The End of A Life, The Beginning Of Another

*Huffing* *Huffing* *Splat* *Splat* *Huff*. "That's enough running! You have nowhere to go, Sensei!" a female voice declared as she pointed a gun at an older gentleman with grey hair and a long white beard, dressed in a torn green bomber jacket, with black ripped jeans and black military boots. 

"I'm surprised you could chase me down with your leg wounded like that, Hikari," the old man responded, turning around to look at the female detective dressed in khaki uniform attire with a pencil skirt.  He began to notice that her right leg was still bleeding, as it continued to drip and fill up her inner tights. "You probably need to get that check out soon. It'll be a shame if you lose that beautiful leg." 

"I don't care about my leg as long as I end this!" Hikari responded, pulling back the hammer on her M60 gun. "Raise your hand and drop to your knees," she ordered. 

"Hmmm....I don't think I will," the old man stated, pulling out a black block from his right chest pocket. *Bang* the box flew out of his left hand. 

"IT WAS A BOX OF MINTS," the old man yelled, now gripping his hands together. "HOW AM I GOING TO WIPE MY ASS IN PRISON NOW!!

"I DON'T GIVE A CRAP! I CAN'T TRUST YOU AFTER ALL THINGS YOU'VE  DONE FOR THE PAST TWENTY YEARS! THE AMOUNT OF BLOODSHED YOU CAUSE!! Hikari yelled back, aiming the gun at the old man's head. "LAST WARNING, DROP TO THE GROUND NOW!" 

"I hope you make that shot count because otherwise, you are next," the old man stated as he pulled out a smaller pistol that was tucked in his right wrist, aiming at her. 

"DAMN IT! Hikari yelled,  *Bang*. The old man fell to the ground, holding his heart. 

Hikari quickly ran towards him, kicking the gun away, and continued to aim at the old man as he lay flat on the ground. 

"I'm pretty sure I didn't teach you to be so sadistic," the old man said, while coughing up blood. "What happened to a thing called Mercy Kill?" 

"SHUT IT, THE PARAMEDIC WILL BE HERE SOON! I'M NOT GOING TO LET YOU DIE WITHOUT SEEING THE ACTIONS OF YOUR CONSEQUENCE IN FRONT OF THE JUDGE!" Hikari declared as she took off her blue coat and began to suppress the bleeding. 

"It's no use, I can feel the blood leaving my heart as it is currently heading towards my lungs," the old man stated, coughing up more blood. "Remind me, I never gave you a present when you got promoted to Detective, right?" 

"Why are you talking about this now?" Hikari inquired, as she put more pressure on the wound, breaking a few ribs. "Where is the god damn paramedic ?!?!??" 

"I'll give you one final present," the old man stated in a weak voice. "The present will be the title:  Japanese Female Detective Kills Most Wanted on Interpol Red List."  his hand fell onto the side, and with Hikari screaming as rain began to fall, with the sound of sirens approaching. 

"This is good. I played my part as the villain, and now, Hikari will have the support from the most powerful agencies in the world. I won't have to worry about her falling into a setup like I was, " the old man pondered, as his mind began to wander. "Next stop, Hell". 



*Crunch* *Crunch* "THAT PATHETIC, MAN!!" A high-pitched voice was heard. 

"Is this Hell?" the old man continued to wonder, as everything was still dark.

*BWAHAHAH* "COME ON!!! THAT WAS SO CLICHE!!!" the same high-pitched voice exclaimed, as the voice began to echo into his ears. *BWAHAHAH*

 "SHUT UP!!!!" the old man yelled, as he quickly opened his eyes, seeing only a pink room with a small pink bean bag in front of a TV, playing anime. 

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU??!?! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN MY ROOM?" the high-pitched voice yelled back, as a female figure stood up from her bean bag chair. 

The female figure was a four-foot-seven-inch girl with golden, bright eyes, long purple and greyish hair with pinkish ends that reached down to her back. She wore a one-piece white dress with colorful flowers with a golden accent around the collar area, and was barefoot. 

"Is this Hell?" The old man inquired as he continued to look around, only to see more emptiness. 

"WHY WOULD YOU CALL THIS HELL??!?! THIS IS MY ROOM!!!" the little girl yelled, as she threw a glass coke bottle at the old man, hitting him in the head, knocking him out. 


"Hmmm..... I see.....I see," the little girl muttered, while she sat on a floating pink egg pod chair, looking at a window screen. "Are you awake now, grandpa?" she inquired, giving a cheeky smirk. 

"I am not your grandpa, little girl," the old man stated as he began to rise from the ground.

"I AM NOT A LITTLE GIRL, I AM OLDER THAN YOU BY EONS!!!" the little girl exclaimed loudly, as it rang into the old man's ear. "This isn't hell, grandpa." 

"I-I see?" the old man responded. "So if this isn't Hell, where am I? Who are you? ". 

"I am the Goddess Merisa," the little girl proudly announced. " In regards to where you are, w-well, I kinda screwed up here. I forgot to pull my application for a soul request, and you are the soul they sent to me." 

"So it's one of those cliche story things, huh?" the old man said, "One of those manga or anime scenarios, where you die and you go to another world and fight the Demon Lord or something?"

"C-CORRECT, but the only thing is that there is no demon lord to defeat, as the previous Demon Lord was defeated over one hundred and seventy-six years ago by the previous hero."
Merisa stated, "Westeria, the world I manage, has been at peace with the current Demon Lord has been pretty nice to the other species, and she also does a good job managing things," she added while fidgeting with her tiny fingers. 

"I assume you can't send me back per cliche, so what should I do?" the old man inquired, knowing that the only option that exists is reincarnation and getting dumped somewhere to fight for his life again. 

"W-Well, you are correct. The only thing I could do is reincarnate you with some bare minimum skills and let you live your life the way you want to," the Goddess stated, after reading the old man's mind. 

"O-OHHH??!?!" the old man exclaimed, "Who said you can read my mind without permission??!?!" as he began to fill his mind with gory images of his life on the run. 

The Goddess quickly jumped off her floating chair, attempted to locate a waste basket, and began to vomit......*BLEERRGGHHHHHH*. 

After a few minutes, the Goddess returned to her floating chair and began to pout as her face started to turn red from huffing and puffing. 

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU WOULD SHOW ME THAT??!?! Merisa exclaimed in anger. "All I did was read your mind a bit to get an idea how you were taking this all in, and you had to show me those tainted images," as she wept a few fake tears. 

"Sorry, sorry, I don't like people intruding into thoughts, but this should also serve as a warning for you," the old man warned. "Don't ever look into my mind again!"

"Whatever, because you are so mean to me, I'm going to give you a bunch of crappy skills," Merisa declared as she summoned a mini pink keyboard and began typing away.

"Let's see now. I will revert your body to when you were twenty-two years old; that way, you are keeping the same hair and eye color, plus it'll make it easier for you to move in.

Next thing I'll do, I'll give you some of the basic skills: 

Appraisal: Used on items or monsters, this skill will provide you with a detailed description, excluding humans or other races, where limited information will be provided instead. 

Item Box: Limited storage, size is around 20 square feet, with item degradation at 1/100th of normal speed.

Map: Retain mapping of the path & location the user has traveled, and it can be updated with already discovered maps.

Universal Translator: Allows users to speak and write in the common languages in the world, excluding ancient languages and writing. 

Oracle: Ability to speak with her at any of her churches if needed ( Emphasis on NEEDED.)

Okay, I think that should wrap it up," the Goddess stated as she began to stretch herself out. "Anything you want specifically?" as she looked down at the old man. 

"No, this is enough," the old man replied. "I want to live a normal life and not an overpowering life." 

"I-I see," Merisa responded, as it was the first time a human didn't request extra skills. "I forgot to ask, what's your name?"

"My name was Shimada Minori in the old world, but in this new life, I would like to go by the name Aki," the old man answered as his body began to glow a bluish hue. 

"Why Aki?" Merisa questioned 

"When I was growing up as a kid, my neighbor had a dog named Aki, which came from its breed type, Akita. Every time I saw that dog, it was always smiling and happy, trying to play with me. I would spend most of my free time walking him, playing in the river, giving him baths, and sleeping in his dog house together. It was one of the few moments I felt truly happy, and I would like to experience that happiness in this lifetime," the old man answered. 

"What happened to the dog?" Merisa inquired. 

"He lived a wonderful, long life," the old man answered back, in a conflicted tone of voice, filled with immense anger. 

Mersia unconsciously read the old man's mind again: 

This time, she was watching a memory from the old man's childhood, looking down at a dead dog with a blue collar tag named "Aki" as it lay in the front yard with white foam coming from its mouth.

A newlywed couple could be seen looking over the wooden fence, laughing and whispering, "Finally, the dog shut up!" as they picked up their infant son, raising him into the air. 

The feeling of despair, hopelessness, and anger filled up within, and suddenly, it felt like something had shattered within. 

The memory suddenly shifted; this time, she was looking down towards a window as the same newlywed couple from before was crying as their baby was lying motionless in its bed with white foam coming out of its mouth. 

Next memory, the husband's foreign black SUV accelerating down a hill, bursting into flames as it hit a tree, with the husband screaming for help for the next five minutes before nothing was heard.

The last memory, the sight of bright orange & red flames flickering as it lit up the night sky, as the newlyweds' house burned down with a female voice screaming, "I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY!" over and over until the roof collapsed. 

Merisa returned and noticed she was sweating profusely as her white one-piece dress stuck to her, becoming translucent, but for the old man, only one second had passed by. 

"I really need to stop reading his mind," Merisa thought to herself. "I'm going to give him a mental block skill to prevent myself from doing this again," as she pointed at the old man, before he disappeared in front of her.

"I truly hope you can find happiness in this world, too," Merisa quietly stated as she pinched her snot-filled nose with her sweaty fingers. "I also really need a bath now."