"Question: How can a person possess both youth and the awareness of youth at the same time?"
Kitahara Makoto felt he was more than qualified to answer that question.
"Thanks for the invite. Currently on Nichijima, just finished transmigrating."
"The method is simple."
"As long as you transmigrate into the body of a sixteen-year-old high schooler, you'll have both youth and the perspective of youth… The sensation is like mixing beer with baijiu—hits hard, don't try it lightly."
Staring into the mirror at the youthful, delicate-faced boy who looked exactly the same as his past self—just much younger and fresher—Kitahara Makoto felt a wave of disorientation.
He had crossed over.
From a "996" wage slave adult to a sixteen-year-old high schooler in a parallel world. Oddly, the two versions of himself looked identical, right down to the exact placement of his birthmark.
"Crossing into a parallel version of myself… psychologically, I don't feel much burden from it."
Exhaling softly, Kitahara Makoto couldn't help recalling his previous life.
Back then, after struggling through university, he finally managed to land a job in a major corporation. He thought life would settle down at last. But fate played a cruel joke.
One night, while working overtime, he felt a dull ache in his abdomen. He endured it for a while, until he couldn't anymore and went for a checkup. The test results were devastating.
Cancer.Mid-to-late stage.Five-year survival rate: only 40%.
Kitahara Makoto opened his eyes, forcing the memories away, and whispered softly:
"Simulator."
The next moment, a transparent pixel-style game interface appeared before his eyes.
[Daily Task: Do 200 Squats][Task Description: Squats are the king of fitness. Want iron-strong kidneys? Do squats!][Status: Completed][Reward: Your stamina has improved. No more worrying about middle-aged weakness.]
[Daily Task: Stress Relief][Task Description: On lonely nights, when silence weighs heavy, sometimes pressure builds up and must be released… Please watch a 20-minute video of repairing cow hooves.][Status: Completed][Reward: Your mental focus has improved. Your study sessions today will be more concentrated.]
[Daily Task: Do a Good Deed][Task Description: Extend a helping hand to someone in need.][Status: Incomplete]
[Daily Task: You Don't Want Your Secret Getting Out, Do You?][Task Description: Using the phrase "You don't want your secret getting out, do you?" successfully coerce someone into fulfilling any demand.][Status: Incomplete]
"…You don't want your secret getting out, do you?"
"Get lost."
Kitahara Makoto sighed helplessly.
"Parents dead, no siblings, inherited a house, no friends since childhood, always eating lunch alone in the stairwell like some shut-in… and you expect me to use secrets to threaten people?"
"This is just bullying me, Fat Tiger-style!"
This thing was a fan-modified mini-game from his old cancer patient chat group—Life Restart Simulator.
After transmigrating, the Simulator had followed him into this world as well. Unfortunately, it wasn't intelligent—if anything, it was borderline idiotic.
Gameplay was simple. Every day it issued four daily tasks, different each time. No punishment for failure, but completing them earned rewards. Most importantly, if all four tasks were completed, you gained one chance at the lottery.
In his last life, while bedridden in the hospital, Kitahara Makoto played the Simulator for a while out of boredom. He knew daily tasks usually boosted physical stats, while the lottery could grant strange, miraculous abilities.
And there was one ability he absolutely had to obtain—
The Body Free of All Illness.
Only those who had faced the despair of disease knew how precious a healthy body was. To lie alone in a hospital bed, silently enduring cancer's agony… that was something Kitahara Makoto would never experience again.
In this world too, his physical condition wasn't great. The reason he had managed to transmigrate here at all was because this body's original owner had caught a chill, developed a fever, and never recovered.
So no matter what—he had to draw The Body Free of All Illness.Not even Jesus himself could talk him out of it.
"…Too bad the Simulator's a complete idiot."
Rubbing his temples, Kitahara Makoto's tone was filled with frustration.
After transmigration, the Simulator had changed in some unknown way. The lottery now used a cursed 'ten-pull pity system.' So far, besides his very first draw (which gave him the questionable special ability [Post-Climax Sage Mode]), all he had gotten were random ability fragments. After almost a month in this world, he hadn't even managed a single ten-pull.
There was no helping it. Some daily tasks were just too stupid.
Squats, watching horse-hoof repair videos—fine. But exorcising spirits in Tokyo? What the hell was that supposed to mean?
Nearly a month in this world, and after careful investigation, he was convinced: this was just a normal everyday world. No ghouls, no isekai portals, no Sword Art Online. No quintuplets in school either—though he had seen mention of the Shinomiya family conglomerate in the news.
So far, the only person resembling an anime character he'd seen was a painfully shy little girl who looked like she'd stepped straight out of a slice-of-life series…
A perfectly ordinary world with no supernatural powers—and you want me to exorcise spirits?
Impossible. Absolutely impossible.
"If I can't complete all daily tasks, I can't get the lottery spins. Without spins, how will I ever roll the Body Free of All Illness?"
"…Truly, the Simulator is an idiot."
After washing up and calming himself, Kitahara Makoto shouldered his school bag and left for school.
He was now a first-year high school student. Given a second chance at life, he wanted to experience the school days he hadn't cherished the first time around.
Moments later—
The train station.
It was mid-April. The cherry blossoms hadn't fully fallen yet, and the spring sunshine was warm and gentle.
A breeze passed through, scattering delicate pink petals along the street. It was the very picture of spring's beauty. Yet the commuters hurried past, no one stopping to admire it.
At the station, Kitahara Makoto's gaze fell on a pink-haired girl standing in the corner, a guitar case strapped to her back. At the moment, she was nibbling on a piece of bread, cheeks puffed like a hamster sneaking a snack.
Her hair was long, her bangs almost covering her eyes, with a stubborn strand sticking out to the side. Her gaze stayed fixed on the ground, avoiding eye contact, her pale skin the kind of pallor born from staying indoors too much.
"Good morning, Gotou-san."
Kitahara Makoto walked over casually and greeted her.
That's right.
This pink-haired girl's name was Gotou Hitori—better known as Pochi-chan from Bocchi the Rock!
Always carrying her guitar, cripplingly shy, gloomy aura, even the same name… That was why Kitahara Makoto was convinced this world was an ordinary slice-of-life setting.
"Ah…"
Suddenly hearing her name called, Gotou Hitori flinched as if startled, like a frightened rabbit. She took a half-step back, nervously lifted her eyes toward Kitahara Makoto, then quickly dropped her gaze again, whispering so faintly it was barely audible:
"G-good m-m-morning…"
Some time ago, while shopping at the supermarket, Kitahara Makoto had completed his "do a good deed" daily task by helping her out. Afterwards, he discovered they often rode the same train—they even attended the same high school, though in different classes. Bit by bit, the two had grown somewhat familiar.
Now, as she peeked shyly up at him, Kitahara Makoto felt a sudden impulse. Words slipped out before he could stop himself:
"…Gotou-san, you don't want your secret getting out, do you?"