Kuroko no Basket: The Egoist

Within a seemingly endless void, a single soul remained. Drifting about aimlessly, the soul seemed to have no purpose or direction. For an unknown amount of time, this soul drifted around, losing pieces of itself in the process, eventually being left with a soul only have the size it was before.

Eventually, a single humanoid figure appeared within this endless void. Noticing the soul, he picked it up, confused. The figure began to muse out loud. "Hmmm. How curious. To find a remnant soul in limbo. And on top of that, it was even able to survive for this long."

The figure snapped, and the soul morphed into the vague shape of a person. The soul opened 'spoke', though it did not have a mouth. "Huh? Where the hell am I? What happened? Wasn't I dead?"

The soul took notice of the figure. "And who are you?" the soul asked.

"Who am I? That's a good question. To put it in a way you humans could understand, you could say I'm a deity. More specifically, the deity in charge of reincarnation. Of course, that isn't too accurate, but that's the easiest way to put it."

The soul, due to not having a face, had no way to show emotion, but the deity could tell that it was confused. The soul once again replied to the deity, "Then... why are you here? And why am I here? Is this the afterlife?"

"No. Well, not exactly. Right now, we are in limbo, where souls are supposed to pass from here to the cycle of reincarnation and have their memories wiped. You were supposed to have passed through here, but you remained for some reason. Additionally, even if you remained here, your soul should have been wiped out over time, but you are still alive. Can you remember anything that might reveal the reason for this?" replied the deity.

The soul paused for a few seconds, seemingly in thought, before replying. "A little bit. I can't remember my name, my family, or any of my life, besides a few stray memories, mostly related to basketball. The only thing I can remember fully is what happened before my death. I remember losing in the finals of nationals and being hit by a car on my way home. And... I can remember my dream."

"Oh? And what is your dream?" The deity of reincarnation's curiosity was piqued by this.

"My dream... is to become the greatest basketball player in the world!" In response to this, the deity burst out in laughter.

If the soul had a face, it would be frowning right now. "What's so funny?"

The laughter began to die down. "Sorry, sorry. I wasn't laughing at your dream. I was just surprised. It's likely your strong obsession with your dream, or your 'ego' was what allowed you to survive, even at the cost of most of your memories. I just thought it was rather unexpected that you would have such a big attachment to a sport," the deity finally replied.

"I see. So what happens to me now?" asked the soul.

The deity began to think, before responding. "Well, your strong belief in your dream heavily amus- I mean, touched me. So I'd like to give you a chance to pursue it. Since there's basically an infinite amount of worlds, I can give you the opportunity to reincarnate you in a place nearly identical to your world, so you can pursue your dream once again."

The soul thought this was agreeable and began to nod his head. However, a thought came into his mind and caused him to pause. "That sounds like a good offer, but I have a different idea. If there's almost an infinite amount of worlds... would it be possible for you to reincarnate me in a world somewhat like this anime I remember called "Kuroko no Basuke". I know it seems like a lot to ask, but competing in a world as talented and crazy as "Kuroko no Basuke" would make accomplishing my dream that much more satisfying."

The deity broke out in laughter again. "Hah! You keep surprising me. To willingly go to a place that makes accomplishing your dream harder for the sole sake of more satisfaction really impresses me. I accept your request. And on top of that, I'll add in a few extra 'perks' for you in your reincarnation. Good luck and have fun... you crazy arrogant bastard."

At that, the soul felt reality begin to warp, before blacking out.

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After an unknown amount of time, the soul woke up. Surveying his surroundings, he found that he was in a rather luxurious room, with various gaming consoles. Standing up, he noticed that he had rather short legs and arms, being at the standard of an average six-year-old.

Wordlessly, he began to wander around the room, before he came to a mirror. Upon seeing his face, various memories came to him. To start, he had short white hair, leaving a V-shaped fringe in between his eyes. However, his white hair was surprisingly not the thing that stood out the most. They were his startlingly bright teal-colored irises.

Sifting through his newly-acquired memories, he understood that his name was Seishiro Nagi, a young six-year-old boy coming from a relatively well-off family. He was always rather demotivated and calm and usually preferred to stay at home playing video games.

However, this is not the only reason Nagi recognized himself. He recognized this face and name from his past life. In his past life, Seishiro Nagi was a character in the manga Blue Lock, a soccer manga centered around various strikers competing to be the best in the world in a program called Blue Lock.

In the manga, Nagi had a few defining characteristics. First of all, he had white hair and teal eyes, which was very peculiar. Second, he was very lazy and demotivated, at least at the start. However, there was one more thing that stood out the most. His talent.

Seishiro Nagi was arguably the most talented player in the whole manga. While there were a few players that were better than him, like the #1 in Blue Lock, Itoshi Rin, Nagi was likely the most talented. Why? Because even after starting soccer much later than everyone else, as well as never taking it seriously until he came to Blue Lock, he was still ranked within the top 6 players in Blue Lock.

After mentally reviewing what he knew about himself, Nagi began to think. "Being in this body is quite a blessing. Even not taking into account the natural talent of the original Nagi, he was considered rather tall for a teenager. Additionally, he was rather good-looking. This is probably one of the 'perks' I was given by the deity."

Even though he had those thoughts, Nagi did not think that was the main reason he was put into this body. The deity probably thought it was funny. For one of the most motivated people to be put into the body of one of the least motivated people with a name meaning 'calm', it was rather ironic.