"Um... my head..."
Fumoto slowly opened her eyes, finding herself in a completely white space.
"This is... this doesn't seem like my home."
Before she could understand what was happening, a voice spoke from behind her.
"Kigusaki Futomo, 16 years old, currently working at the pet shop her mother left behind. Died from a severe head injury."
The speaker was a tall, well-proportioned woman, radiating a warm and bright natural light that enveloped the surroundings. She wore a black suit with white pinstripes, a finely tailored, perfectly fitted outfit that exuded elegance and authority. Her inner shirt was a light, glossy silk, a golden hue that shimmered like jade, symbolizing the sun. Her hair was quite long, either straight or slightly wavy, jet black, adorned with a small silver sun-shaped hairpin. Her eyes were bright, amber with a golden tint, radiating gentleness but also an undeniable air of majesty. Above her eyes were glasses, not sunglasses.
"Who are you?" Fumoto asked in a questioning tone. The other woman simply tossed a card aside and stood up.
"I am Amaterasu. Surely you know my name."
"Amaterasu, yes, I know your name."
"But..."
"Why do you look so strange?"
Amaterasu flipped through the pages before answering Fumoto's question.
"I've changed to match current fashion trends. It's 2021, after all."
Fumoto looked around at the infinite white space.
"And what about the matter of you saying I was dead?"
"Don't you remember?"
Fumoto shook her head.
"That's understandable, after all, the dead tend to forget some memories when they're in spirit form."
Amaterasu vanished, and in an instant, she was standing before Fumoto, placing her hand on her head.
"Then let me help you remember."
Before Fumoto could understand anything, her perspective shifted, as if she were watching a movie. Her name was Kisugaki Fumoto, born in 2008, a slender young woman with long, neatly tied-up chestnut hair and deep brown eyes reflecting an intense love for the animal world.
From a young age, she had grown up surrounded by shelves of stuffed animals, bird cages, and colorful fish tanks left behind by her mother, a passionate nature lover. The small pet shop nestled on a quiet street, its yellow walls offering warmth, and large glass windows always filled with sunlight. That morning, the rising sun filtered through the foliage outside, illuminating the neatly arranged cages of snakes.
The air inside the shop was cool and pleasant, faintly scented with banana peels, the favorite food of the small snakes she cared for. Fumoto bent down, gently opening the glass cage lid, her hand clad in a thin rubber glove to take out a sleek, turquoise snake coiled around a bent wooden branch. She smiled as she remembered her mother's teachings.
"You must remain calm, observing its every slightest movement."
"Snakes are very sensitive; if provoked, they'll attack immediately."
Suddenly, a slow, ringing bell echoed from the shop. A dry leaf fell from outside, brushing past the windowpane, and a gentle breeze slammed the door shut. Fumoto flinched, losing her balance. The snake in her hand recoiled, forcing her to pull her hand back, her foot slipping on the dirt left over from the previous day's cleaning.
In that moment of disorientation, she tried to cling to the edge of the wooden table, but her delicate fingernails weren't enough to grip the smooth surface. Her whole body tilted, her heart pounding in the brief silence before her head slammed against the cold cement floor.
A deafening crash shattered the quiet of the pet shop. Many small animals around her startled. Fumoto lay motionless. In the rising sun, her hair scattered on the floor, her delicate face now displaying a strange serenity. She no longer heard the banging. In her heart, only the sound of the doorbell and the wind outside remained, like an invisible farewell.
Customers and neighbors rushed in one after another when they saw the shop door slightly ajar, their eyes wide with shock as they watched the small shop owner lying silently. Her brother, who had rushed back from the market at the end of the street, burst into tears upon seeing his sister.
That scene, no matter who witnessed it, could never be forgotten—a beautiful morning, laughter that hadn't even had a chance to be heard before turning into utter despair. The light went out, and she returned to reality.
Fumoto trembled as she looked down at her hands.
"Am I... dead...?"
"Is my life over...?"
The goddess looked at Fumoto, who was now trembling, her eyes revealing a look of shock. The goddess sat down; even seated, Amaterasu was still a head taller than Fumoto. She spoke to Fumoto in a comforting tone, but... Yet, there was a hint of seriousness mixed in.
"Don't be so pessimistic."
"You still have a chance to live."
Fumoto's trembling subsided slightly, her eyes still reflecting a hint of sadness.
"Wait a minute, what do you mean?"
"Do you know your mother?"
Fumoto's mother was Kisugaki Koyomi. She was a gentle yet strong woman, her eyes always shining with resilience despite life's harsh realities. When she was young, Koyomi loved a man deeply, believing they would build a happy little family together.
But that happiness didn't last long. When Fumoto was not yet two years old, her father abandoned them to pursue another woman. Without resentment or tears, Koyomi simply held her two young children close and continued living. With the meager earnings from her days working in town, she opened a small pet shop in a corner of the village.
The shop wasn't big, and there weren't many customers, but every penny she earned went towards raising her older brother Fumoto and herself. On cold winter nights, she diligently knitted to sell, and even on sweltering summer days, she worked hard to earn money to support her two children. But life never lets go of those who have suffered so much.
When Fumoto was 12 and her brother 15, Koyomi discovered she had lung cancer. The devastating news came like a cold knife, but she refused to give up. She feared that if she showed weakness, her two children would lose their only remaining support. Therefore, she decided to hide her illness, continuing to smile and work as if nothing had happened, striving to do everything one more time for her children. Her last day came on a gloomy morning.
Koyomi was cleaning the birdcage when she suddenly coughed violently. She covered her mouth with her hand, but dark red blood gushed out, staining her thin palm. There was enough blood to fill a plastic cup. The villagers, horrified to see her collapse, rushed her to the nearest hospital. But all efforts were too late.
The disease had been silently consuming her body for too long. Koyomi Kisugaki, the single mother who had spent her life only thinking of her children, passed away not long after, leaving behind her small pet shop and two bewildered children amidst a storm of grief.
Her death was a wound that would never heal in Fumoto's heart; the pet shop her mother left behind was the only thing that could remind her of her beloved mother.
Fumoto grabbed Amaterasu's fox-like neck, angrily shouting at the sun goddess.
"You know my mother?!"
Amaterasu grabbed her arms and pulled her out of her clothes.
"Of course I know."
"After she died, she went to heaven and met me while I was sitting on a cloud."
"I knew she was a good person, so I granted her a wish."
"...So...what was that wish?"
"She asked about your future. Life is so ironic; your brother's life is like a bright red thread of destiny, while yours is as dark as the author's life."
"So the reason I died was..."
"Because you were unlucky."
She collapsed. "At 10, I went from being a top student to an average one."
"Then, suddenly, in the middle of 9th grade, I failed 10th grade, and then I was transferred to a school full of older students, and even gangsters!"
Fumoto wept bitterly there, and Amaterasu sat down to comfort her.
"Oh, but is that all?"
"No, after seeing how miserable your life was, she decided to trade her most precious possession for my second wish."
"So what does that mean?"
"What was the second wish?"
"It's simple."
"She wanted you to have a better life."
"But that's impossible."
"The gears of fate will keep turning; no creature can destroy fate, and nothing can bend fate."
"So... how did she feel?"
Amaterasu gazed into the distance.
"She was very sad, I understand."
"No mother can feel normal hearing that her child will live a tragic life."
"That's why she traded her soul and begged me for a different life for you."
Fumoto felt a pang in her heart upon hearing this. Her mother had sacrificed her entire life to raise them both.
She didn't want her mother to have to sacrifice anything more. She wanted to say something to Amaterasu, but the Sun Goddess brought her finger to her lips.
"Fumoto Kisugaki, I understand your feelings, I know what you want to tell me."
"But I'm sorry, I can't go against what has already been decided."
Fumoto shed a tear, then more; she wept. Amaterasu raised her hand to wipe away her tears.
"Listen, your mother wants you to live a peaceful life in another world. She doesn't need you to do anything at all; as long as you live a happy life, she will be happy too."
"A portal to an unreal world was created behind Fumoto." "Think about it, Fumoto."
Fumoto looked towards the portal and then back at the goddess.
"Go." She said nothing more, silently walking through the spatial gate.
"Oh, I forgot to tell it."
"Silica."
Silica, a magic spell that allows transmitting information into another person's brain.
"Fumoto Kisugaki, I will grant you two skills so you can survive in the world you will be going to. Furthermore, you will not be reincarnated into a human body; you can only be reincarnated into the body of another creature."
"Good luck." The gate closed, leaving Amaterasu standing there alone.
"Yare Yare... this is the second time I've broken the laws of heaven and earth."
"But since when were you allowed to enter my space?"
Amaterasu gazed into the distance. From within the ethereal light, a sword pierced through space and descended, a man stepping through the spatial portal and standing opposite Amaterasu.
He was a tall, powerful man with a somewhat wild appearance. His long, flowing hair, dark black or deep blue, symbolized water and storms. His eyes were sharp and fierce like a tempest. He wore a wide cloak, a mix of sea blue, silver-gray, and black symbols, sometimes bordered with white clouds or waves.
"Since when were you allowed to use Kusanagi no Tsurugi, Susano?"
"Calm down, sister. You know it once belonged to me, right? Hehehe."
Amaterasu sighed, and Susano cheerfully approached.
"So you did it?"
"Are you sure what you're doing is right?"
Amaterasu said nothing, Susano chuckled a few times and raised his holy sword.
"Anyway, I came here to return this sword to my beloved older sister."
Susano threw the sword to Amaterasu, and she caught it.
"Well, see you later, hahaha."
He stepped through the unreal gate and disappeared.
"Tsk... sometimes I don't understand what my dear younger brother is thinking."
End of Chapter 1.