4 Death(2/2)

He felt called. Haru heard a voice he had never heard before, whispering his name. That whisper was faint, but no matter how much he pretended to ignore it, the whisper never ceased. He wasn't trying to ignore this call because the whisper was annoying, but he was convinced that if it was time to wake up, he would be awakened by the usual nurse, yet this whisper was completely different from what he remembered calling him every morning.

After a while, however, Haru, always with his eyes closed, could notice how his surroundings were mysteriously illuminated, and now the whisper was no longer such.

"...Oh my. Still sleeping?"

The voice was gentle, calm, relaxing, not even Haru knew fully how to describe the sounds that came to his ears. He had never heard a voice that could appease his soul so much. Now he was intrigued to know who the woman beside his bed was.

Opening his eyes slowly though, Haru saw how unfamiliar his surroundings were. Around him, only an eternal white could be glimpsed, there was no longer a window that showed him a clear vision of what was the sky and the neighbourhood, there was no longer the smell of the hospital, nothing was as he remembered, If not his bed, and this, of course, sent him into complete confusion, but before he could even ask the woman next to him what it all meant, she gave him a sad smile.

"Your life has come to an end about 15 minutes and 34 seconds ago. You are now in the Judgment room."

Hearing those words, Haru's still half-closed eyes shot open. He swallowed, he breathed with his nose, there was no doubt, he was still breathing. But the woman in front of him was saying that he was already dead.

"...How do you know... the exact moment of my death..."

He was convinced that once he died, there was only the most total emptiness, but even looking at his shaky hands, Haru could feel a warmth coming from them. There was no doubt, he wasn't dead yet, but the woman shook her head.

"That's not what matters. For the time being, I would say it's appropriate to introduce myself. My name is Gaia, I don't know if you ever heard my name on Earth, but long story short, I'm the personification of the planet you lived on."

Gaia wasted no time. She knew very well that most of the time, the human beings that were brought into this room were freaking out because they remembered until the last second of their lives, there were those who didn't believe the words of the goddesses, there were those who simply refused to believe, there were many reactions that Gaia expected from the young man, but instead, he looked down for a moment, before nodding.

"I think I get it. Even though I feel like I'm alive now, I'm not really..."

Gaia was surprised. But her surprise remained for so little that Haru didn't even notice.

"Your soul remembers being alive and feeling related to a body, but it has already abandoned your physical body on Earth. As I explained earlier, we are in the judgment room. You are free to ask any question you want before the beginning of the judgment itself."

Generally, many people simply remained silent, listening to the calming words of the goddesses and then falling into a state very similar to when the brain stops working, Although that was not the main aim of the Goddesses who were summoned to make a judgment. To help whatever form of life may come to be in this room, Gaia had allowed the Goddesses to answer any questions they might be asked.

"Are you really going to answer any questions?"

Haru had a lot of questions to ask, and he understood that the woman in front of him wasn't a normal woman at all. With her hair of a green resembling the emerald, her eyes of a light blue outward, but of a dark blue inward, her skin that seemed to be the masterpiece of an artisan, there was no doubt that this woman was anything but human. He had also heard the name 'Gaia' before, and her introduction was more than credible, given the place where they were.

"...Yes."

Gaia nodded readily to listen to whatever questions he had. Humans usually asked if it was possible to return to Earth if they could do something like a job to earn a return, but of course, this kind of thing was impossible. Once the container was unusable, the soul no longer had a place on Earth, these were one of the simplest rules governing life, something so abstract, but at the same time much simpler than it seemed, in Gaia's eyes.

"...My mother...my girlfriend...my friends...are they alright?"

Gaia was surprised once again. She had already said more than once that he was practically dead, but instead, he was still worrying about other people instead of himself. It was a rare case among humans since many people were only declaring feelings that were really worth little in the end, instead of this young man in front of her...

"...The question is rather vague. Here time has no reason to exist. This means one must specify a moment in their life, otherwise, the question cannot receive concrete answers."

Time was but an abstract concept. In the Judgment Room, no one could look inside the room except the person to be judged and the goddess who judges, which means that as long as they would remain in that room, time could be considered indefinable.

"..I see. How did they take my death then, and in the near future to that event, what happened to each of them?"

Since time had no reason to exist in that room, according to Haru even the future for him was nothing but an astral concept for the Goddess, he had deduced that she could tell him anything that would happen to them from the present of which he had memory until the time of their deaths, and Haru wanted to know this before proceeding any further.

Her smile was sorrowful. She hadn't had the opportunity to witness what had happened yet, but after his question, Gaia knew instantly what had happened.

"..Your friends didn't expect your death at all, it devastated many of them, almost all. Your mother cried incessantly for days, your girlfriend...maybe she's the one who had the worst reaction. She kept shouting "why I couldn't even tell him I felt the same..." it seems that you left a mark in her heart that she will never be able to overcome completely. But in the end, they all live their lives with you in their heart."

Gaia wasn't trying in any way to make Haru weigh his 'faults'. In fact, she was simply answering his questions. She expected several reactions from Haru, despair, a request to go back, but no. He had a small smile on his lips, the pain was strong, but now he couldn't do anything to change the past, and even if he could, nothing could change his tumour.

"I believe in Asumi. No matter how much desperation she faces in the present, she will manage to mature and find the path she most wants to follow. I was just the springboard that she needed to get out of her shell of insecurity, and I'm glad I was in her present and will be in her future."

He had no doubt that his mother would also take the right path, although everyone would remember him for the rest of their lives as a memory that brought sadness, Haru was happy to continue to exist in the hearts of the people closest to him. Although now he should have remained in eternal rest, he was neither frightened nor puzzled. 'That's okay. If this is the fate reserved for me, at least I can rest with a smile. '

His thoughts transmitted to Gaia. These were enough to make her eyes close.

"Do you have any other questions?"

He could have asked anything, but he didn't feel interested in things like what the meaning of life was or questions like that. Knowing by now what the future of Asumi and the people he loved reserved them, there was nothing else he really wanted to ask a Goddess like Gaia.

"...No, that's all"

He had so many questions before Gaia answered him, but right now, he felt asking for more would have no value.

At his words, Gaia rose from the chair on which she sat beside his bed.

"I never thought I'd meet an irregular like you. It seems that your heart and mind are sincere, you have reached all the requirements to get a lot more points than any human being ever had.."

Haru was confused with the Goddess's words, not understanding what she meant about the 'points', but before he could ask, Gaia, remembered to be in the presence of a human and, with her cheeks almost imperceptibly red, she carried her hand in front of her mouth coughing, and then explain to Haru what she was talking about.

"I apologize for my rudeness. You see, in reality, this room is called the 'hall of judgment' precisely because it serves to judge the humans who may have no place either in hell or in heaven, or as you mortals call them. This place could be considered a kind of purgatory, and I apologize again if I tried to analyze your soul to locate any desire. Normally, people like you would go straight to heaven, but you don't seem to meet all the requirements for that place, so you're stuck in the middle..."

Haru was in shock. The Goddess who seemed so calm and quiet until a few seconds ago was now explaining in detail everything that had really happened. In short, he had just been put to trial and wasn't even aware of it. It was easy to understand why he couldn't go to heaven, however, Gaia didn't hesitate to explain further.

"Paradise requires only the presence of completely pure human beings, but you still feel most of the human desires, for this reason, you would be immediately thrown out of paradise, becoming the second Lucifer in history, That's why I've chosen to close the opportunity for you to ascend, hell doesn't deserve a soul like yours."

Haru felt a bit alienated by the way Gaia was explaining it, but he only decided to nod since obviously not even he had all this desire to keep Lucifer company in the depths of hell.

"Which is why I'm giving you reincarnation. Consider it a gift from me. But of course, you will not be able to return to your original world, at least if as a cost you do not want to lose all the memories you have formed so far, both on earth and in this room."

Haru at this point could only lay his hands before him as if to ask Gaia to stop for a moment.

"..Wait a moment! What do you mean by reincarnation.. and then why should I be reincarnated? I mean, not that I'm complaining about the gift, but there are definitely a lot of humans that look exactly like me, I don't see how I should be so special."

It was at these words that Gaia had a big smile on her face and, before he realized it, the totally white room had now become a class, no, to be precise a university.

"...I swear...I'm going to become a doctor!"

Seeing who was in front of him, Haru's eyes were wide open. A much more mature Asumi than the last time he had seen her in his present stood there, shouting these words in what seemed to be the uniform of high school where he also had studied before being hospitalized.

"..The hell are you even sayin' now, Asumi-san?"

In front of her, Eichiro sighed saying these words. They were in front of the most prestigious medical university in the country, and Asumi was there with Eichiro. But before Haru could only try to call them, Gaia's voice stopped him.

"This is just a vision. They couldn't see you even if you called them, look without interfering."

The future was nothing to Gaia. This meant that she could freely show Haru whatever she wanted, and instead of explaining to him the reason for his high points in words, it was necessary to make him understand it in this way.

Realizing this too, Haru was in a wheelchair at this time, and seconds after Eichiro asked Asumi what she was saying, she responded with tears in her eyes as she pointed to the university now behind her.

"The doctors couldn't find a treatment for my Haru in time. I don't want anyone else to feel in the same way I felt the next day. He said he loved me, yet I couldn't reply properly. I have no other way to repay Haru for his love, except by actions. Stay and watch, Haru. I'll make you pay for leaving me before I could fully express my feelings"

At these words, Haru was already visibly shaken, but as tears threatened to descend, the vision changed, again and again, showing Asumi studying to become a doctor, she had studied and studied, had even failed the first time, But the second one was successful. She had continued her university with the firm goal of finding a treatment for a tumour that was effective even at the IV stage, which could avoid the same tragedy that was their love. And after only 5 years after leaving the university and obtained a doctorate, Asumi had finally succeeded in her research. Immunotherapy was only effective against certain types of cancer, but she continued to research and research until she could find the treatment for lung cancer, even as rare as Haru's, and was brilliantly successful.

"...Gaia. You mean this is why I get a chance to reincarnate?"

She expected this question, and to his surprise, Gaia shook her head.

"She's not the only person who's been motivated and influenced in her life by your death. Your friend Eichiro decided to follow the writer's career shortly after Asumi chose to pursue a career as a doctor. He just started writing down how he felt, and about five years after you died, He managed to write a book about the death of his friend and the love of two lovers who were separated from the atrocious death of the man. It sold after only two years from its print about 1.5 million copies."

He was visibly shocked. He never would have thought that two of his friends could be so inspired by his simple death, but that certainly wasn't enough to explain his reincarnation, or at least in his mind.

"...Foolish. Do you have any idea how many people were saved from the medicine and therapy your girlfriend created? She's an incredible woman, and she's bound to deserve one of the best places in heaven. After all, the prayers of thanksgiving of millions and millions of people are placed on her, precisely because all these people had families, that without her medicine would lose a loved one. Since you were her inspiration, you could say that you were largely the reason that millions of people could continue to be happy together in time, which is why I, the mother of all life forms on earth, can only be most grateful."

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(Next chapter is reincarnation, sorry if I had to delay it for another chapter...)

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