I died.
I vaguely remember how I died, but it's not a memory I particularly want to recall.
Even so, if I try to remember... my profession was that of a bodyguard. I remember throwing myself to protect the person I was escorting just before I died, but there is no memory after that.
So, the only conclusion I can reach is that I am now dead.
But is it possible to think that you are dead?
Is it possible to think in a place like this, with absolutely nothing, right now?
Or perhaps, I am not alive, but have become a ghost after dying?
As these thoughts filled my mind, slowly, from the dark void, a bright light began to flow...
"Waaah~!!!!! Waaah~!!!!!!!"
I began to live a new life.
Moreover, I was reborn as a baby with the mind of a 27-year-old from my previous life.
Regardless of my will, I was just crying, and that became the trigger for my second life, which was like a fantasy.
Before I knew it, ten years had passed since I started living this new life.
If there is a difference from my previous life, it's that in this life, I have no parents.
My parents died in a traffic accident when I was eight years old. The inheritance came to me, but since there were no relatives to take care of me, I was placed in a facility. Fortunately, my life wasn't so severe that I had to touch the inheritance, so there wasn't much difficulty in living.
With the support of the orphanage, I entered elementary school. The one thing I felt was that my body was different from ordinary people; it possessed overwhelmingly different physical abilities.
Honestly, think about it: can a child who is only ten years old bend steel bars?
Do you think there is an elementary school student who can lightly swing a fist at a wall to crack it and, with a bit more effort, collapse the wall entirely?
The answer is no. Thanks to that, I have been living while hiding this power to some extent.
"...So, is there a reason you called me, Director?"
I had been continuing my ordinary life when the orphanage director called me. Upon entering the director's room, the person I saw there was...
"...Is she a new arrival?"
A girl with purple hair and purple eyes was standing quietly.
It was peculiar. The star-shaped pupils engraved in her eyes felt very unusual, but what puzzled me most while looking at this child was that her eyes looked dead.
Including my previous life, my mental age is in my mid-30s. From my perspective, the emotion in this child's eyes was, without exaggeration, the worst.
No, perhaps since I lack much in the way of expressing emotions myself, I might be projecting, but at least I trusted my instincts.
This child is broken in many ways.
As if noticing my gaze, the girl stared back at me. Looking at her, I suddenly remembered a friend from my previous life who was also a bodyguard—and a self-proclaimed otaku who claimed not to be an otaku.
"Hey, lately I've been watching a manga that's getting an anime adaptation soon."
"So?"
"Hmm... the manga... I mean, from the perspective of having read the original, this anime adaptation is really well done, you know?"
"So, you're telling me to watch it? Why beat around the bush like that?"
"Sigh... you're too blunt, aren't you? Are you a machine?!"
"You expect too much from someone who has always been low on emotional expression."
"Tsk tsk~ Well, what can I expect from you?! Anyway, so the title of this anime is..."
Oshi no Ko.
That's right. Looking at this girl in front of me now, I remembered.
The child in front of me is Ai Hoshino, the future mother of Aquamarine and Ruby Hoshino—the protagonists of Oshi no Ko—and a future idol belonging to B-Komachi.
In my previous life, at my friend's request, I watched the original work. In the original, Ai Hoshino dies.
The emotion I felt at that time was only one thing.
It was merely pity.
I pitied Ai Hoshino, who was abandoned as a child, lived in a facility, didn't know true love, and tried to fill that void with lies.
Before she was killed at the end... before her life was cut short, I pitied the Ai Hoshino who finally realized what love was.
And I pitied the children who were broken by Ai Hoshino's death.
That's right... the emotion I felt watching Oshi no Ko was nothing more than pity.
Before I knew it, looking at the real Ai Hoshino, my emotion was pity once again. Seeing her just standing there, even under my gaze, I felt sorry for her.
"Yes, this is Ai Hoshino, who just arrived. Since you are the most mature, I entrust this child to you from now on."
The director spoke, watching us gaze at each other.
To put it bluntly, he wasn't exactly a 'good' person. But that doesn't mean he was a bad person either. The director was simply someone doing his job, and it should be seen that he had no emotional attachment to the children.
For me, that was more comfortable, so I didn't pay much attention. In reality, when the director was absent, I was the one who filled that position. So, it seemed that I, who had the director's trust, was to take care of this child.
"...I understand."
"Good, go ahead. Take good care of her from now on."
With those words, the director left the room, saying he was going out. After the director left, Ai and I just looked at each other.
"First, sit over there."
"..." (She nods).
Seeing Ai sit on the sofa at my words, I spoke.
"...I'll introduce myself first. I am Yume Hoshino. I'll be the one taking care of you from now on. I'm ten years old. And you?"
"...Ai Hoshino, seven years old..."
"Okay."
With that, the child fell silent. I decided to guide her to the room where we would live together.
Really... it would have been better not to remember memories like those from my previous life...
To feel pity for a child I'm meeting for the first time...
There was no greater absurdity than this.