Chapter 1: Doubtful Hell

All I could see was darkness; not a single light passes through my field of vision.

I was also feeling nauseous and my body hurts a lot at the same time.

It was like a weird sensation is happening to me... Something that can't be explained by words, but something that can only be felt by experiencing it first hand.

What is this? Where am I? Who am I? and... Wha– what happened to me? It made me say those words in my mind, these feelings that I'm experiencing right now seem abnormal to me...

Wha–, Help me... It hurts, it hurts...

The pain stopped the moment I heard something coming from my ears. The strong vibration of sound is filling both of my ears; it hurts just by hearing it.

But being almost a half-empty shell is what made me endure this moment, even when pain comes, I couldn't know how to feel about it.

I endured the pain for what feels like a decade until the pain stops for an unknown reason.

The feeling of relief and joy is all I can feel after enduring that hellish pain I've been through. And I smiled happily after the pain finally faded away.

This feeling of joy after doing something near impossible brightened my day, even if this achievement of enduring seems odd from anyone's point of view, for me, it's still an achievement nonetheless.

D*mn... I wish I wouldn't experience that crap again, so God please help me. Even if I said earlier that I endured it, I was in fear of feeling those complicated pain again.

Wait, why am I even praying if I'm an atheist? Is this what they call faith? Hmm... Better not get philosophical about things. Knowing about this right now, I remember that time a Christian preacher came to my school.

I remember him saying. "Anyone who doesn't believe in God shall receive eternal suffering upon death." After hearing what he said, I couldn't do anything but laugh at him. But now that I'm right here, is what he said really true?

Being born with no faith at all made me do things I could do without being treated as some sort of sinner, and the country that I was raised in has been peaceful for me.

I was raised in Japan, which is a country that has at least two prominent religions in it. Shintoism and Buddhism.

And now knowing that there are hundreds of religions in the world, which one is true? I wonder what version of Hell is I at?

Anyway, where am I? I couldn't see a thing, and it felt like I'm floating in space, an endless space.

Actually what is important is, why am I not freaking out? Am I suppose to panic? It completely disappears after the pain is gone.

Knowing what happened to me before I calmed down, I first thought that this place was Hell... But for the looks of it... This doesn't seem to be it.

Also now that I think about it; I remembered completely what happened to me.

Am I really dead? I guess it's already common sense to know that because there's no way I can survive that.

I hope that girl's okay, because if she isn't, then my sacrifice would be in vain.

And right now... It feels like I'm moving, I wonder where I'm going?

It's very comfy here though, well... I guess I'm dead already, so it's better to stay asleep.

D*mn... I'm fucking stupid thinking about sleeping in my current situation.

That's the only thing I can do, it's better than being depressed about my death.

Because I couldn't bear today what happened, I'm likely just afraid of what's gonna happen to me, but thinking about it, everyone would be the same if they were in my position.

As I close my eyes slowly, my mind finally went blank the moment it closes, even a dream would suffice for me to have some sort of entertainment here, but nevertheless, I'm nothing but an empty shell floating in this deep dark space.

Tinkle. Tinkle.

A small beautiful bell is chiming peacefully; going closer to where I'm at, I opened my eyes.

"You're finally awake, Haruki."

A guy I never even saw in my entire life just came waking me up for some unknown reason.

"Are you okay, did the travel hurt you?" He softly asked me.

This guy just straight of asking me one of the most painful things that tainted my soul for what felt like a decade is pissing me off.

Did this f*cker know that I suffered from that tremendous pain? Because it feels like he knew.

"*Giggle* Come on Haruki, staying in bed forever is not good."

I stood up instantly and inspected the guy in front of me.

Tall stature; tanned-skinned, with long white hair, and has a weird-shaped mask or blindfold that's covering his entire eyes; he's wearing what looks like a demonic version of a priest garment.

What do I do? do I trust this guy? Or flee? Actually... Where even am I?

I looked around a bit to check my surroundings; finding out where am I is my first objective, because base on the description of my surroundings, I'm not on Earth.

The vegetations are exotic, and some animals like birds or insects are unique to this place too, so that's already evidence that I'm not on Earth, so where am I exactly?

I died, so did I reincarnate? No not possible, because I'm still Haruki Mimasaka and my body is still the same before I died, so did I get transported from another world? It could be... Because that's the only logical thing that came to mind.

"You did not reincarnate, nor got transported to another world, you're here where every sinner goes, Hell."

Well, that's what he said, better accept that I'm in He-

"What did you say?" No way, am I really in Hell? I hope he's joking, I hope...

"Did you hear me? Hell, I said. Now come on; follow me, we have no time to stand still." The man looks like he's in a hurry to get me out of here, just by the tone of his voice I know that he's not an ordinary guy.

"Okay." I don't know if this guy a demon or not, but it's best to do what he said.

This guy doesn't really resemble any demons I see in video games, he actually resembles humans more.

Any human wouldn't think that this guy is a demon at first glance, so that means- no, no, then is it possible to have a beautiful devil with me?

I laughed wickedly while thinking about my new fantasies here.

Don't judge me, it's normal for a virgin who has no chance at all to get a girl to think about getting a beautiful girlfriend.

Now back to action, what do I do to this guy? Do I interact with him? Or stay quiet, because if I stay quiet I won't make a mistake and piss off this guy.

"*Giggle* Don't worry Haruki, you can talk to me because we're already near to our designated location."

"Okay, then can I ask you something?"

"Sure go ahead" He happily answered me.

"Am I really in Hell? or are you just pulling my leg? because there's absolutely no way that a forest can exist in Hell." Everyone knows back on Earth that Hell is a place full of magma, fire, devils, misery, and some other dangerous stuff, so seeing plants here is odd.

If this is truly Hell, then it's near impossible to believe that it is. After all, any sane man would go insane after seeing a whole ecosystem here on Hell.

And asking this might be a bad idea, but knowing what my current location is what's important right now.

"I guess it's normal for people to think that at first-" The man stopped for a moment, and thought of a way to explain it more to me. "*Sigh* I guess it's better to show it to you first than explain."

We finally got out of the forest, well not really because we're just here standing on top of a hill.

In front, of us was a giant city filled with many stone buildings. It's very far from here, but I can see what the houses look like.

It's big, even if it's made out of stone and wood, the houses and buildings look stable. Even I can see the tallest building here, and it doesn't look dangerous at all.

"Look at the city; can you see the people living in it?"

"No, there's no way I can see that far." If a devil likes him has powers, then that could only mean he can see what are the people doing right now, but for normal beings like me, it's nowhere near possible to see something from far away.

"Keep looking. Hawkeye, Target: Haruki Hotaru."

After hearing that Hawkeye thing he said, I was in awe after doing things that I can't imagine a normal person would do.

My vision suddenly strengthens, and now... For some unknown reason, I can now see the city that's very far from where I'm standing out.

It's not the city, and the sudden change of my vision that made me wordless, it was the people living there.

Humanly appearance, and demonic appearance, some have horns, some don't, others have tails and wings, while others don't, even seeing skeletons walking they don't discriminate.

All of them are all having fun despite their difference, it was like they're are just any humans on Earth.

Some people are sleeping on the street and begging for food, while others don't, I can also see some thieves running and stealing things, but what shocked me the most is that there are police officers here.

They have jobs similar to Earth, and traditions that are also similar to any of the countries back on Earth, even some of the cultures here look stolen from Earth.

This place doesn't feel like Hell in the Bible and the Quran, it's exactly the same as the Earth-, no I got that wrong... This place is more wonderful than Earth.

Even if Hell is still not technologically and scientifically advance; the smiles of the people are what's make Hell's league better than Earth. Unlike Earth, Hell surpasses Earth's league as being the most amazing treasure in the Universe.

Life here is far different from Earth since back on Earth we have many problems we are facing right now.

Everything from racism, war, religious war, greed for power, and many more are problems that humans are craving for right now on Earth, even if many so-called heroes are trying to stop those problems, it's just impossible to do.

And as of right now, Earth is dying from our hands. Trees are being cut every day, oceans and rivers are polluted with trashes, and wildlife is going extinct each day. While here on Hell, it's unlikely that those things were to happen.

The law here looks far more stable than any law on Earth, and the people living here are happy from following, unlike some other humans.

All I could say to this right now was. "Magnificent..." That was the only word I could say.