[ 16 Years Later, Location: Chiba, Japan. ]
It was a pleasant morning.
The sun was out and the birds chirped incessantly. A light breeze rustled the trees, their boughs swaying lightly, sending leaves fluttering down to the ground.
In this pleasant environment, I felt like I could relax. Like any other human being, I love some peaceful time to myself. Just imagining myself leaning against a tree, with a novel in my hand, is enough to make me sigh in contentment. If heaven was a place, it'd be like that.
But just as I was about to reach Valhalla, Satan did his work and stopped me in my tracks. An unbearable, seething pain in my head and memories of my past life flooded my brain, making me keel over with my head clutched between my palms.
As if that were not enough, the bones in my body started rattling and made popping sounds, as if a sort of reconstruction was taking place. Now that I have my memories, I can take a guess and say it's because of those wishes I asked for. In this life, I have yet to show any signs of being an unkillable roach after all. My body must be going through some phase because of that.
If that is the case, then why isn't my second wish working? I remember asking for pain nullification too, you know. Nullify this pain, damnit!
Just as I thought that, all the pain left my body, leaving behind only numbness. I was surprised at first before that feeling turned into annoyance.
Oh, right. Pain nullification is not a passive skill. Should've known.
I want to feel human, my ass.
"...Shucks, man."
I lay on the grassy field, panting heavily. Despite the lack of pain in my body, which is a massive improvement from my previous state, I still felt pretty exhausted. It was like I had run a marathon without fainting mid-way for the first time.
Ignoring that stuff, I guess it's about time to properly introduce myself.
Tengen Akihiko, previously named Sugehiro Taika, is me, your friendly neighborhood everyday guy who no one loves.
Just like in my previous life, I didn't get the privilege of having parents in this one as well, which instinctually made me an orphan. I lived in an orphanage for most of my life. It was a nice place with a cozy environment and not your typical, cliche orphanage where the protagonist of a story gets mistreated.
Like, seriously. Not every orphanage is bad, and not every warden a pedophile, you know~
In short, I had a great time living in the orphanage. I failed to make friends, which wasn't something I was particularly sad about, but I at least had a great relationship with Bed-san and Pillow-chan. We usually spent all our time together. Yeah, I am such a loser...
Anyways, after I had my fourteenth birthday, which I doubt is my real birthday, I ran away from the orphanage, wanting to live on my own. Nobody bothered to search for me, the same way I didn't bother to return.
After a few months of roaming around, I finally landed myself a job in a McRonald's fast food corner. It was mostly because of my manager, Mayumi Kisaki, who found me pitiful. I'm thankful to her. She is one sweet gal, and I will repay her someday in the future.
Two years have passed, and now I am in my first year of high school, living in a run-down apartment. I'm living quite a similar life to my previous one, except for one thing in my life which is quite different.
"Ho? What do we have here? You seem to be having fun, Akihiko." A voice, belonging to a bald, muscular boy with scars running down both his head and cheek, reached my ears. I could see him glaring at me from here, which made me sigh. "You like the weather, you little shit?"
In this life, I am a victim of bullying.
Walking toward me with his friends(more like lackeys) behind his back, was Abe, the guy who has been bullying me for the past year. He looks especially pissed today, which I am sure is due to something I did.
As the benevolent God informed me before my rebirth, I have retained the personality and mannerisms from my past life, which in turn, has made me a very lazy and uncaring individual.
My casual approach toward life and my charming personality(lol) have somehow managed to rub this guy the wrong way, which in turn, led him to start bullying me. It's all my past self's fault for being such a weirdo. Take responsibility, me!
"Stop spacing out on Abe, you bastard! Do we have to remind you who he is?!"
In my state of monologue, I've failed to acknowledge these guys standing close to me, which pissed them off even more. Abe, their leader, was grinding his teeth while looking at me. I wonder if he can cut open a bamboo with all that noise he is making.
"Not really. You've already told me a thousand times-"
"He is the Killer Machine(Kirā Mashīn), Abe!" Lackey number 1 said dramatically, trembling in excitement. Oi, I said I am not interested. "The leader of the second year of Ishiyama High. Pay your respects!"
"K-Killer M-Machine Abe? I-is that what they call him!?"
Lackey number 2 questioned his friend, who answered with a nod of his head, his expression serious. What the heck is wrong with these guys?
"... Yes. Even I thought it was a lie, till I saw him in action. Abe is ruthless, and especially famous for sending his victims to the hospital." His eyes squinted, and his tone deepened. "He really is a Killer Machine."
"Killer Machine..."
"Killer Machine."
All the lackeys repeated, looking all serious. I simply deadpanned them, feeling more than just a little grossed out by their act. I didn't find all these acts that ridiculous before, but now that I have got the memories from my previous life, this whole situation seems weird.
Not to mention, the realization that my bully is a canon fodder from a show I watched before, makes me want to laugh at his face, which I am trying to hold in. That would be just rude, no?
"I asked you to bring me a can of soda, but you ran away. Again." Abe said, glaring down at me as I remained planted on the grass. "Do I have to beat you up for you to realize how big of a mistake you made, hah?"
Oh, right. I remember now. I was just with him before coming here. He always makes me buy him drinks, or at least try to, considering I always run away and never return. Even in this life, I'm not scared of him. But there is nothing I could do to stop the bullying, as I was powerless to fight him before.
Now though, with the wishes I got, I'm not too sure about that anymore.
Abe, not liking the fact I was ignoring him(which happens a lot), stood over me with malicious eyes, no doubt planning on beating the shit out of me. Seeing his figure looking down at me, I can't help but grumble under my breath.
To be honest, I don't want to engage with this guy. The realization that this is my second life, and the world I live in a mixture of fictional stories I have watched, has already started damaging my exotic, but feeble brain. Dealing with this baldy and his gang with their fragile ego is the last thing I want to do right now.
Besides, I have got more important matters to attend to. Like testing out...my...strength?
.
..
...
You know what? I think I will humor him for a while. For research purposes, of course.
My gaze turned toward the bald tormenter of mine, a cruel, downright sadistic grin coming onto my face.
'Abe, my guy. I'm sorry for everything I am about to do to you for the next few minutes. It's nothing personal, just that you're the only thing in this place I want to punch right now.'
Looking at my twisted smile, Abe looked a little disturbed.
"W-what's with that smile? You think I am joking with you?"
The baldy took a step back, trying to maintain his composure. His lackeys kept on looking at us, anticipation visible on their objectively, ugly faces.
My grin didn't falter as I stood up. On the contrary, it only widened as I took a step toward him, a dangerous glint in my eyes.
"Tell me, Abe-san." I clenched my fists a little, feeling some sort of numbness in them. "Are you a dolphin?"
"...What?"
Before he could react, a punch so hard it broke his nose, connected with his face, launching him flying toward the river a few meters away from us. His lackeys, who all had stopped cheering after what they saw, had their jaws dropped to the floor.
Even I, the one to throw that punch, was surprised. I only used a little bit of strength in my arms. Honestly, I knew I'd be strong, but strong enough to send a person flying without putting any effort into my punch was out of my expectations.
Just how strong am I? This is awesome! I will need more subjects for the testing!
"How about you guys?" I turned my gaze away from the river to look at the lackeys. "Are you dolphins?"
Their expression paled, as the 'sweet' smile on my face sent chills down their spine.
"Let's find out, shall we?"
Let's see how strong I truly am.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Yo, dear readers!
Author here.
This story is finally going to take its course. Beelzebub anime is included in this world, and so is Devil is a part-timer. I hope you guys have watched these shows. If not, I highly recommend watching them. They are good.
Tell me if you liked the chapter. And if you guys have any idea about what anime I can include in this story, feel free to recommend them to me.
That's it.
Peace!