On a scorching summer day, the high temperature clouded the distant horizon.
"Why is it so hot?"
I, a young man with black hair, walked languidly under the scorching sun, my forehead covered in large beads of sweat.
It hadn't been long since summer vacation began. My roommates had already left the day before, leaving me alone in our six-person dorm room.
The only reason I had stayed at school until now was because something I had ordered online a while ago had just arrived. Otherwise, I would have already run home to enjoy the air conditioning; why would I suffer in a dorm that felt like an oven?
"Why didn't I buy an umbrella then?"
I shielded myself from the scorching sun with my arm, trying to walk in the shade as much as possible.
Actually, I had thought about buying one, but I gave up when I saw that only girls used umbrellas at the school's supermarket. I didn't want to be pointed at on the street.
But reality had just given me a harsh lesson.
"It's very hot."
I consider myself an ordinary person. Aside from being quite presentable and inexplicably receiving love letters since I was a child, I didn't seem to have any special talents.
My grades were always above average. After entering university, they dropped because I used to play video games with my roommates and watch anime, but it's university... everyone knows that passing the final exams is enough.
I complained about the bad weather as I reached the school supermarket's post office. Entering, my eyes were filled with blue shelves and express shipping boxes, large and small.
"Are you here to pick up a package?" a voice asked.
Behind the post office counter was only a student from a lower class with light makeup; usually there were two people.
"Yes, something I ordered a week ago just arrived," I said with a smile.
"Exactly, the delivery speed is getting slower now, I really don't know what's going on." The student stared at my face without blinking, and I could tell that her heart seemed to be beating rapidly.
Soon, with her enthusiastic help, I found my package.
It was the newly released Nintendo handheld console. I had bought it with the money I earned from part-time jobs.
"Oh, by the way, when are you going home?" she asked, trying her best to prolong the conversation.
"I'm leaving tomorrow," I said with a smile.
Student, where do you live? I'm leaving tomorrow too, maybe we'll even go the same way...
In her nervousness, she accidentally knocked a glass of water onto the table, and the water spilled directly onto an electrical outlet.
Quick as a flash, I grabbed her small hand to pull her away. Just as she thought she was going to be pushed against the wall by this campus heartthrob, a strange flash of light appeared before my eyes, followed by a loud bang.
The girl, who had fallen to the ground, stared blankly at the exploding outlet and the dozen burnt mail boxes. Still stunned, she was about to thank me when she realized that there was no one else in the entire post office except her.
The fire started spreading.
The explosion at the school supermarket quickly attracted many students. Soon after, the police and firefighters arrived at the scene.
"Student, is anyone else inside?" a teacher asked.
"N-no, just me," she replied, trembling.
Subsequent surveillance footage also showed that, in fact, she was the only one in the post office from beginning to end. The incident was classified as a fire caused by unsafe electrical use.
"Damn, I haven't even played with my new handheld console yet."
That was my last thought as I pushed the girl out of danger.
Immediately after, my vision blurred, and my consciousness faded into darkness.
I didn't know how long it had been, but when I woke up again, I clutched my aching, swollen head, struggling to open my eyes.
My eyes met a vibrant, warm sunlight, not as hot as before.
"Am I not dead?"
I shook my head and stood up. The itching and pain in certain parts of my body made me more aware.
I shook my head, moved my limbs, and confirmed that I was indeed not dead.
"Did I get home alone?"
I looked around; it seemed to be a bustling street, but what confused me was that the passersby were not black-haired Chinese, but blond, blue-eyed foreigners.
Except for a few Asian faces, almost everyone was foreign.
The store signs had writing I couldn't understand.
It seemed to be... Italian?
"Have I transmigrated?"
At that moment, I felt a sharp, agonizing pain in my head.
Fortunately, the acute pain appeared and disappeared quickly.
Under the strange gazes of passersby, I, this Asian man, stood dumbfounded on the street, clutching my head. No one approached to speak to me.
A dark shadow slowly emerged from the depths of my consciousness.
Its shape resembled that of a book. I instinctively touched it and found that I could open and close it freely in my mind, but neither the cover nor the slightly yellowish pages had any engraved text.
No, there was something.
Upon flipping to the final page, I found a small, delicate line of writing.
"Raziel."
When my mind uttered that name, a massive amount of information flooded my brain.
"Why have you come?"
"..."
Absolute power? Supreme strength? Infinite wealth? Or perhaps... discovering the truth of the world?
"..."
A voice, without a clear origin, completely enveloped me.
Just hearing it plunged me into deep confusion.
"What have I come for?"
Life is but a hundred-year sigh. Power, wealth, even the so-called "truth"... are but fleeting clouds for a mortal.
What are the instincts of a living being?
Hunger, reproduction, status... The list was endless.
The ethereal voice sounded again.
"Son of Man, having unexpectedly obtained the Witch's Book, what do you desire?"
"My desire?"
My mind suddenly felt much clearer.
"What do you desire?"
"I... I desire breasts."
The words tumbled out of my mouth as if I were possessed.
It wasn't my deepest desire or anything like that. It was just that the damn internet meme was so catchy that it was the first thing that came to mind.
Upon hearing my answer, even the voice seemed to fall silent for a long time.
Perhaps I imagined it, but I swear I heard a helpless laugh echoing in that illusory space.
"Being true to your heart is also part of a witch's path. Fools would try to deceive or test at this moment, making grave logical errors."
"..."
I didn't say anything.
It seems that my foolish comment was, somehow, the correct response.
"Only in a world without logical errors can the story continue."
"I recognize you, successor of the Witch's Book, Son of Man."
"Proceed with the questions I was unable to witness."
"Wait, I still have questions...! I cried out anxiously.
But the voice faded.
In the end, there was no answer.
However, in the split second before my vision was swallowed by a white light, it seemed to me that I saw the most beautiful thing in the world.
A long, deep purple hair and a silver halo floating around it.
"Phew..."
When I regained consciousness, the headache had vanished, but my pale face was still covered in cold sweat.
"What the hell was that?"
I tried my hardest to remember what had just happened, but the only clear memory left was that intense purple hair.
And the name, seared into my mind, the one in the Witch's Book.
"Raziel."
After a long time, I finally let out a bitter smile and resigned myself.
"Transmigrating is one thing, but leaving me with this mess... 'Proceed,' it says. Sure, easy for you to say. I don't even know what the damn questions are!"
At the very least, I now knew one thing: the "witch" named Raziel was undoubtedly the mastermind behind my little interdimensional trip.