The Otherworld Antique Bookstore is a Life-Risk Chapter 2

 

Chapter 2: How Did It Come to This?

 

There's no way I could sleep. So much has happened today. Too much, really. Even as I clutch my head and writhe, I have no choice but to accept this as reality. But how did it come to this?

Yuki - that's my name in this world.

In my previous life, I was called Takamori Yuki. I was an unmarried female office worker approaching 40, without a boyfriend - something considered normal these days.

I wanted to design parks, walkways, and leisure facilities rather than buildings, so I aimed for a university department where I could study that. However, my options were limited to either the University of Tokyo or an unknown private university.

Tokyo University was obviously out of reach, and my homeroom teacher suggested I apply to an unrelated department at a national university just for the prestige. But I chose substance over reputation and entered the private university.

As a result, I received a recommendation from a well-known professor in the region and landed a job at a company that's difficult to enter even for national university graduates. I worked hard to earn that connection, so I won't let anyone criticize me for it.

However, while my colleagues enjoyed two-day weekends and regular working hours in a quasi-public servant environment, I was the exception.

They would dump all their remaining work on my desk under the guise of "helping" before going home. It didn't take long for what was initially leftover work to become outright delegation.

Working on weekends became the norm. I'd get home at 5 AM only to return to the office by 9 AM. This lifestyle consumed most of my month.

Despite all my efforts, other departments whispered that I was a "useless employee," and I was even told to my face, "Why is someone like you in our company?"

I couldn't understand it, but the answer suddenly became clear three years after joining the company. For those three years, my department head had been reporting to the company that my work performance was zero. They claimed that as a nobody from an unknown private university who got in through connections, I couldn't produce results even with training.

Do they have any idea how many tens of millions of yen worth of work I've completed?

I finally snapped, submitted my resignation that very day, and left the company.

Coincidentally, Japan had just undergone a change in government. The new administration's slogan, "From concrete to people," led to massive cuts in public works projects. As a result, our industry, which once boasted a 300% job offer rate, plunged into a severe recession. Unable to resist this trend, I gave up on finding another job in the same field.

Could I turn my hobby into a job?

I loved books.

I spent countless hours reading piles of manga magazines stacked high in a neighbor's barn until sunset. Spending my childhood and elementary school days like this turned me into a perfect bookworm. Since I mostly read boys' manga magazines, my behavior and sensibilities became rather boyish, and I had little interest in the romance novels and shojo manga my friends recommended.

Perhaps this is why I never had any marriage prospects or encounters.

Anyway, I managed to find new employment with a company that operates a chain of used bookstores.

"Standing all day is much tougher than office work," I was told several times. But for me, working in a store with set business hours and shift rotations was paradise compared to my previous job with its endless tasks.

While my mid-career colleagues often left work unfinished and went home complaining about how hard the job was, I stayed behind alone to complete the remaining tasks.

This repetition led to my growth in practical skills, and when I was promoted to manager of the best-performing store, this experience greatly contributed to achieving even better sales results.

Although I hadn't particularly wished for it, I surpassed my peers and seniors, skipping several ranks to become an area manager overseeing dozens of stores.

It was a car accident while moving between stores. I remember a large truck crashing into my car while I was waiting at a traffic light. A classic setup for reincarnation in another world, right?

Well, that's the gist of my previous life.

The heavenly voice said it would try to fulfill my wishes as much as possible as an apology for the reincarnation. The key phrase here is "as much as possible."

So perhaps I shouldn't complain about my current situation. But I want to verify a few things. I think this is necessary to convince myself and to move forward in this new world.

There were four questions, if I remember correctly:

1. "What kind of world do you seek?"

2. "What kind of creature do you want to be?"

3. "Do you want to keep or erase your memories?"

4. "Do you have any other wishes?"

There's no issue with questions 1 and 3. I'll leave question 2 for later as I have a lot to say about it. Let's start with question 4.

I didn't wish for any overpowered abilities. The first thing I asked for was the ability to understand, read, write, and speak this world's language. The simple reason was that it would be meaningless if I couldn't read books.

I was able to converse immediately after reincarnating, and I could read the signs on the streets normally, so this seems to have been granted without issue.

I also asked for one more thing.

I didn't have any sweet dreams of becoming a successful adventurer, which is a common trope in reincarnation stories. Being an adventurer means living day to day, risking your life, and only a handful of chosen ones actually succeed.

It's only in manga and novels that you get conveniently abandoned in a demon forest, tame a Fenrir or Dragon, and become the strongest. If I were left alone in a demon forest, I'd surely die immediately.

Hmm, maybe if I had wished for "convenience," I could have invited such manga-like events? Too late now, I suppose.

So, I simply asked for a "stable life."

As a result, this wish seems to have been granted.

I was given a job at the royal capital's direct store immediately after reincarnation. According to Bergana, this store is part of White Trading Company, said to be the best in the royal capital, but that's just on the surface. In reality, it's an independent trading company backed by the kingdom.

In other words, it's almost like being a quasi-national public servant.

This apparently has something to do with the connection between my master, Lady Laviola, and Calito I, the founder of the kingdom.

Now, the problematic question 2.

I wished for a long-lived, elf-like race. Elves are known as forest guardians.

Fittingly, my name was Takamori Yuki. "Taka" means high, "mori" means forest, and "yuki" can mean snow.

So I intended to write "an immortal race that matches the image of my name," but being part of a generation accustomed to smartphones and computers, I couldn't remember how to write the kanji for "longevity." Frustrated, I wrote "immortal" instead, thinking it had a similar meaning.

Yeah, I understand now why Undead Yuki came to be. It's clearly my fault.

The reason my name in this world is just Yuki, not Takamori Yuki, is probably because Takamori was my family name and Yuki was my given name. Apparently, in this world, only royalty, nobility, and beast clans have family names.

I've just realized that all the questions from the heavenly voice were in hiragana. Perhaps there was no need to write in kanji at all.

"An immortal race that matches the image of the name Yuki."

With this white silk-like Japanese clothing, I'm clearly a "Yuki-onna" (snow woman), right? But looking at my reflection in the mirror in the room, my hair isn't long but more like a bob cut. So am I a "Yukinko" (snow child)?

A Yuki-onna or a Yukinko... I try imagining a snowball in my palm.

And there it is, a snowball. Well, at least I won't have trouble in snowball fights.

It's nice to be able to do something I couldn't before. Phew.

But this snowball-like object doesn't feel cold at all. Maybe I have cold resistance?

So, if I had to guess, my status might look something like this:

Name: Yuki

Race: Yukinko

Special: Immortal Undead, Cold Resistance

Is that about right?

"Status," I say out loud on a whim, but no status board appears. Yeah, I expected as much.

Alright, that concludes my verification. I pull the pillow over my head and burrow into the bed.

All four of my wishes seem to have been granted. But what are these tears overflowing from my eyes?

Thank you, God. Yuki will do her best to live in this world.

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