Chapter 0: Prologue

"So, you're saying… we died?"

The red-haired boy's eyes hung low like fallen drapes as he posed the question to the nun in front of him.

"That is correct," not a wrinkle appeared on her face hidden underneath the white hood embroidered with golden laces.

"All thirty of us?"

"Yes, to be more precise, there were thirty-four of you who died. Unfortunately, the adults were not brought here."

The boy nodded and looked around himself. The golden satin embroidery on the nun's white robes with their intricate stencil patterns did not look like something he would be seeing back at home, but the marble walls of the church with their ferric alternations and the many statues of a woman more beautiful than the word beauty could describe gave weight to her claims.

"You had bright futures ahead of you, just sixteen years of age," the nun continued, her long eyelashes looked downward and her small lips trembled slightly. "Our gods took mercy and brought you here."

"Right, right," the red-haired boy pursed his lips and nodded. "To this otherworld."

"It seems you are able to understand now."

"Yeah, so…" He raised his eyebrows and leaned closer to the nun. "Where's the camera?"

The nun sighed and pushed herself off the chair. She placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Mr. Claude, I know this is a confusing situation for you, but you need to get a hold of yourself. The others that have come here with you are also waking up, you should go and be there with them."

Claude didn't get a chance to retort as the nun walked away from him, leaving only the young boy in the small prayer room.

A handful of oak desks and benches were in the room behind a short wooden divider separating the seats from the pedestal. Lofty atop the pedestal stood the figure of the goddess, her stone hands clasped and fingers intertwined as the wings behind her back spread out.

The curves with not a sharp edge and the cuts with not a grazed slope made it seem as if a real person was sealed in the stone. Had it not been for the beauty of the goddess, Claude would have assumed that to be the case.

What had happened?

As he looked at the statue in front of him, the questions surfaced in his mind. No, he couldn't think up any questions as that one thought came crashing into the train in his mind.

What had happened?

Claude sighed and turned away. His feet moved on his own, carrying him out of the room.

The faint dawn light illuminated the place as he passed through the giant wooden gates. Claude walked down the empty passageway under the dim light. He passed by the rows of paintings and murals on the abrasive walls, his feet clanged against the wooden floorings, and stopped in front of the room at the very end of the passage.

Not a change appeared in his breathing as he pushed the handles of the door and opened them.

Some sat up on the beds while some were kneeling on the floor. A wide room with dozens of beds and students. The heads of the kids snapped toward the door as it screeched open.

"C-Claude!"

"Hey! Claude! Wh-what is going on? Where did you go?"

A few students turned to their friends with surprised faces. A sense of relief clouded their eyes, but their expressions didn't betray their confusion or awkwardness.

Claude wordlessly walked inside the room, closing the doors behind him, before walking to the nearest empty bed and setting himself down.

He gazed at the other students in the room. Some of them winced and looked around in confusion while the others held their heads on the beds, having just woken up. Of the thirty that were in his class, only twelve had woken up yet.

"Hey Claude," one student called out to the boy. "What is happening here, dude? Where is this place? When did we get off the bus—"

"—AH!"

The student's words were interrupted by the scream of another. They all turned around to see a girl at the back rubbing her eyes over and over.

"I-I can see… I can see without my glasses…"

Another was staring at her legs with her jaw dropped in surprise.

"My scar… where did it go…"

Some of the students who had just woken up approached the screaming ones, but three of them stood still in their place, unable to tear their eyes away.

A strange feeling washed over Claude as he saw the others reacting to what could only be called a miracle.

"J-just what is happening? Are you guys pranking us?" The child that had first called out to Claude looked at the leg of his friend in surprise.

"No," Claude said. He took in deep breaths as his mind slowly accepted the situation.

"We died," he said. "We died and got reincarnated."