The first thing I found myself doing once I woke up was staring at an assortment of toys that were dangling above my head. An assortment of stuffed animals to be exact. There were also some white painted bars surrounding me, in a similar manner to a prison or a cage.
I tried to move my body, but it was to no avail. It just wouldn't listen to me—every time I told it to move, I just got these pitiful twitches instead. Feeling frustrated, I turned to my side and found myself face to face with a baby. By looks alone, they looked to be around 1 month old.
A... baby? Why was there a baby here? There was no reason for a baby to be in this weird cage... no, now that I looked at it more like... a crib. The assortment of toys above me, the baby next to me, the cage-like structure.
This is a crib... so why am I in here... Don't tell me. I widened my eyes at my sudden realization and looked down at my body. I quickly realized this was not my body. My toes were extremely small, and the same could be said about my hands. I stared at them for a second. I'm a baby.
...
No, no, no, I can't be a baby! I'm a properly functioning adult! This is just a bad dream—I'm going to wake up any second now, and—
And then it came back to me. My memories, my previous life, my death.
I died in a car crash, saving a little kid that was about to get run over. What a cliché death, I thought wryly. I died saving somebody else's life. It honestly made me a bit bitter. I gave my life so somebody else would live. While most people would feel proud of themselves—I could only feel regret. Well, I can't change my past selves' actions, so might as well live with it.
But what was the real question, how was I able to live with it? According to the memories, I had died, so why was I alive.
Reincarnation.
That was the only conclusion I could come up with. It sounded farfetched, I know, but there was really no other explanation. I'd never exactly believed in reincarnation—I didn't think I would go to heaven or hell either. I just thought I would, well, disappear.
Okay, so I got reincarnated—great. And not only that, but I also kept my memories. Does everyone keep their memories when they reincarnate or something? I mean I was just a normal guy in my past life, so it doesn't make sense that I would reincarnate with my memories, but I quickly dismissed that thought. If that were the case, then the world would be thrown into chaos. I decided smartly that I would think about it some other time.
I turned to my side and peered over towards the baby from earlier. By the looks of it, the baby was a girl. So, would this be my sister or something? I honestly didn't know. For all I knew, this could have been an orphanage or something. The baby next to me didn't have to be my sister, she could have been of completely different parentage.
All of a sudden, my body felt tired. The desire to close my eyes grew more and more before I finally relented. I closed my eyes slowly, and let the darkness take over me.
I opened my eyes slowly and found myself being carried in the arms of a huge giant. Well, not a giant exactly, but with my small stature, she looked like a giant.
The giant had red hair and round silver eyes. She had a pretty face—though if I had to say, she looked more "cute" than "pretty". With a huge smile on her face, she rocked me in her arms slowly while humming an unfamiliar tune.
Was this my mom? Well, I got reincarnated, and this is the first adult figure I'd encountered so far—so I was going to assume this was my mother.
Holding my little arm out, I touched her cheek slightly which caused her to notice I had woken up, "You're finally awake, good morning my little Rory."
Rory? Was she talking to me? What am I saying, of course, she was, so did that mean that that was my name? Rory... Ro-ry, I smiled to myself in content. I like it. It could have definitely been worse—I mean my previous name... My previous...name...
I couldn't remember.
Not just my name, but anybody's names. My parents, friends, teachers, all of their names were completely lost from my memory. While I had gotten the memories of my previous life, the little details were cut out, such as the names of everyone I knew.
Not only that, but I couldn't feel any emotional attachment towards them either. Whenever I thought about them, it brought absolutely no emotion out of me. No happiness, sadness, anger, love, etc. Was this a side effect of reincarnation? That I would lose all attachment to my previous life so I can focus fully on my current one?
If I was being completely honest, I was really grateful. I don't know about my pre-reincarnation self—or how much he loved them—but I want to live this life to the fullest, I was able to get rid of memories that would hinder my enjoyment and experience of my second life—of course, I would be happy.
Suddenly, a loud cry filled the room, "Waaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
I looked over to where the sound came from and saw a tall, young blonde man carrying a baby. He had features that many would describe as 'handsome'. He possessed a muscular build and had blue eyes.
Looking at the baby in his arms, I widened my eyes. Isn't that the baby who was next to me earlier? Yeah, it definitely was. So, assuming that these two people are my parents, it would seem that my theory about the baby being my sister was correct. Go me!
The blonde guy—who I will be calling my dad for the time being—had a worried expression on his face as he tried to calm my sister's crying down. It was to no avail though, as the crying kept on growing louder as he continued. "Summer, help!" He yelled.
My mom made a smug face, and started laughing dramatically, "Ha-ha-ha, you're just not as good as me! And you were going on about how you would get the children to love you so much more." Well, I was already pretty sure that was the case, but that confirms it—these people were my parents.
Right as soon as she said that my dad pouted childishly. After a few seconds though, he smirked as though he had come up with something genius, "Well, Yang would tell you otherwise," he seemed really proud of it too.
The red-haired woman blushed. She pouted in a similar manner to what her husband had just done, "I'll get better with Yang—I promise!"
"Yeah... right. Every time you try to hold her, she cries non-stop. It's almost as if she's allergic to you."
"She is not!" she huffed, "and that's only now—when she grows older, she'll love us way more."
My dad smirked, making it look like he was absolutely sure that that would never happen, "We'll see Summer, we'll see~." Right as he said that my sister's cries started to grow even louder, causing him to groan in sadness.
"Here, hand Ruby over to me Tai."
Summer, Tai, and Ruby. I just learned all of their names at once. Well, at least now I knew what to call them. It was always good to know what people's names were. And by the way, they talked about this 'Yang' character, she was my sister. Well, would you look at that? I had just learned the names of all my family members. They all sound so familiar, maybe it's because they're my family... or something?
Tai walked over to Summer and handed Ruby to her carefully. She took Ruby in her right arm, and carefully placed me in Tai's. Right as Ruby got into Summer's embrace, her crying stopped almost immediately.
"W-what!? Are you serious? I've been trying for like 10 minutes, and I couldn't get her to stop crying. Why does she stop when I give her to you?" Tai asked with an exasperated sigh.
"Don't you know Tai? A child will always love their mothers more. It's in their biology... or something." Summer pointed out.
"No, it isn't!" Tai yelled, baffled by her claims.
"He-he," She scratched the back of her head in embarrassment, "Well, look on the bright side—it's not like Rory cries when he's around you. He's as quiet as ever!"
"Yeah, but Rory never cries, ever. I don't think that counts," He sighed and pinched his nose, "And I'm so grateful for that, you should have seen Yang when she was a bit younger—I swear she was my sleep's worst enemy."
So, I didn't cry before I regained my memories huh... that's good to hear. I don't particularly want to act like a baby, so if I already acted a bit mature for my age, that's great. Hopefully, when I act a bit more mature than a baby should be, they'll just dismiss it as me being a bit smarter than normal babies.
Summer laughs, "I know Tai, I was there too you know."
"Yeah," Tai said in agreement. He suddenly stopped rocking me in his arms and stood still—it seemed like he was thinking about something, "I still think Xiao Long would have fit them better though," He said with a frown.
"Are you still saying that? Like I said before, Rose fits them way better than Xiao Long ever could have. I mean just listen to it. Rory Rose. Ruby Rose. Don't they just roll off your tongue?" Summer asked.
Ruby... Rose? That name sounds way too familiar. Why can't I put my finger on it though?
Tai pouted slightly, "I guess."
But Summer didn't stop there, "And Yang already has your last name anyway. Isn't Yang Xiao Long enough for you? Even her first name, Yang, is derived from yours, Taiyang, I don't know why your complaining" She argued heatedly.
He held his hands up defensively, "Okay, okay, I got it, I won't mention it any more alright?" Tai said in an attempt to calm her down. When he saw that she did, he sighed, "That doesn't mean I have to like it though," he muttered under his breath. Thankfully for him, Summer didn't hear the last part.
Yang... Xiao Long. Ruby Rose. Summer Rose. Taiyang Xiao Long. No wonder those names sounded familiar, they were the names of the protagonist's family in the popular TV series, RWBY. And now they're my family. Which meant I was reborn into Remnant—as the protagonist's sibling.
Fuck.
It'd been 4 months since I found out I was reborn into Remnant, and let me tell you, the life of a baby was pure torture. Not being able to control my body was one of the worst experiences ever. Being a baby sucked.
Another thing I had to go through was breastfeeding. No matter how much I looked at her, I could not see my mother in a sexual manner. Maybe it was because she was my mom or was it the fact that, since I was a baby, my hormones hadn't started to kick in yet. Whatever it was, all I knew was that sucking on Mom's tits was repulsing, and I couldn't wait to grow out of it.
Well, that was basically it for the torture part, everything else about being a baby was smooth sailing, I didn't have to do anything, my parents took care of all my needs, and a bunch of other benefits.
I thought I would have a problem with the baby food I was forced to eat, but it was honestly not that bad. Well, that was mostly because I couldn't taste it. As a little baby, my taste buds had not developed completely, which meant I couldn't taste the baby food even if I wanted to. The texture was the only thing that could have proved to be a problem, but the texture was pretty nice in my opinion.
Oh yeah, I also met Yang by the way.
I met her a day after I found out about her. Mom and Dad wanted us to play together, so we did. I don't know what I expected, but she was a normal baby. Ruby and her both. Maybe I expected them to be some kind of super-babies unlike all others since they were the protagonists of RWBY. But nope. they were normal for the most part.
Now let's talk about my parents. Summer Rose and Taiyang Xiao Long. Mom and Dad.
Mom was... how should I say this—she was completely infatuated with me. If you were to observe how she interacted with her children, it would be blatantly obvious that she favored me over Ruby and Yang. She fed me first, played with me as much as she could, and she looked absolutely devastated when I would cry—which didn't happen much.
Dad was kind of the opposite of her though. He liked Yang the most, and then Ruby and me. From what I observed though, he didn't favor either of us over the other. He treated Ruby and me essentially the same.
Don't get me wrong, he didn't hate us or anything, he just seemed to love Yang a bit more.
Well, enough about that, let's talk about the current situation at hand.
Me trying to walk!
Placing my hand on the wall, I shakily get up on my two legs. Wow, am I weak. Every time I tried to do this; I was reminded of how weak I really was as a baby. I could die at any second really—especially with monsters like Grimm roaming around.
"You can do it, Rory!" Mom cheered while clapping her hands enthusiastically.
I slowly let go of the wall and try my best to keep balance. This experience gave me a newfound respect for babies that could do this at my age. How could they walk with such flimsy legs? I didn't know, but it was amazing. Once I balanced myself, I started to take my first steps. With each step, my balance becoming better.
《Acquired skill [Walk LV 1]》
Ooh, a new skill!
Oh, did I not tell you about this yet? Well, allow me to explain—this was the Mysterious Voice.
Its first appearance was a few days after I found myself in this world. I was going on about my day like normal, and then boom! Mysterious Voice showed up.
I believe the first skill I got was Auditory Enhancement, followed up by Vision Enhancement, Olfactory Enhancement, and Tactile Enhancement, and some others. They were all 'skills' that the Mysterious Voice granted me.
I was extremely surprised when I first heard the voice, but I got over it pretty quickly. I had reincarnated with my memories in a world that I had originally thought of as fantasy, something like that wasn't going to shake me for too long.
The surprise quickly turned into excitement. I mean skills were something straight out of a video game, which meant that I had an advantage in this world. Something that no one else had. Something exclusive to me.
My thoughts were interrupted by Mom pulling me into a huge hug. "Ooh, you're sooo smart Rory. To be able to walk at such a young age.
Look, Mom, I'm flattered, but you're holding on to me a bit too tightly. A few seconds of hugging later, she finally let me go slowly, the huge smile still present on her face. From the corner of my eye, I saw Ruby heading over to the same wall I was just at. She placed her arm on the wall like I had earlier and tried.
As soon as she let go of the wall though, she tumbled to the floor—rolling a few times.
"Oh my god Ruby, are you okay?" Mom asked in worry as she headed over to Ruby. She picked her up and started to rub the spot that made contact with the floor when Ruby fell.
Ha-ha, you might have been able to master the art of crawling rather quickly, Ruby, but this is on a completely different level. Walking is no ordinary task; it requires hours of practice and countless failures to perfect. Don't think you can get it immediately as I did.
Ruby squirmed out of Mom's grasp and headed back to the same wall. Oh, are you trying once more? But as expected, her attempts were to no avail. She lost her balance and tumbled to the floor like earlier. Yep, as I said, it's not easy.
"Rory! Ruby!"
I turned my head around to see a blonde-haired toddler—Yang—walking towards me. She was still wearing her shoes, and she had a half-eaten chocolate bar in her hands.
"We're back Summer," Dad said as he placed three grocery bags on the floor and took off his jacket.
Mom raised her eyebrows skeptically, "Did you really get everything this time?"
Dad gasped, "Of course I did, why would I not get everything on the list?"
"Really? Are you really asking that? After the last time when you forgot half the list, I sent you to get!" Mom said while glaring at him.
"O-okay, that's fair I guess. But yes, I did get everything this time—I even double-checked just in case," He reassured her.
So, they went to get groceries huh? When you're a baby, nobody really tells you what they're going to do and where they're going to go. They just do it—so I never know where they're going.
Mom walked over to Dad and looks into the bags. She looked over everything and nodded a few times in confirmation, "Yep, you really did get everything this time—good job," She said with a pleased smile on her face.
Dad said something under his breath, but I couldn't hear him because he was a bit too far away. Well, that's fine. I have something more important to do now anyway. I crawled over to Yang and patted her on the back to get her attention.
Yang turned towards me and cocked her head. What do you think about this, Yang? I got back up on two feet like I was doing a few minutes earlier and walked a few steps.
"Woooah, Rory can walk now!" Yang squealed as she tackled me. She was a whole lot more excited than I thought she was going to be.
Ahh, get off of me! Of course, she couldn't hear me, I didn't say anything out loud after all.
I thrashed around in her embrace, and she finally decided to let go of me around 30 seconds later. I gathered myself and glared at her.
Mom apparently noticed this, and she gasped slightly, "Are you hungry?"
What? No, I was not hungry. Where did she get that from?
"Aww, you're hungry aren't you. Don't worry, mommy has lots of milk for you~."
No seriously, I'm not hungry. I'm perfectly—
I was forcefully breastfed again. It was disgusting as usual.
Disgusting, I thought to myself as I looked at the spoon full of carrot flavored mush. The mush—baby food—was absolutely horrendous.
I know I had said that it was not that bad before, but that was back when my taste buds were not fully developed enough to actually taste it. But now they had developed to the point where I could taste the poor excuse for food completely.
I had even gotten the Taste Enhancement skill for god's sake!
Why did I have to be a baby again? Why couldn't I just have been dropped into this world like one of those isekai protagonists? That way, I wouldn't have to go through this disgusting experience. But alas, I was reincarnated as a baby—where I would have to through the struggles of a baby as well.
The only good thing about being a baby is that I can have a new start. I just have to go through this for a little longer. The long-term benefits of being reborn as a baby are much better than the other option.
"Say ahhhh~!" Mom said as she brought the spoon of baby food closer to my mouth.
No get it away from me! I shook my head rapidly, not allowing the spoon to enter my mouth.
Mom frowned, "Why are you being so stubborn? You used to just fine with no problem," she said as she looked at the spoon in her hands, concerned.
Well, maybe because I couldn't actually taste it back then.
She turned her head towards Ruby, who was sleeping, "Ruby ate her share just fine. She even went to sleep."
Well, sorry I'm not a normal baby. I looked over towards Ruby and sighed. Must be nice being an actual baby.
Suddenly, the door behind Mom opened, and Dad came in with a few bags in his hands. He had the bags in his right hand and Yang in his left. "Still having trouble feeding Rory?" He asked with a troubled expression.
"Yeah, he just won't eat. I really don't get it, he used to eat fine like a month ago—and then boom! He doesn't eat anymore," Mom huffed, throwing her arms in the air.
Dad smirked "Maybe he's going through his rebellious stage. I still remember mine," He said while making a 'thinking' face. It was obviously fake though.
"He's not a teenager! And I doubt you went through yours when you were less than a year old!" Mom yelled which caused Dad to shut up rather quickly. It was obvious that she was not in a mood for jokes at the moment.
"Okay, okay, calm down, it was a joke," He said. Dad then reached into one of the bags and pulled out a container from it. The label on the container read, 'Chocolate Flavored Baby Food'.
Are you serious? I love you Dad! That's got to taste much better than this disgusting mush! I mean, it was still baby food, but it was chocolate favored. It might not taste good per se, but it would still taste better than this carrot-favored mush.
"Are you serious? I doubt he would eat it even if it is chocolate-favored. I mean, I don't think he can even taste yet." She points out.
I can taste it, and I will eat it. Please, give it to me! I want to taste some chocolate!
Dad shakes his head, "I'm pretty sure he can taste—I mean, why else would he not be eating?"
"Well, I still don't think he would eat it. I mean, he's not even a year old, I doubt he has a preference." She stops to think for a second, before an amused expression donned her face, "What do you think Rory? Say 'yes' if you want to eat it and say 'no' if you don't."
Are you serious, woman? You know I'm not even a year old yet right? Hell, you even pointed it out a few times. What was up with these expectations for hers? Sure, I might not be an ordinary baby, but she doesn't know that. Though she was probably saying that so she could prove her point.
I wouldn't allow it though! I have to do this, for my taste buds.
Dad pinched the bridge of his nose, "That's not going to work Summer. As you pointed out a few times, he's not even a year old yet, I doubt he'll be able to speak—"
"Yesh!" I cut him off. Huh, the pronunciation was a bit iffy, but there was nothing I could do about that. Like my taste buds, my vocal cords were not developed to the point where I could pronounce things perfectly. Not that it mattered, I was pretty sure I got the job done anyway.
Both he and Mom froze when they comprehended what had just happened.
Almost immediately, Mom brought me into a tight hug, "You finally said your first would~!" She nuzzled against me in happiness as she continued to praise me for saying my first word.
I looked over to where Dad just was and saw that he was nowhere to be found. Before I could think anything about the matter, he came back to the room with a super advanced-looking camera. "Say it again, say something else again."
Oi, I just said my first word you know? Give me a break, I'm tired. And I had just said "yes", hadn't I? Why weren't they giving me my chocolate!?
"He's going to say 'mama', just you watch."
"Nope, he'll definitely say 'papa'."
Ugh, they were so lucky I was a smart baby. If they did this for another baby, they would just stay quiet. Hmm, what to do... I guess I'll go with Mom then. She did fawn over me a lot, and there was no child that didn't enjoy being the favorite.
"Mama~!" I squeal.
Mom's eyes tear up, and she brings me into a tight embrace.
"Yang said my name first," Dad said with a pout, but it was obvious that he was happy as well.
She just ignored him and continued to hug me, "I love you my little Rory." She said as she held me even tighter than before. I could feel her tears of happiness feel against my back.
Look, I'm flattered and all, but can I have my chocolate now?
I looked over to Mom who was currently cooking up a batch of cookies. I smiled in content. She's distracted, which means I can finally go to the place I discovered a few days ago. I hadn't gotten the chance for the last few days because either Mom or Dad were there when I tried.
They didn't try to stop me or anything, but I just didn't want to go when they were present. Call it being paranoid, but my gut instinct told me that it was a bad idea—so I listened to it.
Making sure not to make any noise, I slowly crawled away from the kitchen, and towards the stairs. I looked over to Mom one more time and internally nodded my head.
Once I reached the bottom of the stairs, I placed my right foot on the first step, and carefully started to climb. It's a pain in the ass with this tiny body, but I can still do it pretty efficiently now. Reaching the top of the stairs, I turned right and waddled down the hallway that led to my destination.
I was pretty good at walking by then. I couldn't sprint or anything, but I could do a decent run with ease. If I couldn't do that much after 2 years—and the mind of an adult—I would be severely disappointed in myself.
I reached the end of the hallway and made another turn right. Once I did, I found myself face to face with a door that was labeled 'Library'.
How I didn't notice this before was still a mystery to me. Perhaps it was because of my limited movement as a baby, but honestly—even with that disadvantage—I honestly felt like I should have noticed it before.
But alas, I had only just found it recently.
I approach the library, the closer I get, the faster my steps get. It was probably due to the fact that I was excited to finally be able to enter it.
It was open, at least it was partially. That was good. If it wasn't open, I wouldn't be able to go inside. I was extremely short after all; I didn't know of any babies at the age of two that could reach a door handle. I leaned against the door in an attempt to open it more, but it wouldn't budge. It seemed that there was something blocking it—like a door stopper.
Hmm, what should I do? If there was a door stopper, I wouldn't be able to open it simply by leaning on it. I widened my eyes when a sudden thought came to me.
I took a few steps back until I could see the entire door without looking upwards. Looking at the door in determination, I ran at it as fast as my baby-legs could take me. I kept getting closer and closer, before—
Bam!
Shit! It hurt a bit more than I thought it would. But judging by how the door opened up a bit more than before, my plan had worked. One or two more pushes, and it should open up. I go back to the place I ran from earlier and run at the door once more.
Bam!
《Skill [Impact Resistance LV 1] has leveled up to [Impact Resistance LV 2]》
Once I made contact with the door the second time, it went flying open, and I stumbled into the room with a little roll. I did it! Well, I didn't really doubt myself...okay maybe a little.
On another note, Impact Resistance leveled up. I didn't really get any chances to level up my physical skills because of the fact that I was a baby, and I basically couldn't move most of the time without being monitored by my parents.
I looked behind the door to check what was blocking it and saw a huge book titles Hunters and Huntresses (Omnibus). Okay, I got that it was an omnibus and all, but did it really have to be that big? It was bigger than me for god's sake!
I shake my head out of those thoughts and peer over to the bookshelves.
...
Where are all the books!?
There were none. Well, that was not exactly right. There were a few, but nothing like a library should have had. I was expecting a huge assortment of books here, but what did I find? Two empty bookshelves, and one, half-filled bookshelf!
Hah, hah. Okay, maybe I was getting a bit worked up. Bit still, I really expected something grander than this. No, this was more than enough for the time being. There were still a good number of books I could read to pass time. By the time I finished them all, I would probably have reached an age where I could just ask my parents to buy me new ones.
I nodded my head. No reason fret, this was more than enough.
I sighed and took a book off the bookshelf. Thankfully, they were lined up from the bottom up which allowed me to take them off. It would suck if I couldn't reach them in the first place.
Placing the book on the floor, I looked at the title. History of Patch. I opened the book and tried to read the contents inside it. As expected, it was all written in English. I'd found out about that a long time ago, but it still filled me with relief that I didn't have to learn a whole new language again.
The book was pretty boring, but even at the beginning, I learned new facts I didn't know about Patch.
After around a minute of reading though, I heard a voice behind me, "Rory? How did you get in here?"
Ugh. Mom. How did she find me? I thought I was being stealthy too. Well...I guess it made sense though. She was a huntress. Of course, I couldn't do things without her noticing. Didn't mean it wasn't vexing though.
"Are you...reading a book?" She asked with a tilted head. Seems like she was confused as to how I was reading a book at such a young age. "How are you...? Oh, I see—you're looking at the pictures, aren't you. I almost thought you were reading the words even though we haven't thought you yet," she said while laughing at herself.
Pictures?
I looked at the book once again and noticed an assortment of pictures scattered around the book. I didn't even notice...thank god this book had pictures! Hooray for the pictures!
"Ah, my cookies," she said in a worried voice. Looking between me and the exit of the door rapidly with a worried face, she sighed, "Just... Just don't break anything, okay?"
I giggled in agreement, causing her to smile and go back to her cookies.
Okay, time to get back to this book now.
"Look, Rory, look, this is Mr. Bunny! He's my newest best friend!" Yang yelled in delight.
Was that...an actual bunny? And not only that, but it was also dead. Why the hell did she have a bunny in her hands—and more importantly—why was it dead?
I tilted my head, "Where did you get it from?"
Yep, I had completely mastered speaking! Well, I'd mastered it pretty decently a while back. Maybe around two and a half-ish—yeah, around then. I generally tried to avoid speaking too much. One: because I didn't want to draw too much attention to my ability to speak at a young age. And Two: because I just didn't like talking in general.
Yang smiles brightly, "I found him in our backyard. He was lying on the ground, but he was playing with some red paint, so I cleaned him up!"
I resisted the urge to facepalm. Yeah, sorry to break it to you Yang, but that wasn't paint—it was blood.
"Is he dead?" I asked.
"No, he's not dead—he's just sleeping! He'll wake up in a while and play with me!" Yang said with childlike optimism.
I guess I'll break it to her.
"Sorry Sis, but I think he's dead."
She pouted, "No he's not!" I could see tears forming in her eyes.
Yeah, that wasn't good, I did not want to deal with a crying Yang. She was so annoying when she cried.
"Okay, fine, he's not dead."
She smiled brightly when she heard that and hummed in agreement. Phew. I just dodged a bullet.
I poked Mr. Bunny a few times, "Don't you think we should show Mom, though?"
"No, we can't!" She yelled, "She's going to take him away from me!" She glared at me while hugging the dead carcass close to her.
"How do you know?"
"That's what she did with Mr. Bird!"
Ah yes, who could forget Mr. Bird? The dead bird that Yang found in our backyard. Even after she found out it was dead, she still wouldn't let it go. I could still remember her cries that day—so fucking loud. Well anyway, it got so bad that Mom had to throw its body away while Yang was sleeping and told her that Ms. Bird flew away.
By her reaction just now, it was safe to say that she didn't buy it.
"I don't think Mom would do that, Yang."
"Hmph, she totally would."
I sighed, "Whatever you say, Sis."
"Wachu doin'?" A voice behind me asked. I turned around to see Ruby walking up to Yang and me with a huge smile on her face.
"Hey Ruby," I waved to her, a lazy grin on my face.
"Rory!" Ruby squealed as she ran up to me, tackling me to the ground. Yeah, Ruby was just as affectionate towards me as Mom was—maybe even more. Though, that was probably because we were twins.
"Yeah, nice to meet you too, Ruby," I said as I tried to wiggle out of her grasp. I might not have had many physical skills at the time, but I still had more than enough to overpower Ruby.
Yang stepped forward, and presented Mr. Bunny in front of Ruby, "Look, Ruby, I found this guy in the backyard playing with red paint! His name is Mr. Bunny, and he's my best friend."
Ruby looks at the corpse of Mr. Bunny in admiration, "Woaaahhh! Where did you find him?"
She already said that Ruby.
"I found him in the backyard! He was playing with red paint!"
"Woaaahhh! What's his name?" She asked again.
Yeah, she already told you that as well, Ruby.
"His name is Mr. Bunny!"
"Woaaahhh!"
What a baby-like conversation. Well, that was what I should have expected from them though, they were babies after all. Or were they toddlers by now?
Ruby stared at the corpse for a second, before she spoke, "We should show her to Mom!"
"No! She's going to take him away from me! Just like Mr. Bird!"
I'm feeling a strange sense of Déjà vu from this conversation.
Ruby widened her eyes, "Okay," she said while nodding, probably remembering what Mom did to Mr. Bird. Ruby liked her quite a bit too—not as much as Yang—but she was fond of the dead bird. Though, she didn't cry when Mom threw her away, surprisingly. Neither did Yang now that I thought about it.
I was about to say something before I heard footsteps behind me. I turned around to see the towering figure of my mother, looking down at us with a scary expression. Shit, it's Mom!
"What did I tell you about bringing dead animals into our home?" She asked, the scary expression never leaving her face.
Yang looked like she wanted to say something, but she stopped herself when she saw Mom's expression. Instead, she just looked away and tried to act innocent.
You little! There's a chance the blame might fall on me because of you. I'm sorry about this Yang—not really—but this must be done.
I tugged on Mom's pants, and she looked at me. Preparing myself, I pointed at Yang, "It was Yang, Mommy."
She looked at me with a betrayed expression, "No it wasn't!"
"It was, you were the one who said Mr. Bunny was your best friend!" Ruby said.
Let's go, Ruby, this was what I called teamwork.
Before Yang could say anything, Mom walked up to Mr. Bunny and grabbed it by the back of its neck. Walking over to the trashcan, she threw it in there like it was garbage, "This better not happen again," she said sternly.
Yang nodded frantically, making Mom smile at her. Huh, it looked like she wasn't actually that mad and she was only pretending.
She ruffled Yang's hair in affection and left the room. Oh no, Yang was going to cry now. Crap, I needed to leave—
"I told you she would take him away." She wasn't crying. I looked towards her and saw her pouting, tears forming in her eyes.
"Are you crying?" Ruby asked.
"I'm not crying!" Yang furiously wiped off the tears. "Big girls don't cry."
Ruby casually took out a cookie and started to nibble on it. Oh, were those the ones that Mom was making earlier?
"Hey Ruby, did you get me one?" I asked her. Well, it was no problem if she didn't. I could just go to the kitchen and get one myself. No biggie.
"Mhm," she said while handing me a cookie.
"Thanks, Rubes," I said. Taking a bite out of the cookie, I smiled. It was as good as always.
"Hey, where's mine!?" Yang asked in outrage.
Ruby giggled, "Sorry, none for you."
"Hey!" The tears were already starting to form again.
"Here," I said, breaking my cookie in half for her. I had to prevent her from crying. For my eardrums. "You can have half of mine."
"Really?" She sent me a hope-filled look.
"Yeah, sure." I handed her half.
"Thanks, Rory!"
"No problemo Sis."
Crisis Averted.
I opened my eyes and looked up at the ceiling above me. I checked the digital clock next to the bed and saw that it a little bit past midnight. Perfect, I thought to myself as I chuckled inwardly. It was time to commence with the plan.
I turned towards where Ruby was sleeping and tapped her shoulder. Almost immediately after I did, she opened her eyes and looked at me, "Is it time?" It seemed she was already awake, probably due to the excitement of what we were about to do.
"it's time," I said with a nod, "Are you ready?"
Ruby nodded, "I'm ready. Initiate project Cookie Monster." She probably didn't know what those words meant, but I told her in advance to say them to make it sound cooler.
"All right, follow me," I said as I slowly got off the bed. Ruby followed after me, and surprisingly she didn't make any noticeable sound while doing so. Good job Ruby. I opened the door as slowly as I could, but it makes a small creak despite my best efforts. It scared me for a bit, luckily no one heard.
We tiptoed towards the stairs, making sure to stay as quiet as possible. It seemed really easy in my imagination, but now that I was actually doing it—it was pretty nerve-racking. Ruby started to do these ninja-like rolls that she probably learned from that movie our parents were watching the other day. I giggled slightly at her antics.
I approached her and whispered into her ear, "Go ahead and wait at the stairs. I'm going to check up on Mom and Dad and see if they're awake." Ruby nodded and tiptoed away. I close in on the door to their room, and peek into the door that was—conveniently—left slightly open.
Mom and Dad appeared to be fast asleep, with Mom cuddling against Dad. Okay, they're asleep, good. I turned back around and head to the stairs where Ruby was waiting for me.
"Mom and Dad are asleep, the route is clear," I whispered into her ear.
"Roger that," she whispered back. Turning away from me, she started to descend down the stairs.
《Skill [Sneak LV 3] has leveled up to [Sneak LV 4]》
What perfect timing for this skill to have leveled up! I was so thankful to have this skill, it was the only reason I was not messing up so far. But Ruby—unlike me—didn't have any skills. Which meant that at any moment—
Creak
—She could make a mistake. Which was what just happened. Ruby made a misstep, and the stair she was standing on creaked slightly. Ruby turned towards me with a horror-stricken expression that screamed 'what should I do?'.
I looked at her and thought, Don't worry Ruby, just keep going! Through our special twin bond—probably not—she understood what I was thinking and continued to move down the stairs. Well, it was fine anyway, I doubted anyone would wake up from such a small noise anyway.
We continued to descend down the stairs until we finally reach the bottom. I took a sigh of relief and gave Ruby a quick thumbs up to indicate everything is going smoothly. She gave me a thumbs-up back and nodded.
I grabbed Ruby's hand and started to head towards the kitchen. I knew the direction of it by instinct, and even in the darkness, I could tell where it was.
Also, my Vision Enhancement was at a pretty high level as well, I could see a tiny bit better than the normal person in the darkness. It wasn't anything super amazing, but it still allowed me to travel through the darkness better than Ruby could.
Once we reached the kitchen, I smiled. Thankfully, it was lit with a good amount of moonlight from the open blinds—which allowed both Ruby and I to see a lot better.
I let go of Ruby's hand and walked over to the pantry and open the door to it. Thankfully—unlike our bedroom door—this one opened without a sound. I entered the pantry and narrowed my eyes slightly. The moonlight didn't reach the inside of the pantry, which meant it was completely dark.
Well, It's fine. I still had my better-than-average sight. I looked around the pantry and looked for the outline of the item I was looking for. After around thirty seconds, I finally found what I was looking for. I grabbed it and pulled it out of the pantry. It was a stool.
I took the stool and dragged it over to Ruby with as little sound as I could. Handing the stool to Ruby, I gave her a nod in affirmation. She gave me a quick nod back and moved the stool towards the cabinets.
Lining up the stool where she wanted it, she placed her right foot on the stool carefully. Making sure to keep her balance, she climbed onto the kitchen countertop.
Once she did, she extended her right arm down in an attempt to help me up.
I didn't exactly need her help to get up, but I decided I would humor her. The main purpose of this more than anything was to have fun after all.
I stepped onto the stool and grabbed onto her right arm. She smiled at me and shakily pulled me onto the countertop. I secured my position on the countertop and smiled gratefully at her, at which I smiled back. I stood up and turned towards the cabinet we were looking for. It was the biggest one in the kitchen, and it was painted a golden tint. All in all, it was pretty obvious that it was indeed the one we were looking for.
"This is the hard part Ruby, I hope you're ready for this," I whispered to her.
"I'm totally ready. One hundred percent."
Smiling at her, I whispered again, "Okay, now get onto my shoulders."
"All right," she said.
I bent down low enough to allow her to get on top of my shoulders. She slowly placed her legs onto them and adjusted herself to find the most comfortable position on them. I shakily started to stand up, and Ruby started to wobble on my shoulders. As I started to gain my balance though, so did Ruby, and eventually, we were pretty stable.
This would be extremely dangerous under normal circumstances, but in this situation, it was fine. Our kitchen countertop was a bit...weird. Unlike other kitchen countertops which were made of marble or some other hard material, ours was made of a softer material.
If she—by any chance—did fall, the softness of the counter would soften her hall, and she wouldn't get hurt. If there was a hard cabinet, I probably wouldn't do this. Me or Ruby getting hurt was not worth what our objective was.
Ruby turned to the golden cabinet, grabbed onto the handle firmly, and opened the door. Reaching it, she searched the inside of the cabinet for what she was looking for. She had to rely solely on her touch since her line of sight didn't reach high enough to see what was in the cabinet.
"I found it!" She squealed as she took out a medium-sized jar from the cabinet. More specifically, a cookie jar.
Filled with Mom's cookies.
This was what we were here for. Since Ruby and I were eating so many of the cookies she made, she took more drastic measures to prevent us from doing so.
And it wasn't like we could just get store-bought cookies instead. I remembered when Mom bought us some store-bought cookies, and they just didn't have the same taste as I remembered them to have. Like, I remembered liking store-bought cookies quite a bit, but ever since eating Mom's cookies, they didn't have the same impact as they did earlier.
I honestly saw why Canon Ruby liked them so much.
Lowering my shoulders, Ruby got off of them, the cookie jar still in her hands.
I swear I saw a golden light shine out of the jar when we finally got around to opening it.
I put my hand in the jar and took out a cookie from it. But I still couldn't eat it yet, Ruby still had taken one. Ruby followed after me and took a cookie for herself.
We looked at each other in silent confirmation and moved the cookies towards our mouth.
Just as I was about to bite—
Snatch
—I couldn't find the cookie anywhere in sight.
Don't tell me.
I turned around to see Mom standing behind us with a victorious smirk—two cookies in either hand. "Did you really think it would be that easy?" She asked.
How did she find out? I made sure she was sleeping and everything.
"Mooooom!" Ruby whined.
"You found out again!?" I asked with a pout.
"Ha-ha-ha, you can't beat my Mom-powers just yet kiddos~." She said with a laugh.
When did she find out though?
"Oh, by the way, I found out after you left your room. The creak of the door was a lot louder than you think it was." As if reading my thoughts, Mom answered my silent question with scary accuracy.
Uh, so it was back then huh? I knew I should have oiled up the door or something. Could I have even done that?
"Can we have our cookies back, Mom?" Ruby asked, "We worked hard for them."
"Nope~. Cookies are only for dessert and after food. You know that."
"Please Mom, me and Ruby worked really hard for them this time." Ruby put on her puppy dog look and pouted.
"Ugh," I was effective. She just needed one more push.
"Pleaseeeeeee Mom?" I said while putting on the cutest face I could muster. I had a lot of practice, so I'd practically mastered this face for when I wanted to get Mom to do something for me.
"F-Fine! Just take it all right, but this is the last time, okay?" She yelled before she turned away. I could swear I heard her say "so precious" under her breath.
Well, whatever, that was not the priority right now. I had more important things to do.
I took out another cookie from the jar and bit it slowly.
Delicious~.
School.
What a disgusting place.
I still remembered my experiences with school from my previous school. I was always in the top three, and I spent most of my time studying. I couldn't take it easy either because of my parents' high expectations. "This is for your future" or 'you will thank us in the future'.
At school, I was quite the loner. Never really having many friends. Most of the students stayed away from me—seeing me as someone unapproachable. I honestly thought it was bullshit. So, what if I had good grades? So, what if I was good at sports? So, what if I acted closed off? Well, maybe the last one would push people away, but why didn't they hate me or something? Instead, they admired me and left me alone!
Hah, hah. Okay, I kind of got a bit worked up just then. But still, due to those experiences, I don't really have a good impression of the school.
All in all, what I'm trying to say is: school was not something that I was looking forward to.
"—All right, how about you Rory, are you ready for you're first day of school?" Mom asked enthusiastically. Huh, she was awfully excited about this. Sadly, I was not able to share the name sentiment.
"Yeah," I answered lazily.
"All right, let's get going!" Mom answered in a way that one would use to encourage children. I guess it worked because Ruby answered with an enthusiastic 'yeah' and followed behind her. I sighed sadly and followed behind the both of them.
Ruby opened the door to the car and entered the seat to the far right. Making herself comfortable, she patted the seat next to her.
I stepped into the car and sat on the seat next to her.
Mom started up the car and started to drive in the direction of the school. I took a deep breath. If I'm going to go anyway, I might as well not act so down. Sure, I didn't want to go to school, but there was no reason to act so angsty about it.
"So, are you guy excited about School?" Mom asked, not taking her eyes off the road.
Ruby beamed, "Yep! I can't want to make some new friends and learn new things. I can't wait!"
Well, It's great that you're excited, Ruby. Though I guess that was how all kids were on their first day of school. Except those with separation anxiety maybe?
"How about you Rory?"
"Yep, I'm excited too," I lied, "It sounds fun."
Mom smiled, "That's good, both of you." She continued to drive for a few more minutes before we reached the school. Huh, it was closer to our house than I thought.
I stepped out of the car and looked at the decently sized building. It wasn't massive per se, but it was bigger than more schools in my previous world. There were a number of five-year-olds heading towards the gates of the school. Most of them were going in with their parents guiding them, there were a few exceptions though. Probably orphans or something similar—not that it was my business.
Mom grabbed both our hands and started to guide us to the school.
We reached a classroom, and Mom looked at her scroll. Her eyes darted between her scroll and the classroom number, and she smiled, "This is your classroom all right kids. Do well, and don't give too much trouble to your teachers all right."
"Okay, mom," Ruby and I said in unison.
I entered the classroom with Ruby following behind me and sat on one of the empty desks—Ruby sitting on the desk next to mine.
Me and Ruby talk to each other a bit while we wait for the teacher to come. It was funny because Ruby said she wanted to make some friends, but now that we were actually at school, she wasn't trying to make any at all.
Well, not that I was complaining.
Suddenly, the door to the classroom opened, and the teacher entered the room with a clipboard in her hand. Her eyes darted around the room, and she checked off some things on the clipboard. She was probably checking attendance or something.
Once she was done with that, she stood in front of the classroom with a kind look on her face, "Hello class, I will be your teacher. My name is—"
I tuned out the rest of what she was saying. I didn't really have much interest in it anyway, and it was pretty boring. Huh, there was nothing to do...
Guess I'll sleep.
I slowly closed my eyes and fell asleep.
...
..
.
"Rory," a faint voice whispered, "Rory!"
Who the hell was that!? Couldn't they see I was trying to sleep? I opened my eyes to see Ruby shaking me with a worried expression on her face. Huh, why was she worried? Noticing I was awake, Ruby started to point to her right. Turning my eyes in that direction, I saw the teacher looking down at me with a smile.
"Let's try not to sleep during class, alright?" She said in a soft voice.
I gave a slow nod. Yawning, I got up, stretching my arms a bit.
《Skill [Exhaustion Resistance LV 5] has leveled up to [Exhaustion Resistance LV 6]》
A skill leveled up.
Exhaustion Resistance. It was such a good skill to have. As the name stated, it gave me resistance to exhaustion. When I first got it, I was kind of disappointed because I thought it would hinder my ability to sleep, but it didn't do anything like that.
I could still sleep just fine; I just didn't have to be as tired to do it. It was why I was able to sleep during class so easily earlier.
"Well, are you going to introduce yourself?" The teacher's voice interrupted me.
The class giggled. So, they were introducing themselves? All right, let's do this.
"Hello, my name is Rory Rose. I like my family and cookies. Nice to meet you," I said in a flat tone. This is enough, I'm sure? I didn't really want to say too much about myself. I actually contemplated doing a Kakashi-like introduction. Be like "what I like is none of your business" or something like that. But at the end of the day, I decided against it.
"Thank you for introducing yourself Rory," she said as she went on to the next person.
The next person started to introduce themselves. All right, I'll pay attention to this one. Okay, okay, so that's her name. Mhm... Okay... All...right... Yeah, screw this.
I rested my head on my arms and fell back asleep.