Everything suddenly goes dark and black. Nothing can be done at the moment. Everything is supposed to be normal, but someone does not feel it is right.
(What happened...? Where am I...? And who am... I?) Questions pouring in the mind.
Unable to see anything, someone thinks to themself, wondering what is even happening. Trying to recall anything, a specific scenario comes to their mind.
(Ah, yes. I remembered staring at the night light before going to sleep after hours of gaming sessions...)
He remembers his identity as a college student. Unfortunately, he dropped out of studying after getting lazy and unenthusiastic about the online classes due to the worldwide pandemic.
After that, he continued living with his parents and wasting his life in front of the computer for years. But as a result, he deprived himself of society and developed strange and complex attitudes and behavior.
But that is irrelevant right now. He still has to figure out what happened. He racks his brain to think of anything until a weird memory pops up.
(I don't know if it's because of my heavy eyes, but I felt that the light behaved strangely before closing my eyes, and then...)
He tries to look at the surroundings, but no matter how he tries, he cannot see. He realizes that he cannot open his eyes at all.
(Why can't I see?)
He thinks he has become blind, which he finds unfortunate. After that, he tries moving his body. However, how can he move if he is not feeling his arms and legs?
(What the fuck? What happened to my body?)
That puts the final nail in the coffin, and he starts panicking internally. Anxiety and fear are building up in his mind, and he has nothing to do about it.
(What is really happening to me?! Am I finally getting caught by my enemies and tortured me?!)
After dropping out of college, he was living in isolation in his room, barely seeing any people, even his parents. During that time, while surfing on the internet, he discovered the genre of true crime.
Although he did not mind the details of the gore at first, he eventually became interested in the way the crime was executed. He was so absorbed by it that he wanted to do it himself. However, he could not just take out the life of an innocent life. Instead, he shifted his target to someone who deserved it.
Many things happened during that time. He investigated the target and then carefully planned the attack. However, his assassination attempt ultimately failed, but he managed to flee from the scene.
Upon finding himself unable to see or move right now, he thinks that they have found him and tortured him. However, that is not the case at all. When he tries to move his body with all of his strength...
Thud.
(Hm?)
He suddenly hears a loud sound as if something hard slams the floor. The timing of the sound and his attempt to move are synced for whatever reason, which he wonders about. Out of curiosity, he does it again.
Thud.
(Wait. Did I make that sound? Does that mean that I am tied to a chair? No, it's not. I should have feeling in my limbs. Something does not add up.)
Thud.
As he is speculating about his current situation, another sound rings out. But unlike the first two, which are coming right under him, it comes from a distance. Almost immediately, more of those same hard and heavy sounds echo around him.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
(What the—? What are those?)
He wants to talk, but no words come out of his mouth. However, instead of sound, he feels some faint popping sounds inside his body. Every time he tries to talk, it is as if he is stretching his whole body.
(What's that? It feels like it's not my body anymore—!)
Knock!
Suddenly, something hard and solid bumps him. For him, it is like some wood hits him. But the thing he is wondering is, why does it sound like that? It is as if his body is made of the similar material. After connecting all the dots all together, he comes up with a bizarre and unbelievable theory.
(Oh, wait a minute. I can't see, and I can't move my body properly either. My body isn't the one I used to have. Could it be possible that I am transformed into a nonhuman being? No, I might be overthinking.)
He tries to ignore that possibility and thinks more. But no matter how he sees it, there is no denying that his body is not the same as before.
(Did I really turn into one?)
Trying to confirm his theory, he attempts to make some moves. When he tries to jump, his body is lifted from the surface, and a loud sound immediately follows as he lands, which can imply that he has lost his limbs or does not have any at all. Talking does not generate a voice but rather low-volume popping or creaking sounds.
Even with all that information, he has yet to determine what he is. Of all the things she does, he forgets about one thing.
(Hmm? The temperature is getting hotter and hotter?)
At the moment he woke up into the darkness, the temperature he was feeling was normal. But as time goes by, the temperature slightly rises, but it is still insignificant. Currently, the heat he is feeling is hotter than ever.
He can feel like the spring air has turned to summer heat waves. The heat continues to rise, but then it ultimately caps at the level of sitting in front of a campfire, which is bearable for him. He just ignores this matter and continues solving his case.
(I just went to bed and then woke up in a possibly blind and limbless body.) He thinks deeply and more seriously. (It is as if my soul was forced into this body. I think I have heard this before. Perhaps I am reincarnated like those in the Isekai novels. Did I die?)
Other than getting mutilated, which is more plausible and realistic, that theory is the only thing that he can come up with. He is not the kind of person who believes in fictional or supernatural phenomena, but if it's true, then he has no choice but to accept it.
(If it's true that I am reincarnated, what kind of creature or monster am I?)
Trying to figure out what his body has become, he tries and retries a few things. In addition to being blind and limbless, he concludes that his body is made of hard materials like wood by hitting himself against the wall and other beings like himself. He also confirms that he has a big mouth, which stretches across his whole width.
His body is shaped like a box with a wooden exterior. A mouth opens so wide that it feels like his body is separated into two parts: the upper and lower parts. After minutes of brainstorming and experiments, he has finally figured out what he is.
(I see. A mimic, huh? Isn't that a weak monster in games? Since I am a monster, it's highly likely I am in the other world.)
He sounds so disappointed, but he calmly accepts his fate. Now that he seems to know what kind of creature he is, his next step is to figure out where he is.
(There are other mimics like me in this place. For some reason, they seem to appear out of nowhere and immediately begin walking out their way to his room... Let's follow them.)
Trusting his decision, the sentient mimic bounces his way out of the room.