The 5-Billion-Year Button
It was a nightmare.
The world itself was nothing but a nightmare.
"Number 717. Food."
A cold voice—one that might have held contempt—stabbed into his ears.
A dog bowl was flung onto the freezing concrete floor. Inside it sat a gray slurry of ground-up nutrients, something that only barely qualified as food.
He bent low and began to wolf it down.
Tasteless.
Tasteless.
Tasteless.
But he had to eat. Eating meant he could fill tomorrow's quota. Filling the quota meant he wouldn't be hurt.
He would rather have died—but this damned world would not even grant him that mercy.
"Ah..."
If only…
If only I had been a woman…
"Is that so?"
A faint crackling sound, and then a voice. The soft, lovely voice came from behind him, and the man turned.
"Ah…"
Through the cold concrete walls, he saw a sky he had not laid eyes on since childhood—so familiar, so desperately longed-for. The faint sounds and moonlight that had once filtered past thick bars struck every one of his senses at once.
"Y-you are…"
"Me?"
"Wh-who…?"
"Hmm. Fair enough."
A beautiful woman with golden hair. She wore armor as if she were marching off to war—the kind a paladin might wear—and her cheeks were faintly flushed as she spoke.
"If I say I'm a goddess, does that ring a bell?"
"A g-goddess…?"
"Mm-hm. The creator of this world. Your eternal mother and father."
She introduced herself as a goddess, then let a faintly sorrowful expression settle over her face as she continued.
"What a bleak place… Humans are cruel, aren't they… Though maybe you have to become this cruel just to survive."
She muttered the last part under her breath, then plucked a red button out of thin air.
"Here. This is the button."
"Pardon…?"
"Ah. Maybe that's not quite it? Anyway."
She jabbed the button a few times while saying things that made no sense at all, then pushed it toward him with a mischievous look.
"If you press this, you become a woman."
"Eh."
"In exchange, 'you' will vanish from this world. Every trace of 'you' will disappear—memories, name, footprints, all of it. And—"
Thud.
"Oh?"
Before the goddess could finish, the man pressed that luscious red button. The motion was completely natural.
A button that would make him a higher being was right in front of him. A ticket out of this hell was right in front of him. Who in their right mind would refuse?
If it meant escaping this hell, he would have sold his soul and body both without a second thought.
"I see."
The goddess's expression grew a little sad.
"Was it really that hard…"
Slowly, light filled the room.
"I am Aphrosia. Your creator, and the master of this world. Goddess of beauty and love, of lust and lewdness, of masturbation and dildos."
A voice steeped in divinity settled over him, easing the tension from his body.
The cold concrete floor melted away, replaced by a warm white substance. Was this what people meant by magic?
He could only stare blankly as the world around him transformed in an instant.
"In the name of the chief goddess, the contract is complete."
A white space.
It felt vast and yet somehow narrow, and within it furniture began to appear one piece at a time—beds and the like. Walls stretched and a bathroom took shape; gaps opened between them and a toilet emerged.
As he watched the space reshape itself at will, his own body began to change.
"I left something unfinished earlier, didn't I?"
That lovely voice reached him again.
"The being called 'you' is gone. And a new 'you' will fill the empty place."
His height shrank. Breasts began to swell. His short hair lengthened a little and changed color. His voice thinned, and some indefinable allure settled over him.
"From now on, you will live here with me for five billion years. Have you heard of the Room of Time and Spirit? Five billion years in here is barely an instant outside."
The goddess stripped off her heavy armor as she spoke.
"After the Great Heavenly-Demon War, the heavenly realm nearly fell once. Most of the angels were sacrificed, and every god but me entered a healing slumber."
Between her hips, something enormous appeared.
It was as thick as a forearm, ugly veins standing out along its length—something so large that comparing it to what he had once owned would have been an insult.
"For the next five billion years, I will impregnate you with this—again and again—and rebuild the heavens. The children born that way will help you when you live outside."
"Uh… um…"
"Hm? Is there something you don't understand?"
"Something I don't understand…? I don't understand any of this. From the beginning to the end."
A pair of green eyes stared blankly at the goddess. Fully transformed into a woman now, she practically had dozens of question marks floating over her head.
"Hmm."
The goddess scratched her cheek, looking flustered, then let out a small sigh.
"Just spread your legs for now."
"Eh."
"You'll figure it out after getting fucked for five billion years!"
The goddess grabbed the body of the woman who had once been a man, lifted her, and tossed her onto the bed.
As slow caresses began and pleasure rolled over her, the woman who had once been a man closed her eyes and surrendered herself.
And so time began to flow.
Time passed in a rush.
Life in a space where morning and night meant nothing—where those concepts might not even exist. Waking up was morning; collapsing into exhausted sleep after spending the whole day tangled together on the bed was night.
Five billion years was an unimaginably long stretch of time, yet in a space that could produce anything one imagined, that span became something else entirely: time for possibility.
Time spent coupling, showering, reading books.
New angels and gods were born one after another and waited on the two of them with devoted care. The more they did, the more the hours of sex gave way to hours of reading and the like.
"Look at this!"
"I saw it."
"Ehhh… Can't you at least turn your head and show a little interest?"
"I've already seen every outfit in this place. There isn't a single one I haven't seen."
A woman lay on the plush bed, flipping through a book. Looking at her—once a man, now without so much as a trace of manhood left—the goddess felt a deep satisfaction.
At the same time, watching someone who could look at her and remain completely unfazed left the goddess a little sulky.
"Ugh… Fine."
She closed the book she had been reading and sat up. Her large breasts swayed for a moment with the motion.
"Hmm."
"Well?"
"A naked apron."
"Mm-hm. So? So?"
A white apron trimmed with pink frills. Faint stains from the time she had insisted she would try cooking still showed on the fabric, and somehow those stains had become their own little accent.
"Hmm."
The woman studied the goddess with careful attention.
"I like it."
"Hm?"
"I'm going to wash up. Wait for me."
"Huh?"
She rose from the bed and disappeared into the bathroom in the corner of the space.
The goddess stared after her blankly, then changed her own clothes. She yanked the zipper of a thick jumper all the way up, hiding her body. A trembling voice drifted through the white space.
"W-wash up? What does that mean…? Huh? Why…?"
A meaningless question floated in the empty air.
"Nngh—hiiik—hhhnnn…!"
"Haa… That was refreshing."
"W-why… I'm a goddess, you know…!"
"Heh."
The woman idly kneaded the twitching ass of the goddess collapsed face-down on the bed as she spoke.
"I've been taking that cock for five billion years. I know every weak spot by heart."
"I've been taking that pussy for five billion years too…!"
"Then I guess I just had more talent. Or maybe the goddess simply doesn't?"
"Y-you little…!"
The goddess's body jerked in small spasms; she trembled from head to toe.
The woman scooped the semen dripping down between her thighs with a finger, licked it clean, and hummed a little tune under her breath.
Time had marched on, and even that vast span of five billion years was drawing to a close.
"It's almost over."
"Yeah… It went by so fast."
"I've completely forgotten how I used to live…"
"That's a good thing. Forgetting means the memories were good ones."
"Is that so… Maybe it is."
The woman slowly sat up. Pale particles gathered around her and wove themselves into clothing.
"It's time."
"I had fun."
"I did too."
The hour of parting had come.
A small door popped into existence inside the white space. When the woman opened it, a space flooded with brilliant light appeared beyond.
"Step through there, and your real life begins."
"My real life…"
"You won't be able to take what you learned here with you… but I can give it to you as talent."
"As talent?"
The goddess nodded.
"You learned all that knowledge once, after all. The you out there will have talent for everything you studied here. Reaching the level of skill you have now should only take a moment."
"Hmm… That almost sounds hollow. Maybe it's better that the memories get wiped."
"Heh. That's just how talent works. Going from zero to one and going from one to ten—the difficulty is night and day."
The goddess smiled as she spoke.
"This is goodbye, then."
It was a somewhat melancholy smile.
"Take care."
"No."
Before stepping through the door, the woman allowed a small smile of her own.
"We'll meet again, won't we?"
"Hm?"
"When I die, I come back here, right?"
"That's true… You've already learned that far."
"Then it isn't 'goodbye.'"
At those words, the goddess smiled—a smile that looked almost relieved.
"Yeah. You're right. It isn't."
She put on a gentle, goddess-like smile.
"How about living a little brighter at the Academy?"
"Hmm… I'm fine the way I am."
"People are supposed to live brightly."
"Well, I'll try."
The woman stood before the door. One step, and a new life would begin.
"Freya."
"Yes?"
"Come back safe."
At the goddess's words, the woman—Freya—smiled a little.
"I will. I'll be back."
Freya stepped forward.
There was light.