【The Rise of the Ugly Monster】 The Fruit at the Bottom of the Forest

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"N'eeeee..."

He slightly opened his eyes.

Then, what was reflected in his vision was... the branches of a very, very tall tree.

Large leaves swaying in the wind.

And the sunlight filtering through the gaps between those leaves.

(Ah, I'm alive... I'm, alive...)

Moving his neck weakly and looking around with his eyes, it seemed he had fallen on his back on top of some thickly grown giant haircap moss.

He somehow tried to flap his wings.

There was no pain.

The clump of moss had acted as a cushion... and it seemed to have gently caught his light body.

(Haaaa...)

Having confirmed his own safety, the sigh he then let out in his heart... was not born from relief.

What it actually signified was the sense of helplessness overflowing from his heart.

Right now, what was repeating in his mind was the figure of his brothers and sisters, who, despite being caught in a sudden accident, had splendidly grasped the wind and left the nest.

No... perhaps that mysterious ability to breathe fire or create wind... the moment it manifests is the trigger for independence... perhaps his species has that imprinted in their instincts.

Anyway, his brothers and sisters had pulled it off brilliantly.

Unlike him.

("In the end", even after no longer being human, I'm a dropout, huh...)

"In the end", he had muttered.

In other words, even when he was a human named "Haruma Jou" living in a country called Japan... he had the self-awareness that "I am a dropout."

He was bad at both studying and sports.

He liked neither, and didn't feel like making an effort.

Having no spirit to dedicate effort to things he was bad at, before he knew it, he had come to hate them even more.

He had no hobbies either.

The thick wall created by the helpless feeling of "It's just me, anyway" made him refuse to "start something."

He had no friends, either.

Others are always looking down on me.

Such a persecution complex had always stuck in his head.

"N'eeeee..."

Even so, he thinks now that he was blessed in his previous life.

After all, he was human.

His family relations weren't the best... but he lived every day without worrying about having enough to eat.

Besides, if he went to school.

"There was a person whom even someone like me could make fun of and look down on, and I could vent my frustrations on her."

"...N'eh?"

Here.

He felt a sense of incongruity at the words that had slipped out of his heart so smoothly.

Make fun of?

Look down on?

...Why?

"N'eeeee..."

However, that sense of incongruity was an issue completely unrelated to breaking through his current predicament.

He was immediately struck by dizziness stemming from hunger, and interrupted his thoughts.

Still on his back, he weakly twisted his neck to the side.

"...N'eh!?"

Then, beyond his vision... at the bottom of the forest where everything was giant.

He found a fruit rolling there, shining like a ruby bathed in the sunlight filtering through the trees!

If one were to describe that fruit simply, it was an overgrown mock strawberry.

Red strawberries larger than his body were rolling around in large quantities on the ground!

"N'eh, n'eh, n'eh...!"

Unable to stand still, he whipped his strengthless body, flapping his wings and moving his legs, and desperately crawled towards the fruit that seemed to be a mock strawberry.

And pecked at it with his beak.

(Ah, a, ah... so sweeeeeet!!)

It was a fruit that he could judge as being supremely delicious, even including when he was human.

Moreover, in devouring it, his sensibilities as a human showed no rejection!

One, two, and then three.

He continued to eat that fruit in a trance!

However.

As a wild creature, he should have had a little more caution towards what he put in his mouth.

Why was such a delicious fruit left behind without being eaten by other creatures?

He should have thought about it.

(H...uh...?)

Before he knew it.

He lost strength in all the muscles of his body... and vaguely realized he was lying on the ground.

(Paralysis...? Poison...!?)

That's right.

He had guessed that the fruit was a mock strawberry from the memories of his past life.

In reality, it was a completely different species of plant.

Humans haven't "discovered" it yet, so it doesn't have a name yet, but...

Anyway, that fruit possessed a powerful poison.

It was a poisonous plant.

(Ah, ah...)

From there, it was quick until he lost consciousness.

The poison circulated through his small body in the blink of an eye.

He.

Instantly, died.

◇ ◇ ◇

<<<Subject's death confirmed>>>

<<<Injecting the client's divine energy and executing immediate revival process>>>

<<<Initiating mutation of the soul and body to withstand the divine energy>>>

<<<Determining the direction of the mutation based on the cause of death this time>>>

...Because he was "dead".

He didn't know that such mechanical whispers continued to flow into his soul.

He also didn't know that his body... continued to shine in a golden color the whole time.

That was the lines from a story that should be told as a "tale".

An event during the blackout.