I remembered what it was like when I first realized I had reincarnated.
I definitely couldn’t say that I didn’t miss my old life. If anything, I was full of regrets.
I was still at the height of my youth, and I wanted to spend more time hanging out with my friends. I never even got a girlfriend.
Besides, I felt terrible for not only dying before my parents, but even my grandparents.
When I realized I would never see my family again, my heart sank lower than you could imagine.
I was curious about the state of the school after I died, too.
I remembered the rift in the air and the moment it split open. If I died from that, what happened to everyone else? Kyouya, Kanata, Hasebe who sat next to me… Did they all die along with me?
The thought terrified me.
That morning had been perfectly ordinary, but now I could never see any of them again.
I’d been fighting against that crushing fear ever since I first reincarnated. With no idea what was going on, I suddenly woke up as a baby, so it was only natural that I felt anxious. On top of that, the country of my rebirth wasn’t Japan. In fact, it wasn’t anywhere on Earth. This was a different world entirely.
At first, I didn’t realize.
I couldn’t understand the language, and I rarely got to leave the nursery. So there were a lot of things I didn’t know. At first I thought I was somewhere in Europe.
But the first time I saw magic, I realized that wasn’t the case. This happened when a powerful priest performed a blessing on me. I was enveloped in glittering light, and I felt power flowing into me. That was when I sensed the existence of magic for the first time.
Initially, this was exciting to me.
But then I became anxious again.
Could I actually make my way in a world with magic? I had just been an ordinary guy in my previous life.
Back in Japan, I didn’t really experience any hardships. But in this world, where I was born into an elite family, mediocrity was not an option.
Could I live up to that expectation? I was worried.
And since I was a baby, I couldn’t get my body to move the way I wanted it to, which was scary. Being unable to live without the help of others added to my stress.
What if the people raising me suddenly decided to stop?
I wouldn’t be able to do anything but weaken and die.
On top of that, the people bringing me up were maids, not my real family.
Since they had no blood relation to me, there was no guarantee that they’d continue to care for me.
Plus, since I still remembered my previous life, my real parents in this world seemed like strangers.
So wasn’t it possible that these parents had just as little attachment to me and could potentially discard me at any moment?
My mind was so worn down that I started having those wild delusions.
Meanwhile, I desperately started trying to learn the language.
Not knowing any words was more frightening than I would have ever imagined.
I didn’t understand what anyone was saying. Who knew that would give me such hopelessness?
It made me feel completely alone.
I worried about being reborn in another world. Fretted about not understanding the language. Agonized over whether I’d be able to make it in the future.
What soothed my troubled mind was the presence of my little sister, sleeping peacefully beside me.
This half sister of mine wasn’t concerned about a single thing.
She was totally carefree, as if there were nothing in the world to be anxious about.
Well, I guess that’s natural for a baby.
A weak little creature that leaves its fate in others’ hands and depends on the world for everything…
That’s what a baby is supposed to be like.
The only reason I was so concerned was that I possessed memories of my previous life.
Then I realized something…
Since I had my memories, I should at least be mentally above my sister.
So why was I so full of anxiety when she was right beside me, being happy?
I was her older brother. I shouldn’t act so pathetic in front of her, I realized. An older brother is supposed to be cool.
Maybe that was just pretension.
But after that point, I stopped worrying so much. I hadn’t completely gotten over my fears, but I knew I wanted to at least protect my defenseless little sister.
I gradually learned more words, and slowly but surely I began picking up more information about this world from the bits of conversation I caught.
Wanting to regain the range of motion I was used to as quickly as possible, I whipped my baby body into shape by moving around as much as I could.
Thanks to that, I learned to crawl much sooner than normal.
In this way, my desire to show up my younger sister motivated me.
I wanted to be a big brother she could be proud of.
However, I hadn’t accounted for the possibility that she would turn out to be a ridiculous prodigy who would imitate me and become nearly as strong.
✦ ✦ ✦
Kanata must have experienced at least as much anxiety as I did.
I mean, it must be jarring to live your whole life as a man and then suddenly be reborn as a woman.
I tried to picture enduring the stress of newly found womanhood on top of all the fears I’d faced.
That must have been harder than I could possibly imagine.
And then I was reunited with my friend, whom I thought I’d never see again.
I couldn’t help being overcome with emotion.
Without thinking, I moved to embrace the weeping Kanata.
At that moment, a thunderous roar came from the door to the private room.
“What was that?!”
Kanata looked flustered.
I panicked for a moment, too, but calmed down once I realized who was standing at the door.
No, actually, I just panicked in a different way.
A second roar blew the door inward.
Standing outside the entrance with a magically fueled fist at the ready was Sue, who’d enhanced her physical strength with magic.
Sue eyed the two of us, then locked on to Kanata.
“Sue, stop!”
If I hadn’t hurriedly thrust myself between them, Sue’s fist would’ve blown Kanata away.
“You can’t have my brother!” Sue muttered, latching on to me instantly.
“Your sister’s scary, dude,” Kanata muttered in Japanese.
That was the day I was reunited with my first classmate.