Hajime found himself suspended in absolute darkness, a terrifying void. He didn't dare to stretch out his arms, afraid that he wouldn't touch anything at all, that he was simply unmoored in nothingness. Just as a creeping dread began to suggest this might be an eternal end, his foot unexpectedly struck solid ground. He reached out, his hands searching, and found a rough, cold wall. In front of him, a small, brilliant sphere of light floated, beckoning him forward. He followed its silent guidance, walking towards the faint glow.
When Hajime reached the entrance, he stepped into a vast, luminous cave, sparkling with an otherworldly light. A few feet away, a woman sat perched on a lotus flower, floating effortlessly in the air. He looked down into the clear, blue, seemingly bottomless depths of the cave and saw a young man suspended, floating freely, serene and still. He wondered why the young man was sleeping there, and where this strange cave had taken him.
Looking at the serene woman, Hajime had a torrent of questions bubbling in his mind. He quickly asked, his voice echoing slightly in the vast space, "Where is the little girl? Who are you? Where am I?"
Avalokitesvara, the Goddess of Mercy, smiled, her expression infinitely compassionate. "I am Avalokitesvara. You are in between life and death. If you choose one path over the others, it could be the choice between life and death. As for the little girl, if you carefully listen to and observe the things in front of you, whether they are big or small, young or old, you will understand that it makes no difference, because it is all an illusion."
Hajime looked at Avalokitesvara, his gaze drifting to the young man floating below. "Why is this person sleeping here?" he asked, a faint tremor in his voice.
"He is not sleeping, but waiting," Avalokitesvara explained, her voice resonating with gentle power. "The soul that once inhabited this body has long since disappeared. This body was put here to prevent it from rotting, to preserve it."
"Why did you put a dead body here?" Hajime asked, his mind reeling.
Avalokitesvara's smile deepened. "Although he is just a dead body now, if you want, he will bring a deeper meaning to the people of Tangzang."
"If I want, what do you mean?" Hajime pressed, confusion warring with a flicker of hope.
Avalokitesvara simply smiled at Hajime. "Come forward."
Hajime hesitated, a lifetime of caution making him unwilling to step over the invisible edge into the seemingly empty space. He stood there for a while, looking at Avalokitesvara, but then a thought surfaced: this must be some kind of dream, and there was nothing left to lose. He took a hesitant step into the air. Instead of falling, he slowly descended, weightless, until he stood beside the young man and Avalokitesvara, suspended in the shimmering light.
"He is the last of the four hundred original mages of the Kakungga tribe," Avalokitesvara revealed, her voice filled with ancient knowledge.
"What does that have to do with me?" Hajime asked, his brow furrowed.
Avalokitesvara explained, her gaze piercing. "If you are willing to transfer your soul into this empty body to help all living beings in Tangzang, then I will grant you one wish, just like our previous promise."
"You want to implant my soul into this person's body?" Hajime clarified, disbelief in his voice.
"I have heard the voice of the Tanzanies, their pleas and suffering," Avalokitesvara said, her voice filled with profound empathy. "I ask if you are willing to help them. It is entirely up to you to decide. Not everyone who walks this earth will have the same opportunity you are being given. A chance to start over."
Hajime looked at Avalokitesvara, his mind racing. He muttered to himself, the words barely audible, "A second chance in life...?"
"Hajime," Avalokitesvara's voice was firm, yet compassionate. "Although you didn't yell at the world, and you often hid your pain, deep down in your heart, you have been blaming others for your suffering. Now is the time to change your fate. Fate will not change its course on its own; it is the person who is breathing that can change their own fate."
"What will happen to me if I agree to implant my soul into his body?" Hajime asked, his pragmatism asserting itself.
"Once your soul is implanted in his body, you can know all his past, his memories, his experiences," Avalokitesvara answered. "You will also have the power to create gaps between time and space. That is to say, a mage can only create two such gaps per their lifetime, so use it wisely."
"Why?" Hajime asked, confused. "Aren't mages powerful beings?"
"A mage is powerful, but he is not immortal," Avalokitesvara clarified. "Every time he uses powers to create a gap between time and space, his lifespan will be shortened by fifty years."
"I see," Hajime murmured, a flicker of understanding.
"You see, everything in life has its value," Avalokitesvara said. "Before you decide whether to help the people of Tangzang or not, do you want to know about this person in front of you?"
"Yes," Hajime said, suddenly curious about the nameless body that might become his.
"Let me tell you a little story about this man in front of you," Avalokitesvara offered. "Maybe after you get to know him, your mind will change."
Hajime sighed, a long, drawn-out breath. "Okay…"
After listening to Avalokitesvara tell the tragic story of the unknown person and the Kakungga tribe, Hajime felt a profound and unsettling kinship with them. The nameless man had been hated by even more people than Hajime had been throughout his life, and the only person who truly cared about him was his mother. He had been forced to live alone in a dark cave for years, enduring a solitary existence until his last breath. To some extent, Hajime felt that he was much luckier than the nameless person. At least, for a brief period, he had experienced Kenji's love, Keiji's fleeting friendship, and his father's profound, if posthumous, love. So, after all the times he had thought he was the saddest person walking this earth, he realized there was another person, living in a different universe, who had endured a far more miserable life than his own.
Hajime looked at Avalokitesvara, his voice barely a whisper. "I thought there was no one in this world who was more pitiful than me."
Avalokitesvara looked at Hajime, her eyes filled with ancient wisdom. "Where there is life, there must be death, and where there is evil, there must be good. Life is inherently fair, and it depends on what good deeds you have done in your previous life. The merits you have accumulated may not be remembered by individuals, but it will never be forgotten by time."
"What benefit will I get by possessing this body?" Hajime asked, a touch of his old cynicism returning. "I don't belong to this world."
Avalokitesvara smiled, a knowing, gentle expression. "How could you belong in a place when your heart doesn't believe in it? Possessing his body is something that many people could only dream of, a true second chance."
"I'm not a mage," Hajime argued, shaking his head. "I'm just an ordinary person. I can't be the savior of another country."
"It's because you and he shared the same first breath, the same initial circumstances of life," Avalokitesvara explained. "With your similar character traits and your innate goodness, his body will not reject your soul. If you decide not to continue, then you will return to your world and die alone in that back alley, as you were destined." She waited for a moment, but Hajime didn't answer her. "You know, the last descendant of the four hundred mages decided to dedicate his immortal soul to a lost fox because of his stubbornness. An empty body without a soul is what remains of him."
Hajime looked at his own reflection, shimmering faintly on the polished walls of the crystal cave, and he knew that someone like him, hated by everyone, could never hope to bring peace to a land filled with great military power. He looked at Avalokitesvara, his voice tinged with self-doubt. "I don't think I can do it. I'm not a mage, and I don't have any power to help anyone." He laughed, a short, bitter sound. "First of all, I couldn't even help myself."
"Why do you already determine your fate without even trying?" Avalokitesvara asked, her voice gently challenging him.
"I know for certain that I will only bring failure to these people," Hajime confessed, his voice thick with past hurts. "I've failed my mom and myself, and I don't want to give hope to anyone and end up letting them down again."
Avalokitesvara looked down at the emaciated corpse floating below them, her gaze filled with profound respect. "Your fate is similar to his, but you are willing to die without even trying. He, however, is different from you. He was not willing to be defeated by anyone, not even until his very last breath." She looked down at the corpse, her voice imbued with awe. "With nothing but his sheer determination, he defeated a goddess."
Hajime was taken aback. "He defeated a goddess. How?"
Avalokitesvara nodded slowly. "When the goddess cursed him to live forever, condemning him to an endless, solitary existence, he defied her. He gave his soul to the fox fairy, choosing a selfless act over eternal suffering. Although he became a living corpse, a shell, the goddess who cursed him will never forget him, for he found a way to escape her eternal torment."
Hajime looked at the motionless corpse, a new respect dawning in his eyes. He asked, a new curiosity in his voice, "I wonder what he wants?"
"Hajime," Avalokitesvara asked, her voice soft, direct. "What do you want?"
Hajime's lips trembled, and tears, slow and heavy, flowed from his eyes, hot trails on his cheeks. He said in a voice thick with raw emotion, "All I want is someone, at least someone who loves me the way I am."
"What he wants," Avalokitesvara said, looking from Hajime to the corpse, "is at least one person who loves him for what he is." She looked back at Hajime, her gaze unwavering. "If you are unwilling to accept this body, then you will die within the minute, and his body will turn into dust, his sacrifice in vain."
"What's his name?" Hajime asked, a sudden tenderness in his voice.
"The son of shame has no name," Avalokitesvara replied, her voice tinged with sorrow.
Hajime looked at the young corpse, then at his own shimmering reflection on the crystal walls. He said sadly, his voice filled with a newfound understanding and resolve, "Even if we have no name and no existence in the eyes of others, we can still feel the pain... like everyone else. We are no different than them." He wiped his tears, a silent promise in his eyes, and floated gracefully towards the corpse. "I will take this opportunity to start a new life and live it to the fullest for the two of us."
Avalokitesvara sighed, a sound of profound peace. "Amitabha..." She snapped her fingers, and Hajime's soul shimmered, turning into a gleaming orb of light. She raised her hands, gently guiding Hajime's soul, implanting it seamlessly into the waiting corpse. As his soul entered the body, Avalokitesvara vanished, her presence fading like a dream.
Hajime quickly opened his eyes, a gasp escaping his lips. He didn't see the beautiful crystal cave; instead, he was sitting bolt upright on a cold, stone bed in a dark, foul-smelling cave, with a single, flickering candle at his feet, its flame casting dancing shadows on the rough, damp walls.