“…NOW how did I end up here again…?”
I looked up at a sky full of stars. Lukewarm seawater hit my feet in waves. I’d been waiting for King Glenreed, only to find myself back at the Shore of the Stars somewhere along the way.
“What’s going on…? I thought my soul was supposed to be stable.”
So why am I at this place in between worlds?
I was starting to fear I’d lost sight of my world again and wouldn’t be able to find my way back, when suddenly…
“Hey there. Long time no see…actually, it hasn’t been very long, huh? When did we last meet, according to your time?”
“You’re…”
It was the young man with the black hair I met the previous time I was there. He still wore the red braid on his left ear, approaching me without any sign of fear.
“Good evening,” I greeted him. “I met you here a few months ago. I was able to make it back to my body, and assumed I would never arrive in this place again…”
Just explaining it caused that uneasy feeling to creep back inside of me. Seeming to sense my fears, the young man smiled at me reassuringly.
“There’s no need to worry. Your soul is incredibly stable. It’s almost too stable.”
“Too stable…?”
“That’s how you’re able to maintain consciousness here. This is the Shore of the Stars, the Place Between Worlds, the Inverted Space, Higan. There are many names, but some people call it the Dream Landing. When humans dream, their soul lifts out of their body just slightly enough to make it here. Although, living people can’t gain any knowledge or speak in this place, so they just drift around until morning comes and they awaken. …You’re only able to look around and speak with me because your soul is so stable and strong, far beyond the limits of anything human.”
“What…?” I never expected to be called inhuman. “How did such a thing happen…?”
“It’s only a guess, but I’d say Emperor Ishnad’s curse on your soul made it really strong. Your soul would have only transformed even more when you came to the Shore of the Stars with your consciousness intact, returned to your home world, and crossed over while still alive. I think your soul’s quality must have skyrocketed.”
“My soul’s quality skyrocketed…?” I repeated his words, finding them all too suspicious.
“That’s right. You should be able to see more things now. There, take a look at your feet.”
“Whoa! A rat?!”
A rat was crawling around at my feet…no, this was something else. I recognized it as a kind of flying squirrel. I’d only ever seen this species in books in my past life. This Siberian flying squirrel, an animal that was supposed to dwell in Hokkaido, started to run around me.
“How rude! Who’re you calling a rat?! I’m the world tree with my own righteous history!”
…It speaks.
That was surprising enough on its own, but when I squinted, the creature’s fluffy body seemed to have a secondary image appearing over the top of it—a silver tree trunk with green leaves. It certainly looked like the world tree, all right.
“…I’m sorry, I was mistaken. Please forgive me,” I apologized to the flying squirrel, or rather, the world tree, and nervously looked around.
There were colorful fish swimming in the waves, some sort of square creatures heading for the horizon, and red dragons that danced in the distant, starry sky. I’d now seen the strange creatures coming and going at the peaceful shore—the place I once thought was completely empty.
“What are those things…?”
“They’re things that cross the oceans of dimensions, high-ranking divinity that are worshiped as gods, but they reject all interactions and understanding of intelligent creatures, merely flying around from place to place. They come from many sources, but right now, you’ve reached the same status as them. You might even outrank them…”
“Th-That can’t…”
That can’t be. Instead of finishing the thought, I looked up at the stars in the sky. That was when I realized something.
Those stars, appearing smaller than sesame seeds, held grains of sand of their own. I could see every last one, and they all contained different worlds. One of those grains held a planet whose inhabitants each had two heads, and I realized if I felt like it, I had the ability to interfere with their lives at will with invisible arms from my soul. On top of that, I was able to process this enormous overload of information as if it was natural.
Without even trying, my consciousness had surpassed a normal human’s intelligence. All of the stars above me held their own deserts and shores with grains of sand, and if each of those grains had a different world in them…
Endless. Infinite.
My head was spinning. My consciousness was clear, but the unease I was now experiencing felt like being drunk.
“…I have to go back.”
The longer I stayed there, the less human I would become.
With my expanded intelligence, it was easy for me to find the method of returning. I wasn’t going to waste any more time in that place.
“Leaving already? But you’re practically a god right now. If you wanted, you could change the world you came from, remove anyone who was giving you trouble, or even create a brand new world to start over with.”
“…I don’t need any of those powers.”
I would be lying if I said the idea of a god’s power didn’t interest me, but I was certain it could only do more harm than good. I had people in my original world waiting for me—people who made the power of a god worthless in comparison.
I was going to make sure I never returned to the Shore of the Stars with this consciousness intact again. I would restore my soul to that of a normal human, erase my memories from this place, and return to my world. My expanded intelligence already knew how to do these things, so I bid farewell to the young man there with me. But before I could begin…
“Arf!”
“Ah…!”
I recognized that bark.
It belonged to someone who filled my memories with both love and pain. I was sure I’d never hear that voice again.
“Jiro…”
There he was, with his white and brown fur, perky ears, and those black eyes that were slightly tilted upwards.
Jiro, the shiba inu, was sitting on the ground and watching me.
“Jiro, what are you doing here…?”
But once I asked that, it hit me.
Just before I could return to my original world, that instant was prolonged and turned into an impossible reunion.
The intelligence I’d been granted, stronger than that of a god, provided me the answer.
“You came to say goodbye…”
The young man with the black hair had called this place “Higan” earlier.
Higan was the afterlife, like Heaven, Hell, or even Hades.
Jiro was already very old when I died in my past life. As lonely as he probably felt, Jiro went on to live out the rest of his years until his body withered, leaving him as nothing more than a soul. Then he’d come here to wait for me.
I was able to see Jiro because the quality of my soul had increased so greatly.
“Arf arf! Aroooo!”
“Have another good life in your new world, master!”
I could sense those words in Jiro’s encouraging howl. He wagged his curled tail, and then he began to walk.
I watched Jiro head toward the light of reincarnation.
“Thank you, Jiro! I love you!” I raised my voice as loud as I could. “Bye-bye! I was so happy to have you in my life!”
It was the goodbye I never got to give in my past life.