“Mr. Kaito Irie, please remain calm and listen. You’ve just been in an accident and, unfortunately, have passed away,” a blonde-haired, blue-eyed woman told me in a comforting voice. She narrowed her eyes in an expression of pity.
I was in a pure-white room so vast that it had no discernible end. It was completely empty except for the two of us. Though the space was barren, a divine aura radiated from the woman and caused the sense of emptiness to fall away. Resplendent golden hair hung almost to her feet and her soft skin was loosely wrapped in a robe. Wings like those of an angel grew from her back. She had an air of mystery about her.
“Who...are you?”
“I am a goddess. And this place is what humans refer to as the afterlife.”
“I see. I really must be dead, then.”
“You’re hardly fazed, are you?” she said, a little taken aback.
The goddess seemed to think I was unusual in that regard. Certainly distress would have been the normal reaction to suddenly learning you were dead, but I had already accepted the situation. My only real concern was whether I was in Heaven or Hell. It didn’t really look like Hell, but neither did it match my image of Heaven exactly. Then again, Heaven and Hell were both just products of the human imagination—perhaps all people, both good and bad, came to this place in the end.
“No, both Heaven and Hell do exist,” said the goddess, answering my question though it had not yet left my mouth.
“Can you read my mind?” I asked.
“Yes. I am a goddess, after all,” she said with a self-satisfied smile. The fact that she’d demonstrated supernatural powers meant it must be true. “Under normal circumstances, when you die, you are sent to a place where souls congregate, and your ultimate destination, be it Heaven or Hell, is decided based upon your actions during your mortal life. But in your case...you were specially summoned to my domain.”
Her “domain” was so vacant that even a minimalist would have found it a bit extreme.
Except for its massive size, this wasn’t so different from my own room, but at least I had a full set of furniture. It was difficult, anyhow, to imagine a goddess soundly sleeping on a bed like a regular person.
“No, gods, too, sleep on beds,” she said. Oh, all right, so she does sleep in a bed like a regular person. “For the time being, I have used my divine power to render my bed invisible. That’s the only reason you can’t see it. I thought it would be only right to clean up the room after sending for a new guest.”
“Boy, that’s a pretty convenient power,” I said.
The goddess flashed another smug smile in reply. She cleared her throat with a small “Ahem,” then resumed a meek, reserved countenance.
“Mr. Kaito Irie... I must confess I’ve made an error and done something rather inexcusable to you.”
“But I don’t remember anything inexcusable being done to me,” I said.
“It’s no wonder you don’t recall. You see, it happened in just an instant.”
“It did?”
“Yes... Are you able to recollect the cause of your death?”
“No, I was here before I knew it,” I said. “The last thing I remember before coming here is my vision going completely white.” It felt like it had happened only moments ago. Just like always, I had woken up to my 6 a.m. alarm, downed a light breakfast while absentmindedly watching the morning news, and left for work in the rain when I was suddenly enveloped in light. There had been roaring thunder, so given those conditions, it might have been natural to think I’d been struck by lightning, but...
“That’s right. You were struck by lightning, at which point your life came to an end.”
“That’s...a pretty unusual way to die, isn’t it?” I’d once heard somewhere that dying by lightning strike was even rarer than winning the lottery, but I guess I’d drawn the winning ticket. A poor use of my luck. It didn’t quite feel real, and I found myself talking about it as if it had happened to someone else.
The goddess, on the contrary, frowned as though the misfortune were her own and said with evident distress, “To be honest, you were not supposed to die yet.”
“I was supposed to be miraculously spared at the last minute? Is that what you’re saying?”
“No, it was an instantaneous death—there wouldn’t have been time for a miracle.”
“So I was hit by a bolt of lightning powerful enough to kill me instantly, but there aren’t any wounds on my body.” I was in a suit with a stylish, crisp jacket and slim-fitting slacks. Even though the black fabric kept dirt from showing, it couldn’t have hidden the mark left by a lightning strike. Despite that, there was no evidence of any such thing—even the watch on my wrist was still quietly ticking.
“That is because you now exist only as a soul. Souls cannot be wounded. Additionally, your soul mirrors your appearance in the moment just prior to death.”
“I see. Back to what you were saying a moment ago, that I was ‘not supposed to die yet’... What do you mean?”
“Well,” the goddess said, faltering, “it was my own mistake.”
“Your mistake?” I asked hesitantly.
“Yes. My intention was to make a rain of blessings fall, but I inadvertently called down lightning instead... I am truly sorry,” she said, bowing her head deeply.
“There’s no need to apologize. What’s done is done. Besides, everyone makes mistakes.”
“I appreciate you saying so, but...” she began, then paused. “Your death was due to my own negligence. It wouldn’t be right not to take charge of your aftercare.”
“Meaning?”
The goddess’s face became serious, as if to indicate that she was now going to get right to her reason for bringing me here. “Normally, you would go on to Heaven or Hell, but the circumstances being what they are, a different set of two choices has been prepared for you. You are to select between Heaven and reincarnation.”
While I wasn’t guilty of any particularly horrible sins, I hadn’t done many good deeds either, and going to Hell hadn’t seemed out of the question. With Hell having been removed from the pool of options, I was really off the hook.
“I should also mention that due to the risk of you spreading the word about the afterlife among mortals, you cannot live another life in your own world. In the event that you choose reincarnation, you shall begin life on a planet other than Earth. Another world, as they say!”
The goddess then began to enumerate the charms of this other world. She explained that, just like Earth, it was quite populous. Rather than science, magic had developed. It was a peaceful world where humans fought no wars among themselves. It was full of fresh, delicious food.