Rebirth and new beginnings

I can't breathe. It feels like I'm drowning, like the air has been sucked from my lungs and replaced with thick, suffocating water. Panic claws at me from the inside, my mind racing with frantic thoughts. What is happening to me? Am I being transmigrated into Sakura's body? Or… am I being reborn as her?

The pressure around me is overwhelming, pressing down on all sides. I struggle to calm myself, forcing my thoughts to focus. Slowly, the crushing weight begins to ease, and I feel the pressure receding. I open my eyes—or at least, I think I do—and the world around me shifts into focus.

Giants. There are giants surrounding me. My heart skips a beat, confusion and fear washing over me in waves. Wait… giants? Oh. Oh, no. I'm not surrounded by giants—I'm just… small. Tiny, in fact. The realization hits me like a bolt of lightning: I'm a baby. I've just been born.

The sounds around me are muffled, like I'm hearing them through a thick wall of water. But one voice stands out, warm and full of love. "Isn't she just the cutest? She looks just like her mother," the woman says, her voice soft and soothing.

Her words pierce through the haze of confusion, and a part of me knows that this is my mother—no, Sakura's mother. No, **my** mother.

The realization that I can understand Japanese perfectly brings a wave of relief. ROB—Random Omnipotent Being—didn't strip me of the knowledge I had in my previous life. I cling to that small mercy, knowing it would have been a monumental struggle to relearn what was once my mother tongue.

They named me Sakura, just like in the anime. It's strange, surreal even, to hear my name in this new, fragile body. But I know what's coming. I have to wait until the plot begins, and until then, I'll train myself to be strong—stronger than the Sakura from the anime ever was. But for now… for now, I'm just hungry. The need for nourishment overwhelms everything else, and I do the only thing a newborn can do: I cry.

The world is a blur of sensations as I'm fed, the warmth of milk filling the gnawing emptiness in my tiny belly. The soft, rhythmic beating of a heart near my ear lulls me into a sense of calm. As the initial panic ebbs away, my thoughts return to what the Random Omnipotent Being told me. He mentioned a gift—a "bonus," he called it.

My mind races with possibilities. I've read enough fanfiction to know what this could mean. The most likely scenario? A system. I just need to figure out how to activate it. I try calling out different variations in my mind, feeling a mix of excitement and trepidation with each attempt.

Finally, something clicks.

[System binding to host body...]

[Time remaining: 24 hours 0 minutes 0 seconds]

I knew it. Relief floods through me, the familiar pulse of excitement beating in time with my tiny heart. The keyword "System Boot" was what I needed to activate it, and now… now I just have to wait 24 hours to see what this gift truly is.

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