Ayinakoji did not feel pain anymore.
He did not feel the road.
The blood.
The cold.
The weight of his body.
Because he had no body now.
He stood in endless space.
Black and white stretched in every direction like a world painted without color.
Cards drifted through the air.
Some burned upside down.
Some turned into birds.
Some vanished before touching the ground.
Nothing followed rules here.
At the center of it all stood a throne made of broken clocks.
Their hands moved backward.
Forward.
Then stopped.
Then laughed.
And on that throne sat the smiling figure.
Mismatched eyes.
Gold and violet.
Hands folded under his chin.
Watching him with impossible interest.
"Well?" the figure asked.
"Are you going to keep staring, or should I make an entrance again?"
Ayinakoji said nothing.
The figure gasped dramatically.
"How rude! I gave you atmosphere, mystery, style… and this is what I get?"
He leapt from the throne.
Instead of falling, he floated upside down in front of Ayinakoji.
Then snapped his fingers and stood normally on the air.
"I am Joker," he said with a grand bow.
"God of Reincarnation. Collector of endings. Distributor of second chances. Professional entertainer."
Silence.
Ayinakoji looked at him.
Really looked.
No blur.
No avoidance.
No turning away.
Joker blinked.
Then his smile softened.
Just slightly.
"…And you are Ayinakoji Tempest."
The name struck harder than the truck.
Ayinakoji's lips parted.
"…You know my name."
The words came out quiet.
Fragile.
Joker tilted his head.
"Of course I do."
He tapped the side of his face.
"I know all names. Lost names. Forgotten names. Names never spoken. Names buried under history."
He stepped closer.
"But yours…"
The smile faded.
"…was one of the saddest."
The endless world went still.
Even the floating cards paused.
Ayinakoji lowered his eyes.
He did not know what to do with those words.
No one had ever spoken to him like that.
No one had ever looked sorry.
"…Why?" he asked.
Joker blinked.
"Why what?"
"…Why was my life like that?"
No drama now.
No tricks.
Just a quiet question from someone who had nothing left.
Joker exhaled slowly.
Then waved his hand.
A chair appeared behind Ayinakoji.
Simple.
Wooden.
"Sit," Joker said.
Ayinakoji hesitated.
Then sat.
The chair was real.
Solid.
Warm.
That alone felt strange.
Joker walked in a slow circle around him.
Hands behind his back.
"Every world has laws," he began.
"Luck. Fate. Balance. Cause and effect."
He glanced sideways.
"And sometimes…"
His voice lowered.
"…those laws break."
A card appeared between his fingers.
One side was blank.
The other side was torn.
"You were born in a place where many threads crossed badly. Misfortune stacked on misfortune. Tiny failures becoming larger ones."
He flicked the card away.
"It should have corrected itself."
The sky above them cracked like glass.
"It did not."
Ayinakoji listened in silence.
"So I was… an accident?"
Joker stopped walking.
Looked directly at him.
"No."
The answer came fast.
Firm.
"You were never a mistake."
The words hit somewhere deep inside him.
A place that had been closed for years.
Joker continued more softly.
"You were a victim of a broken system."
Ayinakoji's fingers tightened against the chair.
He looked away quickly.
No tears came.
He had forgotten how.
Joker pretended not to notice.
Instead, he clapped once.
The broken clocks around the throne rang like bells.
"Now then! Enough tragedy. You died horribly. I feel bad. So…"
He spread his arms wide.
Cards burst into light around them.
"I am offering you compensation!"
Ayinakoji blinked.
"…Compensation?"
"Yes!"
Joker pointed dramatically.
"A second life. New world. New body. Better odds. Less emotional damage, hopefully."
He leaned in.
"Interested?"
Ayinakoji stared at the floor beneath the chair.
It was made of stars.
Each one moving under glass.
A new life.
The words felt impossible.
He thought of his room.
The ceiling crack.
The mirror under the blanket.
The road.
The pizza he never reached.
Then he thought of something else.
Something he had almost forgotten.
Wanting.
"…Would it be different?" he asked.
Joker's expression changed.
For once, no smile.
No joke.
No performance.
"That," he said quietly, "depends on what you do with it."
A long silence followed.
Then Ayinakoji asked the question that mattered most.
"…Would anyone want me there?"
Joker froze.
Not because he lacked an answer.
Because he hated that the question existed.
He crouched until they were eye level.
"I cannot promise the world will be kind."
He placed a hand over Ayinakoji's chest.
"But I can promise this."
Golden light spread between them.
"You will have a chance to be more than what hurt you."
Something warm entered him.
Not power.
Not magic.
Hope.
Small.
Weak.
Real.
Ayinakoji closed his eyes.
When he opened them again…
He nodded.
"…I want to try."
For the first time since meeting him, Joker smiled without mischief.
A genuine smile.
"Excellent answer."
He stood and snapped his fingers.
The endless void transformed.
A giant wheel of worlds appeared overhead.
Countless realms spinning.
Forests.
Empires.
Ruins.
Oceans floating upside down.
Cities inside stars.
Mountains made of crystal.
Joker pointed upward like a showman revealing his masterpiece.
"Welcome to selection!"
Ayinakoji looked up in awe.
"You'll be reborn in a world of swords, magic, monsters, kingdoms, and terrible political decisions."
Ayinakoji blinked.
"…What?"
"Never mind."
Joker waved that away.
He walked through the air, inspecting glowing symbols.
"You need a body with potential…"
"Stable soul adaptation…"
"High mana tolerance…"
"No goat curses…"
"Ah! There we are."
A circle of light descended around Ayinakoji.
Runes spun around him.
Ancient symbols he could not read.
Joker looked strangely proud.
"You'll be born as a High Human."
He raised one finger.
"Strong body."
Second finger.
"Excellent magic affinity."
Third finger.
"Long lifespan."
Then he grinned.
"And a face less depressed."
Ayinakoji almost reacted.
Almost.
"…Do I keep my memories?"
Joker's smile became smaller.
"Yes."
"…Why?"
"Because forgetting everything would be easy."
He folded his arms.
"And I think you deserve the chance to remember pain…"
He pointed at him.
"…and still choose to live."
The runes brightened.
Wind rushed upward from nowhere.
Ayinakoji stood from the chair.
It vanished behind him.
The world of black and white began to shake.
He looked at Joker one last time.
"…Thank you."
Joker placed a hand over his heart dramatically.
Then spoke more quietly than before.
"No."
He smiled.
"Do better than your first world did."
The light swallowed everything.
Sound vanished.
Warmth returned.
A heartbeat echoed in darkness.
Then another.
Then another.
Ayinakoji could not move.
Could not speak.
Could not open his eyes.
But he could hear something.
Voices.
Distant.
Muffled.
Panicked.
A woman crying.
A man shouting.
Leaves rustling.
Water nearby.
Then cold air touched his skin.
A sharp cry escaped his throat.
Not from fear.
From birth.
Somewhere in a forest, beneath an old sky, a child entered the world.
And for the first time…
He was heard.