Is this what is called an alternative trend?

At the end of this school year, right when the snow started to fall, something that should never have happened—really did happen.

At the very young age of 17, I already have too many experiences that honestly sound too ridiculous to call real.

When I was 10 years old, I died. That death somehow led me to reincarnate into another world as a baby all over again.

Strangely enough, my modern human mindset, and the uncomfortable feeling of being stuck in a baby’s body, were still fully aware that this was just another reincarnation trend.

I spent a long time in that world after going through the process of growing up again—learning how to speak, study magic theory, fight, fall, laugh, struggle—until I eventually met weird creatures and animals by the time I reached adulthood.

That wasn’t exactly surprising though. I was born into a famous family of adventurers, so I learned and experienced a lot of things based on what my parents had been through in that world.

At age 20, that world faced a real threat to its entire existence. A classic war broke out between the human race and the demon race at the edge of the continent. And because of that, I was chosen to become the holy hero by the request of the Viztoria Kingdom, which was led by a beautiful princess.

I was given a legendary sword, granted status, and trained in the royal knight’s combat style. Which means, all those experiences—as an adventurer, someone from royalty, and everything else—became part of this new version of myself.

With all those bonuses, I joined the war, and to put it simply, I managed to defeat the cursed demon king—but I also died there. At age 20, as a holy hero and former adventurer.

“....ahhhh, again and again.”

The part that made no sense at all, was that I came back—right to the very moment of my death in the modern world, at age 10.

And all of those experiences I just mentioned—that whole new life—had only lasted for a single second in the modern world.

That’s the weird part.

It even made me wonder, should I claim that I’m already an adult because I lived 20 years in that other world? On top of the 10 years in this one? It’s kind of hard to answer that.

Anyway, back to the present—at age 17, I’ve managed to continue living in the modern world, just like normal.

Of course, there’s no magic, no wars, no fantasy stuff at all.

Just the life of an ordinary, introverted Japanese teenage boy, with no friends, wasting time, sleeping wherever possible, and honestly, there’s nothing worth talking about or showing off.

The next day, after going through another round of boring lessons in the middle of winter, as usual, the only thing I ended up doing during those hours... was falling into a deep sleep.

That doesn’t necessarily mean I’m the type of student who hates studying, it’s more accurate to say—I’m just bored of the subjects I’ve already learned before.

So once I already know something, it’s better to just ignore it as much as possible and focus only on picking up the new stuff.

To refresh myself after classes ended, I went to the public restroom to wash my face and do a few other things to sharpen my awareness a bit.

But while I was at the sink, splashing water on my face, I accidentally glanced at the mirror in front of me. The same old, slightly dusty mirror usually used by male students to check how good they look.

But for some reason, I got chills when I saw my reflection. There was a young man with huge black bags under his eyes... No, no, from any angle, it looked more like a lazy panda than anything else.

To me, it didn’t feel like just some facial feature that randomly stuck to my face.

I got those dark circles because I stay up really late every night.

At night, I only sleep for maybe an hour. I think I’ve developed some kind of weird condition; probably insomnia or something like that.

So every single night, I just play games, read novels, and go through whatever kind of routine that can help pass the night, and then in the morning,

I go to school.

“And it’s still going on like that, even now. I admit, it’s a terrible routine... not something worth copying.”

With a bitter laugh at myself, I decided to head back to class, just to grab my lunchbox.

Right now it was technically lunchtime anyway, so there was no problem with grabbing and eating the delicious meal made for me every day by a kind neighbor.

Besides, saving a bit of school allowance was always the smarter option. Though I guess that still depends on what you’re saving for.

For me personally, I just save money to spend it later on games, light novels, or some other dumb thing I haven’t discovered yet.

It’s just that, for some reason—I don’t feel like there’s anything else I actually want to buy, other than that.

“Good afternoon, Tooru—!”

As I opened the portal...

No, that’s wrong. What I meant was—as I opened the classroom door, I was greeted by a cute girl with black twin tails, the class president.

She blinked at me three times in a row like she was showing off something.

Her name is Clara. She’s the student council president and also our class rep. Also... she’s the one who makes me lunch every day.

What does that mean? Yeah, you guessed it. She’s the neighbor I was talking about earlier. We ended up as neighbors by pure coincidence, since our apartment rooms just happened to be next to each other without any kind of notice or warning.

Naturally, I only realized this when I started high school. That was right when I decided to live alone in Kyoto—separating myself from my family back in Saitama.

It was just one of those random decisions. No particular reason I could explain.

Basically, that was like my second adulthood phase.

Damn it, thinking about that suddenly made me laugh inside like an idiot. The vibe and everything just kind of mixed together.

“Yes, good afternoon,” I answered, trying to give a friendly and very friendly smile like the ones in those self-help books.

But seeing Clara’s reaction didn’t exactly go the way I expected, “Huft... Again and again... I’ve already given you so many lessons and tutorial books on how to smile naturally and give off a lively aura... but I guess you’re just not doing it, huh?”

Clara crossed her arms in front of me as she said that. From her pretty face, for some reason I felt this overwhelming wave of sarcasm.

I replied anyway, “Yeah, you’ve given me way too many learning materials about how to radiate a positive aura, but honestly, I think those books are basically trash. Even after I studied them.”

She laughed. Even worse—this time, she burst into laughter. And even in this situation, I didn’t understand what was so funny.

“Hmmmm, alright forget it.... For some reason... I guess that’s just part of your default settings. You really are the embodiment of a lazy-faced guy. Okay, that’s kinda cool.”

“...ahh, thank you so much.”

“—Thank you??? That wasn’t a compliment!! Geez.”

She tried to hold back her laughter, then brushed it off and said, “Hmmph... okay that’s enough. Now... here’s your lunchbox. I hope you like it... Please finish it okay?”

Clara handed it over; a lunchbox filled with delicious-smelling food.

As a natural reflex, I reached out and took the lunch from her soft hands, which accidentally brushed against mine. I didn’t forget to thank her for taking the trouble to make this every single day.

So I decided to eat it happily, at the same desk where I usually fall asleep without meaning to.

.

.

.

.

...Hmmm, wait a second.

“Aaaaaaa!!!”

Something definitely felt off.

Just a few minutes after peacefully enjoying lunch as usual, something unpredictable suddenly broke out in the classroom.

The dusty floor beneath us started to glow faintly with a strange white light.

But as time passed, that light gradually grew wider and brighter—much brighter than before.

Everyone in the room panicked, reacting quickly to the situation. They ran around like crazy people, as if that would solve anything.

Unfortunately, it was impossible to escape. The windows, doors, and everything else had stopped functioning properly—none of them would open anymore. Which meant we were completely trapped inside.

We couldn’t get out.

A group of otaku at the front desks, for some reason, stayed calm amid the chaos. They were just... silent. Like mysterious characters in a story—probably the kind that would secretly spring into action when the time was right.

Meanwhile, the group of “cool kids” and muscle-worshipping types... were somehow way more panicked than usual. It was like their sense of superiority had collapsed in the face of this unknown.

Even Clara, who was still in the room, was doing her best to calm everyone down, but it was clear it wasn’t working at all. Useless, really.

Someone yelled:

“Damn it, what the hell is this?! I haven’t even thought about my bright future yet! If I die here... it’ll be the worst possible ending for my unrealized career!!”

He shouted. It stood out clearly above the rest of the chaos.

I was panicking too, but I didn’t know what to do. There was nothing I could really act on. I could only observe and try to find something useful in all this.

But even that didn’t lead to anything. And then suddenly—I realized something.

“Ahh, so this is... a mass summoning trend huh?”

It happened when one entire group vanished without warning. They were consumed by the mysterious light. And then, one by one, every other student followed.

And for whatever reason, I also ended up getting swallowed by the light, and completely lost consciousness.

(Oh no, am I experiencing the same trend again... but with a different method this time?)