Daniel stared blankly at the ceiling, lying motionless. Then he calmly closed his eyes and opened them again after a few moments. Yet the view in front of him remained the same.
He had briefly considered that this all may be a dream, but quickly discarded the idea.
'After all, you don't question your reality in a dream, you just accept it naturally.'
The fact that he was questioning it was proof enough. But that still didn't answer anything about his current situation.
This situation was too absurd. The view before his eyes, his body's condition, none of it made sense.
'Still, considering that this isn't a dream, there must be some sort of explanation for all this.'
Daniel thought back to everything that led to this, as well as all the information he currently knew, and an explanation slowly formed in his mind. It was-
'I've been kidnapped.'
It made the most sense based on the current situation.
His body felt extremely heavy, and the ceiling clearly didn't belong to his apartment. The last thing he remembered was falling asleep in his apartment.
'The most likely scenario is that while I was sleeping, someone drugged me and brought me to wherever this place is.'
The heaviness of his body could be the lingering effects of the drug they used on him.
Reaching that conclusion made his thoughts settle down somewhat. He began to scrutinize the ceiling before his eyes, studying its details.
'My kidnappers seem quite wealthy. No, that would be an understatement—…Uh?'
Daniel suddenly furrowed his brows.
'Why am I so calm? I've been kidnapped…'
He didn't think his own reaction to his situation was normal. Someone waking up to find that they were abducted in their sleep most likely wouldn't be calm.
'Well, I can't be sure, it's not like I've been kidnapped before.'
He shook off unnecessary thoughts and focused on the matter at hand.
'If I've woken up, the drug must be wearing off.'
It probably wouldn't be long before he could move his body as usual. Well, it wasn't that he couldn't move his limbs; they just didn't move the way he wanted.
'Okay, first, I need to confirm my condition.'
He needed to check whether something else was wrong with his body. He tried moving his arm; it took significant focus and effort to control it, but he succeeded after a few tries.
He brought his hand near his forehead in order to check his temperature.
But the arm that came into view was… tiny. So small and so delicate that it looked almost artificial.
The moment he saw that arm, Daniel froze. It was as if his brain had malfunctioned. His heartbeat quickened, and breathing became rougher.
'W-what… This is, no, this isn't my h-hand.'
But he clearly felt that it was; he could move it.
A chill ran down his spine. His mind became a jumbled mess of irrational thoughts that clashed violently against each other.
He tried to shake away the chaos, which did work, but only slightly. This must have some sort of explanation as well; he just needed to understand it.
'Bullshit! What explanation?!'
But still, he tried. Daniel once again thought back to everything that led to this, considering all the information at hand.
But the conclusion he reached was… Horrifying.
'No! I can't jump to conclusions! I have to confirm it first!'
He tried looking around, which turned out to be an extremely challenging task, but he did it somehow.
The bed he was lying on was absurdly large. The room itself was massive, with several paintings and ornaments hung on its walls.
'That? No, ...there?"
But Daniel ignored all of these details and instead continued looking around.
'Found it! That should do.'
He spotted a large mirror attached to the wall at the corner of the room.
Because of the distance and the dim lighting in the room, he couldn't make out the reflection in the mirror.
With every ounce of his strength, he began to drag his body toward the mirror. He stumbled several times but eventually reached the edge of the bed. That was when he could see the mirror's reflection. And when he saw it—
'Ah…'
He couldn't move, couldn't speak, couldn't even think.
Within the mirror's reflection was a baby that looked so small and fragile that even a light breeze would blow it away.
With ashen-grey eyes and hair in a shade so deep that it stood out even in the dim light, the baby had an appearance that felt otherworldly, almost alien.
As if turned to stone, Daniel could only stare at the reflection.
…His reflection.
For a time, his mind remained silent, complete and absolute, almost as if something had petrified it. Yet slowly, the petrification wore off, and a flood of thoughts surged.
But this time, the chaos was far greater.
'W-what the hell? No, why the hell? That's me? H-how?'
He tried taking deep breaths, tried calming down, but nothing worked.
'Me? A baby?...Reincarnation? But why would I suddenly reincarnate?'
His breathing grew even rougher.
'It doesn't make sense! The last thing I did was go to sleep, I'm certain of that. Why would I reincarnate out of nowhere?'
He thought back to everything that had happened that day, searching for some kind of clue for what had led to this situation.
The web comic he had read on the bus came to mind, the middle-aged man he had argued with, the woman who gossiped, and even the foreigner who was dying because of an accident flashed through his mind.
'No, it was all normal, there was nothing supernatural about the day.'
So many people die on the road every day, it wasn't hard to encounter an accident. Reading web comics was also nothing new for him. And he couldn't find anything abnormal about the incident with the man.
The room was silent for a few moments as he remained motionless, lost in thought. But then, a low yet heavy sound disrupted the silence, bringing him out of his thoughts.
Within the mirror's reflection, the door behind the baby was suddenly pushed open, and a woman stepped inside, wearing a black dress with puffed sleeves and a white apron.
Daniel turned to look behind him, as if on instinct. The woman's gaze slowly landed on him.
Their eyes met, and both of them froze.
The woman's face paled as her eyes slowly widened. She opened her mouth wide, as if to scream, but no sound came out.
The room fell silent again, but this time the silence felt tense. But then, as if she found her voice, the woman screamed in a desperate voice.
"Young master!! Don't crawl to the edge like that, you'll fall!!!"
'Uh? What was that?'
But before he could even react properly, the woman suddenly rushed towards him and lifted him up into her arms, and held him tight.
"Seriously, please don't do that again, young master. I'm too young for execution."
The woman let out a soft sigh, then flashed Daniel a warm smile. Daniel, meanwhile, only tilted his head with an unfocused gaze.
'What's she even saying...? And her clothes… they look like a maid's outfit.'
He may not have seen them in real life, but he had seen them enough in web comics that he was confident. Her outfit was extremely similar to a maid's outfit.
And then there were the things that she was saying. He couldn't understand a word, despite hearing her clearly.
While cradling him in her arms, the woman walked up to the mirror. Slowly, she drew apart the curtains.
As the curtains slowly parted, the view outside came into his view.
The sky was completely dark, filled with a myriad of stars blinking in perfect harmony. That view left him breathless.
All thoughts disappeared from his mind; he could only stare, mesmerised.
Then, suddenly, an old memory flashed into his mind. It was a memory from Daniel's childhood days.
During a school lesson, the teacher said that some things were impossible to count. The number of hairs on one's head, falling raindrops during a downpour, and… stars in the night sky.
That day, Daniel had finished his homework early. He waited patiently on the rooftop for the night sky to appear.
But when night came, Daniel was left confused. He could count them, the stars in the night sky.
It didn't even take much effort to count them.
Back then, he believed that the teacher had lied to him, to everyone. But as time passed, and Daniel grew up, the number of stars in the night sky continued decreasing until it was rare to spot any at all.
Yet now, looking at the view before him, Daniel came to a strong realization.
'This isn't Earth.'
The view before him couldn't possibly exist on Earth.
Many things didn't make sense; several mysteries about his situation still existed. But at this moment, he felt that this fact was undeniable.