Ascendance of a bookworm x Fem! Reader

Chapter 2: A New Life

Bang! Bang! A sound like someone striking the floor or a table rattles me awake, as wherever I was sleeping starts to wobble back and forth. With every oscillation, a shot of pain blasts through my skull like I was being punched in the head, and I let out a small moan.

Shut up... please... shut up...

The irritating noises and vibrations didn't stop, continuing at a steady rhythm, not letting me sleep at all.

I'm kept awake, painfully aware of the vibrations reverberating within my spinning head. I plug my ears, hoping it will go away. Moving around feels strange, like my body isn't doing exactly what I tell it to. All of my joints are sore, and I feel feverish all throughout my body, like I'd come down with the flu.

"Ugh..."

I need my glasses if I want to figure out what's going on. With my eyes screwed shut, I feel around for the glasses I always keep near my pillow. My entire body feels a little bit numb, and my arm's movements are sluggish. As I squirm, something beneath me rustles with a sound like grass or paper.

"...what's making that sound?"

The voice that comes out of my mouth sounds too high, almost childlike. It might because I'm ill, but it's not at all the voice I'm used to hearing. Even though I want to do nothing more than sleep off this fever, I can't just ignore this many abnormalities around me. I slowly open my eyes. My field of vision is warped, thanks to this extremely high fever. I don't know if it's the tears in my eyes helping me see in place of my glasses, but everything is much clearer than it usually is.

"Eh?"

The first thing I notice is a ceiling that, while it may have originally been white, has been stained black with soot. Some number of thick, black beams hold it up, across which a spider has build an enormous web. This is absolutely nothing like any room I remember.

"...Where am I?"

I look around the room, keeping my head perfectly still so as not to shake the tears from my eyes. It's obvious, from what I see, that much of what's around me is entirely unlike the Japan in which I was born and raised. Just from the architectural style of the ceiling, this isn't a Japanese-style building, it's Western. Furthermore, it's not a modern, steel-framed construction, but something much older. The bed I'm on is hard, and there's no mattress beneath me. Instead, I seem to be lying on some kind of cushion made of a prickly material. Through the dirty cloth that covers it, I smell a strange scent. On top of that, my body itches here and there, like I'm being bitten by ticks or fleas.

"W... wait a second..."

My most recent memory is being crushed under the weight of countless books, and I don't remember getting rescued at all. At the very least, I don't think any hospital in Japan would put a patient on top of a sheet this dirty. Timidly, I try to raise my hand over my head so that I can see it, and what I see is the small, slender hand of a child. I live a lifestyle where I was shut indoors with my books all day, so the untanned and almost unhealthy skin was no surprise, but at twenty-two years of age my hands were, of course, those of an adult. Completely different from these small, malnourished-looking hands before me now. These small, child-like hands that I can open and close at will. As I move around, my body does not feel at all like I'm used to it feeling. At this shocking realization, my mouth goes dry.

"...What's going on?"

It's possible that I might have reincarnated. God might have heard my dying wish and given me new life, so that I may read again. This is incomprehensible. I want to know more about the world around me, so I lift my heavy head and slowly push my feverish body upright. My sweat-soaked hair sticks to the side of my head, but I pay it no mind as I look around the room. I see more bed-like platforms like the one I'm on, the dirty cloths on top of them, and a few boxes full of various things... but no bookshelves.