Prologue (1/2)

The Different World With the Red Star: Prologue

Dropping by the game center to play for a bit after school, and then heading home once it started to get dark.

That was my daily routine.

And on that day too, I played at the game center, and began to head home when it started to get dark. I was waiting at the intersection closest to the game center for the lights to change.

At that time, a young girl came flying out from the opposite side. The crosswalk’s light was red. It appeared that the young girl had discovered her parent on the other side, and began to run.

“Wait, Koume!”

The mother called the child’s name to stop her. The reason was simple. A truck had just entered the intersection. It may have been trying to speed up to make it through the yellow light, as the truck was going quite fast.

From what I could see, even if the truck driver noticed the young girl, he definitely wouldn’t be able to stop. He would hit her for certain.

The moment I came to that conclusion, my body had already begun to move.

Throwing aside my bag, I dove into the crossing.

There wasn’t enough time to hold her and cut through. That being the case, I suppose I should just protect that child.

The mother let out a surprised voice, as I arrived in front of the child, who had stopped right in the middle of the road, and stood directly in front of the truck.

From the surroundings, I could hear people letting out screams and frightened voices. And within that, I swung my fist seriously for the first time in 5 years at the truck.

“Orya!”

An intense clanging sound emerged from the collision between my fist and the truck’s front.

In that instant, I was engulfed by light.

“Where is this?”

A pure white s.p.a.ce. The floor was fluffy, as though it were made of clouds.

And just a little bit ahead was an extravagant structure resembling a palace in Rome.

“Anyhow, shall I just try heading over there?”

“There’s no need for that.”

The moment I was about to walk out, a voice called out to me.

“Huh?”

“I said that there’s no need for that.”

When I turned around, there was an old man.

While wearing pure white clothes, the bearded old man looked down at me in a pompous manner.

“Who are you, old man?”

“I am G.o.d.”

“……dementia?”

“Like h.e.l.l!”

I was whacked by his cane.

“That hurts. Why’re you hitting people so suddenly?”

“It’s your fault for calling people ‘demented’ so suddenly!”

“I dunno about that. When someone randomly appears and says that they’re G.o.d or something like that, they’ve clearly got a few screws loose. It’s just about right to treat them that way.”

“It’s the truth, so I can’t help it. Incidentally, this is the Heavenly Boundary.”

“Heavenly Boundary? It’s not Heaven or h.e.l.l?”

Since I punched the truck head-on, it shouldn’t have been strange if I had died. That being the case, I had thought that this fluffy, bright white s.p.a.ce was Heaven, but it seems that I had guessed wrongly. Well, since a self-proclaimed G.o.d had appeared before me, I guess it’s just perfect.

“I’m not self-proclaimed, but a genuine G.o.d! I’ve been properly recognized as one by the others(1)!”

“Seriously!? It looks like you can read my mind, so it seems to be true!”

“That’s what I’ve been saying from the beginning…….”

G.o.d gave a tired sigh. I suppose he’s already pretty old.

“It’s your fault! Yours!”

“My fault? Why?”

“Your actions are the cause. That’s why I called you here. Making me use my power pointlessly like this……”

It seemed that G.o.d had some business with me.

“Just now, you punched a truck to protect a child, correct?”

“Yeah, I genuinely did it using all my power! Was the child saved?”

“The child was saved.”

“That’s great.”

It would’ve been pointless if she hadn’t been saved even though I protected her.

“It’s not ‘great’!”

Even though I protected a child, for some reason I was scolded. I wonder why? Children are the world’s treasures, you know.

“Why don’t I tell you what happened because you punched that truck?! First, the truck driver. Though the airbag was deployed, since he wasn’t wearing a seat belt, he smashed directly into the winds.h.i.+eld and died. Well, even if you hadn’t done anything, it was planned for him to mess up his steering and die, so that’s fine. But the truck that you punched caused a lot of damage. Luckily there were no deaths, but the shrapnel severely injured 2 nearby salarymen, and gave one light injuries! Rather than just having a single child hit, it’s clear that the damages were far greater!”

“Ohh, but it was to protect a child, so it can’t be helped.”

“Do you really think it’s a problem that can just be solved with an ‘it can’t be helped’……”

Since they’re adults, they should be able to look after their own well-being. Children can’t do that, so they’re existences that should be protected. Isn’t that common sense?

Because of this power that I have, I wasn’t able to be protected by my parents from a young age. On the contrary, they feared it and ended up using violence against me.

That’s why I protect children. If it’s to protect a child, I’ll accept any and all sacrifices.

“At any rate, though I did think I had a bit more power than most people, this is way more than I imagined. As expected of me!”

“It’s not something to laugh about! You’ve completely exceeded the limits of human(2)!”

G.o.d stomped his feet on the fluffy ground. Every time he did so, bits of fluff would spring up. Somehow it seems kinda interesting.

Well, I guess you can’t really call a human who can destroy a truck with a single punch a ‘human’. But I can do it, so it can’t be helped.

“That’s right, I also found that quite mysterious. No matter how hard they work, there’s no way the humans that I made on Earth could destroy a truck with their bare hands! So, I tried investigating about you.”

“Did you figure something out?”

“Your soul was crafted(3) by something.”

“Crafted?”

Does he mean like some kind of handicraft? Is there some kind of pretty pattern painted on it?

“This isn’t any time to be fooling around! I can’t believe that someone would do something crazy like using something that a G.o.d made for crafts. If it went badly, then you’d have been cut off from samsara(4) and would never be able to reincarnate again!”

“Seriously? That’s pretty bad. Then my power’s because of that thing’s effect?”

“That seems to be the case. Do you also see things like a single star being red and such?”

“Oh, you’re amazing, G.o.d. I can see a bright red moon.”

“A moon, huh…….meaning that you normally see the moon as red?”

“Yeah, the moon rises from the south and sets in the north.”

“Like I thought…..”