I stepped out of my room. I waved Misora goodbye—her knowing I'm going for something important.
I exited the house almost instantly afterward. I could feel that I was definitely faster and more energetic with mana in my body. The mana I felt was strong—very strong indeed. I walked to the right after exiting the apartment where the stairs were. Unsurprisingly, the walls didn't have proper paint and they seemed old, just like our own apartment.
I walked down our apartment and soon enough I was on the sidewalk of Tokyo street. It wasn't quite as populated as usual, probably because it was extremely hot today—like really hot, even though it was only almost 10:00 AM. I didn't wanna even stand a second in this heat, but this was important.
Naturally, I'd like to have a meal, which I would do. I immediately started heading towards a restaurant that Kuroto used to go to, and he really liked this place's food—which I should as well, considering I'm now Kuroto.
Although I do wonder if Kuroto was a different person from who I am right now, or it was just me but now I've regained my memories. Although I do share everything Kuroto held.
I reached in front of the restaurant. The restaurant is called Tsukikage Deli. It's a premium restaurant. There is a sign hung above saying "月影デリ." It has flower pots in front of large glass panels. After you climb six stairs to the double dark oak doors, you enter the restaurant.
The restaurant is cooled down by the ACs inside. There are several tables with chairs that are made of dark oak wood as well.
I moved forward and entered the restaurant. Just as I opened the door, someone running bumped straight into me. She had a plastic bag with the food packed inside. I instinctively reacted and grabbed her hand, and she tried pulling—trying not to fall. Then she was back on her feet.
She had long, light-blue hair with soft bangs, deep blue doe-shaped eyes that gave her an innocent and beautiful look, white smooth-looking skin with an almost pale look. She stood at around 5'6, shorter than me. A butterfly hair clip that made her beauty shine—not personally saying, but genuinely she was beautiful. Although she was beautiful, her aura said otherwise. She had the aura of death around her, it seemed like if you'd annoy her you'd end up dead. The mana, at least the amount that was exposed on the surface was extremely strong, but it'd take someone sensitive to mana like me to sense it.
She looked at my face.
"I'm sorry," she apologized.
"It's fine," I replied.
Then she and I went our ways.
"That's weird, that felt oddly familiar," both she and I murmured, although none of us heard each other. Then she got out of the restaurant and I got in.
The chill from the AC hit me right as I entered, mixed with a fresh, woodsy perfume that made the place feel like a forest with the nature-like smell. I sat on a chair and the waiter came, and then I ordered four chicken sandwiches and a coffee.
This is the standard meal I ate at this restaurant.
Just as I was waiting, I couldn't help but think about the girl I bumped into. She was very beautiful, but she felt a bit similar—although I have never met her. And I also sensed her mana, which was extremely strong—like, stronger than even Misora's mana. It was almost only a little less than mine. In fact it was so strong that I would go so far as to say she could be a member of the Crimson Order, although there's personal feelings included.
Just as I was thinking that, my sandwiches arrived. Just as I took the first bite I felt a bit nostalgic, it was as if I ate it both yesterday or thousands of years ago, it was so good that I finished it up within a couple of minutes.
I'm taking up Kuroto's habits, Kuroto was an extremely fast eater, so fast that when others took their first bites he'd finished his meal, but I couldn't help it that I have this habit as well.
Exiting the restaurant, I decided I'd just roam around and maybe be able to see a dungeon gate in person. I walked through the sidewalks of the streets in Tokyo. All of it felt so familiar yet new to me. Reincarnation is kinda weird—I mean, the way it makes me feel and see things.
I picked up my pace and started walking a bit faster. The streets were filling up with more and more people, so it wasn't the heat, but because it was only 10:00 AM that I didn't see many people earlier. I pulled out my phone from my pocket and checked the time. It was 10:27 AM. Although it was hot, the number of people kept increasing as I moved forward.
Wandering through Tokyo, I had done nothing but walk till 11:00 AM. I couldn't find any gates to see in person and was nowhere near accomplishing my goal to gain my first ability.
I walked for about 15 more minutes until I was a bit tired. I found myself close to a park. I decided I'd enter it, and then I saw a bench to sit on. It was empty, so I sat there.
Looking around—it wasn't so populated in this area.
I saw some 7–8-year-old kids playing in the park.
Although I didn't see much so far, I now know that magic usage isn't so common in public, since I haven't seen anyone use magic. But I could very much sense lots of people with mana.
What I also learnt on my search on the phone was that the less a person uses magic, the less it's sensible and active to others. Which meant everyone that I sensed with mana had actively used magic and had abilities. Although I do wonder what abilities those people possess, it might sound rude to ask what abilities others have while I don't have any.
And it would also make people suspicious that I don't have an ability yet—considering I'm a 20-year-old adult. These days, even 10-year-old kids have gained an ability. At least, that's what the internet told me.
I have also learnt that the internet can't be fully trusted when it comes to knowing about magic and other things. Since magic is quite common for people, obviously those people wouldn't just tell the basics about magic because there's someone like me who doesn't even know the basic things about how magic works.
Sitting and thinking about everything, I saw a kid on a swing fall and get hurt in his leg. His other friends checked on him and asked if he was okay, and the kid started crying.
I saw a woman in her thirties head to the kid. She looked like that kid's mother. I saw this unfold while chilling on the bench. The mother rushed to her child, assured him that he's gonna be okay, and then... she hovered her hands over his leg. Her hands started glowing in green, and it released some green particles, and slowly, his injury started healing. After a couple of seconds, the kid's injury was healed. But the mother was breathing heavily, and I could sense her mana wasn't that strong.
This was it—LEGIT magic. Not a video, not a picture—real magic happening right in front of my eyes. Even though it was just a simple healing ability, it was still so cool it left me in awe.
The way I sense mana is different from that, I don't see it like that spell or anything, I just feel it coming from someone's body, the stronger the presence the stronger the mana feels.
A sudden spike of pain pierced through my skull—it hurt like hell. I held my head with my hands, I could feel something from my past life, a bit of a flashback.
I saw a faint picture of someone right in front of me, but it seemed like it was glitching.
"Don't do this," the voice said, distorted in pain and sadness. "This won't change a thing." the voice spoke with a hope to convince and was filled with despair.
"I'm sorry, Death," another voice cried, "I'm sure you'll understand one day that it was for the best" the voice said while being deeply saddened when saying it.
This memory whizzed by my head as that spike occurred.
I started breathing heavily and my heartbeat increased, looking around and… I'm now seeing the world differently suddenly, it is as if I'm a new person now, but I'm now on a higher alert or something, dude what was that, I thought all the memories have already returned… is this something else?
I wondered more and more, the world around me turned completely different to me, it was as if now I was way more cautious and didn't feel that much like Kuroto and his type of thinking, the uneasiness was insane, it was like last night, but on a completely different level.
I took a minute to think, I recalled what had happened today and I realized all the feelings remained the same, but now I was way more cautious, it was as if someone was on a verge of killing me.
It felt like I regained a part of me as I was God of Death before, but that doesn't explain the memory that I don't remember at all.
After a couple of minutes I settled down a little, my heartbeat turning normal and the uneasiness gone, it was only for a moment but the pain is still carved into my mind, I kept thinking what actually had happened now.
It was normal like before, but my thinking felt a lot more mature. I wondered if I'd meet God of Absolute in this world once in a while, if I could then I'd definitely ask him what this was.
Slowly but surely, I was going back to normal. I sat on the bench for about 10 more minutes to put my mind back together.
I decided I'd ignore what happened now, brushing it off as something common that happens with one's reincarnation. At this point, I was all back to normal—except my mind being way more active, as if I had drunk a bunch of glasses of coffee, except it wasn't coffee that did it.
Still sitting on the bench and observing my surroundings, the kid that hurt himself and his mom went back home or somewhere else.
There were more kids in the park now, and I saw the mothers around the park talking to each other.
I saw the kids playing hide and seek. Still observing, I suddenly felt a surge of mana. The presence became a bit intense. The wind started to blow toward the center of the park, a few meters in front of where I was sitting. The wind started gathering like it was forming a tornado, except that the wind contained blue and white particles. Everyone was looking at it, including me.
The blue and white particles started to form something. Piecing together, it seemed like a... gate? Slowly but surely, the particles started forming a gate-like thing—the one I saw on the internet. It was surely a gate.
After a couple of minutes, the gate got bigger and bigger, until the wind that gathered the particles stopped, and the gate stopped growing. It was almost three times as tall as me, round-shaped, and about 3 meters wide.
The people around the park started speaking to each other.
"What do you think? Would it be the Crimson Order to handle this one?" one lady said.
"Yea, I guess. I mean, this gate seems like a big one that small orders can't handle," the other one replied.
I was still looking at it. My heart started beating a little faster. It was so much cooler in person than it was in the pictures I saw, and they never mentioned how a gate is formed.
While praising this phenomenon, a kid on the other side of the park, playing hide and seek, started slowly heading toward the gate—not making it seem like it's the gate he's going for. No one noticed that he was going for the gate until he was close to it, and then he instantly started running for the gate.
I instantly reacted. Getting up, I rushed straight to the kid. Was he actually trying to hide in the gate to win in a hide and seek game? Well, I didn't have time to think about it—I ran for it. The kid's mother yelled.
"Daiki, no, don't..." the mother yelled, worried, and started going toward the gate to stop him while I was doing the same.
Just a couple of feet away from the gate, I was too late. The kid had already entered the gate.
"Tch... Damn it," I said while clenching my fists in anger.
If the information was correct, if someone that's not super strong goes into a dungeon, not only is it impossible to exit it without beating the dungeon, but it'll also attract more monsters the weaker your mana is.
Now obviously, a kid wouldn't have developed mana without practicing it. That would mean that the kid is in danger—an extreme danger, indeed.
Until an experienced person with actual abilities entered, it'd be too late. And obviously, the mothers present here wouldn't be so experienced in raiding dungeons.
The kid's mother closed in on the gate. Just as she was about to enter the dungeon as well, I grabbed her hand, stopping her.
"Let me go... my child is in danger," she said while sobbing. "You monster, let go of my hand," she said, struggling to free herself.
She struggled for a second or two more. "Let go of me—" she stopped when she looked into my eyes... the eyes said it all. The eyes looked scary, scared, and said, leave it to me. She knew to stop struggling.
She straightened herself, and still with sobbed eyes, she said, "Please... protect my child, I beg you."
I said nothing—absolutely nothing. I was scared since I didn't have any ability or combat experience yet, but I was the most suitable here to protect that kid.
I let go of her hand and started moving forward. Everyone looked at me while I was entering the gate. I murmured to myself while entering the gate.
"Damn this Kuroto... Looks like he had a soft heart that wanted to help everyone... Seems like that could work in my favor or be the end of my journey on the first day." I was frustrated—truly frustrated that this was one of Kuroto's feelings. It could work in my favor, or it could kill me.
At this moment, I knew the world I was stepping into was not that chill. It was a dark world filled with unfair moments like this.