The sound of waves calms the heart.
There was once this time when I was so busy with work that I missed the last train, and I sat holding my knees while looking at the ocean, feeling like I was about to cry.
I felt like I was alive, but thinking back, I was in a pretty bad place mentally.
As I think about the past while looking around, I see an ocean, a forest, a mountain, and a beautiful girl collapsed on the shore, who seems to be struggling.
“…Hum, who?”
Her hair is deep red like a fire and stretches down to her back, and she has a slender figure like a model. The water is making her clothes cling to her body, revealing the shape of her chest, and her charming slender legs stretch out from her short skirt.
She has a white cloak, that is just what I’d expect from an inhabitant of another world, but it looks like the water it absorbed is making it really heavy.
She’s probably around the same age as a high schooler, or a university student. I’ve never seen someone so beautiful.
“Hum… Is she a castaway?”
I look around, but don’t see anyone else, or a boat on the horizon.
I was the one who said to that god that I wanted to live in a place with no one else around, so I already knew that. But then why is someone on the ground here?
That god did seem pretty careless, killing me by accident and all. There was a lot that felt shady to me too.
It reminded me of a new employee taking notes while listening with a serious face, but not really understanding any of it. Not very reliable.
“But this is no time to be thinking about that!”
I rush to kneel next to the girl.
I was thinking about going camping someday, so I watched a lot of videos, and among them there was one that showed how to do artificial respiration.
I rely on these memories as I check her status. Unconscious, no pulse, and she’s not breathing. This is bad.
It looks like she swallowed a lot of water. I see there’s still water dripping from her mouth too. At this rate, she’s going to drown.
I don’t know how long she’s been like this, but I feel like I don’t have a second to waste.
Obviously I don’t have anything to teach me the right procedure. All I have is the knowledge I’ve picked up, so I’m scared.
“But that’s no reason to stop.”
I lift her chin a bit, and I’m about to turn her head back, but then I remember something.
“If she was swallowed by a wave, her neck might be hurt…”
I feel like I’ve heard that in this case, I should put her down as she was without turning her head, and perform artificial respiration.
I hesitate for a moment, but then I come to the conclusion that an amateur like me shouldn’t rely on vague notions and end up doing something wrong, so I lift her chin again.
I’m going to have to touch an unconscious girl’s lips with mine, but that’s a small price to pay to save a life.
“Sorry! Complain about it later!”
I close her nose, slowly send air inside her through her mouth for one second, and her chest becomes visibly bigger. I see that, and put my hand on her chest to do a heart massage.
Secure the respiratory tract, send air, massage the heart. I tell myself that procedure like I’m checking what I’m doing.
It’s my first time doing this, so is it really working? I have this uncertainty in my heart as I desperately move around to try to save his girl.
And then, all of a sudden, she spits water out.
“Uwah.”
That surprises me, but I don’t want the water to clog her throat. I turn her head to the side a little, let the water flow out, and repeat the artificial respiration and heart massage procedure.
“Ah…”
I hear her breathing, so I put my hand on her lips, and I feel her weak breath.
After waiting a bit, her face doesn’t look like she’s struggling anymore, and she starts to calm down.
“Ahh… Thank goodness.”
I watch her for a few seconds, and feel the strength leave my body, as I see her condition is stable. But then I remember that her clothes are soaking wet.
“I can’t leave her like this.”
The sun is shining warmly, but it’s a bit chilly here on the beach, thanks to the wind. Her weakened body is going to get cold here if I leave her wearing that.
“It’s to save a life…”
I hold back the impure thoughts sprouting inside my mind, as I take off her clothes while doing my best not to look at her.
You need to use some strength to undress someone who’s out cold, but thankfully, she’s pretty light, so I don’t have a lot of trouble. Or maybe this body is just strong.
She’s down to her underwear, which is red like her hair. It’s impossible not to get worked up by someone this beautiful, but I do my best not to look.
I really should take her wet underwear off too, but I don’t have the nerve to do that.
I manage to dress her up with my clothes, which are dry somehow, and after shaking some water off her wet clothes, I pick up some pieces of driftwood and hang them to dry.
The warm sun rays aren’t as strong as they would be in the middle of summer, but they’re still pretty strong, so her clothes will be dry in a few hours.
“…Ahh…”
Now I’m in my underwear, and I sit down and look up at the beautiful blue sky and the white clouds.
The sun feels nice, and I close my eyes to really enjoy nature with my whole body.
The relaxing sounds of the waves and birds chirping really make me feel like I’m far from the company where I was before.
I open my eyes and look at the girl, who seems stable. I’m a bit scared about after-effects, but there’s nothing more I can do now other than watch over her.
My life post reincarnation started with a lot of panic, but now I can finally relax.
“I’m grateful for being allowed to reincarnate, but… The first thing I did after coming to this world was artificial respiration. Does that god actually hate me?”
That god seemed friendly, but I shudder to think that it could’ve been just to trick me. I’m starting to be distrustful of even gods now.
What led this corporate drone to be reincarnated in another world in the first place was that god killing me by mistake. I was dumbfounded when I heard that, but I received power and cheats to let me live among nature in return.
It feels liberating to think that I’m not going to have to waste away working, but what should I do from now on?
“Well, I don’t have to worry about getting hurt or sick, so thanks for that at least.”
I asked god to let me reincarnate in ‘a place with no humans’.
My cheats are ‘a strong body that won’t get sick or hurt’, and ‘the ability to copy skills and magic just by seeing them’.
I only asked for the first cheat, but god said it would be cooler if I had the other, so it was attached to me without my permission.
“Well, it’s not like I had to do anything for it anyway… But what’s the point when I asked for a place without anyone else…”
I’m not going to do anything fancy. I just need a body that lets me live alone and survive by my own hands. I just don’t want to work.
I want to enjoy the slow life I dreamed of back when I was a corporate drone. That’s what I decided when I was reincarnated, but my prospects aren’t looking very good.
“Still, god also did me the favor of giving me a pretty nice looking body. Not that anyone’s going to see it.”
I see my reflection in the water. I have black hair, my face feels like it’s half the way it was before, but half new, and I look young and crisp. I was thirty, but now I look around twenty.
My body feels a lot lighter too. It really feels like I’ve been reborn.
“Uah…”
“Ah…”
As I enjoy my new body, I hear the girl let out a quiet voice and move a little, before faintly opening her eyes.
Maybe the sun is too bright, because she squints while quietly speaking to me.
“Who… Are you?”
“My name is Todo Arata.”
“Tou… Dou… Arata?”
“Yes. I suddenly found myself on this island, but I actually don’t really remember anything before that. By the way, you…”
I say, but then I realize she hasn’t fully recovered, and stop.
I should let her rest and leave the introductions for later.
“It looks like you drifted into this island. I looked after you, and I’m glad to see you’re all right.”
“I see… So you saved me. Thank you.”
“…It’s nice that you’re awake, but you should rest. I’ll watch over our surroundings, so don’t worry.”
“…I’m sorry… but thank you…”
She says with a sluggish tone. It looks like it’s still not easy for her to talk. I lightly pat her head like I would a kid’s, and she closes her eyes like she ran out of energy.
“…”
My eyes land on her lips.
It was an emergency, and it was to save a life, but there’s no way a guy isn’t going to think about how his lips touched the lips of such a beautiful girl.
“My life in another world started with a kiss…”
I can’t hide how agitated I am if I don’t say that nonsense to her while she’s sleeping.
As I hear the sound of the waves, I make up my mind to apologize to her tomorrow.
That was quick.