The System

Blackness surrounded Haruto's consciousness. A void of endless black. His form was nothing more than a pale outline, a ghostly silhouette. Slowly, his body began to solidify and reconstitute. Put together piece by piece, his mind began to form the first sensations of his new life.

His eyes shot open, and an overwhelming surge of pain coursed through him. It wasn’t the quick, painless death he had expected. The Isekai stories he’d read made it seem like there was rarely any problem with the crossover. Getting squashed by a flaming truck would probably be a pretty painful experience if you survived it.

"Ooooowwoouuch!" Haruto writhed like a fish wrapped in a futon. His chest burned, limbs twisting unnaturally as his voice echoed into the void.

"Why didn’t I wish for a summoning circle?" Haruto’s thoughts were frantic. "I don’t remember the manga and anime I’ve watched showing it to be this painful!"

His body convulsed again, foam beginning to bubble out from the sides of his mouth. "Yeah, I got hit by a truck, but wasn’t it supposed to be instant death?!"

His mind raced as he sat up in the void, gasping for air. His hand reached out, grasping at the nothingness surrounding him, the other clutching his chest. As his breathing steadied and the pain subsided, he slowly looked above him, noticing a small floating thing looking down at him.

It wasn’t an angel, a god, or a pack of mages standing around a summoning circle. It was a strange eyeball, with rounded, bulbous wings. The creature looked in some ways like an app icon, something you'd double-click to open a video game.

Haruto narrowed his eyes and stood, eye level with the thing. He slowly reached out a hand before poking the eye twice in quick succession. Hoping for the application to open, he waited for a moment; however, the creature just stared back at him.

"I don't need to be clicked. That's not how this works..." the being said.

“Oh, sorry. I just thought it would open up a character creation screen or... something.” Haruto said, trailing off, leaving an awkward silence. "So... what are you supposed to be?"

The entity floating before Haruto was unlike anything he had imagined. It wasn’t human, nor was it a mystical creature. It resembled a sort of digital being, its form flickering between a solid form and pixelated static. At the center was what looked like a robotic eye, shifting slightly as it focused on Haruto.

“I am..." the entity paused, almost as if for effect, before booming and reverberating through Haruto's body. "The System!”

One of Haruto’s eyebrows shot up. The System? That was it? He had been flattened by a celestial truck just to meet this thing? His shoulders slumped.

“You’re telling me...the great otherworldly being I meet after getting hit by a truck is just the 'System'?” He raised his hands to his chest, cupping the air dramatically. “No beautiful, bouncy goddess? No king ready to make me a hero and fund my new life?”

The System’s digital form flickered, morphing into a glowing silhouette. Haruto blinked in disbelief as two undetailed lumps appeared below the eye, gaining a bountiful chest for its size.

“Is this more to your liking?” the System asked, its voice sarcastic.

Haruto groaned. “That’s not better!” He paused, his expression softening slightly as his gaze fell downward, watching the jiggle. “Okay, maybe a little…”

As if to remind him of the situation, the void around Haruto filled with floating digital screens. Lines of code danced across the black expanse, circling him as though the entire world was being programmed in real-time.

“I manage all class and job assignments for the world you shall be living in,” the System continued, in a proud voice. “Your soul has been successfully transferred to my care. And, based on your greatest wish while you were alive, I shall grant you a one-of-a-kind skill in the world you are headed to: the ability to change jobs!”

Haruto’s world stood still as he stared, stunned, at the System. His usual exaggerated reactions were gone, replaced by a rare, raw expression of disbelief. The thing he'd wanted the most in his old life was a simple one. He just wanted to change jobs.

He was beholden, however. Beholden to responsibility and necessity at first. Then beholden to guilt, duty, and fear. He could never break the cycle without help. Just one encouraging word could have set him free from his torture.

“You mean…” Haruto’s voice cracked slightly, barely above a whisper. His mind, however, raced back to the haunting voices that had plagued him for years.

The voice of his homeroom teacher in school echoed harshly. “It’s best you just give up and do what you’re told.”

Another memory flickered—this time, the cruel laugh of the woman at work mocking him. “Aren’t you a little too old to be playing around like that?”

And then, the most painful voice of all, soft and filled with regret. The voice of his mother, an American brought to Japan by his father, lying in a hospital bed. Her voice was full of sorrow. “I’m sorry, Haruto. I wish I could tell you that you could be anything, but…”

Haruto’s throat tightened, tears welling up in his eyes. His mind latched onto the System’s earlier words. Grasping for hope that he hasn't had since his mother's passing, his voice raised with confidence.

“You mean… I can be whatever I want?”

For the first time in years, Haruto’s heart felt light. His eyes, stinging and teary, looked up at the System with a longing he hadn’t felt in a long time.

“No more being stuck in one place?" Haruto said with a smile. "No more being told to settle?”

The System, glowing in its digital form, removed its breasts, turning back to its usual original form. Its tone remained calm, yet authoritative.

“Indeed,” the System confirmed. “You may change your occupation at any time, with some limitations.”

A wild grin spread across Haruto's face as he quickly wiped away the tears. Behind his dark circles, his eyes shone with determination, as if he had rediscovered a part of himself long buried.

“This is it... This is my chance to finally live on my own terms!” Haruto squealed in delight.

But then, his excitement faltered. His brow furrowed as he realized something troubling. "Wait… what was that part about limitations?" Haruto asked flatly.

The System floated above him, its presence imposing for the first time. “You may only change into occupations you qualify for, based on your past experience and performance. As you gain new experiences, more jobs will become available to you.”

Haruto’s eyes narrowed, but excitement quickly replaced his doubt. "Oh, is that it? So, as long as I learn it, I can really be anything."

His heart raced at the prospect. Maybe he could become a warrior, stout and true. A powerful mage, slinging spells of fire and ice. Or perhaps he can become a ninja, using shadow and skill to take down foes silently.

His mind began to race with the endless possibilities. His face lit up, excitement and a hint of mischief mixing in his grin as he clenched his fists.

“So, what do I start with? Some crazy magic powers? A hero class?” he asked, forgetting that he had no real experiences of being any of those things.

The System began to shimmer, putting on a show to make itself seem more impressive. Screens of glowing text suddenly appearing around Haruto.

“Your initial qualifications are based on your past,” it announced. “I will now assess your experiences and determine the job with the highest level.”

Haruto’s confident grin froze. Sweat trickled down his temple as the weight of reality hit him. "Oh no… what did I even learn in my old life?" His thoughts spiraled. "Am I about to get something useless!?"

The screens flashed rapidly, job titles scrolling by at a dizzying pace. Haruto’s eyes darted nervously from one screen to another. He could only catch a glimpse of a few, taunting him with words like “Corporate Drone,” “Coffee Fetcher,” and “PowerPoint Wizard.”

"Please, no salaryman stuff, please no salaryman stuff…" Haruto begged silently, his heart pounding in his chest.

Suddenly, all the screens stopped at once. A single title glowed in bold, glaring letters: "Lvl 3: Junior Data Entry Clerk."

Digital trumpets appeared behind the System, sounding as confetti appeared from nowhere. Its voice rang out cheerfully, completely oblivious to the internal despair it had just caused. “Congratulations! Your highest-level job is... Junior Data Entry Clerk!”

Haruto’s face went completely straight, drained of emotion.

"No. I don’t want it," he said bluntly.

Before he could process his disappointment, the System’s form erupted into a blinding light. Pixelated wings unfurled and grew from its radiant core, its presence now resembling that of an actual god. The wind pushed Haruto back as the sheer force whipped into him.

“Fear not!” the System boomed, its voice echoing with divine power. “For that is only your highest-level job. You may review the others upon our relocation.”

Haruto shielded his eyes from the intense light, his voice rising in panic. “Wait! What do you mean—"

But before he could finish, the light engulfed him completely. His form began to fade, his body dissolving into the brilliant radiance.

"Our relocation!?"

Haruto found himself plummeting through the cosmos, swirling vortexes of light and stars surrounding him. His body tumbling through the fabric of space itself, glowing from the System’s relocation process. The wind blasted against his face, causing his cheeks to flap wildly.

Haruto screamed, flailing mid-air as the ground seemed to rush toward him. “I’m not ready for this!”

Below him sprawled a vast kingdom—castles, forests, and towns dotted the landscape. The skies shimmered with pastel majesty, the very air vibrating with energy. It was like something from Haruto's dreams.

He enjoyed the sights, only for a moment, before quickly being brought back to reality. If he didn't land well, his adventure would be over before it even began.

"I have to land somehow!" Haruto’s mind raced.

Tumbling uncontrollably through the air, he twisted, desperately trying to orient himself. Opening a glowing screen in front of him, he frantically searched for anything that could solve his problem. As if the jobs he had access to from his past could help him survive a fall from space.

“Gotta find something!” he yelled, his eyes scanning the options.

Through instinct, his finger hovered over a single job before slamming his finger onto the screen in desperation. As he changed jobs, from junior data entry clerk to whatever it was he chose, he could feel a shiver run through his body. He could feel himself change, almost spiritually so.

Haruto streaked through the sky like a shooting star, much like the truck that had granted his wish just earlier that day. With a loud crash, he collided with the ground. Toppling trees and sending a cloud of dust billowing into the air, Haruto had made it to his new world.