Chapter 1: Not the Past, But a Parallel World
"Takumi, Takumi, stop crouching, get up quickly, it's our class's turn for graduation photos. If you don't get up, Ishida-sensei will scold you!" An urgent voice echoed in Takumi's ears, who was a little confused.
"Two dead otakus over there, come quickly!" Another voice came from a distance. Takumi shook his head and looked around blankly.
It was a dilapidated playground, surrounded by children in school uniforms and some adults fiddling with cameras; it seemed that high school students were taking graduation photos.
Takumi looked at the chubby boy next to him, with large black glasses and a shy expression; it seemed he was anxiously calling him:
"Idiot!". Takumi's eyes widened. 'Wasn't that his deskmate, Kenta-kun, from third grade of junior high?' He unconsciously exclaimed: "It's a real ghost!".
"Haha...". The people around him laughed.
"What the hell! Quickly, get up, Ishida-sensei's face has changed again, we have to line up quickly!" Kenta-kun pulled Takumi and easily lifted him with a child's strength.
"Huh?" Takumi looked at him in surprise. 'How had he become smaller? Wasn't he like a high school student? High school, right?' Takumi quickly turned his head and saw a stern-faced man standing behind him.
The man tapped the list in his hand: "Takumi Sato, can't you even give me a break for the graduation photo?".
Ishida-sensei, Takumi's third-year teacher, and Kenta-kun.
"Back to the past!"
Takumi was confused. 'Indeed, he had returned to the past. Graduation photo, today was the day of the junior high graduation photo...'
"Aika!" His face suddenly turned pale. 'Wasn't the junior high graduation photo the day his mother had a car accident? He didn't have time to think about why he had been reborn. He thought in his heart that he had to save his mother and not let the tragedy repeat itself.' Takumi pushed Kenta-kun away and ran towards the bicycle parking lot.
"Wait! Takumi, you don't want the graduation photo!"
the teacher shouted behind him, and Takumi turned and glared at him.
"No, go to your sister's graduation photo, that stuff can be fed to the dogs!".
Everyone was stunned.
"Psychopath!"
"He's crazy!".
Kenta-kun was the only one stunned by the rapidly departing figure. Takumi's gaze surprised him: "When did he have that look?".
'Takumi used to be as shy as he was, but the look in his eyes at that moment made him feel that he was not like his classmates. He felt uncomfortable. What? He must have seen it wrong.'
"Let's ignore him and get ready for photos!"
The principal also didn't look well. He slapped the list and continued to guide the students to take photos.
May 15, 2014, less than a month before the high school entrance exam in Saitama Prefecture. Takumi's life in his previous existence split into two completely opposite paths. That day, his mother would die in a car accident, and he would be adopted by someone else.
Takumi didn't expect God to give him another chance. He wanted to save his mother and let her live happily.
His mother worked as an assembly line operator in a packaging factory and left work at 10:00 PM every day. But when Takumi arrived on his bicycle, the workers had already left one after another. That day, the factory closed early due to product shortages, just like in his previous life.
Aika, who had just come out, heard the voice and looked surprised: "Takumi, what are you doing here?".
She approached with a women's bicycle. Her face was the same as Takumi remembered. She was under 40, but her face was full of wrinkles from hard work.
"I came to pick you up." Takumi felt like crying, but he smiled: "I heard you're running out of stock and will close early".
Aika was surprised. 'How could this child know that the factory was temporarily out of stock?' But before she could ask, several female workers surrounded her curiously.
"Aika-san, is this your son?"
"Yes." Aika nodded: "Takumi, say hello to your aunts".
Takumi nodded with a smile: "Hello, aunts".
"Oh, how polite this child is!"
"Aika-san, why did you tell me your son is introverted? Isn't he good?"
"My son never comes to pick me up."
"Yes, my daughter is the same. She doesn't dare to bring her classmates home to play, for fear that they'll find out her mother works in a packaging factory".
The female workers started chatting. They usually do. Aside from gossiping and complaining about family matters, they have no other entertainment.
Aika was surprised again. She had asked Takumi to greet them merely out of courtesy. Before, this child didn't dare to look up when talking to his relatives. 'Why did he greet them with a smile today?'
After bidding farewell to the workers, Aika and Takumi went for a walk on the street.
"Didn't we take graduation photos today? When will the diplomas be handed out?".
"I don't know, it'll be after the high school entrance exam..." Takumi's smile didn't fade: "Mom, can we walk back?".
He wanted to avoid the car accident, and Aika immediately agreed. 'Takumi always liked to hide in his room, so she rarely asked him to accompany her. Although she didn't know what had happened, Aika felt that her son had behaved very well today.'
The two walked on and soon saw that the intersection was crowded with people.
"How tragic!"
"Yes, I was scared. The car sped off and crashed into the street shop. Luckily, no one was passing by..."
"But those in the car must not be rescued."
There was a traffic accident ahead, and Takumi was in a trance. 'Yes, it was here. In his previous life, he saw his mother for the last time here. A young man who had just gotten his driver's license stepped on the wrong accelerator and unintentionally ran her over.'
'It has changed: his mother is not dead.'
"It's very dangerous, Takumi, don't go, let's go home."
Aika frowned at the onlookers. She didn't want her son to see the bloody scene, so she quickly took him home.
Takumi returned home in a daze, and when he calmed down, he began to think about what he would do next. After his mother died in his previous life, the person who adopted him sent him a lot of money every month, but never appeared.
Takumi doubted that person's identity, but he couldn't do anything in his previous life. Now that he had been reborn, he no longer wanted to depend on that person, nor did he want to remain mediocre.
Takumi wanted to fulfill the dream he hadn't fulfilled in his previous life and make his mother happier. But for a while, he couldn't think of a way to make money quickly, and since he had never bought a lottery ticket, he didn't know the winning numbers.
The most convenient plan was to graduate from university and look for a job. The problem was that Takumi was not yet sixteen years old and it would take him another seven years. By then, the daylily would be cold and the advantages of rebirth would have been wasted.
"Takumi, eat."
Aika brought the food to the table, and Takumi decided to think about it after eating.
There was stir-fried pork with peppers and shredded carrots. The dishes were simple, but the taste made Takumi miss them.
"Delicious! Mom, I will definitely marry a wife who inherits your cooking skills in the future!"
"You haven't even grown hair yet, what's the point of marrying a wife?" Aika picked up a piece of meat and put it on Takumi's plate. She stood up as if remembering something: "By the way, I forgot to show you the news. You'll be taking the political current affairs exam for the high school entrance exam, so don't fall behind".
As she spoke, Aika turned on the TV and adjusted the channel.
"The high school entrance exam questions were published a long time ago..."
Takumi ate and looked at the TV disapprovingly.
"This afternoon, the Osaka District Supreme People's Court publicly tried the 3.12 drug smuggling case. This major maritime drug smuggling case began in 2012...".
"Pfft... cough, cough!"
Takumi spit out the rice in his mouth and coughed.
"What's wrong with you!" Aika, nervous, poured a glass of water and handed it to Takumi, patting him on the back: "Didn't you swallow it?".
Takumi drank the water and his face improved slightly: "I'm fine".
"How careless you are, kid!"
Aika breathed a sigh of relief and went to the bathroom to get the mop to clean the floor, but Takumi's gaze was fixed on the news. 'Osaka District, isn't that where Japan is located? Why is it Osaka District? Has Japan disappeared?'
"Mom, I'm full!"
After finishing his meal in a few bites, Takumi quickly returned to his room and took out a history book to leaf through it.
It was astonishing. It turned out that not only Japan, but also North Korea, South Korea, eastern Russia, and northern India belonged to the Huaxia Kingdom, and this territory was established by Qin Shihuang thousands of years ago. Although they have separated and reunited throughout history, they have never completely separated from Huaxia.
"No!"
Takumi almost fainted. He also noticed that China was the largest and most developed country in the world, and the United States was only second.
After analyzing all the information, Takumi was surprised to conclude that he had not returned to the past, but had traveled to a parallel world! And in this parallel world, his identity was still exactly the same as in the original world!
"What is this?"
He pulled his hair, confused. 'If this was a parallel world, wouldn't the resource advantages he brought with him from rebirth have been lost?'
But wait a moment...
"Is Japan gone?" Suddenly, Takumi thought of one thing: 'since Japan in this world is Chinese territory, doesn't that mean its unique animation industry also doesn't exist?'
In his previous life, due to his mother's busy schedule, Takumi liked to find manga at street stalls and bookstores since he was a child. Drawing manga was also one of his few hobbies, and manga accompanied him throughout his childhood. However, it wasn't until his mother's death that he realized that the affection she gave him could never be replaced by manga.
Unfortunately, it was too late. Takumi felt confused. He didn't go back to school and simply hid in his room drawing and becoming paralyzed. If he hadn't met a woman, Takumi wouldn't have been able to cheer up until now...
"Yes..."
Takumi suddenly remembered: 'didn't he have excellent manga drawing skills? Did he still have them? If he still had them, could he make a fortune with them?'