บท 1: The Rice Fields

"Technological genius – Kasai Gengyo."

That seemed to be the only title people could use to describe him.

In his field of robotics, he was amongst the best. But that was all he had in his life – his work. The man never once desired the fame, or the money that came with his success. A simple life. Enough money to feed his family and live comfortably – providing that he had a family in the first place.

His only friend was his own creation. The world's first A.I. more intelligent than any human – SAPPHIRE. SAPPHIRE then produced an A.I. more intelligent than itself, and the process repeated. Till in the end, the peak of artificial intelligence was reached – the SAPPHIRE-1000.

Gengyo did not release this technology to the world.

No. He kept this technology to himself and at the age of 40 years old, he had one final question for it.

"Would it be possible for me to travel through time? To a simpler place… without computers. Somewhere where I can start a family in peace."

The response from the system was instantaneous.

[Request confirmed. Beginning transition…]

Gengyo was startled. He had not expected it to begin right away – he merely wanted to confirm the possibility.

"SAPPHIRE-1000! Wait! There are too many neg-"

But his voice was cut off as the room around him started to dissolve, replaced by an infinite blackness.

…

It was May in the province of Mikawa, and the rice fields were being ploughed and levelled ready for this year's seedlings. All the peasants above a certain age were helping out in the fields.

"Oi… Yoritomo, don't you think it's unfair that people get away with doing less work than us?"

"Mmm, yeah the old women and stuff… and Miura over there…"

"Look at him, Yoritomo. He's even got the nerve to take a break when he barely does any work."

"Huh? You're right… fuck. That's annoying. We could probably mess with him a bit, what d'ya reckon, Aritada?"

Aritada took a quick glance around the field to see if anyone was looking. No one would stick up for Miura, but still, it would better to do it without anyone noticing.

Everyone else was still hoeing away, eyes on their task. The sun was high and the day was scolding. The bamboo hats helped to take the worst of the heat away from the head.

Chuckling, Aritada's eyes narrowed as he picked up a stone and took aim.

Gengyo received a sudden blow to the temple, startling him out of his thoughts.

He felt the wound on his head with his fingers, as they returned sticky with blood.

'This pain... This blood. The sensations are too real for it to be a dream. But this body is certainly not my own - my hands were never this small, or this young.'

He glanced toward the two teens who were jeering at him, celebrating a successful strike.

Yoritomo was hunched over howling with laughter.

"Hahahaha, what a throw. The look on his stupid face!"

Whilst Aritada had a pleased expression on his face.

"Mmm, that'll teach him to slack off!"

Gengyo could hear every word of their conversation, and it did not take him long to piece the events together in his head.

'So… This is a different body? Interesting. I had wondered how my body might be able to deal with the stresses of time travel, but it seemed that was the wrong line of thought Still, this is quite the odd happening.'

The problem of time travel had been broached by many scientists, and the most reputable concluded it impossible. Einstein supposed that one would have travel faster than the speed of light – which is impossible for anybody with mass. Indeed, he was right. But who needs the body in order to time travel? Sentience is weightless.

But of course, such a conclusion was not the hard-earned result of a human mind. It was borne of the quick calculation ability of the SAPPHIRE-1000 A.I. system.

'Judging by the dress – those worn, ragged kimonos that are much too short, and those simple sandals on their feet. And the tools they're using… It seems I'm somewhere in the Edo period. Perhaps even earlier.'

"What a freak... That way he's looking at us, man. Does he want another stone his way?"

'Mmm. I appear to be the source of quite a bit of animosity. Was the previous host of this body a weakling? Perhaps. For now though, it would be best to keep my head down, and perform as is expected of me, so that I can gather some information.'

Wisely choosing to ignore the antagonism of the teens for now, Gengyo wielded his hoe with an enthusiastic vigour.

"Wow… look at him go. Perhaps we should throw more stones at him in future? At this rate he's going to be doing double the work."

Yoritomo nodded in agreement, whilst leaning on his hoe and with a satisfied smile on his face.

"Well, guess we can rest a bit. We deserve it right?"

"Too right. We shouldn't even be here man. We're soldiers! Look at these arms."

"Yeah. You're right. Totally right. We should be in old Yoshimoto's army getting ready to conquer Owari.

Gengyo heard every word they uttered, and froze slightly at the mention of 'old Yoshimoto' and Owari.

"Haha, listen to you calling our lord Imagawa 'old Yoshimoto'. You're a bold man Aritada. We'll definitely get our chance as soldiers – and then the whole of Japan will be calling our names. Yoritomo of the thousand cuts! People will travel from all over Japan just to bear witness to my swordsmanship."

'Shit… You're kidding. Imagawa Yoshimoto? To think, people refer to me as a genius, yet my own creation seems to have gone against me. Not only did SAPPHIRE send me back without asking for confirmation, it also sent me to a time as rotten as this. Peace - that was the plan.'

"Stupid… you don't even know how to swing a sword yet. Anyway we're definitely going to be yari…"

Yoritomo flinched a little at that, and scratched his head. He knew the truth of Aritada's words. The peasants would be merely be yari ashigaru – simple spear units – or if they had some skill with the bow, they might be might be yumi ashigaru.

"Hmph. Maybe I'll get some good loot in Owari and be rich enough to marry into a samurai family. Then I won't have to do this stupid ploughing anymore."

"Dream on. You know what the samurai families are like. There's no way they'll marry their oh-so-pure daughters off to peasant scum like us. You've seen the way the landowner looks down on us. He treats his fucking oxen better than us!"

At that Yoritomo grinned lecherously.

"Yeah, those women aren't as pure as you reckon. I've seen a few of them drunk – they're even dirtier than the village girls. Some even gave me some action – they may as well have married me."

"What bullshit. You can't even get the village girls to look your way with a mug like that. No chance those pompous little samurai daughters would even spare you a word – never mind their bodies."

"Whatever. Your loss."

The lamentations of the two peasant teens were heard by Gengyo, and he shared some of the sentiments as he continued to hoe at the ground.

'Mmm. The life of a peasant in this time period is tough, with the food taxes and compulsory military service when the landholder calls. In order to live as long as possible, and have any chance at starting a family, I'd have to…'

Gengyo froze his digging on that line of thought, and quickly admonished the plan he was about to propose.

'No. I can't spend this life dedicating myself to work just for the sake of money. It'll be better if I just enjoy what I can with my lot. That will surely be the most fulfilling way to live. Establish myself amongst the lower rungs - they'll be less drama that way.'

Unfortunately Gengyo's small pause was noticed, and another stone came his way.

This one missed – but only by a fraction.

Gengyo looked toward the two teens, only to have Yoritomo shout at him a second later.

"Back to work, shrimp!"

"Yeah you little bastard, it's time you start doing the same amount as the rest of us."

Gengyo studied them with his 40-year-old gaze. They were rather ordinary looking. Not that big, or that muscular, but still the previous host seemed to be completely at their mercy.

'You'd have to be rather weak to be pushed around by these two.'

Even though their actions were violent, he felt more pity for them than he did aminosity. Their behaviour would be correct, in time, but it was disappointing how ignorant they were. For them to behave so confidently despite their lack of any kind of assets was truly a wonder indeed.

But still, he resumed his hoeing without a hint of resentment. It was better not to cause a scene – at least not here.

Gengyo was not unattractive in his previous life, nor was he entirely socially incompetent. It was mere lack of experience caused by over devotion to his craft that was ended up being his weakness.

At the very least, he could confidently look in the eyes of these two pathetic children without fear and without flinching. It was not because of some false arrogance, or a lifetime spent receiving the approval of others. It was simply because he knew their experience to be inferior. No forty year old was going to be pushed around by some snot-nosed brats.

"Man. He's pretty obedient eh? Makes me want to be a samurai even more – having people like that under me."

Aritada looked toward him irritated.

"Can you stop with that shit? It's depressing, man. We can only hope to do well as soldiers. Being a samurai is impossible for us."

Gengyo continued to diligently hoe away. He was unused to the mental strain that physical labour brought, and he was beginning to tire.

'There's got to be a better way of doing this.'

Of course, ploughing could be done using oxen or horses, but Gengyo did not have any of those luxuries available to him. What he was looking for was a difference in technique.

'Like this?'

He adjusted his arms slightly, allowing the weight of the tool to do the work for him.

'Mm. Much easier.'

After reducing the strain on his muscles, he continued to think about his current circumstance.

'I don't know anything about the previous guy's life, or family or anything… It should be my priority to gather as much information as possible.'

Unfortunately, as the time travel was done as a transfer of sentience, only the accumulated experiences and memories of that belonged to him were kept.

His current situation was rather complicated for someone who sought a simple life, given the circumstances of the province in which he was inhabiting, and the social class he now belonged.

And so, he pondered upon the task ahead.

'Given that the land is being prepared the month, should be May. The battle of Okehazama will at most be in a month. Imagawa is going to start calling his men before then… so I need to immediately begin training the bow and get into a yumi unit to avoid being on the front line. That way my survival rate will be much higher.'

'And, since that battle was a complete slaughter for the Imagawa, I'm going to have to find a way of changing history a little…!"

…

A few hours passed, and an elderly peasant overseeing production on behalf of the landowner announced the end of the day.

"Oyyyyy. Day's over folks. Go home and get some dinner.'

At this Gengyo panicked slightly. He had no idea where his home was, nor who his family members were. He looked around the rice fields wildly for any sign of a family member.

'Sleeping outside on my first night here is going to suck. I wonder if this kid even had any family? Maybe I'm an orphan now…'

With the panic still running riot through his mind, he began to follow the crowd of people already leaving the field.

That was, until, a hand found its way to his shoulder, and the voice of a young woman filled his ear.

'"*Sniff* Tadakata-chan, you were really going to go home without me?"