Prologue (Part 4)

"Bam!"

I fell out of a bed.

"Fucking hell why the fuck is everything hurting!"

Suddenly sitting up, I couldn't help but fall again while writhing in agony and cursing as my body felt like someone decided to put it through crusher.

The agony lasted a full ten minutes which felt like an eternity to me, but it wasn't over yet. A damn headache plagued me.

I muttered: "Damnit, just what I needed. More headaches."

But then, I realized something:

"Wasn't I supposed to be dead? Where am I?"

Looking around, I was in an apartment. It looked very different than what I was used to, having things that looked futuristic to me on a nightstand next to the bed and on the wall.

"…huh?"

Fighting against my headache, I tried getting up to investigate my surroundings but I was struggling to move my body. It felt like I was unfamiliar with it, like I wasn't in my own body. Yet as more time passed and I moved more and more, my motor skills improved.

Once I finally could move my body like I used to, my headache also dissipated and I could now observe my surroundings with a semi-clear mind.

"What is goi— what's up with my voice?"

As I was talking to myself, I noticed that my voice sounded different.

"What else is different?"

I immediately ran to the bathroom to check myself with a mirror.

"Eh?"

What greeted me in the reflection of the mirror was not my usual face, but someone else's.

Reflected in the mirror was someone whose age would be around eighteen or so, not the twenty-eight-year old face that I was familiar with.

Black hair like I had in my last life, deep brown eyes, and smooth ivory skin. I wasn't ugly yet I wasn't a stunning knockout either.

Touching my face all over, I couldn't help but mutter in confusion.

"This is definitely not my old body, just what is going on? I definitely died, right?"

I had a slight idea of what happened from all the manga and anime I read/watched, but I had to be sure.

Going back to the bedroom, which was the only other room, I found a highly-sophisticated looking watch on the nightstand and grabbed it.

"Maybe this will give me answers."

Turning it on, I couldn't gasp out in surprise. The watch displayed a holographic letter. It read:

"Thank you for applying to our school. Keeping it brief: On behalf of the staff here at the Central Gap Academy, we welcome Rick Astler as a new student. We hope to see you grow into a successful Hunter during your time spent here. For more information, please visit…"

The letter went on to explain some other stuff but the name caught my attention.

"Rick Astler… are you kidding me!"

I knew what the situation was. I had died and somehow found myself reincarnated into the novel I wrote, as a joke character…

"Shit."