Haruto slowly opened his eyes, just to shut them closely right away again.
The bright light of the morning sun shining into the room gave him a headache, since his mind was still filled with the shadows of dusk and the deep blue darkness inside the sea.
He could even still feel the salty water entering his mouth and depriving him of air to breath, filling his lungs completly.
But now there was no water around him anymore.
He was lying on the dry futon in the small guest room of his uncle's house.
He slowly opend his eyes again.
For a second he looked at the familair ceiling. Then he raised his hand above his face and looked at it.
It was quiet small. Not the hand of a seventeen-year-old boy but the one of a thirteen-year-old.
I'm back again, He thought, while letting out a sigh.
Haruto coverd his face with his arm, closing his eyes again.
How many times has it been now?, he wonderd.
At some Point He had stopped counting how many times he had died and went back in time.
It didn't matter anymore. The important thing rigth now was to remember what happend on the yesterday in this time.
Just through that thought the memories came back flushing in his head.
Yesterday afternoon Haruto and his mother Akane Kohara had taken the ferry from the mainland to this island named Akitsukitama where his uncle, aunt and cousins lived.
After three hours on sea they had finally arrieved and afterwards only needed to go by bus for one station.
Only a tad later they arrieved at the big house, a villa in the style of a traditional japanese mansion.
His uncle Daikaku had welcomed them, happy to see his little sister again after ten long years.
He agreed to her request to take in Haruto for the next six years so that he could attend the renowned Kaminori Academy which included a grade-, middle- and high school.
Then they only had a short dinner befor Haruto's mother left again, to catch the last ferry.
His uncle Daikaku had showed him to his room and he had fallen asleep right after laying out his futon.
And now he was here again, returned from the future once more.
Leaving out a long sigh for the second time since waking up, he stood up, took out new clothes from his suitcase, and silently stepped out of the room to go to the bathroom.
After washing up and putting away his futon he quickly packed out his suitcase.
Then he left the room and went to the dining room, following the all to well known ways through the house.
Haruto thought that he was really lucky since he still hadn't encounternd anyone yet. Thanks to that he had the time to think.
While walking he recalled the memories from right befor his last death:
He had recieved a letter asking him to come to the eastern cliff, called the fishermans' death, around sunset.
Curiuos, as to who had sended the letter and for what reason, he went there.
But while standing there looking over the sea and waiting for the mysterious writer of the letter, someone had hit him on the head from behind using something heavy.
Next thing Haruto rememberd was himself falling through the air, landing in the sea.
Normally he could have easily swam back up but the wound on his head had started bleeding quite serious and he lost consciousness soon after.
Seeing how I am back in the past again, I must have drowned in the sea., he thought with a bitter smile on his lips.
Haruto would have liked to think about it a bit more, but he had already reached the dining room.
After taking a deep breath, he knocked on the door and the enterd the room.
…
The western-styled room was dominated by a big wooden table that stood in the middle of it.
Around it, ten chairs were standing but only two had peopel sitting on them.
At the opposite head of the table Harutos uncle Daikaku Yamato sat, reading the newspaper while drinking coffee.
He was a huge man his the late 40s, with short black hair, black eyes, an angular face, and tanned skin.
Beneath his blue T-Shirt his trained muscles showed and his dark blue trousers reached up to his knees.
On the chair to his left (from Harutos Point of view) a beautiful woman with shoulder long black hair wich flowed in ligth Waves, a narrow face, a rather sharp nose and dark green eyes sat.
Her skin was as well tanned as Daikakus, thought compared to his, it was a bit paler in color.
The hem of her white summer dress was swinging around her knees even while sitting. She was his aunt, Hina Yamato.
Then the two of them sat next to each other they somehow seemed a bit from diffrent worlds.
Hina with her small stature and Daikaku with his bulky body.
Daikaku with his deep and loud voice and Hina with her high and gentle one.
Even in his other lifes Haruto had always wonderd how the two, who seemed like polar opposites, had met and fallen in love.
The moment Hina noticed Haruto entering she gave him a kind smile.
Daikaku also looked up and greeted the boy with a short nod befor focusing on the newspaper again.
With a sing of her hand Hina symbolised Haruto to sit down on the free chair across from her, two places away from his uncle.
Those seats are Taros and Yokos, Haruto thought.
He already knew that they belonged to his cousins since they always sat on these during all of his past lifes.
Daikaku and Hina already had theier breakfast infront of them and once Haruto sat down a maid he hadn't noticed before hushed to his side and put a plate with ham, egg and a bread roll on the table befor him.
Haruto nodded to thank her, and the maid left the room with a short smile.
While watching his uncle and aunt eat, Haruto put marmelade on his own bread roll.
In that moment the door opend again and Taro enterd, followed by Yoko.
Everybody could see that they were siblings right away.
They both had tanned skin, dark green eyes and black hair which was flowing in the same ligth waves as theier mothers. They both had small noses and narrow faces.
The only real diffrence was that Taros stature was muscular and a teeny tiny bit simailar to his father while Yoko was slender and seemed a bit like a fairy.
The both were twins and the same age as Haruto so they would go to school together starting with the next schoolyear.
Then they noticed Haruto they frowned simultaneously but they controlled theier expressions quickly again befor sitting down on theier chairs.
Daikaku put away his newspaper and cleard his throat.
„This is your cousin, Haruto, who will be living with us starting today. He will attend school together with the two of you. As you know the next schooltrimester starts two days later. You three are already Middle school students and I want all of you to study well again after the summer holidays. Also, get along with each other. Moreover since Haruto has missed out on the first trimester help him if he doesn't understand something. I think we can talk about the rest later so let's just eat for now.", he said.
All three kids nodded but the twins eyed Haruto suspiciously.
He only gave them a nod as reply and afterwards focused on his food again.
Haruto still rememberd how he had tried to become friends with them during his first few lifes but it never worked out, so at one point he had given up.
I never really found out why they always hated me, he thought.
Still, he tried to see himself through the twins eyes.
A thirteen-year-old boy with straigth black hair reaching up to his ears, pale, almost white skin, a narrow face, small nose and seablue eyes, wearing long indigo colored pants and a white T-shirt.
Just your average japanese boy, Haruto thought. (That's only what he thinks, everybody else would call him handsome once they saw him.)
After the twins sat down as well the meal was quickliy delieverd to them and the rest of the breakfast was held in complete silence only disrupted by the sound of eating.
Only after they all had finishied Daikaku said something again:
„It's Harutos first time on the island so how about you give him a tour around today. Show him all the cool places and get to know each other better as well."
„But we wanted to spend the day with our friends at the beach today!", Taro protested.
Yoko also nodded heavely supporting her brothers words.
But Daikaku didn't let himself get stopped by this.
„Thats perfect then", he said, „You can introduce your cousin to them right away. Perhaps he will also become your friend that way. I'm sure you will all have a great time together."
The twins still tried to resist but it was useless against theier dad.
Once he had sat his mind on something it was nearly impossible to dissuade him from it.
Haruto would also have liked to say that he didn't need a tour since he spended so many lifes here that he already knew it perfectly but the first thing he learnt after returning to the past was that it was better not to tell anybody about it.
Then he remembered the life in which he told someone about it, the memorys sended chills down his spine.
No, he never would tell anybody about it ever again.
His regression was his greatest secret.
He was pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of a chair being pushed over the floor.
His uncle stood up and gave his wife a kiss befor leaving the dining room to go to his office to do a bit of work.
Hina also stood up but then she noticed that the twins were looking at her she smiled and said:
„It's a good idea. Just try it. I'm sure you will have a lot of fun. You always played together when you were little."
„Mom!",Yoko moand, „We were only two back then! We can't even remember it!"
But Hina ignored her daughters complains and left the dining room as well.
Haruto still sat on his chair next to the twins who also stood up after exchanging a look.
Then they left together.
Right befor exiting the door Taro looked back and said:
„We will meet in half a hour at the front door. If your late, we will leave you here."
Then he also left following his sister, leaving Haruto alone in the dining room.
Any other thirteen-year-old would have felt intimidated now but Haruto was a seventeen-year-old on the inside and he had gone through this exact same morning counteless times so he was already used to it.
For a moment he just sat there, glancing into the distance, caught up in memories from his past lifes.
Then he sighed, stood up, pulled back his chair and left the room as well on his way back to his room.
While walking down the hallway he ponderd which book he should take with him to the beach.
He already knew that he wouldn't be able to play with his cousins friends since that always ended badly.
Moreover being older on the inside he wasn't interested in playing around anymore.
Last but not least he never was a social, outgoing, let's-be-friends person but rather the type to quietly read a book on the bank while the other boys played soccer on the field.
So, lost in thought he reached his room and took out a middle-sized black backpack and put a towel, a tube with suncream and the book ,the sailor who betrayed the sea' from Yukio Mishima inside.
Afterwards he put on his black swimming trunks under his clothes.
Then he was ready.
Through a quick glance at his alarm clock he saw that he still had fifteen minutes left.
Haruto looked around the room and afterwards went to the only window to look outside.
From there he had a beautiful view over the sea.
For a moment he just stood there, silently.
Then he sighed, turned around, picked up the backpack and left the room.
Half an hour was almost over ( without him noticing five minutes had passed) and he still needed to go with his cousins even if he didn't want to.
He knew, that else all three of them would be scolded and that only made his cousins hate him more, during the lifetime he had tried it out.
The door closed behind him with a clack.