Chapter 1: Second Chance

When I was younger, I devoted myself to studying. I've believed that knowledge was power. And so, I hungrily devoured knowledge like a starving person for food. Unfortunately, there was such a thing known as 'talent'.

'Talent' is what separates mediocrity and genius. 'Talent' is the chasm between mediocrity and genius. If hard work can separate the bottom of society from the mediocre, then only when one has 'talent' would he or she be able to detach himself or herself from the masses of mediocrity to elevate himself to the level of genius.

But I never gave up. Sacrificing everything that made school life 'school life', I continued studying, believing that my hard work would reach the 'genius' level one day.

And so I devoted myself to a better and brighter future.

I was never bullied, but neither was I a very popular kid. No matter how hard I studied, there were people that I could never dream of reaching. But then again, life has hit me so many times in the face already, so what was one more slap?

After graduating from a mediocre university, I have finally detached from mediocrity to reach above average. But I never hit the genius level.

I devoted myself to my job for the sake of my future.

But at this point, what was the 'future'? Was there any 'sake' for my future? My future had been planned out since day 1. From the day I was born to be mediocre.

I devoted myself to studying.

I devoted myself to a better and brighter future.

I devoted myself to my job for the sake of my future.

Or at least, that was what my parents always wanted from me.

And so I did. Listening to my parents' 'advice', constantly isolating myself to pursue higher education, only to live a life full of ordinariness at the end.

Would I say that my parents' words were wrong? I cannot tell. I cannot say for sure. Because all of our circumstances are different. If my parents' advice was available for the genius kids, they would have been very successful. But when that advice was delivered to people like me, what good were they?

Because of that aspiration, I died without even experiencing a wholesome life.

Do I blame my parents?

No. My parents were only trying their best for me. They were only thinking of the best for me. How could I hate them or blame them? But although we weren't enemies of any sort, we weren't very close either.

What is the point of sacrificing everything when nothing good ever happens to you in the end?

What is the point of sacrificing everything when in the future, you have no money, no relationships, and all your loved ones distance themselves from you?

No, more like, you distanced yourself from others to focus on that 'work' and 'study', only to achieve nothing.

This is my life - my previous life.

My previous life was boring. Especially when it came to the adult part. I went to work, ate, and went home. And the cycle repeats.

My parents died before I could even get a girlfriend, much less a wife. I had only slightly above average income and average looks. As for friends? I gave them all up to study, only to fail miserably at the end.

As it turns out, connection, along with wealth, played a far more important role in society than mere results.

If 'above average' had a personification, it would probably be me.

I don't have a family, lover, nor friends.

You can say that my life was meaningless.

And is a life without meaning really worth living?

Every day after work, I would think of what anime to watch in the few hours of free time I have before sleeping. Don't get me wrong, I'm no otaku.

I don't look down on them, but I don't have the time or capacity to become one. After all, life in Tokyo wasn't easy with the high prices everywhere.

Thus, I only watch anime for the fun of it.

Today was no different. Or at least, it was supposed to be.

On the way home, I spotted a young girl in the middle of the road. It was raining heavily, and it was dark.

Seeing a truck speeding towards her, I quickly rushed towards her, hoping to save her from the cruel fate. No matter how hard life can be, I don't believe that death was an escape. I'm no hero, but I can't see a young girl with so much potential for the future to die in this saddening place.

I hurriedly pushed her out the way and wanted to move out of the way as well. However, the floor was filled with puddles of water, and my footing slipped, causing me to fall on my butt.

Seeing the two lights in front of me, I closed my eyes and waited for the impact to come.

My heart was pounding in fear and fright of being run over by the truck.

'Am I going to die?'

Yet, after a few seconds, nothing happened.

There were two possibilities. Either I had died too quickly for me to feel the pain, or two, I haven't died at all.

Opening my eyes to confirm which of my conclusion was right, I see the trick right in front of me.

'I haven't died yet!'

As I about to let out a sigh of relief, the driver honked me, and who knew? I got the shock of my life, causing me to have a heart attack.

Or at least, that was what my dear God said to me.

*****************

"Hahahaha!"

"Who are you?" I looked around me and saw a blinding white light surrounding me.

"You are a fascinating human. Rushing to your death because you were bored, then dying to a heart attack after an exciting event. Well, I am what you humans call !@#$%^&* ^%$*^%, but you can call me God for short." The blinding light spoke.

"Um... okay. So what can I do for you? I don't think I have any karma to use or did anything good for you to be right in front of me?"

"Well, let's just say you died excitingly and managed to entertain me sufficiently. As a reward for entertaining me, I shall grant you two wishes."

"Sigh, so I died pathetically. Well, not as if my life was meaningful anyway. However, can I ask a few questions first?"

"Hmm, sure. Go ahead."

"Are there any limitations to my wishes? For example, wishing to be immortal or the strongest in the universe? Can I travel from one world to another? Do I get to choose my world, appearance, and background?"

"That's a lot of questions you got there. Well, for your first question, it's a yes. You can wish for immortality or be the strongest, but you must earn it for yourself by training yourself, for example.

For your second question, it is a no. Once you choose a world, you live there till your die. You get to choose your appearance for free, but the world that you will be reincarnated to will depend on your choice of wish. If you wish for a magic ability, then you would be sent to a world of magic.

I don't like spending too much time on something like this. So hurry up and choose your wishes so that we can get this over with."

"Let me think this through."

After 292537 minutes...

"CAN YOU HURRY UP!!"

'Seems like god isn't too happy.'

"WHAT DO YOU THINK? I HAVE WAITED FOR ALMOST 7 MONTHS FOR YOU TO PICK 2 WISHES!!"

"Okay, okay. First thing first, I want to be reincarnated with the appearance of Aru Akise from Mirai Nikki. For my first wish, I want to be a super genius with high perception and understanding. For my second wish, I want a system."

"Rejected. Two reasons." God raised up two balls of light and spoke, "One, you took too long to think of something simple, thus no high perception and understanding."

"And second, as for the super genius part, it's not like I don't want to give you a high IQ, but it's impossible since the Goddess of Wisdom is sort of...like my nemesis...and I'm not strong enough to beat her, so... Plus, giving you high IQ would completely destroy your mind as your spirit isn't strong enough to handle it. At most, I would provide you with an eidetic memory with a faster learning speed than others. What do you say?"

"...Really? You're pretty weak if even a Goddess of Wisdom could beat you."

"Ahem...you have no right to say that. Wisdom and intelligence are what you've been trying to pursue all this time, right? It goes to show that you would know the power of knowledge the best."

"Nope. I've learned that connections and money are more important and powerful."

"It's because you haven't seen the top of the world yet. Anyway, we're going off-topic. If you don't accept my wish, please choose your first wish again. As for your second wish, a system..people tend to abuse it a lot, so I can only give you a run-down version. Do you accept?"

"Sigh...you really are this weak, huh? Fine, I accept the eidetic memory. Still, not even being able to grant a system. Sigh, never mind. It's not good to be too greedy anyway. And what do you mean by the 'run-down' version?"

Ignoring the insult, God continued explaining, "It means that you will only have a gacha system with infinite storage space. There will be no shop, maps, or anything broken.

Sighing for the nth time since meeting this God, I said, "Fine, I accept. But which world will I be reincarnated into?"

"You will know when you reincarnate. Everything is random, so I will wish you luck. Tee-hee~."

"...Don't tee-hee like that ever again. I'm just imagining an old man doing that pose, and I don't feel comfortable."

"Tch...you made me wait for almost 7 months for two close to useless wishes. The least you could do is to indulge in my cravings."

"I'm sorry, but I don't swing that way."

"You little brat. You've been too comfortable with me over the last 7 months, eh?"

"It's just alright. Thank you for granting my two wishes, though it was scaled down plenty."

"No problem. I hope you would be able to find back what you have lost, find what you were missing, and live a life that you truly wished for."

Smiling at the bright light in my surroundings, as I disappeared, only one thought was in my mind at this moment as I lost my consciousness.

"Thank you..."

************

Year 1999, 15th of April

'Where am I? Did I get reincarnated successfully?'

[Gacha system initializing...]

[5%...]

[15%...]

[50%...]