Prologue 1

Although it was great that I was able to enter a company as a new graduate, it unfortunately happened to be one of those black companies. I was worked like a corporate slave for five years. That is until I died before reaching my 30th birthday.

I was in a hurry that day because my alarm clock had broken. I think that the clock broke because the floor was wet from the rain. This lead me to oversleep. If I was late, my boss would surely berate me even though I do all the work and he only takes the credit for it. I didn’t want this to happen so I had been running with all of my might.

It takes one minute to get to the train from the ticket counter. You have to walk for a while in order to reach the train from the counter. I might be able to make it in time, but I definitely can’t afford to be late.

An announcement came on telling the station that the train would be there soon.

“Damn!”

I ran down the steps while skipping a few of them. Why is it so inconvenient to get to the train platform? There was no time to complain about it but it would have been much faster if these stairs had not been here.

It was then that the announcement that the train was departing soon came on. It was at this point that I just wanted to stop running but I just couldn’t.

There was a crowd of people starting to head towards the stairs but I somehow avoided them and finally saw the train in my sight.

(I’m on time)

I thought this while I was running. Something caught my attention and I would only realize fully later on what I saw. (Read on Steadier Translations)

It was a black-haired schoolgirl that you could find anywhere in this country. She had slipped on the wet floor and started to tumble-down the stairs. It was like something you would find in a cartoon. If this scene was in a manga, then the sound effects would appeared from the floor.

From where I was watching, you could glimpse a pair of polka-dotted panties.

The girl didn’t seem to realize what was happening at that moment. For some reason I could see every detail that was happening there. It was as if time had slowed down.

I knew instinctively that if she fell, she would likely die from the long fall. I’ve never had that great of a foresight. If I had, I would not have taken so many red marks in my English class.

Why I could see it this time was unknown but the scene of her dying was clear in my mind.

I wasn’t sure what I could do about it though.

Before I could think of what I could do, my body had already been moving. If I had done nothing, then I probably would have been on time for work. They might have even delayed the train due to the accident. I didn’t have time to think about these things.

I moved the foot that was going down the stairs to the left side of my body. The girl who was falling crashed into my body.

The result was obvious. I could not stay planted on that step and went down the stairs with that girl.

Even while falling, I somehow managed to embrace the girl’s head and body to try to protect her.

Gong

There was a dull sound and I could see anything. We had apparently reached the bottom of the stairs.

I opened my eyes to see that there were no injuries on the girl. She looks around stunned. It appears she finally realized what had just happened.

I wish that I could have been safe too. It was worth the effort though.

Unfortunately I took most of the fall and could not move my body at all. No. It was natural that I couldn’t move with the girl still on top of me.

For the moment I tried to speak but my words just weren’t coming out. The voice that did come out was some kind of groaning noise which didn’t make any sense.

(My vision is darkening?)

It is becoming increasingly blurred. Something is wrong.

My eyes met with the girl and she let out a scream. It seems that she reacted the same way you would when encountering a pervert. Even though I saved you…

There was a sound coming from the back of my head.

Because my body wasn’t moving, I moved my eyes to the side to see what was wrong. There was a muddy red puddle. That’s strange, I did not see that there a while ago.

People started to gather around us. I wanted to get up and leave as to not create a big scene but my body was simply not moving yet. It was completely out of my control.

The station attendant comes to ask me if im ok. I’m fine. I may have hit my head but I’m fully conscious.

Wait… Hit my head? From that height?

I remember that the strongest impact hit my head. It is easy to predict what happened after that. With both the weight of the girl and myself.

(Oh, this is my blood isn’t it?)

The red puddle. This came out of me. It seems that I had been bleeding from my head.

(Is this, death?)

The consciousness that had been clear before was gradually fading. Who would have thought that I would die helping others. This was just a thought that I had about myself.

It is quite something to die this way. That apparently was the price I paid to save this girl’s life. I don’t really regret my decision.

It may be that I don’t want to die but at least I died without regretting this. I’m happy dying with some kind of self satisfaction.

I just want to sleep now but changed my mind when I saw the girl on my chest looking stunned. When I die, the child may believe that she caused this person to die.

Dying had been my choice and she didn’t need to bear this burden. I could have chosen to just go to work at the company instead of saving her.

Even while I was dying, I thought about going to work. I’m such a corporate slave. It is totally bad. (Steadier Translations)

That is why I decided to use the last of my strength.

“”Ah…..”

I desperately try to let out my voice. It seems that I can barely speak even with all of this effort. I use the last of my strength to move my mouth.

“Y, you, are you hurt?”

It sounds like a foreigner speaking in a broken language. She seemed to be whispering in a loud voice and I was afraid that I could not hear it. But the girl noticed that I was talking and brought her ear close to my mouth. This seems to be ok.

The people around us quieted down so that we could speak. I was at the point where I wanted to talk and see the girls reaction but my consciousness was fading.

But what to say? It’s hard to find a word that will take away the guilt from this girl.

As I got lost in thought, I decided what I wanted to say.

“Pol, ka, dots”

They weren’t suitable last words but that didn’t really matter.

“So… round.”

The girl didn’t know what I was talking about and suddenly had a stunned expression on her face.

This will turn me from a hero into some kind of pervert, but I don’t really care about that. It’s the price that I will pay to not hurt this girl.

Well, I can’t take the words back anyways.

I could not remain conscious anymore. My consciousness was swallowed by the darkness and disappeared in an instant.

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