The smell of grease and disappointment clung to Haru's uniform like a second skin. He scraped the last of the burnt fries from the fryer, trying not to think about how this was his life now. Nineteen years old, working minimum wage at a fast-food joint that barely qualified as food, just to scrape together enough money for college tuition.
His manager, a balding man who took his job way too seriously, hovered nearby with his clipboard. "Haru, make sure you clean that grease trap properly. We had a complaint yesterday about the smell."
The smell? Haru wanted to laugh. The whole place smelled like a crime scene. But he needed this job, so he just nodded and kept scrubbing.
His phone buzzed in his back pocket. He glanced around, making sure his manager wasn't looking, then quickly checked it.
Unknown number.
Probably spam. He almost declined the call, but something made him hesitate. Unknown numbers at this time of night usually meant trouble.
"Hello?"
"Is this Haru Tanaka?" The voice was professional, clinical. The kind of voice that delivered bad news for a living.
"Yeah, who's asking?"
"This is Dr. Martinez from Mercy General Hospital. I'm calling about your father, Kenji Tanaka. He was brought in earlier this evening following a motor vehicle accident."
The world seemed to tilt sideways. Haru gripped the edge of the counter to steady himself. "Is he... is he okay?"
There was a pause. The kind of pause that said everything.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Tanaka. We did everything we could, but his injuries were too severe. He was pronounced dead at 8:47 PM."
The words hit him like a physical blow. His father was dead. The man who had made his life a living hell for the past five years, ever since mom died, was gone. Just like that.
"Mr. Tanaka? Are you there?"
"Yeah." His voice sounded strange to his own ears. Distant. "Yeah, I'm here."
"There will need to be arrangements made. Do you have other family members we should contact?"
"I... I'll call you back."
He hung up and stared at his phone screen. His reflection looked back at him from the black surface—tired red eyes, messy ashy blonde hair sticking out from under his work cap, the face of someone who'd been ground down by life and was still getting ground down.
His father was dead.
The same father who'd thrown empty beer bottles at his head. Who'd screamed at him for hours about being worthless, useless, a disappointment. Who'd made every day feel like walking through a minefield.
And now he was supposed to feel... what? Sad? Relieved? Guilty for feeling relieved?
The calls started twenty minutes after he got home.
First his aunt, then his uncle, then cousins he barely remembered existed. All of them saying the same things with varying degrees of fake concern.
"You should come to the funeral, Haru."
"He was still your father, despite everything."
"Family is family. You'll regret it if you don't say goodbye."
Family. Right. Where was this concern when dad was using him as a stress ball? Where were these caring relatives when he was working two jobs just to stay afloat after graduating high school?
His apartment felt smaller than usual tonight. The stack of unpaid bills on his desk seemed to leer at him. College brochures sat in a pile, mocking him with their promises of a better future that felt increasingly out of reach.
He slumped into his gaming chair—the one good piece of furniture he owned—and powered up his computer. The familiar blue glow of his monitor was like a warm embrace.
Genshin Impact loaded with its usual fanfare. The sweeping orchestral music filled his cramped apartment, transporting him away from bills and funeral arrangements and the lingering smell of fast food grease.
Here, in Teyvat, things made sense. You fought monsters, completed quests, got stronger. There was a clear progression system, rewards for effort, a world that actually responded to what you did.
Unlike the real world, which seemed designed to crush you no matter how hard you tried.
He'd been saving primogems for weeks, hoping to pull for the new character on the limited banner. His current team was decent enough to clear most content, but he was always chasing that next upgrade, that perfect artifact set, that five-star character that would make everything easier.
If only real life had a gacha system, he thought bitterly. Pull for a loving family. Pull for a job that doesn't make you question the point of existence. Pull for literally anything better than this.
Three hours passed without him noticing. His eyes burned from staring at the screen, and his shoulders ached from hunching over his keyboard. The funeral was tomorrow—assuming he decided to go.
Part of him wanted to show up just to make sure his father was really dead. Part of him wanted to spit on the grave. Part of him felt sick for even thinking that.
Maybe he should just skip it entirely. What was the point? His father had made it clear that Haru was nothing but a burden. Why should he pretend to grieve now?
He finally stood up, stretching his stiff muscles. His head felt light, fuzzy around the edges. When was the last time he'd eaten something that wasn't instant ramen or leftover fast food? His iron levels were probably in the basement again.
He took a step toward his tiny kitchen, intending to at least grab a piece of bread or something.
His foot caught on his phone charger cable.
Of course. Because this day wasn't complete without one more thing going wrong.
He stumbled forward, arms windmilling as he tried to catch his balance. His desk rushed up to meet him, and he braced for the impact of face-meeting-keyboard.
But the impact never came.
Instead, he kept falling.
Through his floor. Through his apartment. Through what should have been his downstairs neighbor's ceiling but was now just... empty air.
Blue sky stretched endlessly in every direction. Clouds drifted past him like cotton balls. The wind whipped through his hair as he tumbled through the atmosphere.
This is it, he thought with surprising calm. I've finally had a complete mental breakdown. Stress-induced psychotic episode. Makes perfect sense, really.
But if this was a hallucination, it was incredibly vivid. He could feel the wind, smell the clean air, see every detail of the landscape rushing up toward him from below.
Then a voice spoke directly into his mind, clear as if someone was standing right next to him.
[DIMENSIONAL BREACH DETECTED]
[SUBJECT: HARU TANAKA - ANALYZING...]
[ANALYSIS COMPLETE: TRAGICALLY UNDERWHELMING]
[ACTIVATING EMERGENCY PROTOCOLS]
[WELCOME TO THE "COOL = POWER" SYSTEM]
[DEPLOYING SURVIVAL EQUIPMENT...]
A coffin materialized around him with a sound like reality tearing. Rich mahogany wood, silver handles, plush red interior. It was actually quite nice, as coffins went.
Which raised the obvious question: why was he falling through the sky in a coffin?
[EQUIPMENT DEPLOYED: DRAMATIC ENTRY COFFIN]
[CALCULATING IMPACT TRAJECTORY...]
[IMPACT ZONE: WHISPERING WOODS, MONDSTADT]
[INITIATING FIRST IMPRESSION PROTOCOL]
The sky above him suddenly turned a deep, ominous red. Clouds swirled dramatically, forming a vortex around his falling coffin. Lightning crackled in the distance, and the air itself seemed to hum with power.
From the ground below, it probably looked like the end of the world was falling from the heavens.
Which, considering Haru's luck, might not be entirely inaccurate.
[BRACE FOR IMPACT]
[REMEMBER: FIRST IMPRESSIONS ARE EVERYTHING]
[TRY NOT TO EMBARRASS YOURSELF]
The coffin slammed into the forest floor with the force of a meteor, sending up a massive cloud of dust and debris. Ancient trees shook from the impact. Birds scattered in every direction.
And somewhere in the distance, a great dragon—majestic, powerful, and absolutely terrified—let out a roar of panic and fled toward the horizon as fast as its wings could carry it.
Inside the coffin, Haru groaned and tried to figure out what the hell had just happened to his life.
Apparently, it was about to get a lot more complicated.
A / N: Wrote this novel in my spare time😗. This novel is pretty fun.. for me at least:>.... Leave a comment on how should I progress the story!😁