On the brink of death, seeing his friends injured and trying to protect him, Okayu thinks, "Why did this happen? Everything was going so well. Why did the peaceful life I had turn into this?... Ahhhh, I'm so tired... I guess it wouldn't hurt... if I rest... just a little..."
You must be wondering, "But how did this happen?" Well, for that, we'll have to go back to where it all started—one month ago. Cliché, I know...
One Month Earlier
It was the last day of school, and Okayu, Kateki, and Maria (his best friend and the girl who hates everyone) were assigned to clean the classroom.
"Damn, this sucks," complained his friend, spinning the mop across the floor carelessly. "We should just get this over with and leave already!"
"Better to finish it properly so we don't get in trouble later," the protagonist replied with a carefree smile. He didn't care much about chores, but he also didn't want any trouble.
"Hey, Kateki, pass me the broom. I wanna finish this fast and go home to play," said Okayu to his best friend.
"Think fast," Kateki replied as he tossed the broom in Okayu's direction.
Okayu found himself in a tricky situation since his hands were full, making it hard to catch the broom at that moment… He dodged, trying not to get hit, but...
PUFF… echoed through the classroom.
"Tsk," Maria muttered after getting hit by the flying broom.
The two friends spent the rest of the cleaning time apologizing to Maria, but she kept turning her head away and decided to ignore them.
Twenty minutes later, the three finished cleaning and were on their way out.
"Hey, Maria," Okayu called, but got no response.
"Maria?" he repeated, but still, no answer.
"MARIA," he repeated in a louder tone.
"What?" Maria responded, clearly bored and in a bad mood for being in that situation.
"I apologize for what happened in the classroom. I really feel bad about it," but once again, Maria chose to remain silent.
"Come on, I'll buy you anything you want to eat. You can pick whatever you like."
"I don't want anything," Maria replied quickly.
BRUUUL...
"Maria? Was that you?" Kateki asked.
"I-It was my stomach," Maria answered quietly, embarrassed by the situation.
"That settles it then. Maria, choose a place to eat, and I'll take you there—my treat."
"Are you paying for mine too?" Kateki asked.
"No, you pay for yours," -
"Aww..."
Following Maria, they arrived at their destination.
The trio ended up stopping at a small diner near the school, a cozy little place with wooden tables and the delicious smell of fried food in the air.
As soon as they sat down, Okayu looked at Maria with a carefree smile.
"Hey, sorry for hitting you with the broom. It wasn't on purpose..."
Maria, as always, kept her expression blank. "Hmm."
His friend laughed. "You know, I think it was your fault for being in the way. Who just stands there like a ghost?"
Okayu nudged his friend with his elbow. "Not funny, dude."
Maria let out a small sigh and picked up the menu.
"I'll order the most expensive thing."
Okayu blinked. "Huh?"
"You guys said this was to apologize, so I'll accept your apology in the best way possible," she said expressionlessly, flipping through the menu until she found the ridiculously expensive dishes.
Okayu started sweating. "H-Hey, wait a second, no need to go overboard, right?"
His friend laughed. "Fair enough. Go for it, Maria."
She didn't respond and simply placed her order with the waiter.
While they waited, his friend leaned in to whisper, "Dude, she's gonna ruin you."
"It's part of my penance," Okayu joked.
The food arrived, and Maria began eating calmly, taking her time, while the other two watched, still in disbelief at the hole this was about to burn in their wallets.
Silence filled the place.
In the end, when the bill arrived, Okayu picked it up and looked at the numbers.
"…I think I'm gonna need to find a job."
Maria wiped her mouth with a napkin and stood up. "Thanks for the food."
Okayu looked at her and smiled. "So, are we good now?"
She looked back and simply replied:
"No."
Then she walked away.
His friend laughed. "I think that was her way of saying she enjoyed it."
Okayu sighed, tossing some bills onto the table. "Well, at least we tried."
On the way home, Okayu asked again:
"Are you still upset? I mean, does it still hurt?"
"It doesn't hurt anymore," Maria replied, almost whispering.
Reaching the point where their paths split into three, Kateki spoke up:
"Takemi (Okayu Takemi), I'm going this way."
"Alright, I'll head this way," he replied.
Maria simply continued on her path without saying a single word.
"See you tomorrow, Maria," Okayu waved as she walked away, only raising her hand in response.
Kateki looked at Okayu with a teasing expression. "Forget it, man. She's hopeless."
Okayu sighed. "Hmph."
Upon arriving home, Okayu was met with an unexpected sight—his house was engulfed in flames. The fire rose high, as if being controlled by something.
Panic consumed him as he sprinted toward his home, not even considering the danger.
He desperately searched for an entrance, but most of the structure had collapsed. Every window and door was blocked by debris. Unable to find a way in, Okayu decided to kick at the wreckage, even if it meant burning his feet.
After much effort, he managed to break through and rushed inside. Sprinting through the burning hallways, he did everything he could to find his family. He ran and ran, but there was no one in sight.
A wave of relief washed over him.
"It's okay, no one's here. They must have escaped."
But now, there was another problem.
"How am I supposed to get out of here?" he thought frantically.
Everything around him was destroyed—burned and fragile, as if it would crumble at the slightest touch.
Scanning his surroundings, he found only one possible escape route—the second floor.
He bolted upstairs, dodging falling debris along the way.
Reaching the second floor, he was met with... nothing.
Nothing at all.
"How is this possible?" Okayu wondered. "How am I supposed to get out of here now?"
As Okayu tried to figure out a way out of the situation, the wooden floor beneath his right foot suddenly gave way.
Losing his balance, he fell.
"Ouch… my foot!"
Desperately, he got up and tried to run toward his room without thinking—though he was never much of a thinker to begin with.
Okayu tripped and fell.
Okayu looked up.
Okayu saw a pile of debris collapsing over him.
Everything went black…
(the narrator was having a rough time so he just repeated stuff)
Meanwhile, Maria arrived home.
"I'm home," she said, her expression turning somber.
"Just kidding, haha," she let out a bitter, ironic laugh.
"There's no one here to hear me. They're all gone. They left me behind… How could they do this to me?" TQears welling up in her eyes.
Maria took a bath, made herself something to eat, and went to bed early—just like every other day.
But then, she noticed a strange smell in the air.
"What is that smell?" Maria wondered. "Is that… smoke?"
She quickly got up and rushed toward the kitchen—the source of the smell.
As soon as she stepped out of her room, she could already see thick smoke and an orange glow coming from the kitchen.
When she arrived in the kitchen, Maria was met with a mysterious fire.
"BUT I REMEMBER TURNING EVERYTHING OFF!" she screamed in fear, staring at the impossible flames. It was as if someone had started the fire on purpose.
Maria tried putting it out using water and towels, but nothing worked—the flames seemed alive.
"Are these flames… alive?" she thought.
"That's what I said," the narrator replied.
Realizing she couldn't extinguish the fire, Maria tried to run outside to call for help.
But before she could even take a step, everything around her started spinning.
She still tried to run, but the smoke she had inhaled overwhelmed her, and she collapsed.
Despite the catastrophic events that his two classmates went through, Kateki arrived home like any other day.
No fire. No disasters.
Until…
TAM TAM TAAAM…
At 3 a.m., Kateki woke up feeling thirsty.
He went to the kitchen and… drank water.
(Did you think there was going to be a fire?) Said by the narrator.
Kateki drank his water, stood there for a few moments thinking about life, and then went back to bed.
But then, he started feeling a pain in his chest.
At first, it was a mild pain, so he decided to take some medicine and try to sleep again.
The pain worsened.
Now, it felt like his chest was burning. He felt exhausted, sore, and began to hallucinate.
His first thought was to grab a thermometer and check his temperature.
"Where did they put the thermometer?" he muttered, searching over and over until…
"Found it."
Kateki had finally located the thermometer.
As he measured his temperature, the burning pain intensified. His body felt scorching hot.
(Beep… beep… beep…)
"43 degrees?! HOW AM I STILL ALIVE?!"
Really, how was he still alive?
The pain worsened with each passing second.
It burned more and more.
Kateki couldn't take it anymore. Unable to call for help, he passed out.
(Okayu waking up.)
He saw a light and immediately thought:
"Am I dead?"
"Yes, you are."
"Yeah, I figur—wait, WHAT? I'm actually dead?! And who just said that?"
"It was me."
"And who exactly is 'me'? Also, why is everything dark?"
"I am God. And it's dark because your eyes are closed. Open them," said "God."
"Oh," Okayu responded, opening his eyes as commanded.
For the first time, Okayu saw God (he had never died before, after all).
What he saw was a being of pure light with a humanoid shape.
"God? This is… God?" he wondered.
"First of all, it's not 'this'—I am alive, you idiot. Second—YES, I AM GOD! How many times do I have to repeat myself?"
"Sorry, Mr. God, but I'm not exactly used to dying. It's not something that happens every day. Anyway, what am I doing here?"
"Well, as you know, you died. And… maybe it was my fault. I let something escape from the other world—something that should have never gotten out… something dangerous," God said, looking regretful.
"But it's fine now. I've already found someone to fix the problem I caused."
"And who would that be?" Okayu asked.
"You."
"Wait, hold on—you made this mess, and I have to clean it up?!"
"Yes!"
"But I—"
"You won't be alone," God interrupted.
"The thing that killed you also killed two other people you know very well…"
"WHAT?! WHO?!"
"The readers already know, so you'll find out soon enough."
"Reade—wait, so they're going to the same world as me? And who the hell are these 'readers'?"
"Doesn't matter. And yes, those people were also killed because of me, so I gave them the same opportunity that—wait, how do you even know you're going to another world?" God asked, surprised.
"Well, you practically exposed your whole plan when you said I was going to fix your mess. Plus, that's just how it works in isekai stories—the protagonist dies by God's mistake and is sent to another world as compensation—the protagonist. But this time, it's not to compensate you, it's to fix your mistake. So, I'm not very convinced." Okayu replied with a bored and doubtful look.
"Okay, I get it—I'm not as good a god as the ones in other isekais, but I'm doing my bes— You know what? Just go already. I'll get in touch soon." said "God" as he sent Okayu to the other world. "Someone will explain everything to you when you get there."
Okayu was too shocked to say anything else, so he simply accepted it and went.
A few moments later, Okayu and two other people woke up in a dark space with only a single source of light. From that exact source of light, something emerged. Something big? No, wait… it wasn't actually that big—it was just a matter of perspective.
"Greetings, dear new visitors and residents (since from today onward, this is your home). How are you feeling, Okayu Takemi, Kateki Kouto, and Maria Mars?"
"Kateki and Maria?" Okayu thought.
"Kateki and Maria, is that you?" he now asked out loud.
"So, this is the place where we're going to stay?" Maria asked.
"It's much darker than I thoug—wait, Takemi? Is that you?!"
And the two of them hugged, staying like that for ten minutes, talking and explaining what had happened to each other.
"Are you done yet? Or do you still plan on wasting more time here?" Maria asks, already irritated with the situation as always.
Kateki: "What do you mean, wasting time? Isn't this where we're staying?"
"While you two were busy chatting, I asked that same question, and the 'entity' said no." – Maria
"No? What do you mean, no?" Kateki questions.
As you might have noticed, the "entity" has arrived and will explain everything to Okayu and the other two people who, BY CHANCE, happen to be the protagonist's friends. So, let's move on to the explanation. Good luck:
Entity: "Welcome. The three of you have been brought to this world, as God told you, to solve a problem. You will receive powers to fulfill God's request. This is a world where power is defined by the Concepts of your world, as this is merely an alternate version of it. 'Alternate' doesn't mean identical; in fact, it is very different from your 'normality.' Each of you will receive a unique Concept, which will determine your growth and abilities."
Irritated companion: "How ridiculous... Concepts? Is this some kind of joke?"
Friend: "Hey, let him talk! I want to know what my power is."
Okayu: "You seem way more excited than you should be. So... how exactly does this work?"
Entity: "Concepts are not just powers, but the very essence of what they represent. If someone possesses the Concept of Strength, they are not just strong; they become the very definition of strength. They could lift mountains, crush steel with their fingers, or even redefine what it means to 'be strong.'"
Okayu: "So basically, they could make us weak or strong? Or even be as strong as they want to be?"
Entity: "In very simple terms, yes, they could. But remember, every concept has its limits. The Concept of Strength can be extremely powerful, but keep in mind that whoever holds it is only strong, not necessarily durable. If they try to lift something their body can't withstand, they would be crushed as a consequence."
Okayu: "Makes sense, but it's still terrifying."
Friend: "Dude, this is amazing! So, what's mine?"
Entity: "Both you and Okayu have received the Concept of Evolution. This means you have the potential to grow indefinitely, adapting and becoming stronger with every challenge you overcome."
Okayu: "So... we can basically keep getting stronger over time? No limits?"
Entity: "Yes, but only if you face real challenges. Evolution does not happen without effort. It's like training, but without limits. You will gain the necessary powers to evolve when you need them."
Bored companion: "Whatever... And what about me?"
Entity: "Your concept is Rejection."
Okayu: "Hmph... Fitting."
Companion: "What did you just say?"
Friend: "Rejection? What does that mean?"
Entity: "It means she can reject things – from physical attacks to emotions, and even the very reality around her."
Companion: "Interesting..."
Okayu: "That sounds kind of scary..."
Friend: "But it seems useful."
Entity: "The strength of your concepts will depend on how well you understand and use them. Now, it's up to you to explore their true potential. I'm gonna send you guys to the place right now, good luck. I'll enter in contact later."
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Moments later, the "entity" meets someone.
Mysterious voice: "Why did you lie to them about evolution?"
Entity: "Do you think they would accept this situation so easily if they knew the truth? And even if they did, they are not yet ready to learn the true nature of the evolution."…
Is not that bad though
To be continued…
(this FIRST chapter was only the introduction to the next world so do NOT worry the next chapters will be bigger and bigger)
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