Title: Waking Up

Summary: A scattered dream that's like a far-off memory. A far-off memory that's like a scattered dream. I want to line the pieces up—yours and mine.


As my consciousness faded, I could heard the voices of the girls.

Ahhh, I wanted to spare them this pain. I suppose that inevitable. Even my efforts to distance myself from them would never have made them hate me. How naive of me to think I could break our bond so easily. All I did was put them through more pain before I died.

My only regret was that I could have spent the last few days with them instead of hurting them.

"Big Bro! Please, open your eyes," my foolish sister said.

Ah, I felt bad. Marie was losing her brother again. I was a terrible older brother for making my younger sister worry so much.

"I'm sorry," Rie said louder with more clarity.

I felt a warm hand on mine.

"... Sorry," I mumbled.

"Holy shit! Doctor!" Rie said.


I laid on the bed while the doctor flashed a light into my eyes. It freakin hurt.

"Well, pupils are constricting as expected. Eye tracking also seems to be good," the Doctor muttered as he wrote on his clipboard.

I was to be going through a battery of tests. I had been in a coma for quite some time after falling off my apartment stairs and hitting my head. If it hadn't been for one of the other apartment dwellers coming back from the convenience store, I likely would have died.

Honestly, my condition had been pretty grim when I had been admitted to the hospital. There had been talks about pulling the plug at some point during my coma due to how long I had been under. It was a financial burden on my family and the risk of permanent brain damage was high. The only reason why I had been kept on life support for so long was because my brain activity was surprisingly high.

I had been asked what I had experienced while I had been unconscious, but I couldn't remember anything. It was probably a disappointing answer for the doctors, but it was expected. It was like trying to recall details of a dream hours after you've woken up. Simply lost to some void.

Yet, something lingered. A sense of loneliness.


I had to be discharged from the hospital soon after I had woken up. Despite needing physiotherapy, we couldn't afford to keep me in the hospital.

Thus, I was wheeled back to my parent's house.

This sucked. I couldn't properly look after myself. I lost my job. My parents had definitely dipped into their savings. My sister dropped out of college. She also became a sex worker to help pay my medical bills. She got pregnant and got dumped by her deadbeat ex.

Honestly, our family was in pretty dire straights because of me.

Maybe it would have been better had I died straight up.

"Up," a cute voice asked.

Looking down, I saw Rika had waddled her way to me again.

I chuckled as I played with my niece.

Get Up!

I shook my head. Where did that come from?


I was finally able to walk on my own without putting too much of a strain on myself. While I wanted to get a job as soon as possible, I knew I was still too feeble to do so. I'd just be a burden on whatever company hired me.

My parents were at least understanding of the situation. They hadn't treated me like a burden. Rven though I was draining their bank accounts, they understood.

C'mon, Son! Just...

I shook my head. Another residual dream. The doctor had told me it was normal with how long I had been in a coma. My brain could randomly experience vivid... experiences.

What did he say exactly? Ah, yes. Sometimes stray thoughts could trigger intense sensations due to exploring odd neural pathways.

Ugh, recovery would be a long and hard road.


"Ah, Ryo. Come sit. Therefore someone we'd like you to meet."

"Hmm?"

Looking at the table, I saw a rather beautiful girl. She looked oddly familiar.

"Do I know you?" I asked on instinct.

"Ah, I was your neighbor," she said shyly.

My neighbor? Ah. There was that high school student. I had often helped tutor her in exchange for a nice meal. What was her name again? It started with an N.

Noelle, you need to hold on!

My head hurt. I winced in pain.

"Ryo!" everyone in the room shouted.

I just waved off the concern. "Just a small headache. It's nothing out of the ordinary."

Everyone looked skeptical, but they eventually relented.

Turning my gaze back to the girl, I said, "Nel, right?"

She developed a warm expression. "Yes."


Ugh, I typed away with a dead expression. I was working as an accountant at Rie's escort club. The manager had decided to give me a job as a favor towards Rie. While I wasn't too keen for working in such a business, it paid well.

"Ryo! You mind assessing this girl?" the manager asked me.

There was also the second part of the job. Apparently Rie had been talking shit about me with her coworkers. To them, I was the kind of guy you want in your corner, but one you really didn't want to push.

A result of this was that I was used to stress test new girls. If they couldn't handle me, they were rejected.

Whatever. It was probably for the best. I would hate to see a good girl get entangled in this business.

Looking at the dossier, I read the name Liv. Her address put her out in the boonies. Ah, she must be one of those girls trying to make it in the big city, but had things crumble around her immediately.

Walking into the interview room, I saw a nervous girl fidgeting. Yeah, she needed to be rejected.

"Uhm?" she asked shyly.

Ugh, no need to even evaluate. Just needed to kindly tell her to look for a better job.

I sat by her and tossed my coat on her.

"You shouldn't be here," I said with a grunt.

She clutched onto my coat. Yeah, she likely had been desperate.

"I don't have a choice," she mumbled.

"... Details."

"My parents died recently, and we were never wealthy."

Red flags went up in my head.

"Christ! Are you even legal?"

She just quietly sobbed.

So a child who had lost her parents. Just a shitty hand.

"Look. I sympathize, but you can't work here and you don't need to work in this industry. You'll definitely regret it."

"But what am I to do Mister?"

Mister Leon. Please. Don't leave me!

Another damn headache.

"Haaaaa, my sister and I are looking for a domestic."

She perked up at this.

I continued. "We need a babysitter for her daughter since our parents are getting old. I also may need some help moving about in case I have an episode."

"An episode?!"

"I recently came out of a coma. While I haven't needed to be carted to the hospital, the doctors are still cautious. You'll only need to hit the speed dial and following whatever instructions the doctor gives you up until the ambulance arrives."


Walking out the room, I saw my boss giving me a knowing grin.

"So that's your type, huh?"

"Shut it, Rolo. I already have a girlfriend."

In a singsong tone, Rolo said, "Exactly. Young and innocent. Good taste."

I supressed the urge to punch him.


AN:

1) If you know where the summary quote came from, respect.

2) Short but I really didn't care to continue.

3) Basically, each section would introduce a character parallel to Mobuseka. Each introduction would cause him to recall a fragment of what is happening on the other side.

4) So the question is, which is real?

5) If it wasn't obvious:

Marie is Rie

Erica is Rika

Balcus is the dad

Noelle is Nel

Olivia is Liv

Roland is Rolo


Review Response:

Dragon Blaze-X: Which one? I don't recall.

reality-deviant: It's left vague intentionally, but I was originally writing with the premise that Leon is not reincarnated in any manner.

lupus23: Final boss would be Fanoss still. Olivia would get hitched with Julius. Julius would make a whole deal of it during the graduation party, get angry that Angelica does not care, challenges Leon, loses, Fanoss attacks, and everyone gets judged by the love meter. Olivia is heartbroken that Julius fails the check with her. Leon steps forward to learn how Angelica feels for him, only to be disappointed that it isn't higher. Upon seeing the score, Angelica's raises by a point, causing everyone to try to raise her score since she's the closest to fulfilling the requirement.

Galeon82: I don't do requests.

dawnwatch: Initially intended to be non-reincarnated Leon. Just regular old bastard child. Left vague so that anyone can substitute their version of Leon. Also, please do post. I would love to have more writers expand the fandom.

Kai H.E.R.O.S.: Funny you should mention that. I gave been toying with the idea of Marie route Marie coming back.