The city was alive with noise.
Cars rolled through crowded streets. Horns blared in the distance. Pedestrians moved along the sidewalks like an endless river of strangers, each focused on their own destination.
Among them walked a young office worker.
His name was Ash.
Dressed in plain business clothes, backpack hanging loosely from one shoulder, he looked no different from the thousands of people around him. His day had been long, exhausting, and painfully ordinary.
And like many people in the modern world, his attention wasn't on the road.
It was glued to his phone.
His thumbs moved rapidly across the screen as he scrolled through news articles, social media posts, and videos. Every few seconds a new notification appeared, stealing even more of his focus.
Without looking up, he stepped onto a zebra crossing.
The pedestrian signal had already turned red.
He didn't notice.
His eyes remained glued to the screen of his phone as he stepped onto the zebra crossing, fingers moving absentmindedly while scrolling through yet another meaningless post. Around him, people had already stopped, waiting patiently for the signal to change.
Ash never looked up.
One step.
Then another.
And another.
The red light above continued to shine, but it may as well not have existed.
Then a deafening horn shattered the air.
The sound was so loud that it seemed to tear through the entire street.
Ash instinctively raised his head.
For a brief moment, his mind went blank.
A massive truck was barreling toward him and it was right in front of his face.
Time appeared to slow.
He saw his own blank face reflection on the Truck front. Saw pedestrians on both sides of the road screaming in horror. His phone slipped from his numb fingers and tumbled toward the asphalt.
"...Huh?"
It was the only sound he managed to make.
The next instant, the truck slammed into him.
Pain exploded through his body.
The impact felt less like being hit and more like being crushed by a speeding train. His feet left the ground as the world spun violently around him.
Sky.
Road.
Sky.
Road.
Everything blurred together.
The sounds of the city faded into a distant echo as he crashed onto the pavement.
A warm sensation spread beneath him.
His body felt strangely heavy.
Every breath became more difficult than the last.
Somewhere nearby, people were shouting. Someone was calling for an ambulance. Others screamed for help.
Yet the voices felt impossibly far away.
As if they belonged to another world.
A bitter smile tugged at the corner of Ash's lips.
"What a stupid way to go..."
His voice was barely a whisper.
His vision dimmed rapidly.
The bright city lights became vague smears of color before dissolving entirely into darkness.
Regret filled his heart.
Not because he was dying.
But because he had accomplished so little.
No great adventure.
No extraordinary achievements.
No exciting story to tell.
Just an ordinary life spent working, sleeping, and repeating the same routine every day.
What a waste.
With that final thought, Ash slowly closed his eyes.
His heartbeat weakened.
Once.
Twice.
Then silence.
Everything disappeared and nothing remained but only endless darkness.
How much time passed, he couldn't tell.
Seconds.
Hours.
Perhaps even years.
Then, suddenly, a faint light appeared in the distance.
At first it was no larger than a candle flame, but it grew brighter and brighter until it consumed the darkness around him.
Ash frowned.
Slowly, he opened his eyes.
The first thing he saw was a white ceiling.
A familiar white ceiling.
The sterile smell of medicine filled his nose.
Machines beeped softly nearby.
For several moments, Ash simply stared blankly upward before realization struck him.
A hospital room.
He was in a hospital.
Relief washed over him so intensely that he nearly laughed.
"I'm alive..."
The words escaped his lips as a shaky sigh followed.
He had survived.
Somehow, against all odds, he had survived.
"At least I'm not dead...!"
Ash let out a long sigh of relief, but the moment the words left his mouth, he froze.
His voice sounded...Childish.
"What the fuck?"
He immediately shot upright from the hospital bed.
The movement itself shocked him.
He could clearly remember being hit by that truck. He should have suffered countless broken bones. Even if he had somehow survived, there was no way he should be able to sit up so easily.
Yet here he was.
Ash quickly looked down at his hands.
And froze.
Small and Tiny.
They were the hands of a child.
For several seconds, his mind went completely blank.
Before he could process what was happening, the door suddenly opened.
"Oh, my baby!"
A woman rushed into the room and wrapped him in a tight embrace.
"You're finally awake!"
Ash stared at her with a bewildered expression.
The woman looked to be in her thirties, her eyes red and swollen as though she had spent days crying.
Unfortunately, he had absolutely no idea who she was.
"Who are you?"
The words slipped out before he could stop himself.
The woman's body stiffened.
Her eyes widened.
For a moment, the entire room fell silent.
Then—
"DOCTOR!"
She practically screamed before rushing out of the room.
Ash watched her leave before turning his attention back to himself.
"...The fuck?"
He lowered his head and stared at his small hands once more.
The pieces were beginning to come together.
A child-sized body.
A woman who apparently knew him.
A hospital room.
And memories of dying after getting hit by a truck.
'Don't tell me...'
His expression became strange.
'...this is one of those isekai situations?'
It was the only explanation he could think of.
Judging from that woman's reaction, she was most likely this body's mother.
As for him...
Well, he definitely wasn't her son.
At least not originally.
'Shouldn't I be getting this body's memories right about now?' Ash muttered.
From all the novels and anime he had consumed over the years, wasn't this the point where a flood of memories would hit him?
Yet nothing happened.
Instead, a different kind of information suddenly surfaced within his mind.
It was knowledge.
Knowledge that felt as though it had always been part of him.