Chapter 123
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.
Note: This takes place after Kazuya returned from his "night out".
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No one knew what Kazuya did before he safely returned to the Shiroyuki household. There was just his little accomplice who held him tightly to cover up his absence during the night.
Tomoyo fell in and out of sleep the whole night because she was worried that her grandparents might discover his absence. She was worried that he might get scolded or even grounded if they discovered that he sneaked out during the night so she tried various things in order to make it seem like Kazuya was in her room.
The robot girl tried different things from rolling up a spare blanket to covering a couple of pillows under the blanket but she still wasn't convinced that her grandfather would buy it. She stealthily sneaked into one of the senior instructor's rooms and grabbed the wig he always wore before meeting with his students. It was after meticulous arrangement that she was finally able to make it look like a figure of someone was sleeping beside her.
When Kazuya finally returned, he saw the relief on the sleepy girl's face. Looks like she tried hard to wait for him and even made a clever ruse in case someone checked.
"Silly girl" Kazuya patted her head gently which made Tomoyo relaxed and sleepy as she rested her head on his chest. "I should scold you but since you've tried hard, I'll let it slide this time" he grabbed the wig threw it outside the window. He incinerated it so that it would leave no traces before Tomoyo could do anything about it.
Tomoyo made herself comfortable but just when she was about to fall asleep, both of them felt Jirou's presence heading towards them. It looked like he was talking to someone but since there was only one presence, they assumed that he was talking on the phone.
"He can't know that I left for the night" Kazuya told the robot girl who sat up and thought about what to do. It was then that she pointed towards the bunch of pillows that were supposed to be him.
"Sleep…" Kazuya wanted to question her but they didn't have time. He decided to trust this girl that worked hard for him not to get discovered and obediently pretended to be asleep under the sheets.
Tomoyo couldn't think of anything else so she pulled him close to her and hugged him tightly. She remembered that her grandparents said that she had a habit of not letting go when she grabbed something in her sleep.
It was as if the situation had been reversed earlier and Kazuya was pulled closer to the robot girl where she held his head against her own body. Jirou slowly opened the door from outside not long after that and peeked in on the two.
Kazuya concentrated his senses and eavesdropped on the conversation that Jirou was having. It sounded like Domyouji Gakuto had discovered what he had done and immediately looked to Jirou to see if he was in Jirou's place.
"(This old man's intuition is sharp)" Kazuya thought. It was then he heard Jirou's explanation about Kazuya having the perfect alibi.
He was quite thankful to this robot girl and her quick wit. She protected him last night and was even able to provide him an alibi for the previous night. He couldn't help but feel gratitude towards this girl who he never expected that he would get along with after what he experienced with her in his previous life.
Thinking about it, there were a lot of things that had caught him off guard in this life. The Shiroyuki Tomoyo he met was almost the same girl he met in his previous life but she was easier to get along with in this life. He was open to the idea that they may have misunderstood each other but what was the reason that made her approach him in the first place? Was it just because she heard that their family had relations or did she have some kind of connection with him before he lost his memories just like that weird girl Stockton Kurumi?
Kazuya was stuck in these kinds of thoughts now that he had finally relaxed. He was inside one of the places he considered safe so he slowly started falling asleep. He truly had pushed himself hard and he didn't remember how much energy he had spent.
With the thoughts in his mind before he fell asleep, he dreamt of a specific time in his past. It was the moment he met with someone he respected in his previous life yet in this life, it was someone whose cold corpse was resting inside the unknown space inside his ring.
Inside a big park near the territory of the old alliance headed by the former groups in power, Kazuya made himself a comfortable little spot to sleep in. This was to skimp on paying fees to sleep in manga or internet cafes which still cost money. He might need to stay there during the cold season so he needed to save all the money he could.
*THUD*
He heard the sound of someone falling. He stayed behind the bushes late at night so that any patrolling officers won't be able to notice him. They would have asked him to leave the park since it was technically off-limits during night time.
"(A civilian?)" He wondered what someone could be doing here at this time. Kazuya wondered if it was another homeless person who got drunk so he cautiously approached the man. What he found was someone who had been riddled with wounds. He looked to have been beaten up.
Kazuya was very familiar with the kind of injuries this young man had because he suffered from them regularly. If it wasn't from the robot girl who would beat him up whenever she caught him, it would be from the goons that Lee sent before the bastard took Mei away from him.
*groan* The man tried to move but he was just too weak to do so.
"Are you okay?" he tried communicating and saw the man's face for the first time.
"Do I look like I'm okay?" the young man asked sarcastically. "Can you help me get back to my place? It's not too far from here" he weakly said.
"Okay…" he was afraid to be led into a place where he would be robbed but what more could he lose? If this guy was willing to let himself be beat up just to trick and rob homeless people like him then why would he get beaten up so much? It made no sense. "Where do you live?"
"It's just by the Kitsune Udon place at Kuugan street" he tried convincing the boy for help. "I may not look trustworthy but I wouldn't hurt someone who just tried to help"
Kazuya didn't have anything better to do so he quickly excused himself for a moment and grabbed his stuff from the bushes. He supported the young man and helped him up an old building that looked very suspicious.
"Hey! I know what you're thinking and I assure you it's not!" The young man noticed Kazuya's gaze on him after getting a good look at what looked like his home. "Haven't your parents taught you that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover?"
Kazuya, of course, had no one to teach him such things or rather, he had no memories of having parents at all. The only parent he technically had was someone who had just abandoned him recently so he couldn't help but frown after hearing the young man's words.
"Hey! You got in trouble again, Kuuga?" the stall owner noticed them and called out. "I told you to stay away from trouble since this place is becoming more dangerous lately, young man" he scolded.
"See? The stall owner just verified that I live here" the young man noticed Kazuya's change after he mentioned the word 'parents' so he took the stall owner's cue and changed the topic.
"Fine…" Kazuya helped him towards the building where the young man who was just identified as 'Kuuga' carelessly showed him the code. Though the building may have looked old, the interior itself wasn't bad and it seemed like this young man lived well.
"Can you fetch me the first aid box from one of the cupboards?" Kuuga asked as he took a look at his wounds while sitting on his couch.
Kazuya didn't really mind as he tried to search for it. He found this guy a little weird since he just asked a complete stranger to search his place without a care. It took a while for him to finally find a first aid box that actually had something that he could use. It seemed like this guy got himself into trouble frequently as different kits were already emptied out.
"I got the…" He went to give the first aid kit but saw that the guy was already sound asleep. As a person who was also constantly beaten up, he understood the feeling this person had. Kazuya was mostly alone and Mei usually came home late because of work. He would pass out alone whenever he was injured and had to take care of himself afterwards.
He dressed Kuuga's wounds before leaving. He was given a free meal at the Udon stand for helping Kuuga out where the owner rambled on about how the area had gone downhill after the heads of the territory owners suddenly disappeared which caused the downfall of the clans that used to rule the area. Because of this, Kazuya had a better understanding of the guy he thought was going to lead him to a place just to rob him.
He thanked the stall owner who even gave him a second helping. Kazuya didn't have to sleep with an empty stomach for that and he was truly grateful. It felt like a good deed had been instantly been repaid. What he didn't expect however, was that a few days later, the guy would come looking for him at the park and find him in another shrub of bushes as he was studying his books.
"Yo! I'm glad I found you!" Kuuga had recovered from most of his injuries and cheerfully looked at Kazuya who felt a little disturbed about being searched for. He wondered if anything had gone missing in this guy's house and if he was going to be blamed for it. "So you really are homeless huh…"
Kuuga pulled the boy and forcefully took him back to the old building. It was still daytime so the old stall owner was nowhere to be seen so there wasn't anyone that could help him clear his name. The stall owner saw him leave bringing only what he brought with him and without him, how could he prove his innocence?
"I didn't steal anything" was what he said the moment they entered Kuuga's place.
"I know you didn't" Kuuga pointed towards small openings in the room. "Those are cameras so even if something was missing, I could go check it but the old man told me that you left with nothing else but the bag on your back.
"Then why am I here?" Kazuya was relieved that what he suspected was wrong. But what did this guy want with him now?
"I want to repay a debt" Kuuga smiled. "I have this place all to myself and there are spare rooms upstairs. If you hadn't found me, I could have been found by those guys who beat me up and who knows what would have happened" he patted Kazuya's shoulder. "So I want to repay this debt"
"You really don't have to…" Kazuya couldn't believe that something good was actually happening to him after a good deed. For as long as he could remember, he hadn't done anything wrong to people and they would cause trouble for him. That was how things usually went.
"You don't have to be hesitant because I won't be letting you be a freeloader" He led him up the stairs and opened up a small room that was enough for one person to live in. "The utilities come with the rent and I'll introduce you to some shops where you could work part time…" Kuuga went on with the details.
Kazuya couldn't believe it but this was too good of an opportunity to pass up. This was a way for him to get started on his new life alone so he was very grateful towards this young man who he hadn't intended to help at first.
Kazuya was glad that he did and from what he gathered around the neighborhood, Kuuga used to be a person with somewhat of a bad reputation in the old days. It was only when the neighborhood had changed hands did he try to protect the shops and residents there, did people see how much he cared about their neighborhood. Kazuya had grown to respect this person and even started calling him Kuuga-nii like the other youngsters who respected him in the neighborhood.
He didn't suspect this guy at all even when he showed up randomly so they could go home together after work. Kazuya didn't find any reason to suspect him after all. This guy was a bit rough but he seemed to care about him to even ask about his future plans and about how he could help if he wanted to move out of their town.
The Kazuya now, however, saw this memory differently. He hated this memory now because it was supposed to be one of the few good ones he had in his first life. It all turned out to be a lie. Now he understood why Kuuga had been so intrusive of his private affairs and who the men he was rumored to be seeing privately were.
As a person who has experienced a forced replay of his memories after his 'death', how could he not know that this was but a mere dream? Kazuya watched on as if he understood why he was currently having this dream, he needed to see this one more time so he could finally move on to what he was planning next. He, in the end, still needed to see this memory one last time to be reminded that he was wrong to have put so much trust in someone who seemed to have been helping him without much reason.
This was how humans usually were. Selfishness in the act of selflessness is what the humans of both worlds had in common. Prime examples of these were politicians on Earth and nobles on Edea. This was why most other races trusted humans far less than other races. They were labeled as a 'cunning' race whose nature was to act for their own benefits.
"Relax, that guy's like a pet that will eat anything off of my hand now" these were the words that he once overheard that totally made sense now. Kuuga was merely a watchdog sent by Lee whose job was to watch over him and see what he had been up to all this while.
He couldn't help but wonder what Kuuga might have done if he had decided to tell him about his plans to slowly prove to everyone that he wasn't just going to keep things as they were. Would he have revealed his fangs? Kazuya might have been just a mere high school boy back then but that didn't mean that he would stay one forever. As long as he still lived, he would find a way for these people to know that one day, somehow, he would try to find and get back what was rightfully his in the first place. All he needed was time and he had plenty of it now that he only needed to work for himself.
Kazuya didn't have much time to think as his body felt a strange sensation. It was only when Kazuya opened his eyes did he freeze at the scene before him. He thought he was still in a dream because he fell asleep beside the robot girl but he now woke up and in front of him was Mei who had her hands on the last piece of clothing he had on him while having a serious expression on her face.
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Note: This takes place after Kazuya returned from his "night out".
.
No one knew what Kazuya did before he safely returned to the Shiroyuki household. There was just his little accomplice who held him tightly to cover up his absence during the night.
Tomoyo fell in and out of sleep the whole night because she was worried that her grandparents might discover his absence. She was worried that he might get scolded or even grounded if they discovered that he sneaked out during the night so she tried various things in order to make it seem like Kazuya was in her room.
The robot girl tried different things from rolling up a spare blanket to covering a couple of pillows under the blanket but she still wasn't convinced that her grandfather would buy it. She stealthily sneaked into one of the senior instructor's rooms and grabbed the wig he always wore before meeting with his students. It was after meticulous arrangement that she was finally able to make it look like a figure of someone was sleeping beside her.
When Kazuya finally returned, he saw the relief on the sleepy girl's face. Looks like she tried hard to wait for him and even made a clever ruse in case someone checked.
"Silly girl" Kazuya patted her head gently which made Tomoyo relaxed and sleepy as she rested her head on his chest. "I should scold you but since you've tried hard, I'll let it slide this time" he grabbed the wig threw it outside the window. He incinerated it so that it would leave no traces before Tomoyo could do anything about it.
Tomoyo made herself comfortable but just when she was about to fall asleep, both of them felt Jirou's presence heading towards them. It looked like he was talking to someone but since there was only one presence, they assumed that he was talking on the phone.
"He can't know that I left for the night" Kazuya told the robot girl who sat up and thought about what to do. It was then that she pointed towards the bunch of pillows that were supposed to be him.
"Sleep…" Kazuya wanted to question her but they didn't have time. He decided to trust this girl that worked hard for him not to get discovered and obediently pretended to be asleep under the sheets.
Tomoyo couldn't think of anything else so she pulled him close to her and hugged him tightly. She remembered that her grandparents said that she had a habit of not letting go when she grabbed something in her sleep.
It was as if the situation had been reversed earlier and Kazuya was pulled closer to the robot girl where she held his head against her own body. Jirou slowly opened the door from outside not long after that and peeked in on the two.
Kazuya concentrated his senses and eavesdropped on the conversation that Jirou was having. It sounded like Domyouji Gakuto had discovered what he had done and immediately looked to Jirou to see if he was in Jirou's place.
"(This old man's intuition is sharp)" Kazuya thought. It was then he heard Jirou's explanation about Kazuya having the perfect alibi.
He was quite thankful to this robot girl and her quick wit. She protected him last night and was even able to provide him an alibi for the previous night. He couldn't help but feel gratitude towards this girl who he never expected that he would get along with after what he experienced with her in his previous life.
Thinking about it, there were a lot of things that had caught him off guard in this life. The Shiroyuki Tomoyo he met was almost the same girl he met in his previous life but she was easier to get along with in this life. He was open to the idea that they may have misunderstood each other but what was the reason that made her approach him in the first place? Was it just because she heard that their family had relations or did she have some kind of connection with him before he lost his memories just like that weird girl Stockton Kurumi?
Kazuya was stuck in these kinds of thoughts now that he had finally relaxed. He was inside one of the places he considered safe so he slowly started falling asleep. He truly had pushed himself hard and he didn't remember how much energy he had spent.
With the thoughts in his mind before he fell asleep, he dreamt of a specific time in his past. It was the moment he met with someone he respected in his previous life yet in this life, it was someone whose cold corpse was resting inside the unknown space inside his ring.
Inside a big park near the territory of the old alliance headed by the former groups in power, Kazuya made himself a comfortable little spot to sleep in. This was to skimp on paying fees to sleep in manga or internet cafes which still cost money. He might need to stay there during the cold season so he needed to save all the money he could.
*THUD*
He heard the sound of someone falling. He stayed behind the bushes late at night so that any patrolling officers won't be able to notice him. They would have asked him to leave the park since it was technically off-limits during night time.
"(A civilian?)" He wondered what someone could be doing here at this time. Kazuya wondered if it was another homeless person who got drunk so he cautiously approached the man. What he found was someone who had been riddled with wounds. He looked to have been beaten up.
Kazuya was very familiar with the kind of injuries this young man had because he suffered from them regularly. If it wasn't from the robot girl who would beat him up whenever she caught him, it would be from the goons that Lee sent before the bastard took Mei away from him.
*groan* The man tried to move but he was just too weak to do so.
"Are you okay?" he tried communicating and saw the man's face for the first time.
"Do I look like I'm okay?" the young man asked sarcastically. "Can you help me get back to my place? It's not too far from here" he weakly said.
"Okay…" he was afraid to be led into a place where he would be robbed but what more could he lose? If this guy was willing to let himself be beat up just to trick and rob homeless people like him then why would he get beaten up so much? It made no sense. "Where do you live?"
"It's just by the Kitsune Udon place at Kuugan street" he tried convincing the boy for help. "I may not look trustworthy but I wouldn't hurt someone who just tried to help"
Kazuya didn't have anything better to do so he quickly excused himself for a moment and grabbed his stuff from the bushes. He supported the young man and helped him up an old building that looked very suspicious.
"Hey! I know what you're thinking and I assure you it's not!" The young man noticed Kazuya's gaze on him after getting a good look at what looked like his home. "Haven't your parents taught you that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover?"
Kazuya, of course, had no one to teach him such things or rather, he had no memories of having parents at all. The only parent he technically had was someone who had just abandoned him recently so he couldn't help but frown after hearing the young man's words.
"Hey! You got in trouble again, Kuuga?" the stall owner noticed them and called out. "I told you to stay away from trouble since this place is becoming more dangerous lately, young man" he scolded.
"See? The stall owner just verified that I live here" the young man noticed Kazuya's change after he mentioned the word 'parents' so he took the stall owner's cue and changed the topic.
"Fine…" Kazuya helped him towards the building where the young man who was just identified as 'Kuuga' carelessly showed him the code. Though the building may have looked old, the interior itself wasn't bad and it seemed like this young man lived well.
"Can you fetch me the first aid box from one of the cupboards?" Kuuga asked as he took a look at his wounds while sitting on his couch.
Kazuya didn't really mind as he tried to search for it. He found this guy a little weird since he just asked a complete stranger to search his place without a care. It took a while for him to finally find a first aid box that actually had something that he could use. It seemed like this guy got himself into trouble frequently as different kits were already emptied out.
"I got the…" He went to give the first aid kit but saw that the guy was already sound asleep. As a person who was also constantly beaten up, he understood the feeling this person had. Kazuya was mostly alone and Mei usually came home late because of work. He would pass out alone whenever he was injured and had to take care of himself afterwards.
He dressed Kuuga's wounds before leaving. He was given a free meal at the Udon stand for helping Kuuga out where the owner rambled on about how the area had gone downhill after the heads of the territory owners suddenly disappeared which caused the downfall of the clans that used to rule the area. Because of this, Kazuya had a better understanding of the guy he thought was going to lead him to a place just to rob him.
He thanked the stall owner who even gave him a second helping. Kazuya didn't have to sleep with an empty stomach for that and he was truly grateful. It felt like a good deed had been instantly been repaid. What he didn't expect however, was that a few days later, the guy would come looking for him at the park and find him in another shrub of bushes as he was studying his books.
"Yo! I'm glad I found you!" Kuuga had recovered from most of his injuries and cheerfully looked at Kazuya who felt a little disturbed about being searched for. He wondered if anything had gone missing in this guy's house and if he was going to be blamed for it. "So you really are homeless huh…"
Kuuga pulled the boy and forcefully took him back to the old building. It was still daytime so the old stall owner was nowhere to be seen so there wasn't anyone that could help him clear his name. The stall owner saw him leave bringing only what he brought with him and without him, how could he prove his innocence?
"I didn't steal anything" was what he said the moment they entered Kuuga's place.
"I know you didn't" Kuuga pointed towards small openings in the room. "Those are cameras so even if something was missing, I could go check it but the old man told me that you left with nothing else but the bag on your back.
"Then why am I here?" Kazuya was relieved that what he suspected was wrong. But what did this guy want with him now?
"I want to repay a debt" Kuuga smiled. "I have this place all to myself and there are spare rooms upstairs. If you hadn't found me, I could have been found by those guys who beat me up and who knows what would have happened" he patted Kazuya's shoulder. "So I want to repay this debt"
"You really don't have to…" Kazuya couldn't believe that something good was actually happening to him after a good deed. For as long as he could remember, he hadn't done anything wrong to people and they would cause trouble for him. That was how things usually went.
"You don't have to be hesitant because I won't be letting you be a freeloader" He led him up the stairs and opened up a small room that was enough for one person to live in. "The utilities come with the rent and I'll introduce you to some shops where you could work part time…" Kuuga went on with the details.
Kazuya couldn't believe it but this was too good of an opportunity to pass up. This was a way for him to get started on his new life alone so he was very grateful towards this young man who he hadn't intended to help at first.
Kazuya was glad that he did and from what he gathered around the neighborhood, Kuuga used to be a person with somewhat of a bad reputation in the old days. It was only when the neighborhood had changed hands did he try to protect the shops and residents there, did people see how much he cared about their neighborhood. Kazuya had grown to respect this person and even started calling him Kuuga-nii like the other youngsters who respected him in the neighborhood.
He didn't suspect this guy at all even when he showed up randomly so they could go home together after work. Kazuya didn't find any reason to suspect him after all. This guy was a bit rough but he seemed to care about him to even ask about his future plans and about how he could help if he wanted to move out of their town.
The Kazuya now, however, saw this memory differently. He hated this memory now because it was supposed to be one of the few good ones he had in his first life. It all turned out to be a lie. Now he understood why Kuuga had been so intrusive of his private affairs and who the men he was rumored to be seeing privately were.
As a person who has experienced a forced replay of his memories after his 'death', how could he not know that this was but a mere dream? Kazuya watched on as if he understood why he was currently having this dream, he needed to see this one more time so he could finally move on to what he was planning next. He, in the end, still needed to see this memory one last time to be reminded that he was wrong to have put so much trust in someone who seemed to have been helping him without much reason.
This was how humans usually were. Selfishness in the act of selflessness is what the humans of both worlds had in common. Prime examples of these were politicians on Earth and nobles on Edea. This was why most other races trusted humans far less than other races. They were labeled as a 'cunning' race whose nature was to act for their own benefits.
"Relax, that guy's like a pet that will eat anything off of my hand now" these were the words that he once overheard that totally made sense now. Kuuga was merely a watchdog sent by Lee whose job was to watch over him and see what he had been up to all this while.
He couldn't help but wonder what Kuuga might have done if he had decided to tell him about his plans to slowly prove to everyone that he wasn't just going to keep things as they were. Would he have revealed his fangs? Kazuya might have been just a mere high school boy back then but that didn't mean that he would stay one forever. As long as he still lived, he would find a way for these people to know that one day, somehow, he would try to find and get back what was rightfully his in the first place. All he needed was time and he had plenty of it now that he only needed to work for himself.
Kazuya didn't have much time to think as his body felt a strange sensation. It was only when Kazuya opened his eyes did he freeze at the scene before him. He thought he was still in a dream because he fell asleep beside the robot girl but he now woke up and in front of him was Mei who had her hands on the last piece of clothing he had on him while having a serious expression on her face.
.
.Note: This takes place after Kazuya returned from his "night out"..No one knew what Kazuya did before he safely returned to the Shiroyuki household. There was just his little accomplice who held him tightly to cover up his absence during the night.Tomoyo fell in and out of sleep the whole night because she was worried that her grandparents might discover his absence. She was worried that he might get scolded or even grounded if they discovered that he sneaked out during the night so she tried various things in order to make it seem like Kazuya was in her room.The robot girl tried different things from rolling up a spare blanket to covering a couple of pillows under the blanket but she still wasn't convinced that her grandfather would buy it. She stealthily sneaked into one of the senior instructor's rooms and grabbed the wig he always wore before meeting with his students. It was after meticulous arrangement that she was finally able to make it look like a figure of someone was sleeping beside her.When Kazuya finally returned, he saw the relief on the sleepy girl's face. Looks like she tried hard to wait for him and even made a clever ruse in case someone checked."Silly girl" Kazuya patted her head gently which made Tomoyo relaxed and sleepy as she rested her head on his chest. "I should scold you but since you've tried hard, I'll let it slide this time" he grabbed the wig threw it outside the window. He incinerated it so that it would leave no traces before Tomoyo could do anything about it.Tomoyo made herself comfortable but just when she was about to fall asleep, both of them felt Jirou's presence heading towards them. It looked like he was talking to someone but since there was only one presence, they assumed that he was talking on the phone."He can't know that I left for the night" Kazuya told the robot girl who sat up and thought about what to do. It was then that she pointed towards the bunch of pillows that were supposed to be him."Sleep" Kazuya wanted to question her but they didn't have time. He decided to trust this girl that worked hard for him not to get discovered and obediently pretended to be asleep under the sheets.Tomoyo couldn't think of anything else so she pulled him close to her and hugged him tightly. She remembered that her grandparents said that she had a habit of not letting go when she grabbed something in her sleep.It was as if the situation had been reversed earlier and Kazuya was pulled closer to the robot girl where she held his head against her own body. Jirou slowly opened the door from outside not long after that and peeked in on the two.Kazuya concentrated his senses and eavesdropped on the conversation that Jirou was having. It sounded like Domyouji Gakuto had discovered what he had done and immediately looked to Jirou to see if he was in Jirou's place."This old man's intuition is sharp" Kazuya thought. It was then he heard Jirou's explanation about Kazuya having the perfect alibi.He was quite thankful to this robot girl and her quick wit. She protected him last night and was even able to provide him an alibi for the previous night. He couldn't help but feel gratitude towards this girl who he never expected that he would get along with after what he experienced with her in his previous life.Thinking about it, there were a lot of things that had caught him off guard in this life. The Shiroyuki Tomoyo he met was almost the same girl he met in his previous life but she was easier to get along with in this life. He was open to the idea that they may have misunderstood each other but what was the reason that made her approach him in the first place? Was it just because she heard that their family had relations or did she have some kind of connection with him before he lost his memories just like that weird girl Stockton Kurumi?Kazuya was stuck in these kinds of thoughts now that he had finally relaxed. He was inside one of the places he considered safe so he slowly started falling asleep. He truly had pushed himself hard and he didn't remember how much energy he had spent.With the thoughts in his mind before he fell asleep, he dreamt of a specific time in his past. It was the moment he met with someone he respected in his previous life yet in this life, it was someone whose cold corpse was resting inside the unknown space inside his ring.Inside a big park near the territory of the old alliance headed by the former groups in power, Kazuya made himself a comfortable little spot to sleep in. This was to skimp on paying fees to sleep in manga or internet cafes which still cost money. He might need to stay there during the cold season so he needed to save all the money he could.*THUD*He heard the sound of someone falling. He stayed behind the bushes late at night so that any patrolling officers won't be able to notice him. They would have asked him to leave the park since it was technically off-limits during night time."A civilian?" He wondered what someone could be doing here at this time. Kazuya wondered if it was another homeless person who got drunk so he cautiously approached the man. What he found was someone who had been riddled with wounds. He looked to have been beaten up.Kazuya was very familiar with the kind of injuries this young man had because he suffered from them regularly. If it wasn't from the robot girl who would beat him up whenever she caught him, it would be from the goons that Lee sent before the bastard took Mei away from him.*groan* The man tried to move but he was just too weak to do so."Are you okay?" he tried communicating and saw the man's face for the first time."Do I look like I'm okay?" the young man asked sarcastically. "Can you help me get back to my place? It's not too far from here" he weakly said."Okay" he was afraid to be led into a place where he would be robbed but what more could he lose? If this guy was willing to let himself be beat up just to trick and rob homeless people like him then why would he get beaten up so much? It made no sense. "Where do you live?""It's just by the Kitsune Udon place at Kuugan street" he tried convincing the boy for help. "I may not look trustworthy but I wouldn't hurt someone who just tried to help"Kazuya didn't have anything better to do so he quickly excused himself for a moment and grabbed his stuff from the bushes. He supported the young man and helped him up an old building that looked very suspicious."Hey! I know what you're thinking and I assure you it's not!" The young man noticed Kazuya's gaze on him after getting a good look at what looked like his home. "Haven't your parents taught you that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover?"Kazuya, of course, had no one to teach him such things or rather, he had no memories of having parents at all. The only parent he technically had was someone who had just abandoned him recently so he couldn't help but frown after hearing the young man's words."Hey! You got in trouble again, Kuuga?" the stall owner noticed them and called out. "I told you to stay away from trouble since this place is becoming more dangerous lately, young man" he scolded."See? The stall owner just verified that I live here" the young man noticed Kazuya's change after he mentioned the word 'parents' so he took the stall owner's cue and changed the topic."Fine" Kazuya helped him towards the building where the young man who was just identified as 'Kuuga' carelessly showed him the code. Though the building may have looked old, the interior itself wasn't bad and it seemed like this young man lived well."Can you fetch me the first aid box from one of the cupboards?" Kuuga asked as he took a look at his wounds while sitting on his couch.Kazuya didn't really mind as he tried to search for it. He found this guy a little weird since he just asked a complete stranger to search his place without a care. It took a while for him to finally find a first aid box that actually had something that he could use. It seemed like this guy got himself into trouble frequently as different kits were already emptied out."I got the" He went to give the first aid kit but saw that the guy was already sound asleep. As a person who was also constantly beaten up, he understood the feeling this person had. Kazuya was mostly alone and Mei usually came home late because of work. He would pass out alone whenever he was injured and had to take care of himself afterwards.He dressed Kuuga's wounds before leaving. He was given a free meal at the Udon stand for helping Kuuga out where the owner rambled on about how the area had gone downhill after the heads of the territory owners suddenly disappeared which caused the downfall of the clans that used to rule the area. Because of this, Kazuya had a better understanding of the guy he thought was going to lead him to a place just to rob him.He thanked the stall owner who even gave him a second helping. Kazuya didn't have to sleep with an empty stomach for that and he was truly grateful. It felt like a good deed had been instantly been repaid. What he didn't expect however, was that a few days later, the guy would come looking for him at the park and find him in another shrub of bushes as he was studying his books."Yo! I'm glad I found you!" Kuuga had recovered from most of his injuries and cheerfully looked at Kazuya who felt a little disturbed about being searched for. He wondered if anything had gone missing in this guy's house and if he was going to be blamed for it. "So you really are homeless huh"Kuuga pulled the boy and forcefully took him back to the old building. It was still daytime so the old stall owner was nowhere to be seen so there wasn't anyone that could help him clear his name. The stall owner saw him leave bringing only what he brought with him and without him, how could he prove his innocence?"I didn't steal anything" was what he said the moment they entered Kuuga's place."I know you didn't" Kuuga pointed towards small openings in the room. "Those are cameras so even if something was missing, I could go check it but the old man told me that you left with nothing else but the bag on your back."Then why am I here?" Kazuya was relieved that what he suspected was wrong. But what did this guy want with him now?"I want to repay a debt" Kuuga smiled. "I have this place all to myself and there are spare rooms upstairs. If you hadn't found me, I could have been found by those guys who beat me up and who knows what would have happened" he patted Kazuya's shoulder. "So I want to repay this debt""You really don't have to" Kazuya couldn't believe that something good was actually happening to him after a good deed. For as long as he could remember, he hadn't done anything wrong to people and they would cause trouble for him. That was how things usually went."You don't have to be hesitant because I won't be letting you be a freeloader" He led him up the stairs and opened up a small room that was enough for one person to live in. "The utilities come with the rent and I'll introduce you to some shops where you could work part time" Kuuga went on with the details.Kazuya couldn't believe it but this was too good of an opportunity to pass up. This was a way for him to get started on his new life alone so he was very grateful towards this young man who he hadn't intended to help at first.Kazuya was glad that he did and from what he gathered around the neighborhood, Kuuga used to be a person with somewhat of a bad reputation in the old days. It was only when the neighborhood had changed hands did he try to protect the shops and residents there, did people see how much he cared about their neighborhood. Kazuya had grown to respect this person and even started calling him Kuuga-nii like the other youngsters who respected him in the neighborhood.He didn't suspect this guy at all even when he showed up randomly so they could go home together after work. Kazuya didn't find any reason to suspect him after all. This guy was a bit rough but he seemed to care about him to even ask about his future plans and about how he could help if he wanted to move out of their town.The Kazuya now, however, saw this memory differently. He hated this memory now because it was supposed to be one of the few good ones he had in his first life. It all turned out to be a lie. Now he understood why Kuuga had been so intrusive of his private affairs and who the men he was rumored to be seeing privately were.As a person who has experienced a forced replay of his memories after his 'death', how could he not know that this was but a mere dream? Kazuya watched on as if he understood why he was currently having this dream, he needed to see this one more time so he could finally move on to what he was planning next. He, in the end, still needed to see this memory one last time to be reminded that he was wrong to have put so much trust in someone who seemed to have been helping him without much reason.This was how humans usually were. Selfishness in the act of selflessness is what the humans of both worlds had in common. Prime examples of these were politicians on Earth and nobles on Edea. This was why most other races trusted humans far less than other races. They were labeled as a 'cunning' race whose nature was to act for their own benefits."Relax, that guy's like a pet that will eat anything off of my hand now" these were the words that he once overheard that totally made sense now. Kuuga was merely a watchdog sent by Lee whose job was to watch over him and see what he had been up to all this while.He couldn't help but wonder what Kuuga might have done if he had decided to tell him about his plans to slowly prove to everyone that he wasn't just going to keep things as they were. Would he have revealed his fangs? Kazuya might have been just a mere high school boy back then but that didn't mean that he would stay one forever. As long as he still lived, he would find a way for these people to know that one day, somehow, he would try to find and get back what was rightfully his in the first place. All he needed was time and he had plenty of it now that he only needed to work for himself.Kazuya didn't have much time to think as his body felt a strange sensation. It was only when Kazuya opened his eyes did he freeze at the scene before him. He thought he was still in a dream because he fell asleep beside the robot girl but he now woke up and in front of him was Mei who had her hands on the last piece of clothing he had on him while having a serious expression on her face..
