Chapter 2: Reincarnation

Just like grains of iron sand mixed in with sand being attracted to a magnet, the scattered fragments of memories converged at once and formed a shape.

Before consciousness was called forth by the memories, and consciousness shaped the self, it took less time than a single beat of the heart.

When I opened my eyes, I saw a ceiling made of wood.

“Huh? I’m alive?”

I, who should have melted away, was still alive.

It seemed that I was in a room. My vision was blurred, but judging from the atmosphere, it was an old living space made of wood and stone.

When I looked down, I could see four or five people. Their figures were indistinct due to my blurred vision, but I could hear the sound of a woman sobbing and men’s angry voices.

Once I recognized this, it was strangely hectic, as if I hadn’t heard it just a moment ago.

I tried to raise my voice to confirm the situation.

“A-ah, ki-yaku…”

But no sound came out. Was it due to the influence of my disappearing body?

“Oh dear.”

However, I was impressed that I had managed to survive despite that.

Although my limbs were gone, including the head, I thought it was a hopeless situation, but somehow it seems that i managed to survive. There are probably doctors and nurses around.

As I thought about it as if it was someone else’s problem, I felt the sensation of my left hand being squeezed. Someone nearby seems to have taken my hand. The hand is rough and the wrinkled texture suggests that it is probably an elderly man.

-Huh? Do I still have my left hand?

I was surprised that my left hand, which should have disappeared, was being squeezed. Almost at the same time, a young woman’s crying voice became even louder.

It seems that she is addressing something to the elderly man who took my left hand. I couldn’t hear clearly, and I had no idea what she was saying.

“What’s going on?”

Another young man who was nearby hurriedly stopped the woman who was about to grab the elderly man. When the young man stopped her, the elderly man who had taken my left hand nodded.

The elderly man started muttering something while still holding the left hand.

-Is this some kind of ritual?

Something warm flowed into the left hand that the elderly man had grasped. I thought he was pouring hot water on it, but the sensation was different.

It was a strange sensation that I had never felt before.

-Hmm? Pain?

Gradually, the sensation became stronger, and the gentle touch turned into a sharp pain. It didn’t take long for it to turn into intense pain.

It was an unbearable pain as if a hole had been opened in the palm of my hand.

-It hurts! It hurts! It hurts!

Unbearable screams echoed as if they couldn’t be contained. 

“Ugyaaahhh!!!”

The pain intensified and a burning agony spread from my left hand to my entire body.

-What the hell are you doing?! Stop it right now!

 I desperately tried to shake off the grip on my left hand, but it wouldn’t budge.

I tried to peel off the hand with my other hand, but it couldn’t reach.

I writhed and thrashed, but my body felt heavy as if I was weighed down by lead.

As the pain became unbearable, I felt like I was about to lose consciousness, only to wake up again because of the pain.

This cycle continued many times, and all I could do was pray for it to end.

Finally, the end came suddenly.

I couldn’t tell if I had been writhing for a minute or an hour because my sense of time had been numbed by the excruciating agony.

Finally, the old man released my left hand and the pain subsided as if it had been a lie.

-Is it over? I thought to myself.

The surrounding screams turned into cheers and relief.

Sweat poured out, and my entire body, which had stiffened, was now cooling down.

A young woman who had been crying and screaming hugged me.

Her tears fell on my face with a pitter-patter.

-Why is she crying? I wondered, feeling oddly comforted by her warm tears, before losing consciousness.

◆　◆　◆

It’s been about a week since I regained my memory.

The pain on the first day was hellish, but nothing happened after that.

I was quite wary for a few days, afraid that “that” would happen again, but I stopped thinking about it around the fourth day.

There are a few things that I have figured out.

Apparently, I have been reincarnated.

I doubted my sanity and it took me about three days to accept it, but there’s no mistaking it.

Reincarnation.

I’ve heard stories about being reborn into a new world after death, but I never thought it would happen to me.

Short arms and legs, a motionless body, and a young woman who seems to be my much larger mother nursing me.

What else could this be besides reincarnation?

There’s still a possibility that I’ve gone mad, but everything in my current situation indicates that I am a baby. I have no choice but to accept it.

– I wonder what kind of family I was born into this time.

Even considering what happened a week ago, I don’t have very high hopes.

– Giving that kind of pain to a newborn baby, my parents are probably toxic again.

Next, my name is probably Lucius.

It’s a sure bet, given that the young woman who I believe to be my mother frequently says that word and becomes happy when I react to it.

And my mother speaks a language that sounds like English.

I grew up in Japan, so I only know basic English from studying for exams, but I’ve heard a few familiar words.

– Did I reincarnate in America or the UK?

It’s strange to have memories of my past life.

My consciousness remains the same as before reincarnation, but my body is that of a baby.

It’s not so bad being a helpless baby, but there’s one problem.

— I’m bored.

I had nothing to do with my unmoving body and was overwhelmed with boredom.

At first, for two or three days, I thought about my situation of reincarnation in various ways, but ultimately, since my body couldn’t move, I had nothing to do but cry, excrete, nurse, and sleep.

However, there was one thing I could do precisely.

– Should I do it?

Since something happened to my left hand, I felt something in the palm of my left hand.

I could feel something that I couldn’t feel in my previous life.

To begin with, being someone else is a first in my life.

It’s not surprising that there is a sensation that only the person can understand.

It is something that is like blood and like muscles, but it is certainly not physical.

I learned that I could move something two days ago.

I could move it a little if I concentrated.

I was able to move it up to the wrist the day before yesterday and up to the left elbow yesterday.

However, when the moved thing is relaxed, it returns to the palm of my left hand immediately.

It’s annoying because when it returns, my left hand hurts.

Compared to the pain I felt during the mysterious ritual a week ago, it’s not a big deal, but I don’t want to be in pain.

When I learned that I could move it two days ago, I cried from the pain when it returned.

I firmly resolved not to do it again-

But I was too bored and did it again the next day.

I cried again from the pain when it returned.

– That’s it. Boredom really does kill.

I keep doing it despite saying this and that.

My body doesn’t move so much that I can’t even turn over.

It’s too idle, and as someone who used to be a test-taker and was always pressed for time, it’s too boring.

Move something in my palm.

It moved more smoothly than yesterday and passed through the elbow easily, reaching up to my upper arm.

– Yeah, it’s going well.

At that moment, the door suddenly opened and a woman entered.

It was my mother.

Tension was building, and my concentration shifted to my mother, causing me to lose my focus.

“Ah!”

With a stupid voice, something on my upper arm quickly returned to my palm.

I felt pain.

“Ugyaaah!”

After that, I cried loudly due to hunger and the pain.

◆　◆　◆

One night, about a month after he had regained his memory, Lucius was idly moving something that was still embedded in his left hand.

Recently, he had been able to move it beyond his left hand and into his torso and the elbow of his right hand.

Also, he had gotten used to the pain that came with returning something to his left hand.

“Just a little more and I’ll be able to move it to the palm of my right hand.”

He didn’t have any particular purpose in mind. He just extended his left hand beyond his shoulder and torso, and the thing at the end of it happened to be his right hand.

When he moved the object towards his right hand’s wrist and reached the palm, he felt a sharp pain.

“Ouch!”

He quickly pulled back whatever he had moved to his right hand’s wrist.

“What was that just now?”

Lucius slowly and carefully moved it back to the palm of his right hand to check. Once again, a sharp pain shot through his hand.

When he moved the object within his body using his left hand, he didn’t feel any pain, or at most just a slight pain when returning it. But when it reached his right hand, a similar pain occurred.

The more he moved it, the more the pain increased proportionally. At a point where he couldn’t endure it any longer, he withdrew it.

Then he felt something strange. He could faintly feel “something” even in his right hand, even though he had withdrawn it.

Just to be sure, he tried returning everything to his left hand, and still felt a slight sensation in his right hand. In other words, the same thing that had happened in his left hand could happen in his right hand as well.

He heard a chilling sound that made his blood run cold.

“Could it be… he’s planning to do that not only to my left hand but also to my right hand…”

He trembled at the possibility of experiencing the pain he never wanted to go through again. His body reacted by having a sudden bowel movement.

“Ugyaaah!”

Combined with his hunger, he cried out loudly.

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