Satou drifted in and out of sleep, his mind floating in a fog between dreams and reality. The faint sound of birds chirping reached his ears, soft and distant, like echoes from another world. Their gentle melody mixed with the whisper of a morning breeze that carried the scent of damp earth and fresh dew. Warm sunlight crept slowly into the cave, its golden light brushing across his small green skin.
For a moment, it was peaceful—so peaceful that he almost forgot the nightmare he'd woken up to yesterday. For a brief second, he could almost pretend he was still human, just napping on a lazy Sunday morning.
But then, he felt it, something heavy pressing down on his tiny chest. It wasn't painful, just… uncomfortable. Like a soft but firm weight pinning him to the ground.
Satou groaned weakly. "What is this? Why do I feel like I'm being squished?" he thought, still half asleep.
Slowly, his eyes fluttered open, blinking against the soft morning glow. At first, all he saw were tiny green feet dangling right in front of his face. Confused, his gaze traveled upward until realization hit him like a punch.
Two baby goblins were piled on top of him.
One was a tiny female, her small hands clutching his arm like it was a pillow, her face pressed so close that he could feel her warm breath on his shoulder. The other was a male, sprawled across Satou's legs, snoring softly with a thin line of drool hanging from his mouth.
"What the—?! Get off me!" Satou yelled, or at least tried to. What came out instead was a high-pitched squeak that sounded more like a rubber duck being stepped on.
He flailed his stubby green arms, trying to push them off, but his limbs were weak and short. His little hands barely reached their sides, and his frantic movements only made things worse. The two baby goblins snuggled closer, sighing contently as if Satou was some kind of warm goblin plushie.
"Ugh, this is ridiculous!" Satou thought, glaring up at the rocky ceiling. His small body wiggled side to side in protest, but the two goblins were surprisingly heavy for their size. The female goblin's snore turned into a soft giggle as her grip tightened, while the male one muttered something that sounded like, "Mmm… comfy…" before drooling again.
Satou's patience was wearing thin. "Okay, okay, think. I'm a baby goblin now, so brute force isn't going to work. Maybe if I roll over…" he thought.
He took a deep breath and tried shifting his weight to one side. The movement barely made a difference,the goblins didn't even twitch. He tried again, gritting his teeth. Nothing.
By the third attempt, his small chest was heaving, and he was sweating from the effort. "Come on, come on!" Satou urged himself, twisting his body with all the strength his tiny arms could muster.
Finally, with one last desperate roll, he managed to slip free. The female goblin flopped onto the ground beside him with a soft thud, her tiny hands grabbing at the air as if looking for her missing pillow. The male goblin rolled off his legs, landing face-first on the floor with a muffled grunt, his drool splattering onto the dirt.
Satou sat up, panting heavily, his tiny body trembling from exhaustion. "Finally! I'm free!" he thought in triumph, brushing invisible sweat off his forehead.
But his victory lasted only a few seconds.
The two baby goblins began to stir. The female rubbed her eyes, letting out a cute little yawn, while the male blinked sleepily and turned toward Satou, clearly wondering where his sleeping cushion had gone.
"Don't even think about it," Satou said, pointing a tiny finger at them. His tone was firm and full of warning—but to their ears, it was just cheerful gibberish.
The two baby goblins tilted their heads in unison, staring at him with blank, innocent expressions. Then the female goblin suddenly giggled, her yellow eyes bright with mischief. She crawled toward Satou, arms wide open as if to hug him.
"Oh no, no, no! Stay back, you ugly creatures!" Satou squeaked, scrambling backward as fast as his short limbs would allow. His movements were clumsy, his tiny legs slipping against the dirt floor. But the female goblin was quick—she lunged forward and latched onto his arm again with a delighted squeal.
The male goblin, not wanting to be left out, joined the chaos. He grabbed Satou's leg, drool still dripping from his mouth, and clung tightly like a baby octopus.
"Let go!" Satou squeaked again, shaking his arms wildly. His green hands flailed as he tried to peel them off, but the two baby goblins only giggled harder. The female gazed up at him with a weirdly adoring look, her grip strong for someone her size, while the male was content gnawing lightly on Satou's leg as if testing if it was edible.
"Why me?!" Satou cried out, his voice turning into a high-pitched gibberish wail that echoed through the cave.
He was about to give up and accept his fate as the goblin kingdom's new pillow when a calm, amused voice echoed in his mind.
[Maybe they feel a familiar big brother vibe from you. Why don't you just let them be?]
Satou froze, his entire body stiffening. His yellow eyes darted left and right. "Where are you? Who's talking?" he said aloud, though it came out as another stream of gibberish noises.
[I am your personal assistant—or, should I say, the system within you. You may call me Sys.]
Satou blinked. "Personal assistant? System? Does this mean I'm in one of those RPG games or isekai novels? I know I was isekai'd to another world, but… can I ask you something, Sys?" Satou thought quickly, his mind racing faster than his baby body could move.
The two goblin babies were still hugging him tightly, but Satou barely noticed now. For the first time since arriving in this strange new life, he wasn't completely alone.