The previous two works were updated daily, which was quite challenging...
Both of my previous works have been completed. I will do my best to complete this one as well!
Thank you very much.
"Here is..."
When I woke up, I found myself in an unfamiliar room.
White walls, thin pink curtains hanging from the windows, antique-style furniture like a desk and a closet, and handmade-looking stuffed animals...
The room looked like it belonged to a young girl. And there I was, lying on the bed, Kurahara Mari, 18 years old, and Adele von Ascham, 10 years old.
...Wait, what? I am Kurahara Mari, 10 years old, the eldest daughter of the Ascham family, no, what is this? My head hurts...
After that, when the girl who had fainted next woke up, the headache was gone, and she remembered everything.
"Oh, so that's it..."
I had died. Ten years ago.
Kurahara Mari was born as the eldest daughter of a very ordinary family with two sisters. Her parents were serious and kind, and her younger sister, who was two years younger, was a bright and energetic good girl, though a bit cheeky. And Mari was a bit more "capable" than the average child.
This was evident even when she was a baby.
She learned to speak early. She stood up and walked on her own much earlier than the average toddler.
In studies, sports, arts, chess, and conversations with adults.
In kindergarten and elementary school, her "capable" nature was displayed one after another, and teachers and those around her all placed high expectations on Mari. Perhaps too high.
Her grandparents were overjoyed, declaring that this child was a genius and would surely become famous in the future. The grandparents on her father's and mother's sides began to fight over Mari, comparing her with other grandchildren and her younger sister, without considering how painful it might be for Mari, sowing discord among the family.
The saving grace was that her parents raised her very normally without caring about such things, and her younger sister, who could have become resentful and twisted, grew up to be a very honest and good girl.
However, while she could breathe a sigh of relief at home, at school she was always in the spotlight. Although she was never bullied, she never made close friends. Everyone treated her as a special person.
And the unfortunate thing was that Mari was not a "genius."
If Mari had possessed a different kind of sensibility and could have come up with innovative ideas through inspiration, she might have had an easier time. However, Mari was a "scholarly type."
She was, in every way, a normal person. She just had a quick mind, engaged in logical thinking from a young age, and accumulated a lot of knowledge through her love of reading. She was just a "normal person with very high specifications."
Therefore, the excessive expectations and special treatment from others were painful. She wanted to chat and joke around with everyone and talk about boys.
Surrounded by people, but lonely days.
Even in high school, this continued. With no friends to go out with, Mari had nothing to do except study and play games as a rare break. As a result, she was accepted into a prestigious university, as everyone had expected.
And the day of her high school graduation arrived. She delivered the assigned speech smoothly and left the school. Would university allow her to live more freely? Would everyone there have gone through similar experiences? She wondered...
Most of the people on the street were graduates spilling out of the school. The students had not yet dispersed.
Feeling liberated, the high school students, or rather, those who had just finished high school, were joking around. Among them, a girl playfully swung her bag, which hit a 10-year-old girl riding a bicycle on the road, causing her to stagger and fall onto the road.
A large vehicle was approaching. Whether she hadn't been paying attention or couldn't react in time, the brakes didn't seem to be working.
Before she knew it, Mari's body was already moving. She ran onto the road, heading towards the girl.
(Why me... If someone closer had moved, they could have saved her easily. Why didn't anyone move? I won't make it in time...)
No one else moved; they just watched Mari.
She has good reflexes.
She can save her, right?
Just as Mari scooped up the girl's body and threw her onto the sidewalk, Mari's body was hit by the large vehicle, which had just started to brake.
"You seem to have woken up, Kurahara Mari."
As Mari regained consciousness, a young man in his early twenties was looking down at her.
"Here... I remember being hit by a car..."
While sitting up, Mari muttered. The young man looked at her with a sympathetic expression and said,
"Yes, and you have passed away."
"Huh..."
She wanted to say, "What nonsense," but given the situation, it didn't seem possible that she had survived unscathed. Moreover, when she looked around calmly, everything was white. The ground, the surroundings, and the young man's clothes. What was going on here...
The young man explained to the confused Mari.
"This place, to explain in your terms, is something like 'heaven,' and I am in a position similar to 'God.' Although it's not exactly that..."
According to the young man, it seems to be like this.
The world follows the law of increasing entropy.
Entropy is a state variable defined in thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, and information theory. It can be described as a measure of disorder...
In a closed system, if left alone, entropy increases.
If you put a cup of hot water next to a cup of cold water, they will eventually reach the same temperature. The reverse, where a cup of lukewarm water becomes hot and cold, does not happen. Strictly speaking, this cannot be definitively stated, but it is generally accepted.
Most natural phenomena and life activities in the world are possible because of imbalances in matter and energy. A world where everything is evenly mixed and there is no energy difference is a static, dead world.
The world is heading towards death.
Not by the work of demons, but by the hand of the absolute god called the laws of physics.
However, there were those who defied this.
Life.
Separating mixed substances and creating ordered things.
Their activities seem to reduce entropy.
In reality, even this increases entropy when viewed from a broader closed system, as energy is consumed in the separation of matter, the creation of things, and life activities themselves.
However, their desperate efforts were touching to watch, especially to those who had overcome this stage long ago.
And when life activities reach a certain level of civilization, they often lead to destruction. For some reason, the probability of this happening is much higher than the theoretical probability.
It's as if the "laws of the world" have a will of their own.
And while it's not just for entertainment, it seems to be a habit of "them" to give a little help to civilizations that have reached a dangerous stage.
They don't provide overt assistance but give hints in the form of dreams or secretly impart knowledge during sleep...
However, for some reason, the individuals to whom knowledge is given tend to die easily. The probability is clearly higher than the theoretical value. The cause is unknown even to "them." No matter how much they analyze, they can't find the cause.
Is the balance of life subtly disrupted, or could it be that the "will of the world" really exists...
"No way, so my suffering and death are all your fault..."
"No, that's not the case."
"Huh?"
"I was supporting the girl you saved. I had no involvement with you. Your suffering was all originally yours."
"..."
Mari slumped to the ground, her hands on the floor.
It seems that her fate was always meant to be this way.
"Actually, I called you here to thank you."
"Huh?"
"The girl was supposed to die there.
Despite being careful about accidents and illnesses, she suddenly fell, and a driver distracted by their phone hit her. Such an event was not predicted in the short-term future! It was really a mess...
So, to cover it up quickly, I searched for something that could be used instantly, but for some reason, there was nothing available...
The people nearby didn't react at all, as if the girl's death was predetermined from the start.
It was as if it was a 'pre-arranged harmony' in your world...
And just when I was about to give up on all the effort I had put into this girl, you appeared.
A distance that was impossible to reach in time. A position where you shouldn't have felt the need to move because others were closer. An existence outside my search and short-term future predictions.
Just a normal human, yet you broke the world's pre-arranged harmony, slipped through my short-term future predictions, and sacrificed yourself to save the girl...
Do you know? That girl is supposed to develop the foundational theory for the technology that will allow humans to travel to other star systems in the future..."
(So, even if I couldn't achieve anything myself, I could help. Then, my existence, my life, had meaning...)
"Thus, as a heartfelt thank you, I would like to offer you a new life. A reincarnation with your memories intact, so to speak."
"Wh-What!?"
Mari was surprised.
(It's like that game I tried a little as a break from studying...
But in the game, after this...)
"So, to help you live comfortably in a world with a less advanced civilization, I would like to give you some exceptional ability. What kind of ability would you like?"