Bab 2: Reborn 2
I woke up expecting to be back in my room or in a hospital bed. When I woke up in neither I nearly shit myself. Actually I did shit myself.
'Well color me surprised I didn't expect to be born again. I don't even believe in all that reincarnation bullshit though it looks like maybe I should start believing'
I slowly opened my eyes and looked around the room. I was in the middle of a large bed surrounded on both sides by the people I recognized as the man and woman from before.
'I guess they're my parents. I hope I look more like my mom and less like my dad.'
The realization that I had been reborn didn't bother me that much. Afterall, I had very few regrets and even fewer people who I'll miss.
'I hope this time it won't be as boring.'
If there was one thing I found strange it would have to be the fact that my memories were still intact. After all, rebirth was supposed to be a complete do over not a second chance
'Maybe a mistake in the system? Maybe a dream. Who knows' I stretched my arms in front of me before letting them fall back down 'Who cares, this is pretty cool'
A few months passed and I did all things a normal baby would do. Fuck all.
'I am going to go insane. I can't take this anymore. I can't move and I can't understand a thing people are saying.'
I learned a few words and phrases though sheer repetition and associating it with their corresponding actions. My mom also didn't expect much from me, only teaching me basic words.
'How do babies tolerate this? Absolutely unbearable'
For the first time ever I wished my self awareness would be taken away from me so i would be spared the torture of being a baby.
As time passed, I gradually started being shown around the house by different people, sometimes my mom and dad but occasionally by people I did not know dressed in strange clothes.
The "house" turned out to be more of a small mansion built in traditional Japanese style. The mansion wrapped around a large garden which stood at the center of everything. Numerous trees which closely resembled willow trees but with purple leaves instead of green and numerous points dotted the area.
The trees, as I later learned from my mother are called wisteria trees.
'As far as I can tell, I am on the same planet as my previous life, only in a different time period and in Japan.
More years flew by and I finally regained control over my movements, finally being able to walk on my own. During this time I spent most of my time in the mid sized library in the mansion or outside in the garden.
The one thing my parents forced upon me is that I am under no circumstances allowed to go outside of the house. That much I could already understand with my ever increasing vocabulary.
Not that I wanted to go outside anyway, the summers were mild and sunlight was hard to come by. Meanwhile winters were harsh with snowstorms forming seemingly every other week.
From this I could understand that we were atop some mountain and or in a very northern region.
One thing was strange however, people looked nothing like they did back in my world. They looked nothing like Japanese people either. A lot of people, including servants, had colorful hair with shades going from blue to red to bright pink.
'Maybe this is an alternate universe or something'
Spending more and more time with my family, I came to learn of a few things. I had 2 older siblings that both inherited our dad's red hair. There was one more sibling that I was made aware of but my parents refused to go into detail and so did my other siblings.
'It seems as though she's a sour note in this otherwise happy family.'
My older brother Tatsuya, not only inherited our father's eyes and hair but also his stern look and thick eyebrows. He probably didn't care that much about me at the time, always hanging around dad wherever he went going on about something I couldn't understand yet.
My sister, Hanabi, inherited our mother's facial features and eyes, while her red hair came from our father. Conversely, she hung around mom all the time and always looked at me with a look of disapproval.
'Seems like someone's upset that I take up a lot of our mother's time.'
The siblings were born about one year apart. Hanabi being 10 and Ttsuya being 9 while I was 5.
My mysterious sister was allegedly in her early 20s so my parents must've been very young when they gave birth to her. My father looked noticeably older than my mother though.
'What do my parents even do, from the looks of it, they either sit around all day or go spend time with the two siblings. Don't they do any actual work or anything?'
My questions would ultimately relieve no answers as a 5 year old couldn't just ask what his parents are doing for work. Or maybe I could
"Dad, do you have a job?" I asked, using my best 5 year old kid impression
"Haha where'd you learn that one from kid" My dad's usual stern face was replace by a smile
"Well I'm retired now, but my job consisted of protecting people"
"Like an officer?" I asked innocently
"Yea, something like that." My dad flashed a sad smile, immediately replacing it with his stern expression
"But don't worry, that means if anything happens, your dad can protect you"
He then proceeded to flex his muscles as if that proved his point
"Yep thanks dad" I said as I scurried out of his office
A few years later and I finally had enough vocabulary to attempt reading our family records. It was heavy leather-bound tome, something you'd except from a long line of aristocrats. The cover had some words which I couldn't understand.
The first page contained a scroll which depicted a very long family tree. Something which I looked at dozens of times.
'I must be super important then'
The book held a number of surprises. Our family was originally a long line of swordsmiths until my grandparent's generation, where the practice all but died out.
We still employ blacksmiths to make tools and other weapons, but our family is nowwhere near as renowned or skilled in our trade.
The book contained a large number of pages dedicated to the legacy of pretty much every member of the family going back at least 10 generations.
Most of them are about the person's life, kind of like a biography but the most important part is their legacy. For a lot of the family members, their legacy consists of their magnum opus, the final creation of their life and also the most important. Whenever a swordsmith approaches death, they can pour their remaining life energy into their creation.
As a result, their final creations are deemed flawless masterpieces and are considered priceless by any standard.
'This just sounds like bullshit but the fact that all their final creations all end up being their masterpieces is a little too far fetched to call a coincidence
Still, the possibility that some sort of mystical arts existing in this world is exciting'
"Yukiko, where are you" My mother yelled from the hallway
"Library" I simply said
The door opened and I saw locks of snow white hair peeking through. Then she entered, frantically looking for me, her eyes darting around the place until they locked on to me.
"I told you to stop holing yourself up in here and get some air, its not good for you"
"I was reading" I replied
"Show me that" She said while snatching the thick book out of my hands and lifting it without much effort.
"Boring book huh? Can you read it?"
"Yes, its not hard" I responded with a sheepish smile on my face
"Alright my little genius, dinner is served you better come quickly or the food will get cold" She said while pinching my cheeks
"Mom what does this word mean" I took the book back from her and pointed at a word I didn't know how to read.
"Oh, these characters mean swordsman"
"So the whole sentence would read 'The following generations are recognized as swordsmen' right?"
My mom looked at me, disbelief written all over her face.
"You can actually read this?" Disbelief turned into pure terror.
"Yes" I replied
"Im sorry, that really impressive Yuuki, you're so smart for your age" She pet my head, her hand slightly shaking
"But whatver you do, don't mention this to your grandpa or he'll be really upset"
"Won't he be proud I can read?" I innocently asked
"He doesn't like people knowing we are swordsmen. That's why when I married your father, he was furious that I brought another swordsman in our family. I still think he was planning on taking the tradition with him" She nervously said while sitting down next to me
"Oh what am I saying, I bet you don't understand what that means, wait until you grow a bit older and I'll explain this in more detail"
I nodded and started following her to the dining area.
'I gotta ask dad about this, it seems interesting. Maybe our grandfather didn't want to carry the mantle of becoming a swordsmith and became a swordsman instead, or maybe he didn't have the skills necessary to become one
Either way its clear that being a swordsman in this family is frowned upon'
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone