I was walking down the street when a warm air hits my nose. The air caries a nostalgic scent that makes me halt my steps
I turn to the source and found a all too familiar building on the other side of the road
'Can't believe this place still exists' I think while going there
The bell chimes the moment I enter through the door and the staff quickly greets me from behind the counter
"Welcome!" Said the old gentleman, pausing for a moment when he saw my face
"Osker?" He asked with his expression of disbelief before it turned to one full of smiles
I smiled back and greeted him back "Long time no see Gramps!"
"Hahaha! Never thought I'd see you again my boy!"
He walked over with a laugh and then pulled me into a strong hug
I returned the sentiment with a laugh of my own when he took a good look
"You've grown old...Heck I've grown old. How many years has it been? Five? Six?"
I chuckled "Eight years Old man, eight long years"
We both talked for a bit while I took a seat near the counter and he worked as usual
This is one of those classic dinners with all the retro stuff. Music box, coffee machine, pancakes, just classic stuff
Back in the day we would always come here to eat, be it breakfast or lunch. This place was quite close to my house and right in middle on the way to school so it worked
Grandpa Isaac or Old man Isaac like I call him, is a war veteran from the Vietnam War. After the war he came back home and took over the family business which was the dinner. He never got married, when I asked him why he said he lost the love of his life to cancer and never been in love ever since.
Sometimes he says some pretty deep stuff
But as he grew old he felt alone, so he started adopting orphans and suddenly the dinner was filled with bunch of kids and teenagers running around and helping around
At first I would just come here to have breakfast that I missed or lunch but with time, I became friends with everyone
On weekends I would come here just to hang out, sometimes help for a pocket change, hear to the stories of old man Isaac, it were good times
But as always, good times don't last do they?
Sadly we had to move away due to family business and here I am, eight years later having my favorite coffee while listening to his stories
I met with everyone, Matt - The helpful one who is now a doctor which suits his personality; Jacob - The muscle as we called him back in the day is a fitness model and is bunch of advertisements; Grenda - The wonder child, the most adventurous of the group and she's doing what she does best, adventuring around the world while documenting everything about her findings and lastly Julia- The elder sister of the group who just got married and is currently sitting with us
"So you got married last week?" I asked while drinking coffee
"Yes" she smiled while showing me the pictures of the wedding
"He looks like a nice guy" I say while looking at the groom
She smiled warmly "He is, you should meet him"
"Luckily I'll be here for a while" I agreed to meet them on a later date
After that we talked for a while. Just random stuff, before it was time to close shop.
I went back to the hotel I am staying at, had a nice sleep and over the next few days went to the diner daily
It went on for a week until the next time I went there, it was on fire
...
[Do you remember?] Asked the tall man in a white suit
"I do now" I say while drinking the glass of water he gave me. Getting burned alive is not a good feeling and my throat is parched
The fire started because some guy left a lit cigarette in a plate and it fell on the couch and you can figure out the rest. I jumped in to save Gramps and Julia who were trapped and I saved them both but a burning beam fell right on top of me and I got burned alive
When I woke up, I was in front of this weird man who has white background light and he said the usual stuff you see in reincarnation novels
Obviously, I took the offer after a lot of crying. I mean come on I was gonna enter college next month, had a date with this really nice girl later that day and my parents marriage anniversary was the next day
Do I have any regrets? Many
Do I feel bad? Yes
Can I do anything about it? No
So let's just try to enjoy whatever new life I'll have now
.
.
.
.
Although I feel like something is missing
Just got that weird itch in the back of my mind-
[So....what do you think?] He asks making me forget what I was thinking about? Did I have a inner monologue? Huh weird
[Any worlds you'd like to go to?]
"Not really. I do have some personal favourite ones but can't decide"
[Hmm....Then how about this ?]
He snapped his fingers and a roulette appears near us. It was filled with many different categories with many powers listed on it
I got up and spinned the wheel without a word as it was pretty much self-explanatory
The wheel stopped spinning and it landed on
[Lust System] The man gave me a weird glance before dismissing it while I just stare dumbfounded at it
I was just thinking how 80% of the time it always ends with some pervert powers and it actually happened
"Can I change it?" I ask. It might be all well and good but let's be honest here, not everyone is a pervert and given the name, it might make me do some pretty extreme and questionable stuff....let's just hope it doesn't come to that
[No] He answered while another roulette appears
[Now for the world] He said while ignoring my intrigued look as I read the names on the wheel
It is divided into various sections like Anime,Manga,Doujin,Novel,Movies,Series and Original Works.....I'm pretty sure I saw something suspicious right there
Without further ado, I spinned it and it started going at high speeds
It went on for a while before it stopped in Anime section and
[World:- Highschool DxD]
.....Could've been worse. Imagine getting a doujin world and reincarnating as a girl, that's some nightmarish stuff...that is unless you're into it
The man saw the wheel and gave me a basic rundown on how it will go which was as expected
I will get reincarnated as a baby, my system will activate after one week, it has all the system functions, the moment I clear the world quest I will be free to take missions and travel to another worlds as in the Multiverse which I'm looking forward to
There's only a slight problem
You see unlike the rest of the people who know everything about the anime they get transferred to, I don't know anything
I only know the basic "plot" as they would call it. I only know names of the main characters and little background information about them, just basic stuff so wish me luck guys
'This is gonna be fun' is what I think to myself before a white light shines and I close my eyes on reflex
The next time I open them, I'm staring at a woman with slightly brunette hair as she looks down on me with a affectionate look
"Osker" She says. Good to know the name remains the same
"Osker Shidou"
A tall man walks into the room saying my full name and he has a liitle girl in his arms, probably around few days old? Dunno, not a expert at biology
But something about that last name doesn't feel right
Maybe it's because I'm not used to Japanese names? Possible I suppose
Well, that's it for me. I'm already feeling exhausted and gonna take a quick nap
Perhaps getting over the existential dread would be good idea for a start
....