They already knew how it feels to die. At first it was painful to let go of the life that they had lived, but as time went on, they began to understand that letting go is also the start of a new beginning.
The only thing that they might feel sad... angry... and cherish.... is the fact that they cannot forget. They didn't know when it started. It might be from their very first retry, but it was already so long ago that they cannot vividly see the memory.
A contradiction.
They always made sure to erase their consciousness whenever they are born, because being pushed out of their mother was not a beautiful experience. They would also rather not spend their first moments like that. They would regain their memories back when labor was over.
That was how it would normally go whenever they are born again.
But recently things gave become a bit different. Eight out of ten worlds, they would be born as something considered non-humanー they didn't know if they should consider this a blessing or a curse.
It seems that this world was one of those eight.
The feeling of floating in an endless space. They couldn't feel, see, breathe, nor speak. They were just there, in the vast darkness as if biding in time.
They hated waiting for a long time, because every time they are set to be born as a non-human, they had to. It would have been better if there was some sort of entertainment.
But at the same time, they loved being unable to do anything. They could relax and be lazy all they want, but as they experienced first-hand, there was no form of entertainment. No movies, no games, nor songs.
Their sense of time was non existent. They could count to pass the time like a certain science addicted person, but they had tried that and boi did they experience a ringing headache.
After an uncertain but long amount of time waiting, they heard something.
A ray of hope.
If they could, their face would have already brightened up with a joyous smile.
They heard the sound of large bells.
Then two claps.
Oh no. They thought.
"Hm..." they heard a skeptic hum of a young child.
Little by little, their senses has started to work, a sign that they would soon appear in this world. It was a bit slow but they could also feel themselves begin to have physical form.
"Do these things really work?" It was a flat tone, close to the boundary of apathetic and bored. They could also hear a bit of irritation in that.
Their vision was still a bit black, but it slowly cleared up as if filling up the opacity an image. They began to see their outstretched hand, pale as they were used to. Above them was a decrepit ceiling, old wood that also seem a bit wet. They could hear the soft drizzle of rain, that might be the reason why the place was a bit soaked.
They heard the bell again and a not-so-loud crash.
"Ah. It broke." The voice of the child was heard.
Looking at their side, they could see an offertory box found in shrines, above it was a broken off rope, the previous location of the fallen bell.
The child was a bit bummed that nothing appeared. They had tried to wish normally, then with a coquettish tone, all the way to the rude name-calling. Nothing appeared.
No curse object.
Mononoke.
Or spirit.
The child sighed and was about to turn away. That was until he saw a hand holding the offertory box from the other side. Pale white hands, a bit more and it would be pure white. And slowly a head had popped out. He couldn't see the face of the something that suddenly appeared due to the long black hair that covered it.
Some kind of hair monster.
A forgotten bakeneko.
Or a cursed object made from hair.
The child's eyes showed a bit of an excitement as the something emerged.
"Ugh..." that something groaned and the child saw a human figure. As it stood up, he could finally see it clearly.
It wore white kimono undergarments, its long black hair reaching all the way on the ground. It was so long that it had sprawled on the floor in different directions.
The child saw it move its hands and removed the bothersome hair that had covered its face.
"I would appreciate it if you don't destroy my current sleeping spot."
The child's eyes widened.
Because underneath that long hair, he was expecting the face of a vengeful spirit, or someone like sad*ko. But what had met him was an androgynous face so beautiful that it didn't match the abandoned shrine.
Rumors said that the abandoned shrine once belonged to the god of death. It was said that it would grant a person's wish to end someone's life with the right amount of offerings. As time went on, it was forgotten. Forgotten was how it was remembered by common people, but the child knows that it was because jujutsu sorcerers from back then began the purging of whoever had worshipped the god.
"Hm? Where have I seen you before?" They made a request to their save point for a search and identification of their location.
"You..." the child slowly approached them and clasped their hands. It had made them surprised at the sudden contact and made them look down on the child.
Seeing the bright stars that filled the child's eyes, they began to have a bad feeling and urged Qui to quicken the information. The sight of loading bar in their mind had began to move quicker.
"P....Pl!" The child moved closer to them, and though they had an expressionless face, the sight of his eyes and color of his cheeks spoke otherwise.
And as they heard the ping of the successful memory and information integration, the child had declared one of the most unexpected things that they could think of.
"Please marry me!!"
...
...
Their thoughts blanked.
One by one, they repeated the three words inside their mind.
The child said. Please.
Then. Marry.
And Me.
To them. With the most passionate and bright eyes directed at them.
Please.
Marry.
Me.
He said.
No, declared.
Nononononononononnononononononononononnoonononnonononononononononononononononononononononononononononononono...
Something like that only happens in shoujo mangas.
But seeing the child in front of them waiting for their reply, made them realize that this was reality.
"Eeehhh...."
They just woke up and a problem already appeared.
___
Extra:
In a detached universe:
Qui: Σ(°ロ°)!! I just felt something crack!
dʒiː How tHE FFfUuUCk did you just say that.
