Chapter 1: Voices

Did you… did you ever think about what life would be like if people had never invented money? What if everyone just worked together? What would today look like then? Those were my only thoughts as I headed home after another exhausting day of overwork. 

I always see characters in movies and anime who don’t have anything to worry about. They have unique skills, looks, and abilities. Couldn’t real life be like that too? I guess thinking about things like this would only wear me out even more. When I reached home, I did the things I always do: changed my clothes, put the laundry in, and started cooking dinner. But as I began cooking, I started to hear something inside my head. It was a bunch of nonsense different voices trying to say my name. The one thing they all had in common was that they were girl voices. 

“Tak—”

 …

 “Takeo…”

 I guess all that work is finally starting to show its effects, I thought, and tried to ignore it. 

“Takeo, welcome home.” 

Home, huh? It seemed like this version of me was still stuck in my childhood, but that time had already ended when I was six.

 “Takeo-sama…”

 Sama? I didn’t know my brain had some kind of hidden fetishes. 

Your time in World: Earth will end in 5 seconds. You are finally ready to go where you belong.

 “I belong t—” 

Just as I was thinking out loud while cooking, my vision started to blur. When I closed my eyes to steady myself, I felt like I was falling into a void. 

“Wha—” 

When I opened my eyes, the only thing I could think was that I was floating in a black void. 

“A–Am I in space?”

 I was still in shock, but before I could organize my thoughts, someone started talking out of nowhere. 

“It’s a funny way to put it, indeed.” 

Wait someone? What is going on? Where am I? Wasn’t I just cooking dinner at home like usual? Did I… did I die? Okay, wait. Calm down. I’ve watched tons of isekai anime copies of each other with overpowered main characters. All of them die in the real world, and before they can think about anything, a god appears, talks to them, and turns them into some absurdly overpowered guy with tons of perks and a harem. So I’m the chosen one, huh? Out of all those people, me a shipping company worker with no friends and no social life got picked? Well, most isekai protagonists were like this in their first lives anyway. Alright then. I’ll talk to this god, get a bunch of perks, reincarnate into a world full of beautiful girls, and focus on my harem. 

“So you’re the god, huh?” I said. “Why don’t you show yourself so we can talk? After all, I’m the main character of this story.”

 “God?” the voice replied. “AHAHAHAHA MAIN CHARACTER?? DIE.”

 Before I could understand what was happening, I felt something sharp against my neck. Just as I was about to turn my head to see what was going on, something struck me. 

“Floor?” 

I was in a room all this time, but I couldn’t even see it. Everything was pitch black. Then something entered my sight as I realized what had happened. 

“M–My body?”

 I was dead. My head had been cut off. It happened so fast that I didn’t even feel the pain. 

“Ahh…” 

I was naïve. Of course I wasn’t in some isekai anime, and of course I wasn’t a main character with a harem. My life had been full of failures. People always told me it was just bad luck that I was unlucky, and all I had to do was endure a little longer. I stopped believing that kind of bullshit a long time ago. I thought about the voice I had assumed was a god who would give me broken abilities. It was definitely a girl’s voice, but something about it felt familiar. 

“Hah, I’m just imagining things again, huh?”

 She laughed at what I had said. Of course anyone would laugh at such childish nonsense. Even I couldn’t believe how naïve I had been. Then she said just one more word. “Die.” The moment she finished speaking, my head hit the floor.

 “Only if I had one more chance…” 

Like hell I would, I thought, laughing to myself. I still had so many questions. Why was I here? What were those voices in my head? Who was that woman? 

“Well, I’ll never know, so who cares.”

 Just as I accepted my fate, I started to hear those voices again. 

“Takeo…”

 … 

“Takeo-sama…” 

…

 “DIE.”

And that voice as well.
I wished I had one more chance to show that voice, and all those people who kept telling me to endure as if they knew me. I wished I had one more chance to show them all.

And just like that, I couldn’t see anything anymore.