"I transmigrated?" Kevin Cross stared at the mirror, unable to suppress a sigh of awe at the impossibly handsome face reflected back at him.
Transmigration - that well-worn trope from novels and anime - had actually happened to him. No matter how he looked at it, the situation felt surreal.
He clearly remembered sitting in a restaurant, enjoying a bowl of noodles, when out of nowhere, a car slammed into him. Just before he blacked out, he vaguely caught sight of a T-shaped logo on the car...
Everything had been perfectly normal and then suddenly, bam. Transmigrated. Kevin felt a twinge of frustration. Everything had been going fine, and now this. What about his family back in his original world- oh, right. He was an orphan.
Of course. In transmigration stories, it was always the orphans. Made things easier. At least now, there was no one left behind to grieve for him.
He stared at his reflection. Handsome didn't even begin to cover it. Striking features, sharp eyes, the kind of bone structure that would make people turn their heads even the messily tousled hair couldn't take away from his charisma.
"I'm seriously this good-looking? I'm making myself blush." Kevin couldn't help but chuckle, a rush of satisfaction welling up inside him.
Back in his old life, he'd been a regular guy average looks, no assets, and a personality that was, well... complicated. Nearly thirty and still single, let alone married. Not even a proper girlfriend.
But now? Even if he was still flat broke, this face alone would make finding a girlfriend absurdly easy.
Sure, money mattered. A lot, actually. But money wasn't everything. There were always some women out there who valued a pretty face above all else.
"I could totally debut as a kept man," he mused, brushing his fingers over his new face. He was starting to think he could follow the classic entertainment novel formula. With this kind of face, he could coast on looks alone.
Just as Kevin was indulging in his fantasies about entering a talent show or getting scouted, a sudden ding echoed in his head the familiar notification chime of a messaging app.
Startled, he realized there was a group chat... in his mind.
"Huh? Wait a second - isn't this...?"
His eyes widened, sparkling with excitement.
Before transmigrating, he'd been a fan of web novels especially those with chat group tropes. On a whim, he'd created one himself and called it My Harem Group.
For fun, he'd planned to make several alternate accounts named after characters like Rem, Yukari Yakumo, and Hinata Hyuga. Even though it was all him behind the curtain, he was bored and found the idea hilarious.
Only, he never got the chance to finish. Right after setting up the group, he got hit by a car.
"A chat group! My golden finger! This is amazing!" Kevin was buzzing with excitement, ready to dive in and explore his cheat system when suddenly, the doorbell rang.
He froze for a moment. With a reluctant sigh, he set the thought aside and got up to answer the door.
Standing outside was a blonde girl. Her face lit up the moment she saw him.
"Hey, Kevin, are you okay? I mean, um, are you alright? No, wait I meant, are you hurt?"
Kevin blinked at her awkward, fumbling words. A name immediately surfaced in his mind: Gwen Stacy.
She was his middle school classmate. Although, to be fair, Westerners always looked more mature. She was supposed to be a teenager, but judging by her figure and face, you'd easily believe she was in college.
"Yeah, I'm fine," he replied coolly.
"That's good. About your parents, I... I'm so sorry"
"Why are you apologizing? Their deaths weren't your fault, were they?"
"I- no, I meant, I just feel really"
"I don't need your pity."
"No, no, I meant... I feel very... very look, your parents may be gone, but you're still"
"That's right. I'm alive. If I weren't, you wouldn't be talking to me right now."
"Um... I just came to comfort you"
"Thanks. But I don't need it."
Gwen froze. Her brain stuttered, unable to figure out how to respond.
Something wasn't right.
Kevin's parents had died. He should be devastated. She had come here to comfort him, to be the shoulder he cried on. That was supposed to be her moment to step in, get closer, and maybe just maybe kick off a budding relationship.
But Kevin wasn't acting right. Not at all.
He wasn't crushed, or lost, or in need of saving.
And now, he was staring at her in silence.
"Do you need something else?" he asked.
"N-no. That's it."
"Then goodbye."
"Goodb-"
Bang.
The door shut in her face.
Gwen stood frozen, dumbfounded. What had just happened? Why had he closed the door like that? She didn't even get a foot in the house.
Which part of the plan had gone wrong? Clutching at her hair, she looked utterly lost.
Back inside, Kevin shook his head. He had just transmigrated. He didn't have time to deal with random classmates showing up with nothing useful to say. Especially not when he had a chat group cheat system to study.
Still, Gwen's visit had stirred more of this body's memories.
His name in this world was also Kevin Cross.
His parents had once been university students in Huaguo. After graduation, seduced by the idea of "fresh air and freedom," they gave up guaranteed job placements and emigrated to the United States.
But the American dream wasn't what they'd hoped. To survive, they ended up washing dishes for a living.
Two Chinese immigrants clinging together at the bottom rung of society, eventually marrying and having a child. After years of struggle, they finally got U.S. citizenship.
Despite scraping by as dishwashers, they never once considered returning to China. In fact, when others mentioned China, they would go on and on about how terrible it was, and how wonderful America was in comparison.
Of course, that was just their way of coping a defense mechanism.
They couldn't bear to admit that while they had fought tooth and nail to become American citizens at the lowest level of society, China had already caught up, and in many ways, surpassed the U.S.
To acknowledge that reality would mean confronting the truth:
That all their efforts, their sacrifices, had been in vain.
That they weren't pioneers just clowns in someone else's circus.