On The Other Side: I Quit Being Human

Looking to the front, I see nothing. I, who have been wishing for a quiet and peaceful life, finally realized that not having anyone in the room doesn\'t always leave me in a peaceful state.

\'It\'s okay to leave me alone but...\' Looking at the ceiling of the hut, I indignantly shout, "Do it after you explain me about what you have just talked about!"

In all honesty, I don\'t mind being alone—I am used to it—but I hate if someone leaves me alone after giving me a curiosity provoking thought, especially if it has anything to do with my life.

"Though no matter how loud I shout, no one can hear me..." I sigh, then sit on my bed. Looking at my trousers and hoody, I contemplate whether I should take them off. "They don\'t smell yet, but I hate wearing too much clothes while I sleep."

As my mind reached a conclusion, I start pulling down my trousers.

Knock. Knock.

Of course after hearing that sound, I immediately pull them up. Calming down my crazily beating heart—I was surprised by the knocking on the door—I stand up from my bed, and open the door.

"Wait, Layland! You can\'t just open it. What if it\'s just a trick that is done by a—"

"I am here to deliver your food."

Upon hearing the monotonous voice from behind the door, I stop my monologue, and put my hand on the doorknob. "How can I know that you are not a wild Beast?" Of course, I don\'t immediately open the door.

"Wild Beasts can\'t speak any human language, and they are repelled by the Array protecting your hut."

\'As I expected.\' I smirk, then open the door. "I knew you weren\'t a wild Beast since the beginning. I was just... Testing you—where is the delivery boy?!" I look around, but I can see nothing other than the dark sky and the creepy looking forest.

"Ah, the delivery boy left the tray on the ground." I pick the tray up, then look around once again. "Tsk. I can\'t confirm whether it was Valeria. Still, it might not be her. She said that only special people, not a special person, can understand me after all."

Shrugging lightly, I close the door, and put the tray that is filled with a clay pot, a wooden bowl, three ceramic plates, a ceramic cup, and some wooden cutleries on the table. Aside from the cup and the empty wooden bowl, everything is covered with a ceramic lid.

"I don\'t know what kind of food under the lid, but I hope it won\'t be monster\'s toes or something repelling." Lifting the lid off the claypot first, a hot and fragrant steam can be smelled right after. "The porridge smells good."

Although there are some things that I am not quite sure about mixed with the porridge, I am glad that the food is normal so far. Turning my gaze to the first plate, I lift the lid off, then sigh in relief upon finding that it\'s just a few slices of juicy meat.

"I don\'t know what the meat belonged to, but it\'s better to not know it. What you are not aware of can never kill you!"

When my gaze land upon the second plate, I feel somehow hesitant to lift the lid off. "Once you let your fear control you, you can never move forward!" Upon remembering what Valeria said to me however, I immediately lost my hesitation.

"Alright, let me see what you—what is this? A Jelly?" I blink my eyes at the transparent, and wobbly food on the second plate. Deciding to give it a touch, I finally get what it is. "Oh, it\'s a jellyfish. Judging by the texture, it\'s not even cooked yet, so it\'s served as sashimi."

Looking at the way everything is organized—the choice of utensils and the menu—realization immediately dawned upon me. "Oh! It\'s a perfect mix of western culture and Japanese culture ... Well, not that perfect, but they are indeed from the two cultures."

Turning my gaze to the third place, the last plate that I haven\'t uncovered yet, I expect sushi to lay under the lid. I quickly find that the food is sashimi—still japanesque—but the kind of fish that is served as the sashimi attracts my attention.

Meat wise, it looks no different than the fish meat I have seen on Earth—it looks way gorgeous even. What actually attracts my attention however, is the head of the fish that is also displayed on the plate.

"The guy who made this must have done it in purpose."

Judging by its head alone, I am sure that Earth doesn\'t have this kind of fish—even its head makes me doubt its identity as a fish. In my memories, I have never seen a fish whose head looks as humanoid as the head of the fish on the plate.

I would normally treat this as a joke made by the chef, but not upon coming to this world. This world has a completely fucked up power level, and I believe there must also be Mermaids in this world.

"You could\'ve not displayed the head, so I can peacefully eat it, Mr. Chef!" Grabbing the fist sized humanoid fish head, I run to the door, open it, and throw it outside. Returning to the table, I look at the third plate in satisfaction. "Let\'s pretend I didn\'t see anything."

Moving the food from the tray to the table, I put aside the tray after it\'s empty. Of course, I don\'t forget to read the note I found under the claypot first before digging in.

[Food is a treasure. Waste not thy food, for shall thou dost, not even death can save thy arse.]

"Welp, it\'s a cringey threat note, but I can\'t ignore it. I don\'t know who wrote it, but I am sure Valeria will do things that make me suffer even in the afterlife if I ignore the note." I put the note down, then turn my gaze to the claypot.

Scooping up the porridge in the claypot with a ladle, I pour it to my wooden bowl. I know from the texture and the smell alone, it must taste heavenly, but my tongue still can\'t wait to taste it.

I scoop the porridge with my wooden spoon, and blow it to reduce the heat. When I put the spoon in my mouth, I can finally taste the porridge.

"Ah, it tastes... It tastes... What does it taste?"

Blinking my eyes in confusion, I stare at my bowl, and the rest of the porridge that is still in the claypot. "Wait, my vision ... It\'s getting blurry. Damn it, my mouth became numb too!"

I am already panicking at this moment, but the pain in my head makes me unable to concentrate. As I try to stand up, I immediately fall to the ground like a helpless baby.

"Fuck! Valeria, what the hell did you give me to eat?!"

My gaze became more blurry, as my head turns heavier in each passing second. After a few seconds that, to me, feels like the longest seconds I have ever had, I finally lose my consciousness.

...

"Gahak! What was that?!"

I don\'t know how long I have been out, but I feel extremely hungry upon waking up. I feel like I have merely dozed off for a couple of seconds, but it feels like I haven\'t eaten for a whole week.

Standing up from the ground, I thoughtlessly devour the very porridge that has just made me lose consciousness.

"Shit... I shouldn\'t have eaten it!"

I only realized what I have just done when my stomach is already full. Also at that moment, I am assaulted by the same symptoms again. It doesn\'t take long for me to once again fall on the ground, and lose consciousness.

"Bloody hell! What in the actual fuck was that?!

I don\'t know how long I am out this time, but the hunger I am feeling is worse than before. Even though I constantly remind myself to stop eating, and prevent my body to not move even an inch from the ground, my hunger still wins in the end.

I sat at the table, then ferociously eat some slices of the juicy meat. Much to my surprise, my hunger is already satiated upon eating just three of them. Of course, the headache and the blurry vision immediately come afterwards, even worse than before.

I fall on the ground like a dumb twat, lose my consciousness, wake up in an extremely hungry state, eat the food on the table, experience the symptoms that I am already familiar with, and repeat the process.

For how long this cycle is going on, I don\'t actually know. However, the moment I feel I am truly full, I sleep like a log on the ground, and only wakes up when the hourglass shows the time as 5 AM.

"Ugghh... Damn, my body feels like crap!"

I stand up from the ground, and cringe everytime I move my sore body. Walking to the wall where I attached the schedule paper to, I read the first thing that I have to do in this morning.

"The escort will come at 6, so I need to clean myself before that." Sighing lightly to myself, I take my bathing utensils with me, and open the door of the hut. Then, I am immediately greeted by the fresh morning wind. "Hm? I thought it would be colder outside..."

Shaking my head to forget the trivial thought, I cautiously walk to the river where I will bathe myself at. Although Valeria has guaranteed that the way is safe from any wild Beast, it doesn\'t hurt to be careful.

Upon reaching there, I immediately undress myself, then thoughtlessly jump into the river. I am slightly flustered by the cold water, but it doesn\'t last long.

"Hm? Something is not right." By the time I wash my face, I realized that my hands are bigger than they supposed to be.

"W-Who are you?!" By the time I look at my reflection, I don\'t recognize myself.