《A Quest for Existence》


 Chapter 0: Unseen Death

    A bitter taste lingers in my mouth as a red, warm liquid seeps down from the corner of my lips.


    It has a tinge of sweetness, but the bitterness of it still remains.


    Also, it reeks the smell of iron, making it distasteful.


    For me whose love for sweets exceeds even my love for myself, this taste is too much of a bane for me.


    I hate this.


    The taste of my blood, that is...


    As I was mindfully complaining about the taste, I fixed my stare and looked at the current condition of my body.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    A few broken ribs, here and there.


    Limbs bent at impossible ways.


    Although my lower body is still connected to me, I can¡¯t seem to feel my legs.


    With my wheezing breath, I assume that my lungs have been punctured too.


    My body is now soaked in my own blood as the white dress that I¡¯m wearing has now been dyed red.


    As expected of an impact from a massive 16-wheeler Truck-sama of doom, overspeeding at 90km/h.


    I¡¯m starting to feel lucky that my body ended up with just this after being rammed like that.


    That driver seems to be in a rush to be driving like that ¨C Is he in a need for a toilet break?


    Be careful next time, Driver-san, make sure you don¡¯t hit somebody else again, OK? It really hurts, you know?


    My vision began to blur as the loss of blood gradually began to take away the last of my consciousness.


    Maybe its fine like this, my body has been feeling cold all this time and I¡¯d like to get some sleep¡­


    ¡°Sigh¡­ In any case, help will not come. After all, I doubt anybody noticed me.¡±


    And with that final thought, I took my last breath.


    ~ End of Chapter 0 ~

 Chapter 1: A Lifetime of Twenty-two Years

    I, Kuroyami Yuriko, am now dead.


    At age of twenty-two, my life ended up just like that.


    It may have been an early death as the others might say, but it doesn¡¯t matter anyway.


    My lifetime has been spent passively, with me who is just going along with the flow of daily events ¨C living aimlessly without a goal nor a dream.


    ¡°An unfulfilling life¡±, Is what I should say, but I have no regrets.


    I mean, what is there to be regretful of?


    If I had any unfinished matters, then there is a matter of which I can complain ¨C but I don¡¯t.


    That¡¯s why death is fine, as it is just a part of life that we¡¯ll all go through.


    Whoever goes first or last is just a matter of chance.


    I also have no lingering feelings for those people that I''ve left behind.


    I left my family a year ago to live independently.


    Even though I said to ¡°live independently¡±, it doesn¡¯t really matter whether I¡¯m at my parents¡¯ house or not.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    I¡¯m not treated coldly by my family, but it¡¯s just that my presence is so thin that nobody fails to forget yhat I''m actually there.


    Maybe even though it has been more than a year since I left our home, I doubt anybody would¡¯ve noticed it.


    My friends?


    Err¡­ well¡­


    I think it''s better to say that I don''t have any.


    The same reason with my family, with my hardly recognizable presence, to leave an impression enough that they will take notice of me is too much to a person such as myself.


    It is troublesome on so many levels. One of the things that I don¡¯t like are troublesome things.


    That¡¯s why I just accepted my fate ¨C to remain invisible to the eyes of many.


    And this is where we go fast forward to the scene before my death.


    I was at the convenience store, buying food and other commodities that I need in my apartment.


    Although I could just come there and take stuff then go back home without paying anything, I still have a high sense of morality so I won¡¯t lower my self-dignity just from stealing instant noodles, canned goods and various toiletries.


    After paying for my groceries, I quickly left the store.


    I¡¯ll just keep it to myself that it took me at most five minutes just to get the attention of the cashier.


    I was on my way home when it happened at that moment.


    Because it was evening at that time, few people were on the streets.


    And since just rained, there were even less people than usual.


    The traffic lights turned red and I went on to cross the road alone.


    As I was halfway there, a sudden feeling of impact went through my whole body.


    And then I somewhat felt a feeling of weightlessness as my body was thrown with a huge force to my right.


    I almost managed to land on the ground before being rammed flying again by another truck as if they were just playing a game of pinball, of course, with me as the ball.


    As if I had offended God or something, my body was thrown on to one of those narrow alleys where people rarely go through at night.


    Because there was no one there at the moment, no one was able to call for help.


    Nevertheless, I doubt they evennoticed me as I was dying there.


    And it was there, in that dark and cold alley, that I, Kuroyami Yuriko, died¡­


    Or not¡­

 Chapter 2: The White Room

    The moment I regained consciousness, I was inside a white room.


    "Wha- Isnt this the studio set for Weekly Id*l?!"


    White walls, white floor and white ceiling.


    Although a stupid thought suddenly came to me, I pushed it on the depths of my mind because it is impossiblefor me to be on that kind of place.


    I''m not an id*l so that is choice excluded.


    I''m not the host so I would cross that out too.


    Heck, I''m not even qualified to be a studio staff member so I turned the posibility down.


    Furthermore, there seemed to be no doors nor windows.


    Without anything else, no furnitures nor decors.


    "Then how is it so bright here when there''s no light?"


    This room feels like light itself.


    And by the way.


    "How did I even get inside here?"


    Is one of those rooms with hidden trap doors or rotating walls?


    I don''t think so.


    At least, that is what my intuition tells me.


    Should I try looking around?


    The space is only small, about 25 sqm, looking at it this way, its like I''m trapped inside a cube.


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    White.


    It''s just white.


    Everywhere is white.


    Excluding me, of course.


    Wait, as far as I can remember, I was dying...


    Or should I say, "died".


    "Is this what they called Heaven?"


    That thought came to my mind but...


    "Where are the angels? The Heaven''s Gate? The Shouldn''t this be place have a more heavenly feel than this? Although I think hell wouldn''t look like this either, but ain''t this place a bit cheap?"


    Various nonsensical thoughts filled my head again when suddenly, I felt the space around me shook as if an earthquake had just occurred.


    [Hmm... Welcome, and good job in getting to this place, my child. Although you''ve already realized the fact, but I''ll tell you again - you''ve died.]


    "Wha- Who''s there?!"


    A voice resounded in the room as if coming from all six directions. It aounds mechanical devoid of any emotion like the ones that were synthesized on computers.


    The voice sounds different at each time, sometimes it sounds like an old man, then it becomes the voice of a man, then halfway through the word, it sounds like an old woman, then sometimes a child.


    [It seems that you''re quite surprised. But so am I. Who would have thought thag it would take almost a millennia for me to notice that you''re already here.]


    "A ''millennia'' you say? Isnt it just a few minutes since I''ve woke up?"


    Hearing the voice, I was surprised not because it took him a long tkme to notice me but because he seemed to be waiting for me.


    [Ahh... It''s because the time flow jn this divine plane that I''ve ceeated is different to the time flow of your world. Anyway, let''s get down to business.]


    "Business? He''s a businessmen? A door-to-door sales man? Or should it be a room-to-room salesman..."


    [Quite audacious, arent we? To calling a God such as myself with such nicknames, you are the first.]


    "Eh- ahh... No... ummm..."


    If I didn''t realized just now that this self-proclaimed God can read minds, I might have given him more nicknames.


    [Indeed, this one here is a God.]


    [Gods are born, or should I say created by the will of the universe.]


    [When there is a need for a God, he will be created. They would then absorb the will that is compatible to them from the denizens of the world they govern.]


    [These will is the faith of theirworshipers. Needless to say, a God that is not deified is deemed as a failure and can only be resigned to its only fate which is the eradication of its existence.]


    [There are many Gods from your world who have already met the same fate.]


    [Needless to say, I am one of those Gods who are still alive and kicking! Ha haha hahaha!]


    Ignoring his long monologue followed by a three-staged maniacal laughther, I pushed the matter that was making me curious right now.


    "Umm... I don''t care about that... Then can you tell me why am I here?"


    [YOU-! *cough* You''re right, I should make this fast or else-]


    Although I think I could hear him grumbling something inaudible, I decided to remain silent and wait for him to continue.


    [It''s because I will send you to another world!]


    "Haaaah......?"