Chapter 8 Sasaki Natsumi ⑦
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
When I came to, I was standing in a void of pure, blinding white. There was no floor, and no horizon-just a single table and two chairs.
In the world of light novels, this is the classic “afterlife lobby” where you end up after getting flattened by a truck. I’d read about it a thousand times, but I never expected it to be so… literal. Usually, some beautiful goddess is waiting to greet you-usually the “useless” variety-and if it had been Aurelia, I’d have broken her nose without a second thought. But this was different.
”Welcome, Natsumi Sasaki-kun.”
The man looked to be in his fifties. He was tall, his white hair slicked back into a perfect pompadour, sporting a sharp, well-groomed beard. He was the quintessential Nice Middleⁿ-a dandy gentleman in a crisp white suit.
And his voice… it was unnecessarily good. He sounded like one of those legendary voice actors-the kind who plays a ruthless Sengoku warlord or a certain heretical priest with a fetish for ‘pleasure’ and super-spicy mapo tofu. Or maybe that one ‘G’ who went to Mars and became a Susumu-lookalike. But I digress.
”Um… where am I? And who the hell are you?”
”This is the threshold between life and death. To your kind, it functions as both Heaven and Hell, though in layman’s terms, it’s simply my office. As for my identity… by your definitions, I suppose I am ‘God’.”
”God, huh…?”
The setting was one thing, but as soon as he claimed to be God, the whole situation started smelling like a scam.
”Think of me as a Multiversal Administrator. Or, if you prefer the sci-fi flavor, a four-dimensional being. This is the control room for countless realities. I keep it white because the sheer influx of raw data from those worlds would liquefy your brain if you saw it. Even a glimpse could cause a total mental collapse. And for the record-I can get sick, and if I’m killed, I die. I’m not that different from you. I’m not truly omniscient or omnipotent, but I’ve managed these worlds long enough to know them inside out. To a three-dimensional human, that probably looks a lot like being a God.”
I guess my skepticism was written all over my face. So, the white void was a safety feature? Fair enough. I was curious, but not ‘mental-collapse’ curious.
”Well, no point in standing around. Why don’t you take a seat? We have much to discuss regarding your future.”
The self-proclaimed God gestured to the chair. I sat, and he took the seat opposite me, his movements fluid and poised.
”Can I get you something to drink? Natsumi Sasaki-kun, would you prefer tea or coffee?”
”Ah… tea, I guess.”
”Understood.”
He snapped his fingers. Instantly, a porcelain teacup appeared on the table, steam curling from the surface of a deep, amber liquid.
”Please, don’t be shy. Help yourself.”
He offered a polite, practiced smile.
”Right. Thanks.”
I took a sip. The fragrance bloomed across my palate immediately-a sophisticated, multi-layered depth I’d never experienced before. I’d only ever had the bottled stuff or cheap tea bags back home. This was in an entirely different league. He was definitely using the high-end leaves.
”Your world’s culinary culture is exceptionally evolved,” he remarked. “I often manifest these items just to enjoy the craft.”
”Is that so? What’s the food like in other worlds, then?”
”I shouldn’t really indulge you, but… a little won’t hurt. Most worlds are primitive-raw meat, or charred over an open flame with no seasoning. On the other end of the spectrum, you have the ‘efficient’ worlds: flavorless pastes in tubes or sterile tablets. Incredibly dull. Your world, however… the balance of aesthetics and flavor is a marvel.”
So it’s either caveman food or astronaut slop. I’m not exactly a foodie, but that sounded depressing.
”Would you like a cookie?”
”Thank you. I’ll take one.”
It was perfect-crisp, buttery, and just the right amount of sweetness.
”By the way… is it okay for you to be sitting here doing this? Don’t you have, I don’t know, a universe to run? Are you really that bored?”
”Hahaha! Think of it as a breather. Everyone needs a break.”
* * *
”So,” I said, putting the cup down. “Why am I here? I know I died, but there has to be more to it than that.”
”Hmm…”
”Is it really just because I bit the dust? That’s the only reason?”
”Natsumi Sasaki-kun, you’re remarkably composed for a dead man. But you’re right. I brought you here-or rather, I ensured you would end up here upon your death-because I have a task for you.”
His expression went flat, his voice losing its playful edge.
”First, let’s discuss the world you were summoned to. It’s a reality where magic has superseded technology. We call it Maginoiaⁿ. It’s a world governed by Statusesⁿ. You’ve seen how it works, correct?”
”Yeah.” I nodded. I’d lived through enough of that nightmare already.
”The problem is, I am not the one in charge of Maginoia.”
”It’s the Goddess Aurelia, isn’t it?”
”Precisely! And that woman… she’s treated her appointment as a license to play with the world like a personal sandbox. A little intervention is expected, but she has crossed the line.”
”Crossed the line how?”
”The summoning of humans from another world. You were there; you know the drill.”
I stayed silent, nodding again. But I didn’t see why a few high schoolers would break the world.
”Inter-dimensional summoning causes a massive localized instability in the logic of both worlds. At worst, it can trigger a total reality collapse that bleeds into the surrounding multiverse. It’s a catastrophe waiting to happen.”
World-ending stakes? Great. Just what I needed.
”But isn’t stopping that your job?”
”It is. And she’s making me and the other Administrators work overtime to keep the seams from bursting. A single reincarnation is one thing-the soul is already untethered. But mass teleportation of living bodies? That’s a nightmare. And she did it for the most pathetic reason imaginable: she was bored.”
He took a slow sip of his tea and sighed, the weight of a thousand years in his eyes. I felt a surge of genuine irritation. So this ‘Goddess’ ruined our lives and threatened the entire multiverse just because she wanted a show? She was literally messing with everyone’s existence.
”Couldn’t you have just… told her to stop?”
”I tried. She wouldn’t listen. And now, this mass summoning has put a staggering strain on the fabric of both our worlds. I’ve managed to patch it for now, but only barely.”
He spoke with a self-deprecating smirk. I couldn’t tell if I should feel sorry for him or just pity the situation.
”However,” he continued, “this mess provided me with a unique opportunity. Specifically, it provided me with you.”
”Me? Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m a nobody. I was the class punching bag, my stats are trash, and my skill slot was just a blacked-out mess.”
”Ah, the skill. That was my doing. You were supposed to be granted a standard skill by Aurelia’s system, but I intercepted the process. I forcibly overwrote it with something else. The catch was that the skill couldn’t activate while you were alive. You had to die once to ‘initialize’ it.”
I felt my eyes narrow into a glare. So, the reason I was treated like garbage and eventually killed… was partly his fault?
”It was a necessary evil. I had to hack the system from the outside. Glitches were inevitable. But trust me, the skill you now possess is far more valuable than anything she would have given you.”
”I see… I’m not exactly happy about it, but I’ll follow the logic for now. Out of curiosity, what was I supposed to get? What was Aurelia’s original plan for me?”
”A skill called ‘Hero’s Sacrifice’ⁿ. It’s a passive trait. Anyone who kills you receives a gargantuan amount of experience points. And since you were effectively ‘immortal’ within that system, you would have been a permanent, respawning XP farmⁿ for the other ‘Heroes’. That was your intended purpose. To be slaughtered over and over for their benefit.”
My blood ran cold. Then it began to boil. That bitch. That self-proclaimed Goddess didn’t just summon me; she turned me into livestock. I could feel my face twisting into a mask of pure, unadulterated rage.
”So,” I hissed, my voice trembling with a venom I didn’t know I possessed. “What do you want me to do?”
”I want you to deal with that fool. Put simply: I want you to punish her.”
”Heh. Easier said than done. I’m pretty sure I can’t even touch a ‘Goddess’.”
”That is exactly why I gave you that skill. So? Will you take the contract?”
I didn’t need a choice. I didn’t need a right of refusal. If I could get my hands on that useless Goddess… and the others…
”If I do this… can I do whatever I want with the people who were summoned with me?”
”I don’t see why not. As I said, the skill I’ve given you is… potent. Use it to settle your debts however you see fit.”
I was stunned. He was giving me a green light to do whatever I wanted-which, in my mind, meant taking their lives. No lectures on morality? No ‘don’t kill your fellow man’ speech?
I had his word. A God’s word.
I couldn’t help it. A sound started in my chest-a dark, jagged thing that clawed its way out of my throat.
”Heh… Kuh-ha… A-ha-ha-ha-ha! Fine! It’s a deal! I’ll take it! Those bastards who left me to die, and that pathetic Goddess… I’ll hurt them. I’ll toy with them. I’ll break every single one of them until there’s nothing left!”
”U-umu… I’m glad you’re on board. But I must say, the darkness in your soul is quite… profound.”
”They made me this way,” I spat. “What did you expect?”
He recoiled slightly, seemingly taken aback by the sheer intensity of my hatred, but it didn’t matter. I was getting what I wanted.
”Very well. The pact is sealed. I’m sending you back to Maginoia now. You can check your new skill once you arrive. Oh, and one more thing-you won’t remember this conversation once you wake up.”
”Wait, what? You mean I’ll forget that I have permission to wreck that Goddess?”
”The memories of this room will fade, but the contract is etched into your very soul. It will guide you. Besides… is revenge (that) something you want to do from the bottom of your heart? You won’t need a memory to tell you what to do.”
”I guess… you’re right.” It was annoying to be a pawn, but if our goals aligned, I didn’t care.
”Then, Natsumi Sasaki-kun… I wish you a very productive life of revengeⁿ.”
He snapped his fingers.
The white void shattered. Darkness rushed in. And then-I was gone.
—
Summary:
Natsumi Sasaki awakens in a sterile white void after his death and meets a Multiversal Administrator who calls himself God. The Administrator reveals that the Goddess Aurelia is mismanaging the world of Maginoia and had intended to use Natsumi as a respawning experience farm for other heroes. Natsumi discovers that the Administrator intervened to give him a different, more powerful skill that activated upon his death. Driven by rage, Natsumi signs a soul-engraved contract to return to Maginoia and exact revenge on the Goddess and those who betrayed him.
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Character Insight:
This chapter marks the definitive shift of Natsumi Sasaki from a passive victim of bullying and divine manipulation to an active agent of vengeance. His interaction with the Administrator provides the catalyst for his transformation, replacing his initial disorientation with a focused, dark ambition. The revelation of Aurelia’s ‘Hero’s Sacrifice’ skill serves as the final push, justifying his newfound malice and willingness to enter a pact that demands the destruction of others to satisfy his own sense of justice.
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Behind the Scene:
The ‘Nice Middle’ aesthetic for God is a specific Japanese trope (ナイスミドル) referring to attractive, sophisticated middle-aged men, often used in light novels to subvert the expectation of an elderly or ethereal deity. The meta-references to voice actors like Jouji Nakata (known for Kotomine Kirei) ground the story in otaku culture, signaling to the reader that the ‘Administrator’ might have more complex, perhaps ‘pleasurable’ motives than a standard benevolent god.
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T/L:
Notes:
• Aurelia – A goddess who contacts the class via the school intercom to announce their reincarnation. Characterized by the protagonist and the Administrator as ‘useless’ and selfish.
• Natsumi – The protagonist. Height 168 to 171 cm, weight 57 to 59 kg. He has a baby face, but he hides his eyes with his bangs. He was bullied by the Sugita gang just because his name sounded like a girl’s name.
• Sasaki – The protagonist. Height 168 to 171 cm, weight 57 to 59 kg. He has a baby face, but he hides his eyes with his bangs. He was bullied by the Sugita gang just because his name sounded like a girl’s name.
• Multiversal Administrator – A tall man in his fifties with white hair styled in a slicked-back pompadour and a beard. He wears a white suit and has an exceptionally good voice.
• Ren – Height 169 cm, weight 50 kg. A cool-headed guy with glasses who aimed to be a lawyer. He viewed bullying as a minor issue and stood by while Natsumi was tormented.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
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