Death is not something anyone wants.
And, death is also something that should not be planned.
"What should I eat tonight…"
I walked on the path home. Alone, no one accompany me. I don't know why, although it feels like I don't intentionally avoid other people, but I don't want to be close to anyone. It's as if I don't belong here.
Since I was born, I have been alone, not knowing my parents, nor having a close relationship with anyone. From the day I was adopted by an orphanage, I have been alone. Until now, after going to college and working part-time, I still maintain something like an invisible wall prevent myself from those around me.
Well, that's a normal thing for a gamer and otaku like me. In fact, I'm very satisfied with my current free life, not strained or bound by anything.
It just…
I feel like….
I have to do something more, bigger than being a teacher like I am now...
And then for a moment, the car's lights flashed from beside...
A eventless and boring life flashed through my mind in just a split second...
When I realized it, I was already lying on the road. I didn't even know if it was mine or the driver's fault... that make me die?
…
So I'm about to die?
Living a meaningless life, and then dying in such a careless way, I don't really want to hold on to this life, even when almost crashed by the car, I don't even scream in fear.
But, if possible, this unbearable feeling in my heart, this hole in my heart, I want to erase it.
I want to meet them again…?
…
Who are they?
Maybe I'll die before I get an answer.
Very quickly, in the circle of people around me, the scene in my eyes darkened, the proof that death had come...
••••••••••
I wonder if I will go to heaven or hell?
Wait? Can I still think!? Aren't I dead?!
I can't understand anymore, I'm dead, but my thoughts are still very clear. And what is this feeling? Do I have arms and legs?
It's so hard to move, I can't even open my eyes.
When I tried to open my eyes, in front of me was a woman with dark blue hair and eyes with color of the ocean. At that moment, I immediately knew what was happening.
So I reincarnated?
And I immediately understood that the woman before my eyes was my mother in this life.
"Are you sure?" She asked, her eyes directed towards a man.
"Well, we can't be sure what will happen, and she is the only close people I can ask for help."
The man answered his wife, he came closer and hugged both me and my mother. Hearing that, my mother's face turned sad and looking at me, she said:
"I'm sorry, but I'll try to come back soon, that's for sure. I love you so much."
That was the first time since I gain my consciousness, whether in my previous life or this life, that I felt love from my parents.
And that was the last time I saw them...
They left me in the care of a distant relative, someone who was probably old enough for me to call grandma, and they went away.
Well, the first thing to say about reincarnation like this is that it's really annoying and troubling.
I had to be careful growing up in my grandmother's arms. Even though I considered her my biological relative, I also had to be very careful not to make her feel strange about me.
Waking up in the middle of the night and pooping on the bed is normal for a infant like me, but not for my soul. So I try limiting myself, as a way to not be a burden for her, those events for examples: crying in the middle of the night happen as little as possible.
Surely, a 2 or 3 year old boy who could talk like an adult would frighten others, so I carefully hide myself, until when I was five years old, the age which finally able to babble and talk, I asked her about my parents, she also answered truthfully that they would not return.
Yes, I'm saddened by the fact that I'll probably never see them again, but that's all about it, as if growing up without parents was already a part of life, both in past life and present life.
Life goes on like that, but then again, there are things that are different from life before. My living circumstances I, of course, my grandmother takes care of me little by little so that I won't be at a disadvantage with my friends. I'm not the demanding type, but I must say that my grandmother really pampers me.
And of course, someone who has gone to college like me can easily, without even thinking much, get through these elementary school days. Sometimes when I'm careless, I accidentally make people around me exclaim that I'm a prodigy. Yes, in my previous life I was also quite good at studying, but for a normal child to be able to solve math problems that give upperclassmen a headache is no longer normal.
While I had done excellent in academic, getting along with friends was not that good, if not quite bad. Can't blame me, it was like standing among a group of children, well, talking in souls terms, it was indeed like that. Of course you all want to be close to a good student like me. Maybe I'm a bit cocky but, really, I can't make friends with people who are twenty years younger than me, not until they're older. So i have a lot of social friends, but i don't even have a single close or best friend.
Sometimes I think about my previous life. It's true that in the end it's very boring, but that doesn't mean that every moment is boring, the people who helped me in my previous life, the people I'm indebted to, I've never had a chance to thank them. It's true that I don't really want to hold on to that old life, but I'm not the ungrateful type... that goes, but I can't do anything for them anymore. I sincerely apologize everyone very much.
"Fukabe-kun, can you summarize the information in the textbook about nuclear explosions?"
I was daydreaming when the teacher asked me to stand up and tell the whole class about incidents that happened in the past. It's not too difficult because I've read the book before, but it's just, compared to the history I already know, it's a little different.
"Yes ma'am, nuclear explosions are the result of war or terrible accidents. Among them, two of those bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki were dropped by the United States. Although we suffered heavy losses, they were also the reason for ending World War II." Yes, up until here everything was normal, but since then, something have changed.
"A few years later, in 1952, there was another explosion in Berlin, Germany, killing more than three hundred thousand people. And more than ten years ago, in 2000, another nuclear explosion occurred in Siberia, with a large number of casualties, and was also the trigger that created a series of natural disasters occurring throughout the world like drought, tsunami, earthquake."
"Okay, thank you very much. Just as he said, so the countries signed the agreement to prohibit illegal nuclear research…."
That's right, strange events that have never happened before have appeared, making me wonder if this is the earth I once knew. In fact, there is still a lot of controversy surrounding these explosions, people say that it was actually due to other reasons such as secret war, or aliens. There are also rumors that the Siberian incident was actually caused by a meteorite crashing down, but in general it seems that high-level authorities have agreed and put it in textbooks that it was a nuclear explosion.
Or maybe it's because my memories have been so long that they've begun to become chaotic, because those events are all very familiar to me... well perhaps that's only natural, I can no longer remember the faces, the appearance of people in previous life. Some fragments of information about them floated here and there in my mind, but even if I could put them together, I couldn't picture that person's face. At first I was quite worried, but since I have a new life, it doesn't matter anymore.
Being reborn has many benefits. For example, having too much free time, because the lessons became too easy for my twenty-year-old brain, so I had a lot of free time. If it were in my previous life, I would have wasted my free time or gone to make more money, but in this life I can try anything I wanted to do that I couldn't in my previous life. From exercising to have a beautiful well-tuned body, learning to play the piano, learning to draw, then writing a diary. Learning from experience of my previous life, I also try to have the best appearance but in my opinion... I still look quite ordinary.
So that was it, I'll just try my best on other things. Learning to use computer software to program, edit various types of videos and photos can help me make money even though I am not really old enough.
Those were peaceful days, to the point of being quiet and boring, but not to the point of being sad at all. On the contrary, this time was extremely pleasant and free. I continued to grow up under the protection of my grandmother, until in the middle of my first year of high school, an event happened, like a smoldering fire, just waiting to ignite a series of future events.
"Touma? You have a scholarship invitation letter again, dear." My grandmother said that when I was washing dishes after dinner. Even though I tried to hide my true intelligence, towards the end of middle school I decided to reveal it. Partly because at that time I was excited and wanted to show off a bit, it was truly a forgettable period, partly because I was aiming for valuable scholarships. Of course, with intelligence, studying at the village school and self-studying will be fine, but wouldn't it be great to study in better environments?
"Again, I told you I don't need it, every time it's just for me and they have nothing about the people around me at all, why do they keep trying?" Well, I've lived with her all my life, her husband also passed away a long time ago, so there's no one left beside her except me, I can't leave her alone. Can't really blame the scholarship creators, they don't have enough resources to offer more special scholarships, right? Yeah, it's not like we're needy or anything, but moving house really isn't that simple.
"Let me read it… it's from ME corp, they offered a full scholarship and settlement support in Nagazora!?"
"EH? Let me see!" I suddenly quickly wiped my hands and came closer to read the letter that was sent. On the outside is the symbol of the corporation, Massive Electric Industry, often referred to as ME Corps, led by Raiden Ryoma, is the largest technology company in the world currently. It's also means that, if this is a real scholarship from this company, then it would be extremely beneficial for me if I accepted it. Not to mention, this time they even suffered a loss to the point of supporting settlement, No matter how my study results will be, I can move to live right at the same city as ME Corp's headquarters... She and I looked at each other and decided that only a fool would ignore this extremely attractive invitation.
The location this scholarship invites is... Nagazora, one of the busiest and most modern cities in the world. And the school they invited me to was Chiba Academy, one of the top high schools in the world...
It's true that ME Corp is built different, it has to stand at the top of everything.
Raiden Ryoma
Nagazora
Chiba Academy
… And there are also those nuclear explosions.
It's like trying to assemble something in the dark, there's only one more piece left, some small piece to complete the picture, but you can't find that piece.
Then, both of us prepared to move to a new place.
••••••••••
"Here?" A transportation worker asked, while helping us carry some things from the car.
"Yes, thank you very much." My grandmother happily answered, her voice a little joyful.
Today is truly a day where I have a lot of new experiences. First, it was the first time I was able to fly by plane, both my grandmother and I, and this was also the first time in this life that I had to change my living place. And do you know what I thought when I looked at Nagazora from above? 'What a beautiful city,' I certainly thought so. Worthy of being one of the most beautiful and modern cities in the world. Let's not talk about the people here, the buildings and houses are built extremely artistically. In some areas, they carry the unique cultural features of other countries, highlighting the diversity here. . Public transportation is also optimized, making traffic jams almost impossible even though millions of people are living here at this time.
It turns out, in the scholarship contract, there are a few things that should be summarized: I will receive an allowance equivalent to money that both she and I can use to handle our lives in a relatively comfortable way during my time studying at Chiba Academy. In addition, they worked to help us rent or buy an apartment close to the school at an affordable price, and because what they offered was too good, so my grandmother used the savings to invest in buying this apartment. Oh I guess I haven't mentioned her job yet? She is a contractor and invests in apartment buildings and boarding houses, then either sells them or rents them out to poor people at low prices to support them. Although she is not really rich, she is still considered well-off. And that's why she is extremely confident when doing things like this.
Everything was very convenient, but it was just too convenient, to the point where I suspected that it was president Raiden Ryoma who was secretly helping us. Anyway, with a new house of about 80 square meters, two bedrooms, and a balcony, it's quite spacious for us.
My admission day is the day after tomorrow, so I don't have much time left to wander around this city. Besides, when moving to a new place, you need to go shopping for all kinds of things, including food, necessities, and also go through a bunch of paperwork, which is too busy. Because I was not yet old enough to handle documents related to land and residence, my grandma had to go instead, and she herself would go to the supermarket to buy essential things.
No matter what you say, this city is really too large, and the types of people living here are also extremely diverse, as if it were a multinational city. People from Asia, Africa, Europe, America, Oceania, all over the world gather here, although the Japanese still make up the majority. They come here for many purposes, some come to study like in my case, others come to do business, find job opportunities, and a large number are tourists. Just passing by on the street makes me realize so many things. Maybe moving here isn't a bad choice at all, there will be a lot of new things I can learn here.
…that said, the new thing I was about to "learn" was not at all what I imagined. I don't know if it was by chance or fate, the first fateful meeting happened at this exact moment.
While admiring the streets and being overwhelmed by their uniqueness, I bumped into a passerby. We both fell to the sidewalk and the other person's personal belongings fell out.
"Ah, I'm sorry! It's because I didn't look carefully at the road!" I hastily apologized and reached out to help the other person stand up. Then, I took a look at her appearance clearly. That was when time seemed to freeze in my point of view.
"It's okay, I was careless too." The girl had dark purple, waist-length hair, and her indigo eyes opened wide when she saw me reaching out my arm to help her. No, her eyes widening was probably due to the surprised expression on my face right now.
…I mean, at this point, how can I keep a poker face anymore? Especially when every piece of the puzzle is in place. Certainly in this life I have never met the girl in front of me, but I know her very well.
Raiden Mei
Everything matched, from the name Raiden Ryoma, to Chiba Academy, Nagazora and even the strange nuclear explosions that did not exist in the previous life's history but were extremely familiar. That's because… this place… this world… this universe I was reincarnated in… is the universe of Honkai Impact 3…
Thanks for reading, please leave some reviews about what you like and not like about this chapter, thank you very much.
