The stars I gazed up at from the bottom of the valley were more beautiful than any sight I had ever seen before. A complete contrast to my current state, rolling after sliding down onto a pile of illegally dumped garbage.
'What a terrible way to die... My name really doesn't suit me at all.'
I smiled bitterly comparing my life to my name, Misaki Hanazono (Garden of Flowers). Raised in a facility without ever knowing my parents' faces, fired from a company full of harassment, and now in this state after climbing a mountain because someone said "climbing a mountain will change your life." My life certainly changed—or rather, it's about to end.
All alone in the world without friends. No one would look for Misaki if she disappeared. I must have injured something important when I fell, as I can't move and it hurts terribly. Moreover, I'm really cold and my consciousness is fading. I'll probably just be discovered someday as a skeleton.
'God, please... at least in my next life, let me be something more beautiful... like a flower perhaps...'
But no, a flower's life is too short, so that wouldn't be good either. With such thoughts, Misaki's consciousness faded away.
***
Suddenly, my consciousness surfaced. It was like waking up in the morning without having dreamed. However, I couldn't move my body properly. Despite having clear consciousness, it felt as though my entire body was fixed in place, like being set in a mold.
After struggling for a while, I gave up as it was futile. I could breathe despite being immobile, and somehow felt warm and comfortable. Furthermore, I sensed a feeling of "deliciousness" despite doing nothing, so I must be getting food somehow.
'Is this what heaven is like? It's different from what I imagined...'
A situation where you can live without doing anything. It's certainly easy not having to work or do anything. But it's quite boring. I don't know how long I spent like this.
I was incredibly bored. If only I could freely move my arms and legs, and run around nimbly—
"NINAAAAAAA!?!?!?!"
It happened suddenly. With a sensation similar to having my hair pulled, I was dragged out of my comfortable place by something.
Surprised and slightly panicking, I screamed loudly. A scream so powerful that I was surprised I could make such a noise. Amidst this, I thought I heard a mysterious "papparapa!" hallucination of a short trumpet melody. I couldn't understand what was happening.
After floating lightly through the air, I was dropped onto the floor. My field of vision was filled with a bright blue sky, making me realize I was outside and lying on the ground.
'That was startling... what on earth?'
While thinking this, I propped myself up with both hands, and before I could rejoice at being able to move freely, I caught sight of something green entering my vision and looked at it in shock.
It was a person. A giant with green skin all over, about three times my size, lying fallen.
"KYAAAAAAAA!!??"
Surprised and terrified by this strange sight, I ran away from there with all my might while screaming. The trumpet melody kept repeating from somewhere, which scared me even more and made me cry out.
Desperately moving my arms and legs, I ran through the giant grass thickets, fleeing as far as possible. Where was this place? A strange location with grass taller than my height. Perhaps this wasn't heaven but hell?
'Someone, anyone, help me! Can't anyone hear my voice!?'
I ran wishing my voice would reach someone, making it louder and stronger. I thought I heard an electronic "pikon" sound different from the repeating melody, but I had no time to worry about that. The scenery changed from grassland to a forest of giant trees.
As I continued running and screaming, the melody that had been repeating in my head gradually spaced out and disappeared. Finally calming down as the strange sounds stopped, I staggered toward a spring that happened to come into view.
'Let me drink some water and calm down... Is this even drinkable?'
I froze when I saw what was reflected in the spring as I peered into it. A brown object looking into the water surface. With pitch-black eyes like a clay figure. A beautiful flower I had never seen before growing on top of it, which seemed completely mismatched.
I looked away from the water surface and gazed down at my body. The hand I raised was the same brown as my torso. And so were my feet. To put it simply, I looked like an oddly shaped radish with arms and legs. However, I was shorter and thicker than a normal daikon radish, with a more rounded shape closer to a turnip.
"EEEK... NOOOOOOO!!!!"
Realizing I had become something other than human, I screamed loudly again. To begin with, I, or rather Misaki, couldn't make such a loud voice. Had never made such a voice. Even when beaten or pushed down stairs, she had bitten her lip and suppressed her voice... So I was no longer Misaki, but something else.
As I was crying out in incomprehensible fear, something dropped from above right next to me, startling me into another scream. Looking closely, it was a bird twitching and convulsing.
'Is it d-dead... no, did it faint and fall because of my voice?'
A noisy screaming plant. One whose screams cause those who hear it to die or faint. There was only one thing that came to mind.
'Could it be... I've been reincarnated as a mandrake...!?'
It wasn't that the plants were large, but that I was small. After all, I am a mandrake. By no means a large plant. Then the green giant who had fallen might not have been a giant either.
I have apparently been reborn in another world as a mandrake. Since it's a world where mandrakes exist, I have no idea about the ecosystem. How am I supposed to live from now on?
'God, I certainly wished to become something beautiful like a flower as I was dying. But I never once wished to be reincarnated as a mandrake...'
And so, in despair, I cried out again, just as a mandrake would.