"Sorry, I wasn't of help, Brother. But don't worry, we'll get back at them soon. I can't forgive them. I'm gonna make them pay for sure." A blonde-haired boy, with shining blue eyes, comforted the other black-haired one, who was leaning on the wooden fence and appeared to have been beaten into pulp.
(Where am I? W-W-What am I doing here? And what is this shrimp talking about? I was in the plane, right? I think it's still nighttime. Oh, yes. There was an explosion. Did I die? Wait, what???!!)
"Brother!? Are you okay? You're lips are still bleeding. Let me wipe it out."
He was still confused of everything. The blonde-haired boy in front of him, who looked the same age as him, wiped his swollen lips out of blood using his white towel, all without hesitation. And then, patted his head. Unfortunately, he still couldn't recognize him.
"W-Who are you?" He blandly asked.
"Huh???" The blonde boy was totally dumbfounded by the question. "What do you mean? It's me. Vaissien—your brother."
"M-My brother???"
(I don't have a brother. I only have father left in the family). He thought.
His only family members were his parents. And since his mother died at a young age and his father became ill, he remained to be the only child of the family. Thus, being confronted by a person who was claiming to be a sibling was totally unprecedented to him.
"W-W-What's happened to you?" The boy in front of him panicked. "A-A-Are you really okay!?"
Before he could give an answer to the nervous boy, an attractive teenage girl ran towards them hurriedly.
"Vaissien! Cimmerian!" She forcibly spoke while in the middle of her rhythmically fast breathing. "What happened!!?" She frantically shouted.
"Uhm... Big Sis, I'm glad that you're here. C-Cimmerian was in a slugfest with those arrogant fellows from Kanto Village. They were really talking mean things to us."
"Cimmy, what did I tell you? You should just ignore them. Look, you're badly hurt." She yelled at him, at the same time, touched his violet face. "You too, Vaissien, why didn't you stop him?" The girl was very upset at them.
"Sorry! I should've stopped them. But—." The boy bowed his head. "Anyway, Big Sis, there's something wrong with him. He's still confused. He didn't recognize me after he woke up from unconsciousness."
"What!? Hey, Cimmerian, are you okay?"
The girl queried at him, but he was still so shocked to understand what happened. His eyes were still devoid of any trace of understanding.
"Come on, Vaissien, help me. Let's carry him home."
The two brought him home while completely silent. One thing that made Shiba Mitsuya puzzled was the fact that he was in a teenage boy's body, even though his consciousness was the same. It seemed as though his mind transferred to another physical body. He never felt or remembered of traversing any region of hyperspace as shown on Isekai series he was once fond with when he was still on his springtime days. He quitted this hobby of his when they became destitute. His mind became more practical and serious. Hence, he was convinced that this might be the part of such a sort of story that he had already forgotten since his middle school days.
(I really died, didn't I? Then why am I still sentient? Also, these people have been saying I am Cimmerian. No. No. No. This can't be. Is this what they really call reincarnation? No. I wouldn't go so far as to believe it. I might just be dreaming now.)
When he became a bit older, he always laughed at youngsters who became addicted to novels depicting reincarnation. He even belittled them as victims of the theme's bandwagon effect. But now, he felt dumb that he might actually be the stupid one all along for not believing it.
While his mind flew afar, they already arrived. It was in a small house constructed from both bricks and wood. Some parts of it were already old and crappy. It was standing on a long flat land. A few meters away from it showed a wide field for root and grain crops. The three entered the wooden doorway.
"Right here." The girl muttered while out of breath from exhaustion.
The boy named Vaissien and the girl laid him down in the bed. The girl immediately got some clean cloth and herbal med which was a combination of leaves and others of herbal nature. She treated his wounds and changed his muddy and tainted clothes. While he was happy by the girl's help, he was annoyed a bit by the leaves' pungent odor.
A few moments later.
"Cimmy, is it true that your memory's still hazy? Tell me." She asked.
Actually, it's not that he really forgot everything that happened before. It's just that he was so shocked about his two different memories. It appeared as though he just existed two different lives all in an instant. He remembered himself growing here with these people, and at the same time, as Shiba Tatsuya. Due to this, he muttered something without thinking like what he did when he asked who the boy named Vaissien was.
"Yeah, before." He tried to correct his mistake. "But, it's fine now, Big Sis. Thanks."
This was after sorting out both his memories. From those before he died, and those while he was growing up as the individual called Cimmerian—a normal village teenager.