Who on earth am I... This question has actually been bothering Hoshino Gen for sixteen years.
Generally speaking, he could be regarded as a sixteen-year-old high school student with memories of his past life.
Although this world has many similarities with his previous one, including the general trend of history, after years of confirmation, Hoshino Gen knew that this wasn't the Earth where he lived in his previous life. So in this regard, it wouldn't be wrong to say that he was a transmigrator.
In his previous life, his name was Ye Xingyuan. He didn't know where he was born, but he still remembered clearly where he died even after sixteen years.
He was an orphan since birth and grew up in an orphanage. At the age of six, he was adopted by an old Taoist priest. However, that old Taoist was a strange man. After adopting him, he didn't allow Hoshino Gen to call him grandpa but insisted that he call him master.
Well, as long as he could get something to eat, Hoshino Gen accepted it.
However, that old Taoist was not only strange but also not a good person. After adopting him, he took Hoshino Gen all over the country, cheating people everywhere by fortune-telling, geomancy for tombs, and even exorcising ghosts. The old Taoist once told him privately that the fortune-telling was just nonsense he made up, and the geomancy was also something he bluffed about—of course, Ye Xingyuan didn't care about these. Whether he was a bad person or a cheat didn't matter as long as he didn't get hurt.
But when he was seven years old, the old Taoist began to ask him to learn those cheating skills. He also said that he had visited hundreds of orphanages across the country and found that Hoshino Gen was the only one with the talent to inherit his mantle.
At first, Ye Xingyuan was quite happy, but he didn't expect that the so-called inheritance meant practicing drawing talismans all day long. After drawing talismans, he had to practice horse stance, and then draw talismans again. The process was so boring and tough that ordinary people could hardly imagine it.
During that period, Ye Xingyuan tried to run away several times, but each time he was caught by the old Taoist and forced to continue practicing.
Considering that the old Taoist was actually quite nice to him except for forcing him to draw talismans and practice horse stance, every time he was caught back, he would grit his teeth and persevere for a while, but he couldn't help feeling resistant in his heart.
This resistance didn't disappear completely until he was twelve years old. Because that year, the old Taoist took him to accept an exorcism commission from the villagers of a mountain village. That commission was different from the previous ones where the old Taoist just pretended to be supernatural to cheat people out of money. This time, a real ghost appeared.
When the female ghost, which was not much different from those in horror movies, stood in the mourning hall and stared at them, Ye Xingyuan almost wet his pants on the spot. But what happened next made his jaw drop in shock.
The old Taoist held talismans in one hand and a bronze bell in the other, beating the female ghost until she was almost on her knees, ready to surrender. Especially when Ye Xingyuan saw the old Taoist conjure a big fireball with his hands, his eyes widened in disbelief.
Since then, no matter what the old Taoist asked him to practice, he never complained again.
And then he practiced like this for five years.
When Ye Xingyuan was seventeen years old, he finally learned most of the old Taoist's skills. He was proficient in all kinds of cheating tricks, and his abilities in catching ghosts, exorcising evil spirits, and slaying demons were also quite good.
But also in that year, the old Taoist passed away. He was just too old.
Ye Xingyuan buried the old Taoist decently in the Guilin landscape that he liked the most during his lifetime, and then embarked on a journey alone.
Two months later, unfortunately, he encountered a very fierce female ghost during a commission. He not only got a severe beating but also had an evil spirit brand planted in his left eye by the female ghost. If it hadn't been for the several black talismans left by the old Taoist to save his life, he would surely have died on the spot.
After that incident, Ye Xingyuan was so frightened that he took a plane and fled abroad overnight. He also vowed that he would never return to his country until he was capable of getting rid of that female ghost.
Afterwards, he developed in the United States and became a somewhat famous spirit exorcist with his "real skills".
But unfortunately, good times didn't last long. After completing a highly paid commission, he was eating kebabs and singing while walking on the street when suddenly someone put a sack over his head and knocked him out with a club.
When he woke up, he found that he was really in a bad situation. He was actually locked up in a research institute! For a long time after that, he was being studied in various ways and subjected to all kinds of human experiments. Those Americans were eager to find out the secret of his "supernatural abilities".
That kind of life was unbearable. So Ye Xingyuan chose a lucky day and escaped from the research institute.
However, the power behind that research institute was formidable. They even sent hundreds of mercenaries to catch him, and their equipment was terrifying, even including missiles!
He kept running and fought back with his supernatural powers along the way. In the end, he became the sworn enemy of those mercenaries. They no longer wanted to capture him alive but were determined to kill him.
Finally, they succeeded. They forced Ye Xingyuan to the point where he had to jump off a cliff to commit suicide, but even that didn't work. When he was halfway down the cliff, he was chased by a missile and blown to pieces. He died without a proper burial place...
Strictly speaking, he died, but not completely.
Whether it was transmigration or reincarnation, he came to this world and opened his eyes again as a newborn baby.
In this world, he was no longer an orphan. He had a wealthy father, a gentle and beautiful mother, and a lovely twin sister. They formed a "family" that he had never dared to hope for before.
However, he only enjoyed this unprecedented family affection for three years. When he was three years old, his parents divorced. His sister was taken to live in the UK by his mother, and he stayed with his father.
But his father was often busy with business affairs and seldom stayed at home. Especially after he entered the fourth grade of primary school, apart from giving him a huge amount of living expenses every month, his father hardly paid any attention to him.
But this was not a problem for Hoshino Gen at all. He had long been used to being alone. In fact, it might even suit his wishes better.
He grew up like a wild grass, recklessly turning the money his father gave him into nutrients, growing greedily and wildly. It wasn't until his divorced parents suddenly got back together more than a year ago that he had to put on a harmless mask and shackles, pretending to be a gentle, polite son and brother who was inevitably a bit estranged due to the long separation.
As for all the things related to the supernatural side, they naturally disappeared into the shadows.
He had lived like this until now. Having experienced death once and restarted his life... He could no longer tell whether he was Ye Xingyuan or Hoshino Gen.
...
Although there were many thoughts in his mind, in the scale of time, it was just a short moment. Hoshino Gen gathered his thoughts and gestured to the school uniform on himself, smiling at Shimizu Yu, "As you can see, I'm just a high school student at Setogawa Private Academy, just like you."
"Huh?" Shimizu Yu immediately raised her face, "I clearly saw it. Just now in the dojo, you clearly..."
"What dojo? I'm sorry, but I don't understand what you're talking about," Hoshino Gen interrupted Shimizu Yu with a smile while pointing to the position where the forest path that had disappeared was.
Shimizu Yu's eyes widened slightly. Damn it! This guy was pretending to be ignorant!
Hoshino Gen spread his hands, with a gentle expression and voice, "Of course, you can try to tell others what you just saw, but I don't recommend you to do so. After all, if I were you, I would probably choose to forget what I saw before."
"What?" Shimizu Yu was confused for a moment, "How can I forget something like this so easily! That yellow talisman you used just now..."
Hoshino Gen shook his head. He found a schoolbag from the grass by the roadside, patted the dust off it, and interrupted Shimizu Yu with a smile. His voice was casual and even a bit suggestive, "Alright, classmate Shimizu, we're not close enough to pry into each other's privacy, are we? The choice of keeping it a secret or revealing it is in your hands."