A young man with slicked back hair and a dead stare was sitting on a frail office chair, the slightest rotation produced a squeak from the chair's worn out swivel base. His bloodshot eyes engrossed on his computer screen as he worked overtime. The screen was just symbols, exchange rates, portfolios, and resumes.
His office was situated somewhere along the dozens of floors of the Yamada Bank building. Working as a financier allowed him to live a comfortable life, at the exchange of his mental sanity. Every day seemed to blend into each other, with a monotonous routine. Wake up, work, sleep, repeat. Fortunately, holidays were just around the corner, he'd go on a trip to Hawaii with his family, a chance to take his mind off work just mere weeks ahead. Unfortunately, to make up for his vacations he needed to work overtime through the span of this month.
"If these are the company's stocks... We should stop lending them capital..."
He rubbed his temple. Even if he had spent years in his position, he hadn't gotten used to taking down entire businesses with the press of a button, with a single action, hundreds of people were laid off from their jobs.
Glancing through his office's window, the Tokyo city lights were like colors splattered across a black canvas. Every single corner was so lit-up and full of life, not a star in the sky could be seen.
He imagined himself, walking along those streets back when he was nothing but a carefree teenager. Often hanging out with his other three university friends, they'd use fake IDs to sneak into bars, or assist maid cafes and laugh throughout all afternoon.
But those days were long gone, they split ways after graduation. Two of them moved out of Japan to America, living stable lives with their families, the other stayed in Japan but became a model for a fashion brand.
He wished he could have such a relaxed life as them, but due to his decisions as a young adult, he was now forced to slave away at his office. Surviving off coffee, where a single paycheck is the line between having a roof over his head and living in the streets.
"I just need to send this email and I should be g-"
His self-talk was cut-off by a grueling headache. The throbbing pain made him fall off his chair, laying down on the floor, waiting for the pain to go away. Headaques were not an uncommon event during his shifts, it was only natural his body would fight back, but this one was unlike any other headaque. His vision started blurring as he stared at his bright ceiling lamp, his body contorted itself into a fetal position, struggling to fight back he allowed himself to close his eyes, hoping to pass out to not have to endure such pain.
* * *
He propped himself up with his hands, the coarse cold concrete under them. Standing up again, he turned around in a panic, quickly examining his surroundings.
It was a long street, people walked along the sidewalks robotically, he was in the middle of the street, but no cars seemed to drive through. It was a standard street. Single family homes could be seen in the distance, along with apartment complexes.
In front of him was a rustic-style restaurant, a neon sign lit-up that said "Detonator Sushi". Windows covered each wall, he took a glance inside and noticed a long conveyor belt that circle around the restaurant.
In his panic, he hadn't noticed his reflection on the window, he was no longer the plain-looking man he used to be.
His eyes glowed with a bright yellow color, his short black hair was now long, messy white hair. Noticing his bright pink hoodie, he looked down and saw, he had breasts now.
"WHA-!!" he jumped back, as he began checking himself out.
He had transmigrated, even worse, transmigrated as a woman.
Back in his world he was still a virgin, the first time he'd ever touched a woman was now. It felt weirdly perverted to check himself out.
Suddenly, someone had bumped into him, it was one of the strangers that were walking along the sidewalk.
"I'm sorry!" he muttered, his voice shaky with remaining panic.
The stranger simply dismissed him as it assimilated back into the crowd of people.
He looked back, noticing a convenience store right across the sushi restaurant, it was exactly like the ones back in his world. Meaning this place was most likely a copy of urban Japan. But most importantly, what the hell was he supposed to do here.
Deciding to investigate he walked along the empty street, black was all he could see in the far distance, he thought it was the lingering effects from his previous migraine, but as he got closer, he reached the void. There was absolutely nothing at the end of the street, just black, infinite void, he tried to reach out into it, but an invisible wall stopped him from doing so.
Walking back to the sushi restaurant he saw another person, he was laying down on the street, just like him when he was just transmigrated, he swiftly ran to check them out.
"Hey, are you okay?" He said, gently shaking the unconscious man.
"Five more minutes..." the sleeping man said as he rolled over.
"Wake up, please."
"Fine..." the man rubbed his eyes as he took in his surroundings, standing up in a swift movement. In his panic he looked around trying to make senser of his setting. "Where the hell are we!?"
"I'm trying to figure that out too."
"I-I was sleeping in my apartment like a couple minutes ago, then I got this really bad headache, and now I'm here!? Is this hell?" The man, stepped back. "And who the hell are you!?"
"First off, take a deep breath..." He waited for the man to take a breath so he could begin to explain his situation. "Second, I'm..." He paused for a moment, if he said his real name it'd be weird since he isn't a man anymore. "Meshi..?"
The man tilted his head in confusion. "Meshi?" the man let out a sigh of relief. "Well, I'm Kaizo, nice to meet you, Meshi."
"Nice to meet you too." They shook hands. "Well, back to what we were talking about, I also suffered a headache before transmigrating here."
"Transmigrating..?"
"It's when your soul moves from your original body into a new one, it seems we've transmigrated into a self-contained world, since beyond the street lies nothing but void."
Kaizo laid back down on the rough concrete, trying to wrap his head around the whole 'transmigration' thing. He was wearing an outfit you'd only see in an office. A black tie, white button-up shirt and black pants with a belt around them. Kaizo's hair was short and curly, it appeared magical as it seemed gravity didn't affect it.
"So what do we do now?"
"I'm unsure. I already walked along the entire street and the only remarkable places are the Detonator Sushi place and the convenience store right there."
"I could go for some convenience store egg sandwiches right now."
"The store's doors won't budge, I already tried."
Crack. Meshi and Kaizo heard glass break in the distance, they both stood up to check where the sound came from. It lead them to a dark alleyway right behind the sushi restaurant.
"Who's there?" Kaizo spoke up.
"Uhm- No one..." A woman said.
"Oh, ok." Kaizo turned back, acting like the case was closed. Meshi held him back as she spoke up.
"Who are you? We mean no harm."
A young woman emerged from the shadows, her hair was a bright red with white locks.
Above her beige crop top with long sleeves, she was wearing a brown unbuttoned best.
Her blue jeans were torn at the knees and they were oversized, resembling church bells.
"My name's Sake, uhm... Hisho should be somewhere along this alley."
A man popped out from the shadows without notice. "What's up, I heard my name."
The three jumped back from Hisho's sudden appearance, he was wearing a plain white shirt and loose joggers.
"Hisho! Do you need to scare people every time you appear!?" Sake shouted.
"I'm sorry, its my tradition..."
"Wait, wait, wait." Meshi interrupted. "You two already know eachother?"
"Know? We're siblings!" Sake replied. "We appeared at the same time a couple minutes ago, it took us a bit to figure it out since these are not out bodies." Sake crossed her arms as she examined Meshi and Kaizo. "And, who are you two?"
"Right, my bad. I'm Meshi and he's Kaizo, we also transmigrated here a couple minutes ago."
There was a short silence. "What the hell do we do now?" Hisho broke the silence.
A jingle could be heard across the entire world, the origin point seemed to be the entrance of the Detonator Sushi restaurant.
[ System notice: Welcome to Detonator Sushi. Please approach the entrance to start. ]