That time a War Photographer was reincarnated as a Slime

Chapter 1: Major Tom

The damp and bleak air inside the armoured car have really caught up to Satoru, making him unable to breathe. He can hear them from not far away, the earth shaking blast of bombs, the swooshing sound of bullets flying through the air, accompanied by the faint smell of blood and gunpowder.

All around him, his fellow comrades begin to tremble in fear. Some drink to forget, some pray to their lord, and some just stay still and accept their fate. As for Satoru, he just checks his camera for the final time before putting it down onto his lap and pulls out an old and beaten up picture from his pocket.

The small amount of light from the windows of the car shine right into the picture, revealing on it the image of a young girl wearing a kimono, standing inside a sea of flame with tears in her eyes.

"Satoru, it's time". One of his comrades says

Satoru quickly puts the picture back into his pocket and picks up his camera as the car's backdoors begin to open.

"GO, GO, GO!". The Commander from outside of the car shouts.

Satoru sprints right out of the car as fast as he can and jumps into a nearby wall of sandbags. He opens his camera and peaks his head out of the wall.

Through the viewfinder of the camera, the scenery of war is captured in all of it's nightmarish glory. Bodies laying on the ground with their eyes wide open, the red color of blood dyed the entire battlefield, all the while bullets and bombs continued to rain. No matter how many times he saw these scenes through the eyes of a war photographer, he can't truly get used to them.

"H..help me!".

A faint voice struck his ears with a haunting image from his right. A soldier laying on the ground with left hand blown off and his eyes fixed into the blue sky while he is gasping for air. But no one seems to notice him, the sound of bullets and light from the muzzle flashes have made them all blind and deaf to their own brother's fate.

But Satoru isn't blind nor deaf, he throws his camera into the ground and runs toward the dying soldier, dodging through a sea of leads. He runs and runs until the man is in front of him as he crouches down to hold him into his arms.

"Can you still walk?". Satoru asks

The man nods, with that, Satoru swung the man's right hand over his shoulder and dragged both of them toward a nearby trench. With each step gone by, Satoru feels like he is walking away from life itself, but he still holds in his fear in order to get this man to safety.

As he reaches the trench, he lends the man shivering body into the hand of his comrades and rolls into the trench.

'Bssh'

Satoru doesn't know what just happened, but everything seems to be fading away, the world slowly turning darker and darker until he collapses into the trench, dead with a bullet in his head.

He can no longer feel his body anymore, he knows it's there but at the same time isn't. He can't even see or smell anything, he is like an astronaut floating in the empty void of space. It feels so still, so peaceful that he thinks he can stay here forever. Yet somehow, he doesn't feel like he wants to rest, that's because he is enjoying his favorite song playing from within the void.

"Ground control to major Tom…".

"Ground control to major Tom".

Satoru doesn't know where the sounds are coming from and he doesn't care, he just wants to listen to them, he wants them to guide him somewhere else.

"Did you live a full life with no regret?". The voice sing in the tune of "Space oddity" by David Bowie

"This is major tom to ground control, i'm still standing at the door…". Satoru jokingly sings along.

"And i still want to continue my goal".

"This is ground control to major tom...where do you want to go?". The voice asks off tune.

"Some place safe, some place I can be free" he replies.

"And what do you want to be?".

"Anything…". He whispers.

"Then put your helmet on". The voice replies as it starts a countdown.

Five

Four

Three

Two

One

"May god's love be with you". The voice says.

At that moment, the black surrounding void Satoru explodes into a white horizon, sucking him into it. ...

Satoru wakes up from what feels like long slumber, will he turn into a bear if he sleeps for too long? He always wondered. But his body doesn't feel like a bear at all, nor does it feel like it belongs to a human, it just doesn't feel like anything . All he can feel is the coldness of the ground and something small and slightly sharp touching his body.

Is it the grass or is it a hedgehog, Satoru doesn't know because everything around him is taking on the color of vanta black. Why is it so dark, he wondered. Was he captured by the enemy and got thrown into a prison, or is there something blindfolding him?.

He wants to see, he wants to know where he is right now. He wants it, he wants it, he desperately wants it. He begs his body and his eyes to let him see. And at that moment, he can feel something moving inside of him, as if something like a pair if eyes is forming inside of him.

Light slowly comes through his vision as satoru opens his eyes. In front of him is a wall of rocks, with ground being infested by green grass and small puddles of water. Satoru shambles his body toward a small puddle to catch the reflection of his body in the water. He is a blue and soft jelly thing, smoothly rounded with human eyes awkwardly sticking out of its body.

"What am i?".