He Can Become An Athlete In Another World?

“Cheers!” shouted the entire table. Daniel Morikawa, who had just accomplished his dream of entering a professional basketball league, stood up at the end of the table and downed his glass of beer in one big gulp. But this professional league that he had now become a part of was no small league; it is the biggest professional basketball league in the entire world—the NBA. Daniel had always dreamed of joining the global league ever since his childhood, and now he had finally done it; just a two days ago, Daniel was drafted fifth overall in the first round! And this celebration that he is holding now with his friends in this small bar in Tokyo was to honor that achievement.

“Oi, oi, calm down a bit, Daniel,” said his friend Kei with a laugh.

“Oh, come one, Kei, it’s his big night,” appealed Daniel’s other friend Hinata with a smile.

“What will his team think if he shows up to training with a hangover?” countered Kei with a raised eyebrow.

“Alright, alright, guys, no fighting!” said a drunk Daniel with his arms around their necks, bringing them close together. “I really can’t believe that this is happening,” he told them. Tears began to fall down his cheeks as his drunken euphoria now transformed into drunken tears of gratitude. “I-I couldn’t *sob* do this with- *sob* -out the both of you,” he sobbed. “You two pushed me *sob* to be the best I can be! And because of that *sob sob* my dream came true!” With his arms already around their necks, he brought their faces to his chest as he cried out hysterically in a slurred voice made even the more indecipherable with his tears: “Dankugahs! Ahruvu!” (“Thank you guys! I love you!”)

Kei and Hinata exchanged glances and comforted their friend with words of praise. Daniel calmed down and his tears dried up. “Alright!” he suddenly shouted. “Let’s take this party outside!”

Now outside, Kei and Hinata supported Daniel on their shoulders as they walked down the sidewalk. “Dude, you really should learn to drink in moderation,” Kei groaned, though he doubt his friend heard his words.

“Do you think I’ll be okay?” asked Daniel out of nowhere.

“Not if you keep on drinking like your life depends on it,” replied Kei. He glanced over at Hinata and noticed his friend gesturing to Daniel.

Daniel, though still visibly very drunk, was looking up at the night sky with a faraway look in his eyes that was a mix of fear and solemnity. “I know that I made it, but the battle will only get tougher from here on out. Will I be okay? Will I be able to stay in the league? Are my skills enough for me to get minutes on the court?” A loud sigh from Kei shook Daniel from his pondering.

“You really need to get your act together, man,” said Kei. “If your skills didn’t cut it, you wouldn’t have been drafted, would you? I mean, this is the NBA we’re talking about. They must know what a great player you are to want you, especially if you were chosen fifth overall in the first round pick.”

“Kei,” cried Daniel. He sobered up and pushed himself off of his friends’ shoulders. “You’re right! I can do this! I mean, I got chosen fifth overall in the NBA! Since I made it that far, the only way left to go is up!” He then ran into the street and placed his hands around his face as a makeshift megaphone.

“Oi, that’s dangerous!” protested Kei.

“Doesn’t this remind you of our senior year?” said Hinata with a small chuckle. “He did the exact same thing when we made it to the InterHigh.”

“Enough with the reminiscing,” Kei told his friend. “That idiot is going to get himself killed!”

“I’m going to make my mark as the best player in the NBA! I bet my life on it!” yelled Daniel at the sky at the top of his lungs. He turned back to Kei and Hinata and waved at them while laughing to himself.

“That idiot!” cursed Kei.

“Kei! Hinata! I’m going to do it! I’m going to become the best player in the league!” shouted Daniel to his friends. “Watch me become the best player in the N—.” A loud honk and the quick emergence of a strong yellow light…those were the last things that Daniel heard and saw before everything went silent and dark….

Daniel’s eyes flung open and he found himself in a strange place with hardwood floors and a staircase leading to some kind of throne at the top. Sitting on that very throne before him was a weirdly dressed individual with long brown hair and big brown eyes with yellow stars sparkling in his pupils. They wore a red headband around their head, a pair of soccer shorts with a baseball jersey on top, ice skates on their feet, shoulder pads and knee guards, and a black belt around their waist. Next to them was a basket with a hockey stick, lacrosse stick, tennis racket, golf club, and baseball bat inside.

“Ah, you’re awake!” they happily cried out. The individual came running down from their throne and approached Daniel in an overly friendly way. “Man, I was wondering if maybe I didn’t resurrect you correctly. After doing it often for millions of years, sometimes you get a little too confident and make a little mistake here and there, you know?”

“Um, sure?” said Daniel hesitantly. “Excuse me, but, um, who are you?”

“Oh! Sorry, sorry, I guess I forgot to introduce myself,” said the individual with a small embarrassed chuckle. “I’m the god of sports, Nazmith!”

“Nazmith? God of sports?” questioned Daniel.

“Ah, you don’t believe me do you? Well, I guess that’s natural,” said Nazmith with an understanding shrug of his shoulders. “Then how about this for size?” Nazmith snapped his fingers and the entire setting changed. Daniel now found himself in the stands at a very familiar basketball game: the InterHigh finals game of his senior year of high school. Everything about it was the same as how he had remembered it back then. The only jarring part was being able to look at his old self on the court like some kind of out-of-body experience. “I believe winning this game was what made you more confident in trying to pursue your dream of playing professionally, right?” said Nazmith, who had suddenly appeared next to him out of nowhere.

“H-How—?” began Daniel. He took Nazmith’s smile as the answer to his question and remained quiet.

Nazmith snapped his fingers and they were back in the mysterious space from before. “I’m glad that you understand my greatness now, Daniel!” said the god as he made his way back to his throne.

“So, what does a god of sports want with me?” asked Daniel. “Oh, wait, are you here to make my dreams come true? Will you make me the best basketball player in the world?! Can you give me godlike skills so I can succeed in the league?! Ooh! Can you give me Ma*** Jo***** passing skills, Mi***** Jo**** shooting skills, Sh*** defensive abilities, and, oh, I know, how about K*J’s skyhook?! Maybe also—.”

“You’re dead,” interjected Nazmith flatly.

“Oh yeah, I’m dead! Dead serious! Can you also—Eh? I’m…dead?” Daniel let it sink in before suddenly letting out a howl of disbelief. “H-H-H-How could this be?! It was only two days ago that I was drafted fifth overall in the first round pick!”

“Congratulations on that, by the way!” congratulated Nazmith with applause.

“How did I die?” asked Daniel.

Nazmith snapped his fingers again. Once again, the setting changed. Daniel was now standing on the corner of a street. The shouting of his own voice caught his attention and he turned to see himself drunkenly making a scene in the middle of the street. A large truck was driving down the street when the driver, initially unaware of the fool on the street, suddenly honked its horn to warn the oblivious past-Daniel. The truck collided with past-Daniel and sent him sprawling onto the ground.

“Not a pretty sight,” cringed Nazmith, snapping his fingers and bringing them back to the mysterious space from before.

“What happens now?” asked Daniel.

“Easy! You’ll get reincarnated into another world!” cheerfully revealed Nazmith.

“Reincarnated into another world?!” repeated Daniel in disbelief.

“When I saw you died despite having such a promising future ahead of you, it made me want to cry,” spoke Nazmith in a pitying voice. “You were so talented and so young—oh, what a tragedy!” The god quickly did a one-eighty and continued, “That’s why I decided to intervene and offer you the chance of a lifetime!—er, afterlife-time?”

“So does this mean I’m going to be reincarnated as a hero and forced to go on quest to destroy some dark lord?” questioned Daniel. He was no anime nerd, but he was familiar enough with the concept from what little anime he did watch with his friends back in high school.

“Well, that’s the usual route,” agreed Nazmith.

“Sorry, but I refuse!” quickly declared Daniel. “I don’t care about being a hero or saving the world. My only dream was to become the best athlete in the world. If I can’t do that, then there’s no way for me to continue living.” Daniel was firm with his words and stood by them.

Nazmith simply looked back with a menacing glare. “Phew! I was hoping you’d say that!” sighed the god in relief. Daniel was a little taken aback by the god’s words. “You see, I was getting tired with the same old, same old myself!” revealed the god. “How about this? I can reincarnate into a world where you can live out your dream.”

“My dream? You mean, to become the best athlete in the world?” asked Daniel eagerly.

“That’s right,” confirmed Nazmith with a nod.

“I’ll take it!” quickly accepted Daniel.

Nazmith descended down to Daniel and smiled. He placed a finger on Daniel’s forehead and said, “Have fun!”

Suddenly, Daniel felt himself being hurled through space. Strange images and moving pictures formed an indecipherable collage all around him—it was as if he was travelling through someone’s memories! And then: darkness.

“Max…. Max…. Max….” The voice, which at first started as a whisper, grew louder and louder. Daniel’s eyes suddenly flew open and he found himself surrounded by strange faces. “Max! You’re okay!” came a female voice.

‘Max? Who’s that?’ wondered Daniel. Two guys suddenly picked him up off the floor and carried him over to a nearby bench occupied by some kind of uniformed group. ‘A sport bench?’ recognized Daniel. The guys set Daniel onto the bench.

“Max, how are you feeling?” came the female voice from before.

Daniel looked up to see a very beautiful girl with turquoise hair in a side braid and sparkling yellow eyes behind a pair of spectacles. She was dressed in very unusual garbs: a white buttoned down blouse with a turquoise skirt stretching down to her legs and a small belt around her waist. It reminded Daniel of those medieval-style clothes from fantasy movies and games.

“Where am I?” asked Daniel groggily.

“You’re in the Guardian’s home court arena,” replied the girl. “Are you feeling alright? Can you still play?”

“Play?”

“We’re down by one point and we only have five seconds left in the game,” the girl told him.

“Basketball?” asked Daniel with a tilt of his head. “Sure. I can still play,” he said without hesitation.

“Coach, Max can still play!” the girl happily called over to a man at the end of the bench. “Alright, Max, we’re counting on you!”

Daniel promptly picked himself up and jogged back to the court. The floor was the same hardwood floor that he remembered. On either side of the court were the same tall hoops that he played with countless times before. Except for the slight difference in the circular orientation of the stands similar to a coliseum rather than the familiar rectangular set-up, everything felt very familiar to Daniel: the cheering crowds, the intense pressure of the game, the flames of passion burning inside each and every player on the court.

He got into position to receive the ball. Once the ball was in his hands, he quickly dribbled the ball using the skills he had developed throughout his younger years, quickly initiating a crossover that sent his opponent tripping on their own two feet, and flew up into the sky with the ball in hand. He slammed the ball through the basket with a dunk, shaking the basket and silencing the entire court. Even the crowd became silent.

The time ran out by then and the only sound that could be heard was the buzzer. Once it finally died down, Daniel’s happiness at scoring the game-winning shot quickly faded away. A whistle was blown and the following words were spoken: “Non-magic violation, basket does not count! With a score of 84 – 83, the winners are the Ednagar Guardians!”