to herself.
Yasuo's eyes narrowed. "Well… yeah, but you don't either."
"You're just saying that because I'm a girl!"
"No I'm not…!" ("Bingo…")
On their way to the town, Yasuo passed by a pond. He stopped to take a look at himself.
Even though he was mentally sixteen, his physical appearance was three years younger. His hair was short and black, and his eyes were blue. He looked completely different from his usual self.
A concerning scream came from his lungs. "What am I, some sort of shotacon fantasy package?!!"