Bug reports kept piling up without end. Error alerts rang out one after another, overlapping until I could no longer tell where one stopped and the next began. On top of that, my boss casually dropped new demands as if they were minor afterthoughts, even though they overturned everything we had agreed on just days ago.
That was my everyday life.
My name is Hajime Saito. I was thirty-eight years old, unmarried, and worked as a system engineer. At least, that was who I was until today.
Every morning started with a drained body and ended with an even more exhausted mind. No matter how many problems I solved, new ones appeared right away, like bugs spawning endlessly in a broken game build. There was no sense of achievement, no clear goal. Just work, sleep, and repeat.
Today followed the same pattern.
After being beaten down by nonstop system trouble tickets and specifications that kept changing without warning, I dragged myself toward the station, barely making it in time for the last train. My shoulders were heavy, my head throbbed, and even walking felt like a chore I no longer had the energy to question.
Cold rain poured down relentlessly, soaking through my clothes and clinging to my skin. It felt as though the weather itself was mocking me.
'Ah, damn it… this late again…'
My vision was hazy from fatigue when a sudden splash of vivid color slipped into the corner of my eye.
Through the rain-soaked crowd, a group of gyaru girls passed by, laughing loudly as if the weather meant nothing to them. Their makeup was bold, their clothes flashy, and their voices rang out with an energy I hadn't felt in years.
They didn't care who was watching. They didn't care how late it was or how hard the day had been. They were just… living.
To someone like me, whose life revolved around deadlines and bug fixes, that carefree confidence looked almost unreal.
'Just once… I wish I could forget everything and live like that…'
It was nothing more than a passing thought, a moment of pointless daydreaming brought on by exhaustion.
Reality didn't allow those kinds of luxuries.
The moment I stepped onto the crosswalk, a sharp horn tore through the air. Blinding headlights filled my vision.
Then came the impact.
Pain exploded through my body, overwhelming every sense at once.
After that, there was nothing.
"…Huh? Hey, you've gotta be kidding me…"
My awareness slowly floated back.
It felt like waking from a deep sleep, yet at the same time like being dragged out of thick mud. My head felt heavy, and an unpleasant sensation clung to my entire body. My eyelids refused to cooperate, as if they weighed far more than they should have.
When I finally managed to open them, the sight before me made no sense.
Green leaves stretched overhead, dense and unfamiliar. Sunlight filtered gently through the branches, scattering across the ground in soft patterns.
'Where… am I? This isn't any ceiling I recognize… wait, am I outside?'
A sharp pain pulsed through my head, but it wasn't just a headache.
Something felt off.
My body felt light.
Not weightless, exactly, but as if the burden that had pressed down on me for years had vanished without a trace. There was a strange sense of freedom, accompanied by faint unease.
'Don't tell me… this is one of those life-forcibly-reset endings? And there's no way the afterlife would look like some peaceful forest…'
The thought was half sarcastic, half uneasy.
Trying to make sense of things, I attempted to sit up. I expected resistance, the familiar heaviness of my tired body.
Instead—
"…Huh?"
I sat up with ease.
Too easily.
The motion was so smooth it felt disconnected, as if the body responding to my thoughts wasn't truly mine.
At the edge of my vision, something caught my attention.
A hand.
Slim fingers. Smooth skin. Clearly feminine.
What the hell is this?
The nails were neatly shaped, faintly glossy, like they'd been carefully maintained. They were nothing like the rough, dry hands I'd had for decades.
My heartbeat sped up as I slowly lowered my gaze.
What I saw made my thoughts grind to a halt.
The first thing that stood out was my chest.
It felt higher in my field of view than it should have been, tight in a way I had never experienced before.
'…What?'
There were two very obvious, very real curves where there absolutely should not have been any. They were wrapped in thin, revealing fabric that offered little room for denial.
"N—"
I tried to speak, but the voice that came out wasn't mine.
Instead of the deep, tired voice I knew, a clear, feminine tone escaped my lips.
Panic surged through me.
I hurriedly stood up and staggered toward a nearby pool of water, my movements awkward and unfamiliar. Kneeling down, I stared into the surface.
The reflection staring back at me stole my breath.
Long silver hair spilled down like liquid moonlight. Bronze skin glowed warmly under the sunlight. Sharp, ruby-red eyes stared back at me in disbelief.
And then there were the ears.
Long. Pointed.
Exactly like the ones I'd seen countless times in fantasy games.
Dark skin and silver hair… wasn't this what people called a dark elf?
My body was slim where it should have been, full where it shouldn't. A narrow waist, long legs, and a chest that was impossible to ignore.
The outfit only made things worse.
A revealing top, a short skirt, and tight black thigh-high boots. By any standard back in my old world, this was unmistakably gyaru fashion.
'What is this party-ready body and ridiculously revealing gyaru outfit!? It's me! Hajime Saito! Isn't this the biggest bug of my entire life? What kind of settings turn someone into this!?'
My mind screamed warnings like a system error that refused to be silenced.
Thirty-eight years of living as a man crumbled all at once, my sense of identity cracking apart under the weight of reality.
'So this is what I get after reincarnating…? If there's a god, I want an hour to interrogate them. What kind of punishment game is this? Just because I admired a gyaru for one second, does that justify something this specific?'
With shaking hands, I reached out and touched my chest, half-expecting it to disappear.
It didn't.
Soft. Warm. Real.
There was no denying it.
'…Damn it. This is worse than my boss's unreasonable spec changes…'
My legs gave out, and I sank down onto the forest floor. The trees around me felt strangely calm, as if they were silently watching over the situation, though that was probably just my imagination.
'First things first, assess the situation. Where is this place? It's definitely not Japan…'
At last, the habits drilled into me over years as a system engineer kicked in.
Gather information. Confirm the environment. Identify the problem.
That was always step one.
But even as I tried to focus, another issue surfaced.
What was I supposed to do in this body?
And dressed like this, no less.
'No, wait… I'm a woman now. In that case, wouldn't it be the men who get labeled as creeps? …No, that's not the point.'
My thoughts spiraled, refusing to settle.
Still, one thing was clear.
I was hungry.
I was thirsty.
And as long as I was alive, I had to move forward.
'…Guess I have no choice. Even with this ridiculously inconvenient body.'
Letting out a long sigh, I slowly forced myself to stand, my unfamiliar hips shifting with every movement as I prepared to take my first step into this unknown world.