FIVE YEARS LATER
"Alright son. Listen, You have to go the nursery, okay?"
"No!" I scream. There will be girls there!
"Stop being such a child and go to the nursery!"
Bruh I'm literally a child.
"B-but. Mama." I try giving the puppy-eyed look.
My mama returns a death stare. "Don't try that with me, kid."
So much has changed in the past few years. My mom has stopped acting like an absolute moron but instead, she's really strict and scary now.
My dad's pretty chill, and sounds a lot smarter now. I miss seeing them act like idiots. I guess now that they have a six year old who learns from them, they put on a 'responsible adult' front.
"M-mom, please. Not today, I'll go tomorrow." I say. I've had nothing but bad experiences meeting girls in my past life.
The education system in this world is weird. Apparently, school starts at the age of eighteen up until thirty. An age of 50 here is considered equivalent to being 23 on Earth. The lifespan seems to be at about 300 years.
"No. Stop embarrassing me." My mom says. I forget that I'm throwing a tantrum in public.
"But mom-" and then I realize. The kids at the nursery- They're just kids. Just six- to nine-year-olds. I just need to say a bunch of poop jokes, and they'll love me! Plus, my face isn't hideous like last time! I can…make friends. Relive my childhood! Not like my last life, where I just got bullied.
"Alright." I say. "I'll go."
My mom looks surprised. "What?"
"Yep. Matter of fact, I can't wait." I say.
"Hmmm." My mom looks at me suspiciously.
"What? Why do you suddenly seem eager to go?"
"Are you hiding something?" My mom asks.
"No, mother. I'm not. I just realized I can finally make lots of friends."
"Hmm. Okay." My mom says.
She drops me off. "Behave yourself, alright?"
"Yes mother."
"And remember. This is for your own good. Don't tell anybody unless you want the Chief to get his hands on you."
My parents decided to keep my abilities a secret for now. Apparently this tribe's chief is a power-hungry sociopath. He won't do anything to the General or his son since they're both ridiculously powerful. But with me and my parents, he just needs to kidnap me. Then my parents can't do anything against it.
"Of course. I value my freedom."
My mother looks at me with her narrowed eyes. "I wonder what's going on in your head. Sometimes you almost act like an adult, you know?"
"I mean, if you want me to cry, bite your leg and poo on the spot because you're leaving me or something-"
"God no, this is better."
"Alright, bye. I'm running late for work. Just knock on the door and they'll take you in." My mom waves me goodbye and walks away in a hurry.
I take a deep breath. I remember my last life. The women didn't like looking at my face. I was also super awkward with women.
What if it happens today? What if the women I meet today find me disgusting?
My hands and legs shake. My throat is dry.
Stupid me. Why did I even agree to come to the nursery today?
That's right. Because my face looks different. Many people have told me that I look handsome.
I muster up courage. I look non-hideous.
As my dad taught me, I just must be polite. It'll go a long way.
I breathe in, and knock.
I hear footsteps. "Coming!"
My stomach is churning. I tremble in anticipation. My heart beats faster. Adrenaline rushes my bloodstream.
A pretty woman who looks like she's in her early 20s opens the door, and sees me.
"Oh my god! Look at him, Gura!"
Another lady enters. She looks just as pretty and young as the other woman, but a lot shorter, and has (obviously a different face and) white-blue hair.
"You're right! Look at that little bowtie, Suisei!" The short lady called Gura screams. "He's so adorable!"
I get flustered. These women…actually think I'm cute? I'm cute.
"Come in!" The taller lady, Suisei escorts me in. "What's your name?"
"Uhm" I fumble, flustered. "Onna Suki."
"Oh, look at him. He's so embarrassed. So cute!!"
What? They even think me being embarrassed as cute? Oh my god, with a face like this there's no need to worry at all!
I FUCKING LOVE MRS.GURA! I LOVE MRS.SUISEI! THEY'RE THE BEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD! I WOULD GIVE MY WHOLE WALLET TO THEM IF I HAD ONE AS A DONATION!
I feel invincible. I don't have any fear. My chests puffs up, my confidence skyrockets. I feel like I could talk to anyone.
Just sit down and watch, and look at me making billions of friends.
"It's Mrs Mama's son. Welcome to the Balls Kindergarten! Let me introduce you to the other kids!"
They usher me into a room filled with about thirty kids or so.
They were all chatting in groups, but they all stop and stare at me once I entered the room.
Doesn't faze me. These are just a bunch of brats.
"Everyone, Meet Onna Suki."
They completely ignore me and start talking again.
"Alright now, Onna. Run along."
I walk towards them, trying to see who to talk to. And then I see the smallest group, consisting of five people. It consists of four boys, two of them being identical twins, and one girl.
"Hey guys."
I say. I feel really confident. Easy peasy. I can make them into my friends.
"How's it going?"
One kid looks at me bored, and says "Nothing much."
I recognize this kid. He's the General's son. The Natural Calamity with four Inclinations.
"Well, I-"
I start but am interrupted by another brat with a flaming red hair and bandages along his right arm
"Who the fuck said you could talk here?"
"S-stop it, Takeshi. It's not like-" one of the twins speaks. He looks really nerdy and has round red glasses.
"I agree." The girl steps in. "Who is this guy?"
I gulp. Everything is crashing and burning.
"How much is your Output?" she asks.
"Uhh, 80?" I lie.
"Pfft." Takeshi and the girl laugh.
The general's son is staring at me intently.
"Just leave, we don't want to talk to you." Takeshi says.
"Al-alright. Have a good day." I say. Stupid Onna. This is what you get for believing that your social life's going to be a lot easier than last time's.
I walk all the way to the back to stay alone. I sit on the last bench and notice another kid in the opposite end. He obviously seems very poor. His clothes have little holes in them. He does not have any shoes, and he looks like he wants to disappear. But his face looks intimidating and angry. Like he's about to explode at any time.
'What a weirdo' I think to myself. Talk about sending mixed signals.
I see a group of kids looking at him and sniggering. They whisper amongst themselves, point at the poor kid and laugh loudly.
One of the kids in the group shout "What do you have for lunch, Junior?"
The poor kid- I'm guessing he's Junior – doesn't reply, but makes an annoyed 'tsk' sound and ignores their question, while his body squirms uncomfortably.
The kids seem to ignore him and leave him alone for now.
'I guess I'm not the only one with friends.' I think to myself.
He reminds me of how I was in school. He's probably been bullied a lot, and that's a good reason for me not to help him. If I become his friend, there's a good chance I'll get bullied too.
I try my best to ignore him and act like he's not there. It's probably the best way to try and make some friends.
Then I hear one my dad's teachings ringing in my head:
My dad sat me down and told me, "Son. Today, your incredibly smart dad is going to teach you how to achieve your goals."
"O-okay?"
"Son, achieving a goal is like wooing a woman."
"Alright." I know how this is going to go. He'll talk about how getting a girlfriend requires you to fail many times until you get one blah blah blah
"Sometimes, to attract a girl, you must be willing to fail many times to succeed, just like achieving a goal."
See? I told you so.
"Sometimes, to attract a girl, you must be willing to look like a complete fool, embarrass yourself, exactly like achieving some goals."
Okay. That seems kind of right.
"Sometimes, to attract a girl, you must be willing to stalk people, risk being falsely labelled as a 'potential sex offender' and spend a good chunk of your life in prison…
Exactly like achieving some goals."
Hold up, time out. Just what kind of creepy goals did you have?
"Son, what did you learn from this?" My dad asks.
"That you should be in jail." I reply.
I make a mental note to never go to my dad for romantic advice.
"No, that's not the point, son." My dad says. "The point is that goals require sacrifice. You must give something up for it. And you must know what you are willing to sacrifice to achieve a goal."
That's right. I must sacrifice some things to achieve a goal. What will I sacrifice to get friends?
My dignity? If it means that I get good friends, yes.
I get up. I'm going to talk to every single group formed here, except for the poor kid, of course, and I'm going to make some friends.
"Hello."
"Fuck off."
"Hello."
"Sorry dude, no space here."
"Hello."
"Ew, why do your eyes look like that?"
"Hello"
"Oh, just remembered something I have to do."
"Hello"
…..
"Alright kids! Lunch time!"
It's been two hours, and I can't even make a single friend. Damn, these kids have a filthy mouth. They manage to cram like ten different bad words in one sentence.
I sit down in the back, exhausted and hopeless and open my lunch box.
"That food looks dope! Mind if I have some?" I see the same group of kids who asked the poor kid Junior for some lunch stand around me.
Shit. I have a feeling that something bad might happen if I say 'no'.
"Of course, you can have all of it if you like." I say. Better to suck up to them.
"Sweet, thanks dude."
They eat all my food.
"Here, have some of mine. My stomach is stuffed." One of the six kids with pink hair offers me some. Probaby a girl.
"Thanks." I say and take some from her.
"Pinku, why do you always bring such shitty food?" some kid asks her.
"It tastes delicious!" I say by accident.
They're all looking at me weird.
Shit, I fucked up, didn't I?
"Pfft." The pink haired girl laughs. "You like THAT food?"
The other kids laugh. "Your taste buds must be absolutely fucked if you enjoy that."
"You're a funny guy… what's your name again?"
"Uhh. Onna..Suki."
"What a weird name."
"Onna..Suki. Is that supposed to mean anything?"
"Not sure." I reply. "But it sounds like brain damage." I say.
The kids found it funny.
They asked me a bunch of stuff, and I answered them. The day went by quickly, and I had a lot of fun. Is this what it is like to have friends? I like these people.
By the end of the day I was a part of their group.
"Alright, kids. Nursery time is over. Students going home by themselves, you can leave now."
Out of the corner of my eye, I can see the poor kid, Junior leave. He walks away in a hurry.
Apparently my group notices him too.
"This is gonna be hilarious." Pinku says. "Follow me." She tells me. "Timmy, Akari, you guys coming?"
"Of course."
"Don't leave us behind, dumbass."
"I'm coming too." Apparently the whole group joins in.
We go outside and Pinku starts walking behind Junior.
Junior seems to have noticed and he walks faster.
Pinku shouts "Don't run away. We're not gonna do anything."
One of the kids yells, "Yeah, we never did anything to you, right guys? We just want to be your friend."
The group laughs, while I feel uneasy.
She immediately runs up to Junior and grabs his the back of his shirt, with one finger inside his shirt hole. Then she pulls. Hard.
The back of his shirt rips, and Pinku's finger nail leaves a long scratch on his back.
"Ow!" he shouts.
"This wouldn't have happened if didn't walk away and just stayed, like a good boy." Pinku replies.
"It's your fault your shirt got ripped, dumbass." One of the kids yells.
Then he turns around. His face looks both terrified and angry. "I don't have the time for this. Fucking bitch!"
He tries to push her away, but Pinku moves away, abnormally fast- probably reinforcing her body with magic- and trips him.
"What did you just say?" Pinku seems mad.
Ske kicks him in the ribs. "What the fuck did you just say to me?!" She screams.
She bends down and punches him in his face hard. I hear a crack. Everyone in the group collectively cringes.
Pinku realizes that she might have gone a bit too far and stops immediately. "You shouldn't have said that. This was your fault." She says and backs away.
The adults don't move. They ignore all of this, they don't want to be involved.
My hands are trembling with fear. I don't want to be in the receiving end of that. I've experienced that in my previous life, but not to that intensity. Thank god I wasn't his friend.
"Who the fuck does he think he is? Anwyays-" Pinku says, unfazed. "-Let's go to our spot. I'm done with him."
We walk away from that mess.
"Did you see how he tripped? It looked like he was falling in slow motion."
"Pinku, dude you went too far." One of the boys says and they start laughing.
"He thought he could touch me with his filthy hands. Fucking retard." Pinku looks proud. "It was his fault, right Onna?"
I don't like this.
"Y-yeah. His fault." I reply.
"See? Oh, did you see me use Reinforcement Magic there?"
"None of can reinforce our bodies with magic like that yet."
"How the fuck did you manage to learn Reinforcement this young?"
I remember it. She moved abnormally fast there. Even I couldn't move that fast with reinforcement magic. I guess there's another genius in the tribe, huh?
Within a few seconds, the group forgets about Junior, except me.
I should be happy that I'm with a group of friends. And yet, why do I feel like shit?
I turn back and I see Junior, still on the floor next to the ripped part of his shirt. He seems to not want to get up. His hands are on his face, covering his mouth and nose as blood trickles down his hands and forms a small puddle on the ground.
What a pathetic sight.