Compensation θ ~ I might be late for reincarnation, but since I was born as the talented eldest son of a prestigious noble, I might be on the winning side.

The place beyond the gate was still pitch dark.

However, unlike before, there were numerous light sources scattered like stars in the sky.

“What is this?”

Strangely enough, a single white thread, gleaming like silk, hung in front of me. I couldn’t help but stare at it, tracing the thread with my gaze, until I involuntarily looked at my own hand, which I hadn’t seen for a long time.

The reason was that the end of the thread was buried in my left hand. To be precise, it seemed to be growing from my palm.

“What does this thread mean? Shouldn’t I reincarnate immediately after passing through the gate?”

I asked, but even though I waited, I received no response. Perhaps this space was a passage to another world beyond the gate.

My gaze followed the thread that extended upwards. I had to squint my eyes to see it properly. It led to a tiny hole, like a star among many others, which seemed to be the source of the thread.

“Could that be the exit? It looks like a pinhole from here.”

With nothing else in sight, I wondered if I had to climb this thread.

“Wait a minute. No, this won’t work.”

Because, it was incredibly thin.

The thread was thin, like a kite string, and it didn’t seem suitable for climbing at all. It was soft and fragile, and I couldn’t imagine it being used as a rope. If only it were more like a wire or something sturdy. But this thread in front of me looked soft, and I doubted it could support my weight.

“Hey, is anyone here? Can I get some explanation?”

I asked, although I knew it might be in vain. I tried pulling the thread for a while and waited for someone to explain the situation, but nothing changed. It seemed that no one would respond in this space.

“I can’t stay here forever. Should I try to climb it?”

I never expected to be doing something like the ‘The Spider Thread’[1] here. In that story, if I remember correctly, when the protagonist tried to climb the thread to compete with others, the thread would snap. However, as far as I could see, I was the only one here. There seemed to be no rivals or obstacles here.

“Alright, let’s do it.”

I said to myself, knowing that the situation demanded it. But even then, I was hesitant to climb. I needed to be careful.

“This is my lifeline, after all. I can’t afford to mess it up.”

Since the thread is too thin to grasp, I’ll pull it towards me and wind it around my hand as I climb.

I remember from a documentary on TV that you’d need around 30,000 strands of spider silk to support a 60-kilogram human hanging from it.

The thread I’m currently holding is thicker than Earth’s spider silk, but it’s still only about as thick as a few hundred strands.

I’d like to believe that this thread, being dropped by a divine entity from another world, isn’t ordinary. Well, I have no choice but to hope.

Fortunately, I’ve become quite agile. Perhaps my body has adapted to this space, or maybe the gravity in this space is different. Otherwise, there’s no way I could climb so quickly like this.

Slowly, but surely, I’m getting closer to the exit. That’s what keeps me going.

“Isn’t this getting dangerous?”

By the time the exit, which initially appeared like a pinhole, had grown to the size of a baseball, something unusual happened to the thread.

“Why is it getting weaker?”

Not only was the already delicate thread’s surface being frayed, but rough and fuzzy areas were also appearing, and there were multiple of them.

“Don’t break on me now. Just hold on until the end” he muttered anxiously.

The exit was still not close enough to reach with a leap, and there were no footholds to jump from. He wished there was something else he could grab onto. However, there was nothing usable. He had no choice but to climb carefully.

As he looked up at the exit and moved his hands, he felt like he saw something glitter in his field of vision.

“What’s that?”

It wasn’t his imagination. He refrained from blinking and squint his eyes. Occasionally, he could see streaks of linear light crossing the white threads.

“That also looks like a thread, but… for something that looks like a thread, it’s not getting tangled, and it’s moving unusually fast, isn’t it?”

The golden thread weaved in an erratic path, resembling the movements of a pendulum. He watched its trajectory closely.

“It moves like that, which suggests there might be something at its end that provides propulsion or acts like a pendulum weight. But I can’t see it from here.”

It seemed to swing back and forth unpredictably. The golden thread moved in a way that made it unpredictable. Even though reason told him to ignore it and continue upwards, he couldn’t seem to take his eyes off it.

“Whoa, it’s coming this way!”

Suddenly, a streak of golden light zipped right above him.

“Did its trajectory change? It moved way too fast. That was really close.”

“Damn it, is that the cause of those damages to the thread?”

At the spot where the golden light had passed, there were visibly new frayed parts in the thread. There had been nothing there just a moment ago.

What the hell is this? What kind of harassment is this! How do I even defend against an attack from the air? I’m getting frustrated with my lack of control of the situation I’m in.

This thread is my lifeline. I must absolutely reach the exit and go to the other world.

If that thing comes again, I will try to catch it. If it tries to escape, I’ll catch it before it gets away. When the light that moved away approaches the thread again, I’ll aim for it.

“Come on… hurry up and get over here!”

It’s a matter of split seconds. Without blinking, I search for the path of the golden thread. The golden light moves quickly. Every time it approaches, I reach out, but every time, it ends up being a miss.

Darn it! The thread got cut again. The tension builds up, and I can feel saliva accumulating in my mouth. It shouldn’t be moving around so much.

I realize that waiting until it’s safe won’t work. In other words, I need to anticipate its movements and act accordingly to catch it.

Almost there! Just a little faster.

Ah! I touched it for a moment.

A bit more, just a bit more.

Now! Alright, I’ve got it!

“Ouch! What is this?!”

It hurts like hell, but I won’t let it go. Looking closely, there’s some sort of spindle-shaped thorn or barb attached to the end of the golden thread. I grabbed it hard, and it’s dug deep into my palm, blood oozing from the wound. But well, this pain is nothing to me now.

“I’m not letting this thread go, no way.”

The golden thread was thrashing around, and it was digging into my wound. It hurt, oh boy, it hurt. But I could endure it. If I let go, I’d be in big trouble, so I kept winding the thread around my hand with the needle-like thorn in it, despite my bloody hand.

My right hand was throbbing, and the pain start to spread to my arm. The thorn was still stuck in, and although the blood seemed to clot, any movement would make it start bleeding again. But I couldn’t worry about that. After all, this body was going to disappear anyway. What mattered was reaching the exit as quickly as possible.

I continued to ascend.

Surprisingly, the golden thread was stronger than it looked, and it felt like it had been reinforced. It was like handling a wild horse. Nevertheless, I wasn’t going to give up. I forcefully unwound it, fighting against the resistance.

“What’s that sound?”

As I got closer to the exit, a light, rhythmic sound, like ‘click, click, click,’ gradually became more distinct.

Is that the sound of striking wood? Having a BGM play at a time like this feels like the beginning of a story.

Alright, just a little more… can I make it?

I reached out my arm as far as I could, finally grabbing the edge of the hole.

At that moment, I felt as if everything that made up my being was melting and fading away.

“It feels…Strange… Goodbye, the old me.”

——————————————————————————-

[1] A story written by Ryuunosuke Akutagawa in 1918 about a criminal who tries to climb from hell to heaven with a spider thread.