——Where… am I?——
A pure white space. I felt like my body was floating.
I couldn't even tell if I was facing up or down. It was a strange, unfamiliar yet somehow nostalgic sensation.
As I drifted in this mysterious all-white space, my senses gradually began to regain clarity.
I'm… that's right. My name is Sadojima Tōya. Just an ordinary salaryman.
It was the very end of December, the last day of the year. My coworkers were fidgeting, eager to get home to their families. So I put on a cool front and said, "I'll handle the rest, you guys go ahead," and took on the overtime like always.
I've always had a self-sacrificing personality.
37 years old, single. A widower living alone. Pretending to be a nice guy like that was pretty much the only way I could maintain any sense of identity.
My girlfriend from a few years ago had left after a stupid fight, and that was that.
Because of that, I slowly stopped socializing, spent my days half-heartedly, and just went back and forth between the company and my apartment.
I remembered walking home after work, sipping canned coffee from the convenience store, and sighing at the sight of crowds heading to the big temple for New Year's prayers—something that had nothing to do with me.
Yeah… I was thinking, "Another year's almost over," as I tried to cross the intersection. Then I heard a loud horn, turned around, and after that…
The light was definitely green, though.
"Ah… so I died, huh?"
It seemed I could speak. Remembering the moment of my death brought my thoughts fully back. As my mind cleared, so did my vision.
I had feet. I had hands and fingers. I touched my face—it felt exactly like my own. Looking down, I was still wearing my suit. There wasn't any mud or blood. No trace of having been hit by a car.
At this point I started doubting whether I had really died, but I clearly remembered the disgusting sensation of my body being crushed.
A massive rubber mass had pressed against my face, cracking and crushing my skull with a horrible sound. In short, I had been killed when the tire of the car that hit me ran over my head.
What a pathetic, empty way to go. Well, at least there weren't many people who would mourn me.
My whole family had died over ten years ago. I had almost no relatives. I was essentially all alone in the world. At best, a few coworkers might show up at my funeral, but they'd forget about me soon enough.
Strangely, I wasn't particularly shocked that I had died. It was more like enlightenment—Oh, so that's what happened. When did I become such a sage? I had been in "sage mode" a lot lately, though…
Anyway, never mind that. Where the hell was I? No matter which way I looked—up, down, behind—it was nothing but pure white emptiness. An ambiguous space where I couldn't even tell if I was standing or floating.
"Hm?"
A faint light appeared at the edge of my vision. When I looked up, I saw a small glowing object gradually approaching. Then I realized it was plummeting straight toward me with a tremendous roar.
"Uwoh!? What the hell is that!?"
I instinctively jumped back. The ball of light crashed into where I had been standing with a huge explosion, kicking up a cloud of dust.
There shouldn't have been any ground here, yet the spot turned red with a flashy blast. Despite the dramatic explosion, there was no shockwave. I stood up from where I had rolled.
"W-what was that? That was close…"
As the smoke slowly cleared, a figure appeared before me.
It was a girl of divine beauty.
"Sadojima… Tōya-san, correct?"
"Eh… ah… yes, that's me."
I was so startled that my voice barely came out, but I somehow managed to answer. I must have looked like an idiot, completely captivated by the incredibly beautiful girl who had appeared in front of me.
Goddess… For some reason, that word flashed through my mind. A lotus-shaped hair ornament sparkled in her hair as it swayed.
I immediately knew she wasn't human. Because her hair was shining in rainbow colors. You could even say she had a halo. Although her overall color was golden, it kept shifting through various hues.
I thought she was wearing a fluttering white robe like something from Greek mythology, but then the girl suddenly vanished from my sight.
"Eh?"
She hadn't disappeared—she had jumped high into the air. She spun once in mid-air and then dove straight down, landing on her hands and knees.
"I'M SOOOOOO SOOOORRRYYYYY!!!"
"Eeeeh!?"
It was a dogeza. A perfect, flawless dogeza.
I was completely taken aback. Anyone would be shocked if a goddess-like beautiful girl suddenly did a flying dogeza.
"No, I'm really sorry! How can I possibly apologize? If you want, I'll commit seppuku right now—"
"H-hey, hey, hey! Wait a second! Don't suddenly start talking about disemboweling yourself!"
My head spun from the chaotic scene. The conversation wasn't progressing at all.
"Y-yes, you're right. Sorry. Let me explain the situation first."
The girl straightened up and brushed the dust off her skirt.
"Sadojima Tōya-sama. You must be very confused right now. I am a god. To be precise, I am the 'Creation God,' mother of all worlds. Pleased to make your acquaintance."
She gave a small polite bow.
Creation God? This tiny girl? Looking closely, she was more cute than beautiful, and she only came up to about my waist.
"Still, this blunder is quite unbecoming of my title. I truly don't know how to apologize…"
"Um, sorry, but could you please explain everything from the beginning?"
The girl made a "whoops" face and teared up again. Somehow the situation had turned into me making a little girl cry, and I felt a pang of guilt.
"Then let me explain the situation. This way, please."
Before I knew it, a table and chairs had appeared, and she offered me a seat.
I sat down without having time to be surprised by the sudden appearance of physical objects in empty space. Then a fancy-looking teapot materialized out of light, and the goddess poured me some tea.
"…Delicious."
It was the best thing I had ever tasted. It was pure liquid with zero bitterness. I could feel my agitated mind calming down. My head became incredibly clear, and I was ready to listen to her story.
"I'm glad you like it. It's tea from the realm of the gods, so it should feel especially good to humans."
"Thank you. So… Goddess-sama, is that okay to call you? Could you please explain my situation from the start?"
"Yes, well…"
Once she calmed down, the goddess began to speak slowly. By the way, she looked like a girl somewhere between a young child and a teenager, but she was apparently a genuine god who had lived for trillions of years.
According to her, I had indeed died. However, I wasn't actually supposed to die yet. It seemed there had been a management error on the gods' side, and I had been mistakenly processed for death.
Sounds like typical government work, I thought. When I said that out loud, she laughed and muttered that it was pretty much the same. Being a god didn't seem easy either.
Normally, someone who died due to such a mistake would be revived in their original world to live out the rest of their life. But here a problem occurred.
My soul had somehow failed to enter the cycle of reincarnation. The gods only noticed this anomaly four years later (in human time). By then, my body had long since been cremated and no longer existed.
"So… does that mean I'm going to become a wandering ghost or something?"
I felt uneasy. Dying because of their screw-up and then having an uncertain future was the last thing I wanted.
"Well, about that…"
The goddess sounded hesitant.
"What's wrong? Don't tell me I'm definitely going to Hell or something?"
I tried to joke about it. But the goddess looked awkward and averted her eyes.
"Hahaha, no way, that couldn't possibly be the case~"
Her blatantly suspicious deflection made me press her.
"Look me in the eyes when you speak!"
"If you reincarnate as you are now, you will definitely end up in Avīci Hell…"
"Haaah!? What the hell!?"
Avīci Hell? What does that even mean!?
"Wait a minute! I can't overlook that! What do you mean Avīci Hell!? You mean I'd never get out!?"
Forgetting she was a god, I grabbed her by the collar and shook her while demanding answers. All thoughts of disrespect disappeared.
"Well, technically you could leave after 349 quadrillion, 2413 trillion, 440 billion years, so it's not truly eternal…"
"That's basically eternal!! What kind of ridiculous number is that!? Are you stupid? Do you want to die!?"
"You're already dead, Tōya-sama. Also, it's not 'Mugen' but 'Muken.' The 'Muken' in Avīci Hell refers to infinite space, not time…"
"I don't care about that!! You're the Creation God, right!? Do something about it!!!"
"Eek!"
To calm my excitement, the loli goddess offered me another cup of tea. I drank it irritably, and strangely enough, I calmed down. Apparently the tea also had a mental stabilizing effect.
"O-of course we have prepared a relief measure, so please don't worry."
"Of course you have. It's completely unreasonable to die because of your management error and then get sent to Hell on top of it."
"Yes. Normally we would immediately restore your original body and revive you, but too much time has passed and it's no longer possible. If you were brought back to Earth now, it could disrupt the cosmic axis and cause natural disasters."
"Natural disasters…? So it really is too late?"
"It seems the department in charge of managing lifespans tried to cover this up. I happened to notice a soul that hadn't reincarnated after so long and questioned them, and they finally confessed it was you."
"Why are you the one apologizing instead of the person who covered it up?"
"They are my subordinates, so their mistakes are my responsibility as their superior."
"Normally wouldn't the person themselves come out too?"
"The day after it was discovered, their boss got angry and executed the culprit, sending them to Hell. So we can't bring them back now. Apparently they acted in the heat of the moment."
That boss was way too short-tempered. Execution for one mistake? That's way too harsh.
"How toxic is your workplace…? So what about that boss?"
"Ah, I executed them too. They're in Hell now."
"You too!? You're in no position to criticize anyone!"
"In the end the responsibility was unclear, so it came all the way up to me, the highest authority."
No matter how you looked at it, this was all self-inflicted. Executing people left and right and then complaining that the problem landed on your desk… what an idiot.
She really was unworthy of the title "Creation God." Maybe she only knew how to create things.
"I'm sorry… funyuu…"
Cute… No, no! Don't be fooled. Even if she looks like a beautiful girl, she's a trillions-year-old hag.
"Well, there's no point complaining about people who aren't here anymore. So, where exactly am I going to be reincarnated?"
I pressed my temple and urged her to continue.
"Yes. Ideally I wanted to reincarnate you back on Earth as a human, but Earth's population is currently at maximum capacity. Reincarnation slots are booked up for the next 2,000 years. Every planet is in a similar state."
"Ehh… Don't tell me I'm going to be reborn as a dog or cat or something."
"No, no. That's why I'd like to send Tōya-sama to another world."
"A-another world? What do you mean?"
A mysterious term suddenly appeared, and I felt a hint of anxiety.
"In terms of Earth culture, it's what you'd call an 'isekai reincarnation' story. A world of swords and magic, where dragons, elves, fairies, and other races exist. Individual abilities are managed by status, and strength is determined by levels and skills—it's a very classic fantasy world. The world I manage is approaching the end of its lifespan and will soon collapse, so there's some room in its capacity."
"I'm being thrown into a world that's about to be destroyed?"
"Even so, that won't happen for another few thousand years. It won't affect you while you're alive, so please rest assured. Because of that, there's some spare capacity. Compared to Earth the cultural level is lower, and there are monsters, so it's more dangerous… but of course I'll give you the standard god-given cheats. I'll also personally create a special body for you, so you shouldn't die easily."
Her blunt way of putting it killed any excitement I might have felt, but… well, my old life wasn't going anywhere good anyway. Starting a second life with a fresh start didn't sound so bad.
"Well, I appreciate you securing my safety. My old life was pretty worthless anyway. Having perks for a new life doesn't sound half bad."
"No, actually… If you hadn't died in that accident, three days later you would have won a 100 million yen lottery. Using that money you would have started a business, achieved massive success, become the richest person in human history, built a harem, lived until 150, broken the Guinness record for human lifespan, and died peacefully of old age."
"...Oh Jesus."
I collapsed on the spot, fell to my knees, and quietly cried.
What the hell? I was robbed of my original destiny too? What a shitty life. Goddammit.
"P-please don't cry. The other world has its own kind of comfort different from Earth."
The goddess desperately tried to comfort me, but it only made me feel more miserable.
Still, there was no point complaining now. I had no choice but to accept it. At least she was giving me cheats. Maybe I could live more comfortably than on Earth. Yeah, yeah.
"Can't be helped. I'll accept the reincarnation."
"Really!? Then let's start the procedures right away—"
"Wait a second. I have a few things I want to ask."
"W-what is it? Don't you want to go enjoy your fun isekai life quickly? Right? Right?"
For some reason the loli goddess seemed eager to send me off quickly. I grew suspicious of her behavior.
"You're not still hiding something, are you?"
I pressed her on her suspicious attitude.
"Eek! N-n-n-no, of course not! There's nothing more I could possibly add to my embarrassment!"
Her strange Japanese and flustered behavior turned my suspicion into certainty.
"So there is something."
"Uuu… I'm sorry. Just one more thing."
"Just one?"
I stared at her intently. Sweat poured down her face like a waterfall as she hung her head.
"U-um, actually…"
"..."
"I-I'm sorry!! There are two more things!!!"
And once again, she did a dogeza. At this point, I had officially labeled her as a liar.