Chapter 0: Prologue

Chapter 1

Dong!

"Next!"

The voice boomed impatiently and the line moved forward.

Up until that point, if you'd looked in the dictionary, under mediocrity, you could probably have seen Michael Thompson's photo.

Michael was once a boy full of dreams and expectations, always optimistic that his future would be bright and successful.

Well, the harsh reality, which is often blind and cruel towards the most naive, hit the young boy hard once he got out of college.

In the blink of an eye, 10 years had passed and Michael was trapped in an endless loop of monotony.

He was throwing his life away and saw no chance to reverse its course.

That day, everything had proceeded according to the same boring routine. Michael had woken up at the same time as always, had been busy at work doing the same tasks he had done the previous day and had returned home, as always, when the sun had already disappeared from the sky. The only joy in the boy's gray life was the daily anime and manga session, that distracted him for a couple of hours before going to bed and once again waiting for the inexorable repetition of the previous day's cycle.

The next morning, however, it wasn't the disgusting sound of the alarm clock that brought him out of his sleep and certainly, when he opened his eyes, he wasn't in the squalid apartment he was renting for more than half his salary.

Dong!

"Next!"

At the sound of the voice, once again, Michael was able to take a few steps forward and finally found himself at the apex of the line. It would be his turn next.

It had been days since Michael woke up in that place.

It was a field of flat land that extended in all directions beyond the visual horizon.

The sky, devoid of any celestial body, was dominated by darkness.

The only source of light was the ground itself, which seemed to emit its own luminescence and made it easy to see.

The fear and the shock that had initially pervaded Michael's mind had diminished with the passing of the days and only the trepidation to find out what would happen next remained.

The very long line stretched behind him as far as the eye could see and was made up of hundreds of thousands of people.

Breaking away from the line was impossible, anyone who tried was soon returned to their original place by an unseen force.

Talking to the people in front and behind him, he understood one thing: all the people in line were souls. How did he know? In addition to the transparency of the bodies, in one way or another everyone there remembered to have passed away.

The question remained as to how he had actually died, but it wasn't that important anymore.

At that moment, in front of Michael, there was a structure that vaguely resembled a Chinese temple. The two massive doors would only open once it was his time to enter. By now he had witnessed the scene several times already.

'What's going to happen to me in there?'

'I'm so anxious! I'm about to discover one of the mysteries that has always gripped the mind of man, what happens after death?"

Dong!

"Next!"

The door swung open.

'Here we go'

The interior of the temple showed a large atrium.

An enormous man, about 10 meters tall, sat behind an equally enormous desk, on which there were papers, documents and a telephone.

The man had a very thick black beard and red skin. He was well dressed with a purple dress and, strangely enough, a helmet with two showy horns on the sides.

A plaque on the desk revealed the identity of the person: "King Enma, king of the ogres and judge of souls".

The king took a document and began to read its contents. An arm resting on the table supported his head. It was obvious that he was extremely bored with what he was doing.

'Even in the afterlife there are people trapped in their routine, I see…'

"Mr Thompson! 31 years old, died of a heart attack in his bed. No children, no relatives, no partners"

'It is true... I'm dead. I have always had congenital heart problems, but the doctors assured me that I would have lived a normal life.'

"What an insipid life you lived! I don't see any particular sins, nor any great merits. You can proceed with the normal cycle of reincarnation. Do you see that portal? It will take you to your new life. Stand there in front, yes there, I have to cleanse your soul and erase all your memories first. "

Driiiiiiiiiin!

Before the man could do what he had announced, the phone rang.

"King Enma… Yes..Yes..Understood…Yeah, I take a Big Mac thanks…What do you say? Did they break up?...Are you sure?....Come on…."

'Reincarnation? Without memories? That's all? So my existence ends here …?'

After a few minutes of waiting for him, Michael began to get impatient.

'Come on, get moving! I spent days standing, let's get this over with quickly at least!'

Michael looked at the portal before his eyes.

'This portal will take me to a new life huh? If only I had my memories, I could probably make it big this time and live my life to the fullest.'

A crazy idea began to take off in the young man's mind.

"HAHA I told you so! Yes, she's a bitch, she also hit on me… Yes, it's true!!! I swear! ….how?ehm...Oh yes! Today is my last day in this shit hole.… Hahaha thanks I know… Yes yes, special program for me hehe"

Michael looked first at King Enma, who was gossiping at the phone, and then at the portal, which was about 3 meters in front of him.

'What do I have to lose?? I am about to disappear forever from the face of existence along with my memories anyway. For once I want to take my destiny into my own hands…!'

Suddenly Michael leapt forward with unprecedented ardor and bravery.

Entering the portal, he disappeared forever.

"Hahaha alright, see you later!"

Putting the phone down with a small grin still on his face, Enma picked up the document, together with a large stamp.

"Well, where were we? …?...!!!!Oh no! No no no no!! shit! Piece of shit!!".

Immediately, the king of the ogres and judge of the dead, picked up the receiver that he had just put down and dialed the number for emergencies.

"Hello?" answered a voice on the other side.

"I'm Enma sir, I have a red code!"

"Damn Enma!!! Normal reincarnation I want to hope"

"Yes…. he jumped into the portal without cleansing of the soul and memories "

"Shit!! Did he have bad karma?"

"No…. Luckily he was a normal human, one of the most average I've ever seen. I'll send you the file"

"Ah…Michael Thompson. Mmm, listen Enma…. mark it as cleaned up."

"Oh?? Sir are you sure? There is still time to block the reincarnation process and…."

"I'm sure! Do you know the mess that would come out just to block the reincarnation?? We'd both be fired, and you know exactly what would happen to us. If you're afraid that the matter might come back to trouble us, send him to one of those Fiction worlds. Actually, you know what? That is an excellent idea!! How did I not think of it before? hehe, those worlds are completely separate from ours, no one will ever find out. Ah, right!! If I'm not mistaken you applied for the special reincarnation program a few days ago..."

"But sir…!! I got that program after 500 years of continuous service!! It was my ticket out of this shit!!"

"Bahh!! Those are lower worlds Enma! Many don't even have gods like the two of us! Tell me, that program has the memory retention option right??"

"Yes…But sir….It has been my dream for years! Lets sign him as cleaned up and that's it!"

"NO! It's a perfect cover!! In a week there will also be the general inspection. I don't want any stains on my resume because of you! If we use a special program we will never get caught."

"That is my program…"

"I don't give a damn Enma!! Wake up!! Someone has to pay for this bullshit!! Do as I tell you, end of conversation!!!"

Tut Tut Tut

"Damned Bastard!!!ahhh!!! Why always me?".

King Enma was so furious that he slammed the phone to pieces.

After a few deep breaths, he opened his desk drawer and took out a fully gilded contract.

"Ahhh, the result of 500 years of hard work"

For a moment he hesitated and even considered lying to his superior and not using the contract he was holding.

"No, it's too dangerous. I'll just have to hold on for another 500 years…"

Now resigned, he looked for the last time at the information on the contract that he had obtained after so many sacrifices.

[Special Reincarnation Program:

-world: HXH (price, 200 years of service)

- optional 1, skin: Sasuke uchiha Orochimaru outfit limited edition (price, 75 years of service. N.B. only appearance included)

-optional 2, reincarnation time: hunter exam, canonical period (price, 25 years of service)

-optional 3, retention of all past life memories (price, 200 years of service)]

These special programs were relatively expensive for the workers here and, if anything, they were bought by the richer deities as gifts for their mortal descendants.

Indeed, who would give up the comfort of immortality for a mortal life???

Enma was one of those people. The great King had been working as a judge for thousands of years now. Only recently did he discovered the world of anime and manga. He fastly became a big weebo and it came to the point that, to be part of one of those fantastic world, he would have given up everything, even his immortality.

"Ahhh! Shit, Shit Shit!!!!! Do you know how much I sacrificed for this contract??? Finally I could be like Sasuke-kun and be adored by all the girls!!! I could be friend with Gon and Killua kun!!!! I hope you enjoy it, you bastard!"

He slapped the stamp, first on the contract and then on the document relating to a certain Michael Thompson.