Kiri first felt pain.
A rippling pain across his nonexistent body as if someone was poking needles into every part of his body
A pain that felt like his very existence was being stretched and thinned.
And then it stopped
His vision faded back.
[I feel lower?]
The first thing Kiri noticed was that his perspective was "lower". Kiri had not been a particularly tall person, but he was sure he was taller than this. In the paddies he was in it felt like he should be slightly taller than this
[Hmm, Gabriel said I would be able to do this?]
He quickly yelled "Status!"
Sato Kotori
Race: [Human]
Age: 5
HP: 10
Mana: 5
Agility: 6
Strength: 3
Defense: 2
Karma: -100,000,000
Skills: none
Traits: [Spirit Seer]
[Wait a moment]
Kiri was now realizing that "he" was in fact a "she"
[That damn angel didn't even bother to make the sex match] she thought
Kiri now "Kotori" was caught in a conundrum.
To make a long story short, he had a mission in this life. To recoup the massive amount of negative karma he accumulated in the afterlife.
A herculean task no doubt, but unless he did something regarding it, he would just be reincarnated as a bug and probably squashed underneath the foot of someobody.
Kotori shuddered to think of the thought.
[Well, first things first I should assess my situation no?]
She looked around seeing the fields around her she could only make one remark
[Yep, That's a paddy]
Honestly, she didn't know what she was expecting. That Angel did say it was going to be an average life.
Oi Kotori, The day's work is done." A voice suddenly interrupted her thoughts,
Turning her head in the direction of the voice she saw a muscled tanned man walking towards her.
"Status" she whispered to herself. To her surprise, another screen showed up
Sato Hikki
Race: [Human] Age: 30
HP: 34
Mana: 5
Agility: 10
Strength: 17
Defense: 16
Karma: 1,465
Skills: none
Traits: none
[I guess this is my "Father"] she deduced.
The man, who was her father came up to her
"Where did you run off too," He scolded her with a scowl on his face
"you were supposed to help me dig the new paddies"
Kotori frowned.
[I've just been reincarnated and I'm already getting scolded.]
She immediately felt her karmic value drop by 1.
[well that's an issue.]
To be quite fair, the small drop in karma she received was nothing in comparison to the debt she had already built up, but it was still demoralizing in a way. She wanted to start this life off right and it seemed she was already failing before she had even started earnestly living it.
Kotori tried to remedy the situation. She immediately looked down and appeared to be ashamed of the fact,
"I'm sorry, daddy," She made use of her high-pitched childlike voice to pretend as if she was extremely remorseful
Her father's face softened. It was the face of a man doted on his daughter and angry at her for very long.
"A'ight I forgive you..." he said begrudgingly he scowl upturning into a smile.
Kotori quickly raised her head and gave a beaming smile in response.
"Yay! I love you daddy" and jumped into her father's arms proving she had reformed her behavior as much a child could at this age.
Sato Hikki adored his daughter to the point of almost spoiling her and easily accepted the hug from her.
Kotori hugged the man, feeling the rugged muscle and callous on his arms and hands.
[This isn't so bad] she thought.
In truth, she was not regretful at all. But she acted as if she was thinking that it would be better for her if she continued to act like "Kotori" would in this world.
Although she had saved no karma for the sake of reincarnation it seems the angel took pity on her. In contrast, Kotori who had no attachment to this world was already starting to feel a bit of familial connection to the man who she now called her "father".
[At the very least I can tell he cares about me quite a bit.]
Sato Hikki now offered to give Kotori a piggyback ride, a proposal which she happily accepted.
As she sat upon her father's tanned shoulders, she could see the farmlands with a much better view. The paddies they were working were surround by a light forest. The paddies seemed to coalesce around a small wooden house which they were walking towards.
Kotori assumed that this was her family's home.
[Even for farmers, it's quite small, isn't it?] she thought
Her suspicions were confirmed when they approached the house. It was just as modest a dwelling as she thought.
The roof was lined with straw that seemed quite flimsy. It looked like it would not insulate heat very well and would leak during rain. Both these observations were things she later found out were true.
Kotori herself was lost in thought,
[It seems Gabriel was nice enough to make sure I wasn't suffering too bad from the start so what's the catch here? This seems like an average life.]
Gabriel had told her to not get her hopes up, but Kotori was unsure why he would say that based on her experience so far.
With a cautious heart, she watched as they steadily approached the house.