I had always been the diligent type.
Since elementary school, really.
While other kids played soccer after class or chased girls in middle school, I stayed late, organizing my notes and helping the teachers with extra tasks.
So the teachers loved me.
"Shogo-kun is such a hard worker," they'd say.
My parents beamed.
And my boss later on... He practically worshipped the ground I walked on.
Or at least, that's what I thought to myself.
Every day blurred into the next.
My weekends became optional.
My holidays were really just quieter office hours.
Valentine's Day meant staying until the last report was perfect.
Christmas? I volunteered for the night shift so the married guys could go home to their families.
New Year, I toasted alone with canned coffee at my desk, reviewing quarterly projections.
All for the boss. For the company.
All for that warm glow of a job well done. It was a sick obsession of mine. I couldn't be lazy if you put a gun on my head.
Shirogane Shogo, 28 years old.
Unmarried, and with no girlfriend.
Hell, no real friends outside of the obligatory after-work drinks where everyone talked shop.
My face was... okay, I guess. Average height, decent build from the occasional gym visit when guilt hit me for skipping too many days.
A few girls had approached me over the years—cute ones, even.
Office juniors, a barista once, and one neighbor who smiled too long when we passed in the hall.
But... I always had deadlines.
I always had that next promotion looming.
I soon lost the easy rhythm of talking to women unless it was barking orders about spreadsheets or client meetings.
Thus, my romantic confidence got buried under stacks of paperwork.
Lately, turning thirty felt like staring down the barrel of age sixty.
My back ached from the chair and my eyes burned from the screens.
I caught myself wondering, more and more, if this was it.
If anyone would remember me when I was gone.
Would the company throw a small party?
Or just send a generic email about my "valuable contributions" to my family?
I mean, maybe. They atleast better.
That faithful Friday, the boss had finally snapped.
"Eh?! But if I don't work I will die?!"
"Shut up! You're scaring the new hires (and me). Take the day off. That's an order."
He looked somehow amused, but palpably concerned, like I was some overworked machine about to overheat.
Well, I reluctantly agreed and took the day off.
My fridge at home was a wasteland: nothing but expired condiments and the faint smell of neglect.
So I dragged myself to the neighborhood convenience store, the one with the bright lights and the bored college kid behind the counter.
I grabbed a basket, mind wandering as I tossed in rice balls, instant ramen, and a couple of energy drinks.
[Am I... truly living? What will I be remembered for when I die? A loud senior?]
The thought hit harder than usual under those fluorescent lights.
"Everyone! Get on the ground!" The shout shattered the serene hum of the store. "Hands where I can see them, ASAP!"
My heart jumped as I saw the six of them, their faces masked, and their guns out, moving fast.
[Shit... robbers? In this quiet neighborhood?]
Were they professionals, or just desperate idiots? I didn't think that mattered when they were the ones with weapons.
They fanned out, one barking at the cashier to empty the register, others rifling through customers' pockets with rough efficiency.
I had maybe a few thousand yen on me.
I was without my phone; I'd left it charging at home. So I just pressed myself against a shelf of snacks, trying to stay small, invisible.
But then a girl's scream cut through the tension. "Eeeep!"
One of the masked men had her by the arm, yanking her phone away.
She looked young; with a high school uniform, wide terrified eyes, and trembling hands.
He jammed the pistol against her temple. "Fuck, she was trying to do something funny with her phone! Calling the cops, eh? You're one brave little girl."
The others were busy at the far end, laughing as they shoved a salaryman against the magazine rack.
But my pulse hammered...
[If...]
The guy holding her wasn't watching my direction.
If I moved fast enough...
I knew some basic martial arts from those self-defense classes I'd taken years ago, back when I still had some hobbies.
One quick takedown, grab the gun, hit the emergency alarm or something.
Maybe I just have to be the hero for once. To feel alive, and even save the young girl.
Hah... it was a stupid, reckless thought. The kind salarymen like me never acted on.
I dashed anyway, feet silent on the tiled floor, adrenaline flooding my veins.
'I got this!' I told myself.
"Idiot... I can see you."
"Eh?"
The voice came from behind me; calm, and sounding bored.
It was another robber I'd missed.
BANG!
The world exploded in noise and heat, and pain lanced through my head.
Then everything went black.
And it stayed black.
*
**
***
The memory faded, leaving me raw in the darkness.
I had truly died back there...
I had wanted to live.
I had planned to start my own business someday, not slave for someone else's.
I had plans to find a cute girl who didn't mind my awkwardness, and build something real. A family. And some kids.
I wanted to have laughs that weren't forced over cheap izakaya beer.
Instead, I'd thrown it all away for a half-baked hero moment in a convenience store.
[Damn... The thought hurts so bad.]
{Understood: Opting for a body that does not feel emotions.}
No, please, stop. Anything but that.
[By the way, what's really going on here? Am I just going to keep floating in this dark pool?]
{...Integration successful; Skills and Vessel have been fully arranged. Reincarnation successful; Soul will soon be fused with new body...
{Special Skill: Gabriel
Extra Skill: Temperature manipulation and resistance, Pain resistance, Physical attack immunity, poison creation and resistance, mental attack resistance.
Innate ability: Consume, Analyze, Possess.}
{Excess Mana left... Does the individual known as Shirogane Shogo have any wish to make? It shall be converted into a second Special Skill immediately, before the operation is concluded.}
What... I wish for...
[I want to be selfish now! I want to take, and take, and take, and enjoy my life. I don't want to be the slave, I want to be the most powerful...]
{...Noted: Acquiring the Special Skill [Gluttony]: Ability to absorb anything including concepts like fear and happiness.
Transmission to new vessel in 3... 2... 1...}
And I felt the lightness in my body disappear...
It now felt like I was in a new space, but... I was still unable to see, or hear, or move my limbs...
Made me think; did I still have limbs?