"What a genuine shame..."
Hayashi Aoyama loudly smacked his dry lips in disappointment. He genuinely wasn't going to receive his first manuscript payment until sometime next month, which bluntly meant he would still be entirely broke and starving for the rest of this current month.
After all, the microscopic amount of physical cash the original owner of this body had possessed was completely drained the moment Hayashi casually spent it all on paying the rental deposit and purchasing basic drawing materials.
Before officially signing the contract today, he had essentially been violently starving for over ten solid days. If the landlord's kind-hearted daughter hadn't miraculously taken pity on him and graciously handed over five cheap convenience store bread rolls nearly ten days ago, he likely would have starved to death well over a month ago. Truthfully, if it weren't for those five rolls, he probably would have already kicked the bucket by now.
Wait... no...
Actually... wouldn't starving to death be infinitely better?
If he successfully managed to starve to death, wouldn't that instantly trigger his transmigration right back to his original world?
A crushing wave of deep regret suddenly washed over Hayashi. If he had known properly, he absolutely wouldn't have eagerly accepted those five bread rolls back then.
He had energetically jogged all the way here earlier today, but now, he fully intended to slowly trudge his way back to his crappy apartment on foot.
But right at that precise moment, a sharp, piercing shriek of sheer panic aggressively shattered the calm air not too far away in the distance.
"A little puppy fell into the river!"
"Oh my god, that poor little thing."
"Does anyone here know how to swim?! Hurry up and jump in to save it!"
"Don't be a total idiot. You want someone to dive into a rushing river just to save a random dog? What happens if they get caught in the current and drown?!"
...
A sizable, chaotic crowd of curious onlookers had rapidly hastily gathered along the riverbank, actively watching the unfolding disaster.
Hayashi froze for a split second, and then his eyes practically ignited with blinding brilliance. He threw his hands up and boldly screamed at the top of his lungs, "I'll do it! Leave it to me!"
He immediately forcefully shoved his way straight through the dense crowd. Startled by his sudden, explosive outburst, the onlookers hastily scrambled out of his path.
In the very next heartbeat, Hayashi aggressively vaulted himself over the railing, launching his entire body headfirst directly into the turbulent, freezing-cold river below.
The entire crowd completely froze in absolute, stunned disbelief. No one had genuinely expected some random guy to actually be insane enough to impulsively dive into an extremely dangerous, flowing river just to fish out a stray puppy!
And adding onto the absolute shock factor, he hadn't even bothered taking off a single piece of clothing or his brand-new canvas shoes before throwing himself aggressively into the raging water.
A few girls standing nearby practically lost their minds with intense excitement. Finally, an incredibly brave hero had completely selflessly stepped up to the plate.
But...
"He didn't even locate the exact spot the puppy was drowning at before he blatantly jumped in. Is he actually going to be perfectly okay?"
"Ah... he should probably be fine, right?"
"No!" A remarkably calm and composed girl standing entirely at the very front of the panicking group suddenly spoke up with piercing clarity. "He is currently in extreme, mortal danger. The river's undercurrent is way too violent down there. We absolutely have to rapidly find a way to actively assist him right now."
"But... Akane, how the heck are we supposed to help?" The other girls hesitated nervously, loudly voicing their genuine concerns.
"Hurry up and aggressively dig around for a long branch or a sturdy pole! Run down closer to the water's exact edge and prepare to forcefully pull him out!" The composed girl decisively ordered. Her name was Akane.
Meanwhile, violently submerged entirely beneath the surface of the rapid river, Hayashi forcefully forced his eyes open against the biting chill of the aggressively churning, incredibly murky water. He desperately scoured the immediate area and finally fiercely spotted the tiny puppy violently thrashing about in complete panic a short distance away.
He honestly couldn't see anything with perfect, crystal clarity. The intensely muddy, wildly turbulent water ruthlessly stung his open eyes, making the simple act of looking around an extremely agonizing ordeal.
Through the murky haze, he could essentially only vaguely make out a furiously thrashing blob of bright yellow roughly twenty to thirty meters ahead of him, aggressively fighting for its life against the harsh current on his immediate right side.
Hayashi sucked in a massive, ragged breath before violently thrusting his head aggressively above the water's surface completely. Only then did the blurry yellow blob finally vividly resolve itself fully into the actual shape of a drowning puppy.
It was indeed an incredibly tiny dog, entirely coated in vibrant, saturated orange-yellow fur. Visually speaking, it looked barely three or four months old at maximum. No wonder the poor thing had absolutely zero concept of how to actually aggressively swim and was purely helplessly flailing around in a state of unadulterated terror.
His eyes instantly positively lit up with overwhelming excitement, and he aggressively began aggressively swimming forward at maximum speed.
Arriving directly in front of the drowning, yellow puppy, Hayashi decisively reached out and firmly snatched it right out of the freezing water. However, the sudden, aggressive movement severely startled the terrified, half-drowned animal.
The puppy aggressively snapped its jaws wide open, looking as though it were preparing to savagely bite Hayashi's extended hand directly out of pure, unadulterated self-defense.
To anyone else's absolute shock, a wave of profound joy instantly aggressively surged through Hayashi's entire being. Wait a minute... the fatality rate for untreated rabies was effectively almost one hundred percent, wasn't it?! If this wild, drowning dog brutally bit him right now, wouldn't his bizarre, underlying death wish be absolutely perfectly fulfilled?!
However, entirely contrary to his bizarrely excited expectations, the tiny dog seemingly instinctively recognized completely that Hayashi harbored absolutely zero malicious intent whatsoever. Instead of savagely sinking its sharp teeth deeply into his flesh, it merely softly clamped its jaw delicately over his exposed forearm.
Feeling the surprisingly warm, entirely painless sensation softly pressing strictly against his skin, Hayashi couldn't help but feel a massive, undeniable wave of profound disappointment.
But whatever, saving this struggling little puppy completely out of this freezing water was clearly the absolute first, undeniable priority. At the very least, it definitely represented a genuine, living life warmly breathing right in front of him.
After thoroughly rescuing it, he could simply comfortably proceed to actively purposefully drown himself exactly right here in this very spot. Then, not only would he have proudly, single-handedly saved an innocent life, but he would concurrently effortlessly achieve his ultimate, long-standing goal of officially forcefully returning to his original world.
Hell yeah!
Today was truly, undeniably proving to be a genuinely fantastic day!
Hayashi aggressively firmly cradled the shivering puppy entirely against his chest and furiously kicked precisely towards the concrete riverbank. His master plan essentially purely devolved into aggressively hurling the tiny dog completely up onto the safe shore, and then casually allowing himself to simply effortlessly, cleanly sink to the bottom of the murky, freezing river to cleanly drown entirely.
However, entirely unbeknownst to him, a sizable crowd had rapidly hastily assembled firmly right near the water's edge.
A group... consisting completely of several incredibly beautiful girls.
Judging carefully from their youthful, vibrant appearances, they couldn't securely be any older than their incredibly early twenties at absolutely maximum.
Ah, what a wonderfully vibrant, exceedingly beautiful display of youthful energy.
Hayashi couldn't possibly help but mentally sigh in quiet, undeniable appreciation.
But this sudden development was actually absolutely perfect. All he strictly needed to do was quickly physically hand the dog firmly over to them, and his entire heroic rescue operation would be securely successfully completed.
"Hurry! Hurry up and firmly grab onto this branch and pull yourself effectively up!" The strikingly beautiful girl entirely leading the anxious group suddenly, aggressively aggressively thrust a long, relatively sturdy tree branch aggressively straight out toward him strictly from her heavily precarious position entirely right at the river's immediate edge.
Hayashi completely froze entirely in his tracks entirely for a solid second.
"It's completely fine, there's absolutely no need. Just firmly take the puppy safely first." He blatantly entirely ignored her frantically extended branch, aggressively opting to simply use one hand to directly firmly hoist the shivering puppy completely out of the icy water and directly aggressively present it safely strictly straight toward the desperately waiting girl.
The girl hesitated briefly for barely a mere fraction of a single heartbeat, clearly surprised, before ultimately firmly decisively firmly aggressively accepting the wet, shivering puppy completely directly securely from Hayashi's deeply outstretched hand.
The girl hesitated briefly for barely a mere fraction of a single heartbeat, clearly surprised, before ultimately accepting the wet, shivering puppy directly from Hayashi's outstretched hand.
Seeing that the small dog was now entirely securely out of danger, a thoroughly satisfied smile spread across Hayashi's face. Without wasting a single remaining second, he instantaneously abandoned all physical attempts to actively stay afloat, purposefully permitting himself to gracefully, smoothly sink toward the freezing, murky bottom of the river.
"Oh no!" The other girls instantaneously erupted into sheer panic. "He's completely out of energy! Hurry up and save him!"
The lead girl panicked as well, frantically extending the tree branch out over the water. "Hurry! Grab the branch, we'll pull you up!"
However, Hayashi completely ignored her, sinking directly down to the bottom of the river.
Instantly, everyone was thrown into a complete state of terror.
Even the rescued puppy seemingly understood that Hayashi was the one who had saved it, and seeing him in danger, it began barking frantically in anxiety.
"Hurry! Please grab the branch!"
Still desperately hoping to save Hayashi, the lead girl watched him drifting further and further away with the current. She quickly shoved the puppy into the arms of the girl behind her and stretched the branch as far as she could, attempting to physically hook Hayashi and drag him up.
But at that exact moment, her foot slipped.
"Ah!" A sharp scream was immediately followed by the loud splash of her falling into the water.
"Ah! Akane fell in too!" The other girls shrieked in horror.
"Is anyone there?! Someone fell into the river! Please help us!" The remaining girls were on the verge of tears, screaming desperately for any assistance.
But there wasn't a single person nearby with strong enough swimming skills, and the onlookers fearfully backed away from the banks. After all, recklessly jumping in to save someone, especially in a rushing river, could easily result in even a strong swimmer losing their own life.
Time ticked by, and the situation grew increasingly critical.
However, right at that moment...
"Huff!"
"Thump!"
The heavy, ragged panting of a man, followed by the distinct sound of someone landing heavily on the shore.
The girls spun around, only to discover that the "drowning" Hayashi had already successfully dragged the girl safely back onto the bank.
Tachibana Akane coughed up the murky water from her lungs. Staring up at the young man who was now grimacing in exhaustion right in front of her, a look of profound confusion crossed her face.
This person... wasn't he just drowning a moment ago?
Hayashi unceremoniously set her down. "That was close, way too close. Are you okay? Alright, seems like you're fine. Thank goodness."
He had seen that this girl had fallen into the freezing river while trying to rescue him. If she had tragically drowned because of his actions, it would have been incredibly bad luck. While he genuinely wanted to die, he didn't want to cause an innocent girl's death.
Crucially, this girl was remarkably beautiful. Just like the editor lady, she was another stunning young woman with an amazing figure to match. It would have been a massive shame for her to die like that.
So he had simply abandoned his plan to drown and swam over to save her.
"I'm fine... thank you so much..."
Even though she found the whole situation extremely strange, Akane still offered her sincere thanks to Hayashi Aoyama.
"Akane!"
At that moment, her friends rushed over, crying out in relief. One of the girls was still cradling the tiny yellow puppy.
"I'm fine... don't worry, everyone," Akane said, trying to calm her panicking companions.
(End of Chapter)
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]