The last thing Kenzo remembered from his old life was the flicker of a monitor screen and the cold silence of an empty apartment. It was the kind of silence that gnawed at your soul, the one that made you realize you could vanish, and no one would notice for days. He had died in the most unremarkable way all alone, forgotten, in a world that never expected anything of him.
And now… he was here.
Kenzo blinked against the bright sky, sprawled on the warm grass of a hillside meadow. The air tasted different. Cleaner. Fresher. Real.
[SYSTEM: Welcome, Kenzo.]
[Race: Human | Age: 16]
[Class: Recreator]
[Skills: Memory Reconstruct (Passive), Bond Expansion (Unique), Memory-Shard Blades (Combat)]
"What…?" Kenzo muttered, eyes scanning the glowing screen suspended mid-air. His voice cracked from disuse. It was his name, the same as before. Same apathetic, forgettable name. But everything else was new.
He sat up, heart pounding as the screen faded away. His hands were no longer brittle or pale from lack of sunlight and looked stronger. His body, lean but young. Sixteen again? He touched his face, felt smooth skin and no stubble. A reset?
"I'm in… another world?" he whispered.
For a moment, Kenzo panicked. He had played enough isekai games to know how things usually went: either you get OP powers and a harem, or you get eaten by a slime before the tutorial ends. He hoped he wasn't the latter.
He stood and wandered aimlessly through a vast countryside painted in vivid greens and gentle golds. Birds chirped in the trees, and distant mountains curved like watchful giants across the horizon. In time, he stumbled into a dusty road that meandered past farmland and toward a village. His stomach growled, and memories flickered as his father grumbling about the right way to use mortar and bricks, his mother's voice reminiscing about pickled daikon and warm rice bowls.
[Skill Activation: Memory Reconstruct - Food: Pickled Daikon]
A small plate of glistening daikon slices appeared in Kenzo's hand.
His jaw dropped. "Wait, seriously?"
It wasn't a dream. He had the power to recreate anything he remembered in detail. The pickled daikon tasted just as he remembered it was sour, crisp, and nostalgic. But when he tried to imagine something like a plasma rifle from an anime he vaguely recalled, nothing happened. The system rejected it.
[ERROR: Insufficient Memory Accuracy for Reconstruction]
So, he could only make what he clearly remembered.
"Great," Kenzo muttered. "I'm a glorified nostalgia machine."
As he trudged toward the village, he noticed a girl crouched near a well, drawing water. Her red hair shone in the afternoon light, tied up messily behind her head. She wore a simple brown dress and looked about his age.
"Hey!" he called, his voice unsure. "Uh… hi."
The girl turned, startled at first. Her green eyes were sharp, cautious.
"You're not from here," she said, standing with a wooden bucket in hand. "Clothes are weird. Where'd you come from?"
Kenzo froze. "…Far away?"
She studied him for a moment, then sighed and gestured him over. "You look like you've been hit by a wyvern and walked through a ditch. Come on. You hungry?"
"…Yeah."
They walked through the village was quaint and lively, with homes made of thatched wood and clay. Villagers waved to the girl, and she waved back.
"I'm Akina," she said, handing him a small piece of flatbread from a nearby stall. "And you?"
"…Kenzo."
"Well, Kenzo, I'm guessing you don't know jack about anything here."
"That obvious?"
"Your boots are on the wrong feet."
He looked down and turned beet red.
As the day went on, Akina introduced him to the basics. Mostly currency, how to avoid wild monsters, what not to say to a merchant, and most importantly, how not to look like an idiot.
She didn't ask many questions about where he came from, which he appreciated. But what stunned him most was how patient she was. How genuine.
[Bond Expansion: Akina - Connection Level: 1 → 2]
Passive Attribute Increase: +5% Mana Regeneration
Kenzo paused mid-sip of soup. A notification again.
He wasn't imagining it. His abilities grew stronger with the emotional bonds he formed specifically, with women who developed genuine feelings for him. His first thought was: "This is some harem anime bullshit."
But… it was real. And when his gaze drifted to Akina sitting beside him, her eyes calm but curious as he realized something.
It wasn't about tricking women or collecting hearts. It was about connection. About mattering to someone. Something he had never had before.
That night, as the village lanterns flickered to life, Kenzo stood on a hill just outside town. The wind tousled his black hair, and his eyes shone under the moonlight.
He raised a hand and concentrated.
[Skill Activation: Memory-Shard Blades - Confession: "I liked you in middle school… but I was too scared to say anything."]
A glowing shard formed at his side showing a dagger-shaped, translucent, and tinged with the warmth of a long-forgotten memory. He launched it at a tree, and it pierced the bark cleanly, humming with magical resonance.
Kenzo's hand trembled.
"Power from love, huh?" he whispered. "Guess even a shut-in like me had some worth after all."
And for the first time in either world… he smiled.