Prologue: The End of the First and Second Lives
A terrorist bomb blew up and sunk a ferry full of students on a field trip from Prefectural Yasaka High School. Aside from the terrorists, this tragic attack led to the loss of 102 lives among the passengers and crew.
I wondered why all that cold salty water just vanished. We’re all dead, huh? Hiroto Amamiya recognized his demise with a terrible feeling of loss. He was in a faintly illuminated place, crowded with people. There was no sign of the River Styx or fields of heavenly flowers, but this had to be the entrance to the afterlife.
The other dead folks reacted in all sorts of ways: weeping, consoling each other, some searching for friends and loved ones and reacting with relief when they weren’t present.
Some of Hiroto’s classmates were among the flailing deceased.
“No! I don’t want to die!” This from a boy, Miyaji Konoe.
“Why? Why do we have to die like this?” This from a girl—probably Kanako Tsuchiya.
“Damn. I should have had a little more fun. Hey, there might still be time for us now?” came one hopeful voice.
“I know you,” said Izumi Shimada, class president. “You’re Aran Machida, from the next town over. Sorry, no time for that! Everyone! I know you feel like crying, but try to pull yourselves together!” She ignored the sleazy pickup line as she moved among the students, trying to calm them down. Hijiri Rikudo, the handsome president from another class, and a female ferry crewmember were helping out.
“Everyone!” shouted Asagi Minami, the class hothead, adding his voice to the cacophony. “Let’s chill out! Crying, complaining—it’s meaningless now! Try to calm down until we find out what happens next!”
Hiroto saw numerous other familiar faces among the crowd. It looked like very few kids from his class had survived.
Hmmm, what about teaching staff? Hiroto scanned around again. Ah, there we go. He spotted the class homeroom teacher, Junpei Murakami, sitting with his head in his hands.
“Dying didn’t make things any easier,” the teacher muttered, looking at Shimada and Rikudo with cold eyes. He clearly wasn’t planning to extend his teaching contract beyond death. He had never been an especially passionate educator, so Hiroto wasn’t surprised.
No one—not Shimada, Rikudo, or Asagi—gave Hiroto a glance. He was sitting quietly alone. They didn’t feel the need to approach him.
Hiroto didn’t want to be dead. He wanted to cry out and wail to that effect, but he simply didn’t have the energy.
He sighed. Looks like I died for nothing.
This revelation came from spotting another of his classmates sitting nearby—Narumi Naruse, or “Naru” for short. She was—had been—the tone-setter for the class, and Hiroto died trying to save her. When the ferry tipped, about to capsize, Narumi had missed the railing and been about to fall over the side. Hiroto had grabbed her hand, in a flash, and placed it on the railing—leaving him to roll away down the deck, smashing his back into a wall and then falling over the side to drown. It had all been so quick, he hadn’t even thought about it. Reflecting on it now, it had been reckless. He would have felt better about it if he had at least saved her life.
No. I did a good thing before I died. That’s the only way to think about it. Hiroto didn’t have anyone to grieve for his death. His parents had died when he was little, and he had no siblings. His uncle on his father’s side had taken him in, but not without plenty of reminders. His uncle even told him that he’d have to leave as soon as he graduated high school. He had no friends, and certainly no girlfriend. Now his uncle would get all of Hiroto’s parents’ assets in addition to whatever sympathy gifts his own death would produce, so Hiroto figured that could serve as fair compensation for having taken him in. More than fair, even, considering the way Hiroto had been treated, especially when compared to his cousins.
Even his dreams for the future were nothing more than “to be happy.” Maybe that could still come true, even if it had to be in heaven. At least his uncle wouldn’t be there.
The reality, however, was equally unpleasant and unbelievable.
“You souls whose lives have now ended.”
A new voice came from a mysterious new figure with a glowing light behind him, probably some kind of god.
“You have been selected. I will now give you special powers, special fates, and special fortunes. I want you to use these things to walk a new life on a different world from the Earth that you came from.”
Rather than going to heaven, then, it sounded like reincarnation awaited them. Another world? That was surprising.
“Of course, you can decline my request. If so, you will follow the more standard procedure; your memories will be wiped, and you will be reborn somewhere on Earth. If this is your wish, speak now.”
Hiroto didn’t expect anyone to accept this offer, but one man did. Hiroto wasn’t close enough to hear what he said, but then the god said, “you now return to the normal cycle” and the man vanished. Hiroto, meanwhile, was like everyone else—keen to accept the offer. Getting some kind of special power, being born to a new family in a new world, sounded great. He almost had hope for the future, for the first time in a long time.
“I will call your names. Come and stand before me when I do. Koya Endo. Mari Shihoin. Narumi Naruse. Kanata Kaito. Asagi Minami.” The voice called out a string of names, each person receiving their special power, fate, and fortune from the god and then leaving the room. Narumi’s name was called too. But even after more than half the people’s names were called, Hiroto’s turn still didn’t come.
“Hiroto Amamiya? Amemiya.” For a moment, Hiroto thought that was it. But no. It was just someone with a very similar name, standing up in front of the god.
“Amemiya?” Hiroto pondered. He didn’t recall the name. Even if they were in different classes, if they attended the same school then Hiroto expected to know of someone with such a similar moniker. Probably another passenger, or member of the crew—just a coincidence. He looked in his late teens, and even had a similar height and build. If their faces had been similar then he could have been a doppelganger—or at least a long-lost brother.
Hiroto watched from the sidelines as Hiroto Amemiya received not one, or two, or three special powers from the god, like the other people were. No, this Amemiya received no less than eight powers. All of them sounded pretty big, too. The god then forked over two fates and two fortunes as well. Like a grab sack of goodies. Hiroto was thinking the god must really have a thing for this guy. Then the divine one continued with his list of names. Eventually there was only Hiroto Amamiya left.
The god checked to make sure he had no special powers left, and then gave a big sigh. The kind of sigh someone gives who is finishing work for the day.
“Huh? Who are you?” The god finally noticed Hiroto.
“Hiroto Amamiya,” Hiroto replied to the divine query. His name made the god start in surprise, which wasn’t a good sign.
“Hiroto Amamiya? Amamiya, not Amemiya? That’s Hiroto with one H and two Os, and Amamiya with a ‘ma’ not a ‘me’?” As the god dissected the spelling of his name, Hiroto could only reply in the affirmative, his sense of dread growing. The god proceeded to groan.
“Wonderful. I got you mixed up with someone else. I thought you and Hiroto Amemiya were the same person, and I gave him all of your special powers. I even gave him the fate you were meant to receive and the fortune you were meant to be blessed with.”