It was a cold day in December. A boy placed his hand on an old wooden fence beside a steep cliff. No, he was not thinking about committing suicide.
Kaito Kitahara is 18 years old. With black, straight hair, long bangs, and tied in a low ponytail, a relatively tall stature, at 1,88 m in height, and a handsome face, with blue eyes. He was not the type who would be mistaken for a model; he was just above average.
With a fence made of a simple log at the edge of a good observation point, and only a binocular with a scope and a public restroom nearby, Kaito vaguely observed the sea from a lookout point.
"Huh?!"
Suddenly, someone came from behind him and pushed him.
Being surprised like that, he did not even have time to think when, to the sound of "baki," the wooden fence broke and he began to fall from the cliff.
He tried to grab onto something, but without success. There was nothing to grab.
"Ahhhh!"
'Falling, falling, falling, falling...'
His heart pounded hard in his throat.
Looking down, seeing the rocks in the shallow tide, he knew it was certain death.
'I don't want to die or I don't want to die!!'
Screaming in his heart, Kaito prayed. From the bottom of his heart. With so much emotion that it felt like bleeding.
In a fraction of seconds, his entire life passed before his eyes. Soon, the images changed, and time seemed to stop.
He felt suspended in the air, screaming, while memories of a past life began to pass like scenes from an old camera.
But as the scenes advanced, the images also improved. And, exactly at 17 years old, he saw a similar scene: the other him from the past life pushing a girl who was about to be run over by a truck and being run over in her place.
'One Piece...'
Why did he think of this anime?
It was because, on the truck that ran him over, there was the image of Luffy's crew and the name "One Piece" prominently displayed on the side. These were the last memories he had of his past life while he was thrown into the air.
He blinked his eyes, and time, which had seemed frozen before, returned to normal, and he continued to fall from the cliff.
'I don't want to die again...'
'I don't want to die again...!'
These words repeated in his mind until he screamed at the top of his lungs, clenching both hands into fists: "I DON'T WANT TO DIE!"
*Pop!*
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!"
After hearing a strange sound and a loud, unrecognizable scream, Kaito's consciousness faded away.
...
Kaito opened his eyes.
When he woke up, he was in a forest.
'No, no, no, no, I fell from a cliff, didn't I? From the bottom of the sea, I mean, the beach was rocky! No, I'm not complaining that it isn't rocky! If it were rocky, I would be dead!'
And, while thinking about carefree things, he stood up to check if there was any abnormality in his body.
"I... How is this possible?"
Kaito had zero injuries and nothing abnormal on his body.
Of course, that was not the most unusual part, but rather the place where he found himself.
'After all, where is this? And who was the bastard who pushed me? Damn... I have no idea who it was, but I wish all the worst for you!'
While cursing the one who pushed him, Kaito began to walk without any sense of direction.
'What the hell!' he thought. 'There's no way I could have fallen into such a deep forest...'
He thought about his situation repeatedly, trying to find a plausible explanation.
'First of all, the time I lost while I was unconscious wasn't very long, at most 20 to 30 minutes. I checked on my smartphone, which, by the way, is not waterproof. Only if I miraculously fell into the sea and, even so, it's still working... It's hard to believe that I fell into the sea.'
He thought:
'Besides that, there wasn't a forest nearby where I could have been transported in such a short time. And, to begin with, it's impossible to fall from that cliff and come out unscathed. Not to mention the lack of signal.'
Conclusion 1. He is already dead, and this is the afterlife.
Conclusion 2. He is unconscious in the hospital, dreaming.
Conclusion 3. Involved in paranormal phenomena, he was teleported to another world... Well, he even reads isekai webnovels.
'Preferably, I hope it's the 3rd!'
Honestly, he didn't even know what to think of this situation and kept walking.
'My legs have started to hurt a little...'
It had already been two hours since he started walking and, until now, there was no signal on his smartphone.
No signal, no internet, there's no way to even use the GPS, being unable to orient himself in this forest where sunlight doesn't enter and he can only follow the direction that seems right to him.
There is no guarantee that he is going in a straight line, since he was avoiding rocks and trees.
There is a possibility that he was walking in circles.
Sometimes, he leaves something like a mark, but he never saw it again. If he can't get out of the woods before nightfall, who knows what kind of dangerous animal might appear...
If he can't get out of the woods at night, the ideal thing would be to climb a tree and sleep on a branch, but if he fell while sleeping, he would be done for.
And if he doesn't find water, with the thirst he has already begun to feel... There is a chance of dying of thirst.
'Is there a stream or a spring, maybe even fruits somewhere?'
Even surrounded by trees, he didn't see a single one with fruit, which was a pity.
'I'm tired...'
It had already been four hours since he started walking.
As there was no road, he was stepping on uneven ground, which was making him exhausted even faster.
He almost stumbled a few times, running the risk of injuring his leg, and it started to get dark.
If there is a good tree, he thought of climbing up to sleep.
Although he wasn't confident about sleeping properly, it would be less risky than continuing to walk on the ground at night; physically, due to the risk of falling and the risk of encountering nocturnal animals.
'This one will do...' He climbed a tree.
...
'Damn, does this forest have no end?'
It has been two hours since he started walking at dawn.
Kaito couldn't sleep at all last night.
He was afraid of falling from the tree branch and, to begin with, he couldn't sleep on a hard trunk, with nothing to lean on.
He found neither water nor food, and the pain in his right ankle, which he had twisted recently, was getting worse, but, strangely, improving at the same time.
'It must be my imagination...'
Looking up at the sky filled with tall trees, with branches of green leaves, he sighed.
'I'm hungry and thirsty...'
To the sound of a low 'Bang', something fell on his head while he was walking.
"Ow, what is this now?" he muttered, bringing his hand to his head.
Looking at the nearby tree, he saw small purple fruits, the size of a cherry.
Looking at the ground, what he saw was a kind of fruit, but, for sure, it was not the same as the little fruits on the tree; it was the size of an apple.
'A pitaya?' He crouched down and picked it up in his hand.
It was a slightly rounded fruit, the size of a large apple, with thick, smooth skin, golden-yellow in color. The skin had "flaps" with curved tips, resembling flames or petals.
Using force, he split the fruit in half.
'It really is a pitaya...'
The inside was white.
'Why doesn't it have seeds?'
This part left him even more confused and made him hesitate to eat it.
*Rumble~~~*
When his stomach began to protest, Kaito stopped hesitating so much and took a small bite.
*Spit, spit...!*
"Damn, what is this? I've never eaten shit, but the taste must be the same or worse!" he cursed.
But then he turned pale: 'It's not poisonous, right?'
"Ah, ah, ahhh?!"
While he considered the idea of being poisoned, his body began to catch fire!
He panicked and screamed, fearful.
"I'm on fire, I'm on fire!!"
The more agitated he became, the larger the red-golden flames grew.
The tree beside him caught fire and, in moments, more and more began to burn because of him.
"It hurts, it hurts, it hurts... Wait! Why don't I feel pain?"
As if lightning had struck him, Kaito was stunned, petrified in place.
The red-golden flames still surrounded him, but, strangely, they did not affect him.