บท 5: Chapter 5 - Preparations

Sitting on a couch in the main living room with his feet propped up on a coffee table, Jin grumbled, "Still two hours left. Feels like time is passing slower than normal."

Briefly, it crossed his mind that he might be able to pick out things that could help him determine whether there might be supernatural aspects to his current world by watching the news. Acting on his newborn curiosity, he turned on the television. As the family member who watched the least television in this house, it didn't surprise him to see his father's favorite news channel come on right away.

Unfortunately, several minutes passed, but the hosts only talked about strange or boring topics that didn't interest him. None of it hinted at any information he remembered about other fictional worlds floating around in his memory.

Suddenly, the sound of the front door sliding open pulled him out of his thoughts. Turning his head, he saw a middle-aged woman entering the house. Her flowing purple kimono decorated with white flowery patterns would normally seem out of the ordinary in a modern society if Jin didn't know her profession. Much like him, she had black hair and purple eyes. Although beautiful, signs of age showed on her face, primarily wrinkles around the edges of her eyes and lips.

"I'm home," the woman called out.

"Welcome home, mom," Jin casually replied.

The woman smiled and raised her eyes toward him after putting on her indoor slippers. However, the moment her eyes landed on him, her eye twitched.

"Jin. How many times have I told you not to put your feet on the table?"

Averting his eyes, Jin slowly removed his feet from the coffee table and, pretending it never happened, asked, "How was business at the tea house today?"

Jin's mother sighed and replied, "Good as always. Is your brother home?"

"...No."

The woman seemed to age a few years. A sigh slipped from her lips before she said with a disappointment-laden tone, "Then, are you okay with salmon for dinner?"

"Actually, I plan to go help some friends with something in an hour and a half or so, and I'm not sure when I'll come back home. If you still plan to make salmon, I'd be happy to eat any leftovers when I get back."

"...I see."

Noticing a greater hint of disappointment in the woman's eyes, Jin asked, "Will dad be home late again?"

"Unfortunately. Anyway, I'm going to go take a bath. Don't forget to tell me when you leave."

"Gotcha," Jin replied. While watching his mother amble down the hallway, he couldn't help relating to the sense of loneliness the woman was exuding with her gait, so he suddenly asked, "Since I won't be here tonight, how about we go out to the family diner down the road on Friday for Tempura and Tonkatsu?"

Instantly, his mom halted her steps, turned back to face him with a delighted glint in her eyes, and answered, "Absolutely! You can't go back on your invitation now, Jin!"

Lips curling upward, Jin chuckled and said, "Wouldn't think of it."

Afterward, his mother continued down the hallway with some pep in her steps.

'She's really a simple woman. Feel bad for her that Haruki became a bit of a delinquent. Dumb kid. I'll beat some sense into the brat later.'

Thinking about his only sibling in this second life of his, he couldn't help sighing. However, something on the television grabbed his attention. The report about a famous restaurant didn't mean much to him, but for the first time since his reincarnation, the name of the neighboring prefecture actually bothered him.

'Karakura Prefecture… I've been walking through it to reach the Shinkansen every morning for the past couple years. Now, after what's happened the last couple days, I can't help worrying about it. I really hope it's just my mind jumping to the scariest conclusion.'

Scratching his head, Jin set aside his worries since he had more urgent things to worry about. He turned off the television, stood up, and started preparing a few items he thought could prove useful in case he needed to travel for an extended period of time. He gathered non-perishable food like granola bars and cans of soup, thermoses, sports water bottles, and even old camping gear into a small pile in his room. For good measure, he tossed one of his bokkens on top of the pile, though he didn't think it would prove very useful in most of the worlds he would visit.

At first, he planned to stuff it all inside a backpack, but then an idea struck him. Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he pressed the inventory icon, revealing a plethora of empty squares. Thinking back to the countless stories with systems or inventories he had read in his previous life, he held up one of the soup cans to the screen. Instantly, it morphed and pixelated before the screen sucked it in like a black hole devouring a planet. A soup can icon now filled one of the slots.

Lips curling up into a smirk, Jin happily mumbled to himself, "Nice. Such a classic and useful ability."

For the next few minutes, he happily threw the entire pile of stuff into his chat group inventory. By the end, each individual item took up a single slot, filling twenty-two slots and leaving three free at the bottom. The final box had a plus symbol inside of it. Out of curiosity, he pressed it.

{Spend 100 RP to add one inventory slot?}

"So it's quite limited, then. Never thought I'd have to do inventory management irl before. Getting that uncanny valley sensation from this."

Noticing that he still had a little more than a half-hour before the tutorial would start, he took a deep breath to prepare himself mentally. Then, he walked back downstairs to the front door and hugged his mother before leaving, which seemed to cheer the lady up a bit.

Planning to find a secluded spot within a nearby forested park that rarely received visitors, he walked down the street while occasionally checking the chat group. He hoped to reach the park before sundown. Finally, around halfway to his destination, somebody said something in the chat.

Wizard of Regret and Redemption: [I'm currently in a remote area and will be waiting here for your arrival, Jin-san. I do have two people with me, though. Is that alright?]

Jin: [Doesn't matter to me as long as they don't attack me. I'm currently heading to a remote location myself. See you soon.]

Leaving things at that, Jin shoved his phone back inside his pocket and quickened his pace. Although he gave himself plenty of time, anxiousness towards meeting the other chat group members psyched him out, making him feel similar to arriving late for a job interview. Even now, he still struggled to believe his current situation. Eventually, he saw the thick forest of the nearby wildlife park, and smiled.

"Heh. It feels like I wasn't even alive until now."

"GRAAAHHHHHHRRRR!!!"

A bloodcurdling roar echoing throughout the city, startling him. An ethereal heaviness weighed down on his shoulders, halting his steps, though he could still move. He turned his head toward the sound and briefly saw a massive blur rush between buildings only a block away from him and a smaller blur jumping across buildings ahead of it. The moment he looked at the large blur, it halted. The dark shadow turned until a skull-like mask with glowing yellow eyes stared right back at him. Jin's heart skipped a beat.

Sweat dripping from his brow, Jin mumbled, "...Hehe. I'm in danger."