The So-Called Rebirth

"Hey, are you okay? Hang in there, we're almost at the hospital."

I wanted to speak, but realized I couldn't control my body.

The feeling was unbearably uncomfortable, as if I were deep at the bottom of a lake.

Wait... where was this?

I sensed light, and I also felt myself being pushed along.

A hospital...?

I tried hard to open my eyes, but all I could make out through the blur were people in nurse uniforms desperately pushing something.

Was this... a hospital bed...?

Was I being pushed on a hospital bed?

"The patient has severe intracranial bleeding and multiple fractures all over the body!"

Me...? Had I been in some kind of accident?

Come to think of it... my consciousness was getting more and more hazy...

"The patient's breathing is getting weaker! They're barely breathing at all!"

I wasn't breathing anymore...?

No way. Was I going to die?

I'd only just graduated, hadn't I...?

My life had only just begun... right?

Thinking that, I forced my mouth open with all my strength.

"Ah..."

I didn't know whether my voice had reached them, but the nurses seemed shocked that I could still make a sound.

I don't want to die yet... There are so many things I still haven't done... At least leave me one breath... Let me...

"Ah..."

"Aaaah!!!"

With a scream, I opened my eyes.

I could still breathe... I could still see my surroundings clearly. I was still alive...

What just happened... was it a dream?

But before long, I realized I still could barely move.

No... it wasn't that I couldn't move... It was that moving took an incredible amount of effort...

I strained to lift my hand, and what came into view was a baby's arm.

What... was going on...?

Before I could fully process it, an unfamiliar man and woman leaned close to my face.

"xxx-----xxx-----"

"xx----xxxxxxxx----"

They were speaking a language I couldn't understand, as if they were giving thanks for something...

I raised my hand, wanting to push their faces away, but in their eyes, it was only a newborn baby instinctively waving its arms.

"xxx----xxxx!"

"xx-----xxx"

What kind of joke was this... This was my hand??

I opened my mouth and discovered the only sounds I could make were "ah-woo, ah-woo" and crying.

I completely accepted reality. Apparently, I had died.

And after dying, I had reincarnated into a baby's body.

Inside the crib, I turned my head left and right, looking at the wooden things around me.

There were no lights... nor any of the appliances from my previous life... They were even using candles.

Had I reincarnated into the Middle Ages?

Honestly, it didn't matter much to me either way. It was just... I felt sorry that I hadn't been able to repay my mother.

Mom must be crying over my death right now... Just thinking that made me unconsciously grow sad. A baby's body seemed very bad at controlling its emotions.

Although I hadn't made much noise, that blond woman still came over to comfort me.

I clearly wasn't crying or making any physical movements, yet she still sensed that I was in a bad mood?

I couldn't understand her language, but I could feel her gentleness.

Were mothers all like this...?

Amid that gentle singing, I fell asleep.