Following up on our little confrontation, I was now sitting next to Shen. She held a mug between her hands, both hands on it. She was watching the window outside, her gaze fixated on the people walking by.
"Are you going to talk, or just sit there? You had me come-"
"I'm an otherworlder, that's where I come from." Shen said, her gaze never being unfixed. "You are one too, correct?"
"How the hell did you find that out?!" I exclaimed without thinking. I barely interacted with her… "wait- you're an otherworlder?"
"That is what I said, and due to you almost breaking out of one of my spells." She explained, swirling her cup and drinking more of her whatever. "Only individuals with high mental strength can break out of it. That's you,your adopted father, or otherworlders."
As she said the word otherworlders, she brought up a second finger. Was it that simple? If there was, there definitely is more than just two then.
"How the hell can I hide that if it is so easy to figure out…?"
"It's not that easy, I've lived for 583 years in total. I have experience."
Guess she's right… Wait, 583?! She was 49 when she reincarnated or taken? Dumbfoundedly, I stared at her mouth open wide. She was serious, her eyes locked onto my face, slight wrinkles on her mouth echoed her seriousness.
"So, how did you come to this world? Reincarnated or were you summoned?" I asked her, I was genuinely curious. This is my first time meeting another otherworlder, seriously… What are the chances? I have so many questions now!
"Reincarnated. I was a teacher in my past life, and lived for forty-nine years."
More she says, the more she reminds me of someone. She's looking at me, is she hoping I would join in?
"Um… I recently graduated from High School… I was almost nineteen in my past life." I explained, scratching the back of my head. I purposely excluded my previous gender.
"July?"
"Eh? Yeah, how did you know?"
July was the standard graduation date for where I lived— Wait, wait, wait did we come from the same place??
"I was a teacher in that place, Amass High eh?"
"No way! Wait…"
"What're you confused by? I am telling the truth, here, check my status." Shen reached her hand out. Could it be possible, she's that teacher?
For some reason my body froze, and my heart was racing. Could it be that more people had died?! Or is this woman actually— no she isn't messing with me.
If I wanted to cement it, I need to check her status.
[
Name: Shen (Minato Takeda.)
Age: 534
Sex: Female
Race: Foxkin (Higher Vampire)
Status: Healthy, Undead
Class: Priestess, Healer
Lvl: 87
Str: 64 Dex: 54 End: 110 Int: ***** Agi: 87 Luck: 15
]
"No way, it's actually you!"
"Eh? Whaddya mean by that?"
"You're Mister Takeda! I was one of your students!"
She looked at me with a cocked eyebrow, and sort of shocked. Dumbfounded even. That was the most emotion she's shown ever then she raised a hand to her chin as if she was thinking.
"Mathew? Is that you?"
"E-Eh? How the heck did you know?!"
"I cannot forget a moronic student like you."
"Even a- hold on, how did you even die?!" I asked him, pointing at his face. How does a forty-nine year old man who is healthy die?! Did we both die from something else?
Seriously, how? Takeda was healthy as a bull, he had muscles and was always active. Now, he's in front of me, a foxgirl…
He let out a sigh, letting the cup down. Asking me a weird question not long after.
"Have you been told how we died?" He asked, looking serious, his tone was full of curiosity. I shook my head, resulting in him covering his face. "Before I explain, how old are you now?"
"In this body… fourteen…"
"How long have you been conscious?"
"Around a year, why are you asking?"
Did those questions matter? Wait, did I say something wrong? He looked mad, he was glaring at me… no no no, I definitely said something wrong!
Shit! I shouldn't have said anything! Why is he grabb- Is he going to bite me agai-
My body- I can't fight- It's starting to feel cold- I'm shivering… Am I dying?
The world's going black, my mind's becoming muddled… He's killing me… what did I do?
I th- Eh? Randomly my body went numb, I found myself in that void where I came from. Mister Takeda was standing in front of me, he was in his old world's body.
A tall, muscular man with blonde hair, with streaks of white. His shoulders looked like they could carry the weight of the world. He turned around, it was him.
His face looked younger, aside from a scar going down his lip. His age was always speculated, but he confirmed it with his driver's license.
"It was you, huh?" He asked, walking towards me. I looked down, and I was in my old body, it was an odd sight, but pleasant. I kinda missed my old body.
"What did you do?"
"I brought our souls to this voidscape, this isn't my soul shape now, but I changed it." He explained. What's a voidscape…? He saw the question on my face, but sighed and continued. "It's taboo to talk about in the real world, but here, we can talk unrestrained."
What's he talking about…? Is it that bad? I guess I'll learn about it here soon. He took a few steps around, and turned to me. "What actually happened?"
"Our entire city died. You, your friends, your family, everything."
"Wait… what? How?!" I said without thinking, is he being serious?! How did that even happen?! I tried grabbing his shirt, but I slipped through. "What do you mean everyone died?!"
"Have you read the history of this world?"
"I read some of it, why?"
"That summoning spell, it was taken away due to what it caused." Mister Takeda turned away, and looked to the black sky. "It caused us to be reincarnated."
"Did-"
Did it cause an explosion? What did-
"I can read your thoughts, Mathew. You're correct, it killed everyone in our small city." Mister Takeda's body switched to a much younger form of his reincarnated body. The body's hair was red, eyes were a dark orange, and looked to be fourteen. "We reincarnated, it was due to multiple gods."
I silently watched, I couldn't form words. My throat was stuck, how could I comprehend this? Why couldn't I remember what happened?
Silently, he let out a laugh, and looked down at the ground.
"Although, we were meant to reincarnate similar to our old bodies, few became like the current us." There was a small laugh, a somber one before he continued. "I'm quite shocked to find you as a girl, your father and mother had two kids and one looks like you."
They-
"They're alive, healthy. Your little sister is too."
"Where are they…? Where's my family?? Are they safe?!"
"They're in another continent, they're a lot safer than you."
"Can you take me to them? I want to see-"
He caught me off, raising his hand and putting a finger to his lips.
"You're not ready to see them. Neither are they, your father has a lot of responsibilities. Plus, there's a being watching over you, monitoring your every move. Even here, I can sense it, it's neither malevolent, nor benevolent. It wants you to follow a path, you need to or things will go into hell."
"What… what- what are you talking about?"
"You are not ready, you are too dangerous around other reincarnators. You must follow the path that the being has over you. I will be watching over you for a time, I will protect you, but keep it a secret "
What- Things were starting to blur, the void around us changed back to the tavern. Mister Takeda was now back to being Shen, not his original appearance. And I was back to being in Yukina's body.
His lips contorted into an annoyed expression. The skin on his face started smoking before stopping.
"Just remember what I told you. If people ask what we did here, tell them I was checking on you."
"Alright… Um, thank you, Mister Takeda. For clearing things up…"
His face turned even more irritated, it was as if I said something wrong.
"Call me Miss Shen, I'm not Mister Takeda anymore. I've been "Shen" for far longer than I was as Takeda"
"Thank you Miss Shen…"
His mood seems worse… his lips were into a deep drown as he turned forward. You can't win with this guy!!
"Just remember, do not talk about what we talked about with others."
As a response I nodded my head. I don't know how long he's been as Shen for, I'm grateful he hasn't changed. Contrary to the rumors, he was kind, yet strict.
Although he was pretttyy nasty to me, I was not the best student… Hahaha….
"Kid, you have not changed much. Did the memories of your new life not come in?"
"Eh? What do you mean?"
"When you come to this new life, be it at any age, you gain memories of who you are now. For me, I started my life here at five years old."
"I-I… I didn't gain any…" I mumbled, and found myself staring at the table. As hard as I try, even when I exhaust my mind… I can't forget the memories that did come. I keep hearing the screams, everything.
There was a low snort, and a hand on my shoulder. Firm, it was his way of consoling me… it always was, when I came into the classroom in a bad mood.
"If they were bad, I understand if you don't want to say anything." He squeezed my shoulder once more and let go. It's so awkward hearing him speak like he used to, even now as a woman.
We sat there in silence for some time, only when I smelled something burning. Something was set on fire… it came from- He's burning, his skin is starting to char— his face stayed calm, he stood up and went to a shaded area.
Before I could ask him anything, I felt a massive jolt from my ears. It pierced through my skull, I let out a loud yelp and tumbled to the ground.
"Y-Yukina-?"
Wh- Why did she do that? Did- Did she stab my- My heart's pounding against my chest, did she stab my ear? It stings…
"Yukina, what's wrong? Hey, hey, yu-"
Why- why di- there's no blood… why did that-
My hands were completely clean…All the stinging from my ears were lingering; Melinda was staring at me, tears were forming in her eyes…
Slowly my heart was calming down, Melinda tried to reach for me… but she stopped, her hands shaking, pulling them back not long after.
"I'm… I'm sorry… I didn't mean to hurt you- I'm sorry…" Melinda began to apologize, her voice was shattering as her tears started to stream down.
I vigorously shook my head, I wasn't in pain now. Her tears started to well more as I got to my feet.
Don't- Don't go there mind, I don't need to think of that… Don't-! The pained howls echoed in my head. Swirling, biting at every part, I could feel myself shake- shaking too much, my heart was tearing at my throat.
Every part of my body was terrified, yet… I need to comfort Melinda, she was taking this badly. She had no idea about my ears— they were so much worse, her breath from holding me at night was agonizing.
Without her realizing, I wrapped my frail arms around her; she didn't need to cry over it, however, I can feel the regret in her hot tears— they pelted my bare shoulder.
In truth, this comforted both of us. As her tears slowed and ceased, my heart started calming down.
"I didn't know- know that hurt you…" Melinda muttered, finally returning my hug. It didn't… my ears just— they became much more sensitive to the touch.
I wanted to explain that, but my words didn't come out. I was at a loss to explain it, should I bear with it? Tell her it just scared me?
"It didn't… I just got scared." I replied, I had a feeling this wasn't the best choice to say. I heard her mumble, "oh thank god…" Afterwards, I stepped back and we separated.
She seems calmer… I'm going to be in a world of pain. As my thoughts braced themselves, I gave her a smile. It was forced of course, the future agonization is going to be fun…
"Um… why were you with Miss Shen, Yukina?"
"I was giving her a run up on her current condition."
Mister Takeda was leaning against the wall, holding his arms tight to himself. His head rested on it, watching us; the dark glint in his eyes made my heart jump.
"Um… uh, what did you exactly tell her?"
"How I can be healed in a few days… um, yeah, Miss Shen will be healing my arm! She promised to, that's all— oh! She'll be teaching me more magic, right?!" I explained, lying through my gritted teeth. I turned to Shen with a forced smile, in return, she covered her face, plus shook it for a moment.
"Yes, that's what I said. Miss Yukina, it's Master Shen from now on. Not Miss Shen." Her words made me jump backwards, she sounded mad.
From then on, the day inched by… the news of Shen becoming my teacher kept pestering my brain. Shaun, everyone, even James asked repeatedly if it was true. Into the next, and the day after.
Seems like the dryness in my throat is gone.
Once again, I wriggled out of my prison. Then, I sat up and the constant paddling of the vampiric thirst was gone. I felt back to normal, aside from my blindness and pain.
James is gone… I realized, turning my body completely to the side. His side was completely empty, aside from Alissa's arm.
Carefully, I got to my feet, leaving the room quietly. I heard some chatter- it was James and Mister Takeda. They were discussing some— more like my teacher battering on him.
"I want to heal her eye!"
"Are you sure you can do that, Mister James? Healing body parts like that, it's dangerous. You can permanently destroy it, make her body go into disarray and attack it."
"I can do it! If I can repair destroyed limbs, I can heal Yukina's eye!" James shouted, I flinched from a loud slam striking the table. "You cannot tell me I can't! She's my daughter, you're just someone who did this to her!"
"Why don't we let her decide?"
They turned in my direction, James had a shocked look, my teacher was leaning back in his chair. He was nonchalant, glaring at me.
"What is it? Him or me." My teacher pointed at himself, then James.
I sucked in my breath, before deciding on James. I don't know the extent of Mister Takeda's healing magic, but I can rely on James.
They waited a few hours, and I had my teacher heal my body. James needed as much time to clear his mind before he could. By the time he was ready, my arm was fully functional— I could rotate it around without much issues.
"I'm going to put you to sleep; your body will be in a lot of pain, but by the end you'll be fine." James said, putting his hand on my forehead. He pushed me back onto the bed, and a warm feeling massaged my brain.
"Than…" I instantly slipped into darkness, my consciousness being dragged somewhere else.