Emptiness was all around. A void of blackness devoid of life and emotion, nothing inside was welcoming in that moment save for isolation. Soon however, in a blink, a spark igniting a luminous path from the darkness inside burst out. A powerful rush of lights, sparking flashes like stars, and a wild stream of vivid colors exploding in the path of a newly born entrance for a soul to enter its new body it was going to be born into. The imagery was like a fever dream for those who felt as if their life blew into their minds when they reached the point of death. The final sight all wanted or didn't ask for, giving a serene feeling when entering Nirvana.
The feeling began to slowly dissipate, the sequences of colors and lights had ended their purpose in welcoming the soul. The sight like a masterful stroke from an artist's brush creating their vision had served its goal after its display of artistic sequences and imagery was done. Now no longer under the influence, the next thing to happen was blackness coming back.
However it was the blackness from an empty abyss as before, this one was natural, one made from the human body, from having its eyes closed from slumber. The darkness in the eyes began to have a small line of light pierce through it. The dim, bleak light that started to cover a small part of the black was beginning to engulf the line of vision the eyes tried to register.
The eyes from the newly born body opened slowly and groggily, the effect of birth still lingering on making the effort to open the eyes harder in the beginning. Once the eyes had gathered more strength to open without difficulty, the light seeping into them finally started erasing the dark of sleep, and the blurry vision from the eyes waking themselves up became clearer and more precise in what they could see before them.
Now wide awake and aware, eyes stared around to scan the environment, looking to see what or where they were. The eyes met the gazes of a lovely sight before them, they saw two women hovering over with joyful smiles on their faces.
The happiness they had could not be matched by simple things like food or gifts. The happiness they had was that of those who become parents for the first time, meeting their child after the long anticipation of waiting to meet their precious gift. The first woman to see was the one lying on the bed holding the newborn with all the tenderness a Mother could give. Her cheeks flushed with delight and the small sobs in her eyes. She had long brown auburn hair and a beautiful face like a saintly person. The other woman who stood beside her, holding her shoulders with pride had short midnight blue hair combined backward, her face exuding confidence and authority. She wore the outfit of a trained soldier, the clothes wrinkled and worn from staying up all night waiting for the birth to finish.
When the eyes of the newborn saw the woman, the mind of baby had thoughts racing in a mad run over and over in confusion as to what was happening in the moment. The thoughts were not those of a newborn baby with no knowledge of the world or understanding of its birth. These thoughts, the feelings inside the baby were all from a life that had experienced this all before, the experience of a developed young man with no clue how it was looking upon these women and why it was a baby again.
The mind of the baby calmed itself trying to think and understand. The mind inside the baby belonged to the hikikomori who died from throwing himself off his apartment building.
He didn't know how he was here nestled in the unknown woman's arms. All he remembered was slamming headfirst into the car, then nothingness afterwards. The blast of colors and lights he did not remember, everything from up to his death till now was the only memories inside. The biggest surprise was that his soul didn't descend into nothingness like he believed it would from committing suicide like he did, or burning in the nine circles of Hell for committing such a grave sin against himself. Instead, he was reborn, the most unexpected act he had seen many a times in Isekai anime and manga that he couldn't fathom ever happening to him.
He wasn't religious before or care for it. Even that last moment of flipping the bird to Heaven's, that was more a moment of letting out anger and defiance than belief in a higher power he had no love for. With that and the suicide, he still would have believed more in the most logical answer that his act would damn him to eternal torment in the last moment of his fleeting life. Thinking he would more so be in Hell than a divine reincarnation.
'What the??? Is this some dream? Am I hallucinating all this like some last joke before judgment? I was dying from smashing my body into the car. I remember my face being pancaked into the hood and my skull shattering before I was gone from the pain. What is going on here?'
The hikikomori was utterly confused, he pondered what exactly he had done to be reborn as a baby. He wasn't a good person before or bad either, he was mostly neutral. He did some good things here and there but when it was convenient and trying to get one with his day. Nor did he do horrible things, he never willfully hurt anyone, a stern scolding was given when they got on his nerves or broke a school rule. And he wasn't a pervert either looking girls younger than him or installing hidden cameras, it was bothering him now just thinking about it like he always did previously He tried to move his body a bit to see what he could find around the familiar room, but he forgot his body was that of a baby again, it didn't have the full range of control needed to move on its strength in the way he wanted as his previous adult one did.
He wanted to try again to see if he could at least move one hand or a finger as he wanted, but he decided to stop when it failed again since it would be meaningless at this stage. He was still being held in the arms of the beautiful woman in the bed, her want grip wouldn't let go of his body. He stared at her carefully, her face continuing to be red with joy as her fingers rubbed the warm cheeks of his face, she couldn't stop the feelings inside that poured out before her.
"Look at him Mana, he's perfect. We made this. We finally made a life after so many failed tries. And even more, we made a boy, a beautiful, miracle child, you and I made this." The soldier woman said, as she hugged her partner rubbing her face and her hair.
"Yes, Akane we did this. We finally gave birth to a child, a baby boy as you said. I couldn't be any happier than now. I just wish your Father were alive to see this. He wanted to be a Grandfather so bad when he was alive, I hope he's watching from above and seeing his grandson here and now." The beautiful woman, Mana said trying to hold her composure together.
The hikikomori could feel the emotions on their faces, it didn't take a genius to understand what they were conveying. They lost an important Father figure to them, the Patriarch who would have given a hand just to see the birth happen. He didn't have that in his previous life in his one-sided opinion, his Father wasn't special or amazing, just a salaryman scraping by, hoping his child would be successful in his goals were he failed. Hopefully in the future when he and his wife, the hikikomori's Mother, they would retire, have enough resources to take care of them without being a burden when they can't do it themselves anymore in their golden years.
The hikikomori hated them for that, even if they were decent folks making an honest living. He was thinking like an entitled brat at that time about them, he wanted to feel supported by them at all times when he needed anything in his pursuit, but only resentment was the feeling that was left behind when he decided to throw himself off his balcony.
He never stopped blaming them for his predicament, wasting moments that could have helped him to his selfishness.
The Doctor assigned to Akane and Mana walked into the room after attending to another new family arrival who gave birth to a baby girl. The hikikomori saw that it was another woman entering, a little older than Akane and Mana. Even though the nurses in the room earlier were women, it didn't seem weird to him at first, he felt something was off, the way they mentioned him being born a boy felt like it was some type of rare occurrence. The Doctor saw him as she walked up, she was also just as happy to see him born a boy as well, even rubbing his resting fingers in joy, letting the sensation of a newborn boy's skin be felt rather than that of a girl's.
"Well well, how is our little patient doing?" the Doctor asked playfully looking at the hikikomori.
"Excellent, the nurses said he's perfectly healthy, and no signs of the Ghast Virus. We're thankful the Gods blessed us with good fortune after all this time." Mana said.
'Ghast Virus? Did they think I would be born as some undead monster? I've heard that name many times in horror manga and movies. I even killed a few in my games when I learned what it looked like. What kind of world have I been reincarnated into? I'm still trying to figure out how this is even possible at all, this is too surreal to even believe, even for a cynical Otaku like me?'
The Doctor began to do the standard procedures again for another check-up, making sure she didn't miss a thing that would have popped up later after being discharged. She checked the vitals, heart rate, pulses, pupil response, temperature, and any signs that he was born with a virus. All tests were in perfect conditions with no problems or concerns to be worried about.
The next thing the Doctor did was open a large casing, then placed a device on the forehead and a finely crafted stone on the area of the heart, it was for the real test that was hanging in the minds of the Mothers.
"Are you two ready to see where he stands?" The Doctor asked.
"Yes, please. We need to know how to properly prepare him for his future and safety when he awakens." Akane replied calmly.
The hikikomori was worried about hearing their tones in their voices. From watching all the anime and reading the manga in his previous life, hearing signs like that and the atmosphere in the room set off a lot of red flags. The worry of being born into a new and highly dangerous world raced through his mind again, he gulped in silence at what was going to be the answer to the question the women had in their minds. The Doctor started up a machine, the noises of it powering up sounding off, followed by a tingling sensation running through the hikikomori's baby head, the Doctor then placed one of his hands over the stone chanting in a soft spoken voice in what sounded like old sutras from Taoism or Buddhism.
The stone soon glowed from starting in a dimmer light than charging up intensely from reading his soul. The stone began to show signs of cracking from the pressure.
The device on Hikikomori's head could not contain any more of what it was reading, it began to short out the machine it was attached to. Then the machine finally blew up and blew multiple fuses with the stone following behind and shattering into pieces after it reached the breaking point.
The Doctor was shocked to see everything that transpired. Not only was that not normal, but it was an incredibly rare sight to see, she hadn't seen that happen in her time since she began her practice in medicine. She had heard before from her superior that on a few occasions like this one with the same results had happened with one example being the previous Headmaster Retsu Kamiki, the late master from her school days at Kamui Academy when he was alive.
"Doctor, is our boy alright, is that supposed to be normal with this test?" Mana asked with concern running through her mind worried that something went wrong.
"Ladies, I think you're more than blessed with a boy than you think. I can't believe I got to witness in my life, but your son's mental capacity is highly advanced, and his ability to produce magical energy is immeasurable. What I'm saying is he's a rare birth you only witness once in a generation if you're lucky. He's a Prime Caliber." The Doctor announced with enthusiasm in her tone.
The Mothers were shocked alright from hearing the answer. Not even if they were naive would they believe that, but their child was a Prime Caliber. It didn't register to them right away.
Even more, it didn't make sense to them how this could come about, Mana wasn't a strong magic user, she was a chef who used basic magic to preserve food and rid it of unhealthy and toxic features. Akane was a soldier in the Army, she was a 2nd Lieutenant who specialized in tactical combat with offensive skills and flame magic. They also had weak levels and no real skills worth mentioning, everything they had was from their hard work in life and careers.
Deep in their minds and hearts, they believed there was no way they could birth a Prime Caliber with their weak levels, skills, or magic energy as average as they were.
"Should we be worried Doctor?" Mana asked.
"No no, you should be rejoicing. A Prime Caliber is rarely born, most have to put their bodies through hell to achieve this title. But you two have one natural born, the recognition you'll receive will be great and the financial tuition for his education will be excellent when he grows older. My only recommendation is to train him carefully once he awakens and gets help first level. A child with that much power could hurt himself without practice or worse die from misusing magic and skills." The Doctor warned making sure they understood what was at stake.
The hikikomori didn't like the last comment that the Doctor said. He had already died once from suicide, now that he had been given a new life, a clean start to do everything all over with knowledge and memories retained he was going to enjoy this kind of advantage he had. He wasn't going to ruin it now that he was handed a golden ticket to live comfortably without having to put all the effort he did before, he was going to take it easy and get what he wanted now that he was given a cheat in this life.
'So, I get reborn, I have powerful abilities, I'm in a new world that I like and I have a strong body I can take advantage of, and I'm starting over as a baby again instead of a random body. Like hell I'm going to waste this second chance I was given. I'm living the life I deserve after all that effort into that pathetic old one that never paid off like it should have. I'm going to use this body, my brain, to get by with ease as much as possible.'
The hikikomori was giving a small grin that the women didn't see. He was loving this feeling at the moment. Not an evil grin, he wasn't being malicious, it was more a cocky and satisfying grin.
'I'm gonna live this life to the fullest in my way even if I have to be a total jerk in the process. I wasn't one before. I didn't care about people's feelings or problems, they weren't mine. But I wasn't a bully either, if anything I hate them for the hell they put me through. I'll do the bare minimum to skate by for now until the situation calls for me to put in a little extra effort. I'm not gonna leave my room either unless I have to. I wasn't comfortable with it before and I don't think I will be right now after everything I went through. So I'll just relax with peace and not have to interact so much.'
As he finished his speech in his head, he noticed Mana hugging him tight not wanting the moment to go away. He wasn't gonna cry or move about, he wasn't heartless like that to spoil this for her, even though he had lied she wouldn't cross.
"So what are we gonna name him Akane," Mana asked with a brimming smile. She couldn't help stop be happy that she was a mom now, it was her dream she had almost given up on after so many miscarriages that nearly broke her.
Akane stopped holding Mana in her arms, she started to rub her hand over the reborn hikikomori's forehead, her fingers combing the little hairs and the softness touching her skin. He did his best to act humbled like a baby should, he was a bit anxious with all the touching and affection. It was a bit overwhelming but he wanted to brace it for them since they did give him life and he was grateful for it. The anxiousness with people touching him after the bullying in his previous life was still attached to his soul, he wasn't sure if he would be over it completely in this life, but he was going to try a bit so he wouldn't be so much of a shut-in like he was before. Being alone, playing video games, and watching anime were OK because they never bothered him. But he wasn't going to try to get out of his room when he would grow up soon. It was something that he wasn't sure he had gotten over yet.
Akane stopped the affectionate touching so she could reveal the name she had picked out a long time ago if her wish for a boy would happen. Something that reminded her of her Father and his strong appearance and willpower she admired since she was a child.
"It's obvious what we'll call him, it's the name I picked for my Father as an honor to him. I hope you'll love it too since I love that the name has a special meaning to it. His name will be…."