Satoru's consciousness snapped back to awareness like a rubber band stretched too far. Someone was calling his name—a young voice, high and frightened.
"Onii-chan! Onii-chan, wake up!"
He opened his eyes—or what he assumed were eyes—to find a small figure beside him. A little girl, perhaps five years old, her form flickering like candlelight. But he had never seen her before in his life. The confusion was immediate and disorienting.
The space around them defied description—a vast expanse of infinite white light that stretched beyond the horizon. There was no up or down, no walls or ceiling, just endless luminescent void that somehow didn't hurt to look at.
More disturbing was his own form. Looking down at himself, Satoru realized he wasn't looking at hands or a body, but at a sphere of soft blue light—translucent and gently pulsing like a heartbeat. Yet somehow, he could still see, hear, and even feel sensations despite having no physical form.
He was dead. That much was certain.
The little girl beside him appeared as another orb of light, hers a pale pink that trembled with fear and confusion. Her voice reached him clearly despite the apparent lack of vocal cords or air to carry sound.
"Onii-chan, where are we? I'm scared. I want to go home to mama and papa."
Satoru's non-existent heart would have broken if he still possessed one. This child—whoever she was—seemed to know him, but his memory felt like trying to grasp water. Fragments of recollection slipped through his consciousness: flashing lights, shouting, the taste of copper in his mouth, but nothing coherent.
"I... I don't know where we are," he admitted, his voice somehow carrying despite his lack of a mouth. "What's your name? How do you know me?"
"I'm Miki," the little girl's soul whispered. "You saved me from the scary man. Don't you remember?"
The name stirred something deep in his consciousness, but the memory remained frustratingly out of reach. He remembered being a police officer, remembered his partner Hiroshi, but the details of his death remained shrouded in fog.
summoned by their confusion, the endless white void began to shift. Golden light materialized from nothingness, forming intricate magical sigils that hung in the air like celestial calligraphy. The patterns pulsed with power that made both souls instinctively draw back.
From within the golden radiance, a figure began to descend.
She was breathtaking in the most literal sense—a goddess whose beauty transcended mortal understanding. Her long white robe flowed around her like liquid moonlight, the fabric so pristine it seemed to absorb and reflect the surrounding light simultaneously. The garment's hem touched what might charitably be called a floor, though the surface beneath them remained as insubstantial as everything else in this realm.
But what immediately captured Satoru's attention—much to his embarrassment—was her figure. Her chest was... magnificent. Impossibly full and perfectly shaped, straining against the divine fabric in a way that would have made Renaissance sculptors weep with inadequacy. It was the kind of voluptuous perfection he had only seen in the adult videos hidden on his laptop.
"Oh no", he thought in horror. "The videos! I never deleted them! What if someone finds my computer?—"
His panicked thoughts were interrupted by melodious laughter that seemed to come from everywhere at once.
"A virgin police officer worried about his porn collection even in death," the goddess said, her voice like silver bells mixed with gentle mockery. "How delightfully human."
Satoru's soul-form somehow managed to convey the equivalent of a shocked expression. "Did I... did I say that out loud?"
"No, dear child," she replied, settling gracefully into a seated position that somehow looked natural despite the lack of any visible chair.
"I can read the thoughts of all living things."
"That's a violation of privacy rights!" Satoru protested automatically, his police training asserting itself even in death. "According to Article 21 of the Japanese Constitution—"
The goddess waved her hand dismissively, the gesture causing sparkles of golden light to cascade through the air. "Laws and constitutions hold no meaning here, little soul. I am bound by different rules entirely."
Even in his current predicament, Satoru couldn't help but let his thoughts wander as he looked at her. "With a chest like that, she must have countless admirers. Probably been with dozens of men, maybe hundreds. Lucky bastards."
The goddess's eyebrow arched elegantly, and her smile turned decidedly amused.
Satoru's realization hit like a lightning bolt. "Oh shit, she can still hear me thinking!"
"Language, Officer Takahashi," she chided playfully. "And yes, I can indeed hear every inappropriate thought rattling around in that formerly virgin mind of yours."
After that, the goddess snapped her fingers. Satoru's soul and Miki's soul shapeshifted to look human, but not quite—they appeared as shadows wreathed in blue light. Unlike their previous round forms, they now had limbs and could walk instead of merely floating as they had moments ago.
Satoru asked the goddess about this place and why he couldn't remember the cause of his death. The goddess answered that he had died trying to save a girl, but unfortunately he had failed. At that moment, he had broken one of the laws made by the Architect.
that place was The Celestial Tribunal—her heavenly prison—and Satoru was here to be judged for his living sins. Satoru retorted that he had been on the side of justice, but the goddess answered him coldly.
"There is no such thing as justice. All depends on one's perception of others' value"
Without asking his permission, she began reciting aloud all the crimes Satoru had committed since the day he gained full consciousness of good and evil. A leather-bound book materialized in her hand—Satoru's life book, where all his sins had been marked in crimson ink.
"The first," she began, her voice echoing through the ethereal space,
"is for [depravity]—as you indulged in watching adult videos, corrupting your mind with base desires."
"The second follows with
[killing]. Even though it was for justice, taking a man's life is sin, as the Architect proclaimed."
The goddess's finger traced down the page as she continued:
[Pride]—for believing yourself above the criminals you pursued, judging them while blind to your own darkness.
[Wrath]—for the excessive force you used during arrests, letting anger guide your hand rather than duty.
[Deception]—for the lies you told suspects during interrogations, manipulating truth to serve your ends.
[Theft]—for the evidence you planted to ensure convictions of those you deemed guilty.
[Gluttony]—for your addiction to alcohol, drowning your guilt in bottles while neglecting your responsibilities.
[Blasphemy]—for cursing the Architect's name whenever justice seemed absent from the world.
Each sin hung like a weight. Satoru felt the crushing reality of his mortal failures bearing down upon his ethereal form.
Satoru could not believe what he was hearing. There were sins listed that he wasn't even aware he had committed. He wanted to protest, but the goddess slammed him into the crystalline ground before binding him with chains that writhed like living serpents—
"Do you dare oppose the Architect?" she demanded, her voice reverberating through The Celestial Tribunal.
Satoru answered desperately that this was all a misunderstanding. What he had done was to help people—every action had been in service of protecting the innocent.
With a mere lift of her finger, the goddess raised Satoru's astral body into the sky, suspending him in the ethereal light that filled the divine space. Her expression softened slightly as she gazed upon his helpless form.
"The Architect also believes in repentance through second life," she said, her tone shifting from condemnation to something approaching compassion. "I tell you, Satoru, that you have been given another chance by the Architect to make a new life. This mercy is granted in regard to the girl you tried to save, risking your own life."
The chains binding Satoru began to dissolve into particles of light.
"Heaven was greatly touched by your final actions, and we all agreed to bestow our blessing upon you. Your reincarnation certificate has been approved."
She paused, studying Satoru's bewildered expression with eyes that seemed to hold the depth of eternity.
"What do you think? Do you want a new life in another world?"
"A moment ago it was like you were about to kill me, and now you propose a second life in another world? What do you mean?" Satoru asked, his voice filled with confusion and disbelief.
The goddess regarded him with an expression that seemed both patient and weary. "A dead soul cannot return to its previous world—it would cause a paradox that could break the walls between worlds. You will be reincarnated in a magnificent world named [astreya]. There you can live a new, happy life with the girl you failed to save."
Satoru turned toward Miki, his ethereal form shifting in the blue light. As if reading Satoru's mind, Miki asked hopefully, "Does that mean I'll be able to see Papa and Mama again?"
The goddess answered blatantly, without a trace of gentleness, "You are dead, and the dead do not interact with the living."
Satoru immediately cut the goddess off, his voice sharp with indignation. "What kind of goddess says something like that to a child?"
He knelt down to Miki's level, his shadowy form radiating warmth despite its ethereal nature. "Miki, you'll see your parents again, but for now it's not possible."
"Why?" Miki asked, her small voice trembling with innocent confusion.
Satoru's heart ached as he searched for words that wouldn't shatter her fragile hope. "Because…" he hesitated. " they're abroad right now. Far away. But someday, when the time is right, you'll be together again."
He stood and turned toward the goddess, his resolve crystallizing into something unbreakable. "I accept the reincarnation process, but only on one condition—Miki and I must not be separated in that new world."
"Very well," she acquiesced. "Your condition is accepted."
The goddess proposed to proceed with the reincarnation immediately. She asked Satoru what kind of skills he wanted, emphasizing that he needed to choose very carefully.
"This will be your innate skill, given to you as a traveler between worlds," she explained, her voice taking on a more formal tone. "Additionally, you will be granted another skill as a hero, along with the blessings of the Twelves Gods of Pandemonium."
Satoru was surprised—it was exactly like the novels he often read during his quiet moments as a police officer. The familiar concepts of skills, heroes, and divine blessings felt surreal when spoken by an actual goddess in this ethereal realm.
Drawing upon his instincts as a former policeman, Satoru made his choice with calculated precision: "I choose the skill Vorace."
"Vorace," he continued, "a skill with the capacity of devouring others' abilities."
The goddess raised an eyebrow, a hint of irony in her expression. "A thief's skill for a policeman," she pointed out, her tone carrying subtle judgment.
Satoru met her gaze without flinching. "I'm no longer a policeman."
The goddess chuckled at his answer. " Humans can't change their own existence." she mused, though her tone carried more amusement than mockery.
She then rolled out an enormous, glowing board that materialized from thin air—The Codex of Infinite Potential, created by the Architect himself. Skills and abilities swirled across its surface like living constellations, each one pulsing with divine energy.
"Now, what about your second skill as a hero?" she asked, gesturing toward the magnificent display.
Satoru remained silent for a while, contemplating the vast array of options before him. Finally, he turned to Miki. "Do you know much about skills and stuff like this?"
Miki turned her small head and simply said, "No."
Satoru sighed before walking closer to the board. With minimal deliberation, he made his choice—a skill focused on defense.
"A barrier skill," the goddess said, genuine surprise coloring her voice. "I didn't see that coming. Anyone else would have surely chosen some giant-type offensive attack, well it's not for me to judge."
As soon as Satoru finished his skill selection, a translucent window suddenly popped up in front of him. The unexpected appearance startled him so much that he stumbled backward, nearly losing his ethereal footing.
"Satoru! Are you okay?" Miki asked, concern filling her young voice.
The goddess observed his reaction with mild amusement. "It's just the system manifesting. No need to be afraid—this is how you'll interface with your abilities.
Satoru asked about the system, his eyes still fixed on the strange translucent window floating before him.
"Think of it as a hyperdimensional code that follows all of the Architect's chosen ones," the goddess explained. "Consider it both a partner and a window to interact with the other gods."
"So it's a means for them to watch over me," Satoru said, studying the translucent black window in front of him with growing unease.
On the interface, words began appearing in sequence:
Satoru's eye twitched with irritation as the divine conversation continued to flood his vision. What he wanted to say was "stop that already," but what he wasn't aware of was that the system was linked directly to his mind, soul, and spirit. Satoru's frustrated thought immediately converted into words and was sent into the chat:
The Goddess of Harmony replied almost instantly:
Satoru couldn't believe that even gods knew the concept of apologizing. The thought crossed his mind, but before he could stop it, it too appeared in the chat. The goddess standing before him chuckled, clearly amused by his predicament with divine social media.
Through the transparent window, notifications started to pop up in rapid succession, each accompanied by a mechanical, artificial voice that echoed through satoru mind.
< The God of Light bestowed his blessing upon you >[The skill Healing has been acquired]
Another notice popped up, not leaving enough time for Satoru to process what had happened.
< The God of Time bestowed his blessing upon you > [The skill Accelerated Thought has been acquired]
< The God of War bestowed his blessing upon you > [The skill Weapons Mastery and Hand-to-Hand Combat Mastery have been acquired]
< The Goddess of Harmony bestowed her blessing upon you > [The skill Emotion Inducement has been acquired]
< The Goddess of Death bestowed her blessing upon you > [The skill Mystic Eyes of Death has been acquired]
< The Goddess of Luck bestowed her blessing upon you > [The skill Luck Probability has been acquired]
< The Goddess of Dreams bestowed her blessing upon you > [The skill Dream World has been acquired]
< The Goddess of Miracles bestowed her blessing upon you > [The skill Miracle has been acquired]
< The Goddess of Water bestowed her blessing upon you > [The skill Water Candidate has been acquired]
< The God of Earth bestowed his blessing upon you > [The skill Terraforming has been acquired]
< The God of Knowledge bestowed his blessing upon you > [The skill Omniscient Archive has been acquired]
The notifications continued cascading down like a digital waterfall, each divine blessing adding another layer of power to Satoru's already overwhelming arsenal. He stood there, stunned by the sheer magnitude of abilities being bestowed upon him by the Twelve Gods.
"Is that real?" Satoru asked the goddess, completely dumfounded by the cascade of divine blessings he had just received.
She chuckled again, her ethereal form radiating amusement. "Gods don't usually bestow their blessings so freely, but you're an exception," she said while pointing at him with her finger.
Satoru, curious despite his overwhelming situation, asked, "Which goddess are you?"
"The Goddess of Love," she answered with a smile.
Then another final notification popped up on his translucent window:
< The Goddess of Love bestowed her blessing upon you >[The skill Slave Marking Through Intercourse has been acquired]
Satoru was completely caught off guard, his ethereal face flushing with embarrassment and shock. The goddess chuckled again, finding his reaction entertaining to watch.
"With that skill, you'll be able to see women's assets, like mine, up close," she said with a mischievous glint in her eyes.
Before Satoru could protest or ask questions about the inappropriate nature of the blessing, she continued matter-of-factly, "Now then, it's time for reincarnation."
With a snap of her fingers, the pristine white space of The Celestial Tribunal began to spiral and twist. The divine realm dissolved into a vast expanse of cosmos, stars wheeling overhead in impossible configurations. Then suddenly, a world materialized below them— in all its glory.
Satoru and Miki felt themselves
falling through the cosmic void, reality rushing toward them at breathtaking speed. Instinctively, Satoru embraced Miki, trying to shield her small form from the anticipated impact with his own body.
Then he closed his eyes.