It's been one week.
It's been one week, and Ryan is in this place. This place is truly an 'alien'. He has no idea how he ended up here.
Reborn?
That's not a new concept, he's read Buddhist books that explain the concept of reincarnation.
The deeds you do in your life will be repaid in the next.
But why did I end up like this...
✦•°(・_・;)°•✦
One Week Ago.
Ryan woke up after being shaken quite hard.
"Ugh... ahgk..." Ryan coughed, his vision blurry, slowly becoming clear again. "Ha... ha..."
"Are you okay, Idiot?"
Ryan nodded and kept coughing, realizing he had just been drowning. Weird.
"Yeah, I'm fine, Mimi."
"Mimi? Who's Mimi?"
Ryan lifted his head and his lips parted. His eyes widened, shocked to see the girl in front of him.
"Wait, you're not Mimi." Ryan muttered softly.
The girl looked at Ryan with a slightly annoyed but worried expression, then flicked his forehead pretty hard.
"You really made me WORRIED, YOU IDIOT! You know you can't swim, so why did you jump in for a stupid keychain!"
The girl hugged Ryan tightly, as if scared. Her face buried itself in Ryan's neck.
"Stupid... Idiot big brother..."
Ryan didn't know what was happening or what situation he was in. But still, he patted and stroked this girl's head. He could feel a few tears wetting his shoulder.
Compared to the chill of the river water, for some reason, this girl's tears felt very warm.
Ryan opened his clenched fist. It was a keychain—a custom-made special one... a black rabbit with the words "From your little sister, Happy Birthday" engraved on it.
"Hey... I can't breathe if you hug too tight.."
Hearing that, the girl let go of her hug, turned around, and wiped her tears.
Ryan also got up from the ground and looked around.
This isn't Brighton
He wasn't in Brighton. This place was completely foreign. And he was being called "big brother" by a girl he didn't recognize.
He looked at his clothes again, a school uniform? Like a high school student's uniform. Ryan didn't understand what situation he was in. The last thing he remembered was being stabbed by someone... and dying.
"What are you thinking about? You look dazed."
Ryan stared at the girl. For some reason, he had seen her face before. "Where are we right now? This isn't Brighton. And who are you?"
"Brighton? You mean the city in Michigan?" The girl asked, tilting her head with a confused tone. "Who am I? You really forgot your own little sister?"
Yeah, you're definitely not my little sister. And what's this about Brighton, Michigan, USA? Brighton is in England.
"Umm... yeah, I mean. You don't really look like Mimi."
"Mimi? Who? That sounds more like a cat's name than a person's name." The girl stepped closer and pecked Ryan's cheek. "Don't tell me you forgot your own little sister, Kai?"
Kai? What is this girl talking about?
"Ugh! You really forgot?! I know we're not... close... anymore... but seriously, you forgot your own little sister?!" The girl patted and squeezed Ryan's cheeks. "I'm Risa, YOU IDIOT!!!"
Ryan put on a dumbfounded face after hearing what this girl said. Kai, Risa... who were these people, Ryan thought.
But one thing. The names Kai and Risa sounded very familiar.
"Kai, are you listening? Hello, earth to Kai."
"Ha? Oh yeah, of course I hear you."
Ryan observed Risa's face... which, for some reason, was his little sister. She was a fairly cute girl up close, with that platinum blonde hair.
Ryan looked away, seeing his reflection in the river's surface.
Looks like... I really did reincarnate?
An alternate world with a different timeline? Or truly another world. Who knows. Ryan really had no idea.
"Hmmm... so now I'm inside someone named Kai's body?" Ryan muttered softly.
"What are you talking about? Of course you're Kai."
Risa was confused by her brother's strange behavior. Had he been underwater so long that he forgot who he was?
"You're acting weird. Let's go home." Risa grabbed her brother's hand and walked away from the riverbank to go home. "Don't ever do that again... and that doesn't mean I care about you. We're still enemies."
✦•°(｡-_-｡)°•✦
Back to the present.
"Haa... I can't believe I became a game character."
Ryan—or now "Kai" sat at his study desk. He never expected that his reincarnation would turn him into a game character.
Yeah, this place and this body are that of a game character he used to play, one day before "Ryan" died.
How did he know? Because he still had "Ryan's" memories, and looking at his little sister now, "Risa," while he himself was "Kai"—of course he remembered clearly.
"Dammit... reincarnation, fine, but why did I reincarnate into that crappy dating-sim game Mimi loved so much?"
Speaking of Mimi... I miss her. I didn't get to bring her that pudding and ice cream she wanted...
Kai sighed and looked at the wall of his room. It had been a week since he became "Kai Clove." And he still wasn't used to being someone else.
He was Ryan, but on the other hand, he also had Kai's memories. And he could say... "Kai" was way too obsessed with Risa.
"Haa... I reincarnated into a perfect guy whose only flaw is being a total sis-con." Kai got up from his chair and walked to the window, staring outside. "At least I'm in Miami, I guess..."
Yep, just like the game's setting, the backdrop is Miami, Florida.
Honestly, the atmosphere of this city is so different compared to Brighton. Maybe because it's more colorful here? Who knows... but this city is truly beautiful.
An 'alien' city, a new life, maybe new experiences too.
"So I'm a high schooler again..." Kai turned around and flopped onto his bed, staring at the ceiling that would become his daily view from now on. "But speaking of another world... this is still on Earth, yeah. The dating-sim's setting really is in Miami."
Taking his phone from the nightstand, Kai unlocked the screen. Even the apps were the same and familiar... so this really is still on Earth.
Today's date is 04/21/2024
Sunday.
The day he died as Ryan was 04/14/2024
So the timing matches perfectly.
He'd been in this place for a week, but not much had happened. Ever since Risa brought him home that day, he immediately caught a fever... maybe because he'd been underwater too long and his clothes were soaking wet. The next day, he was down with a fever.
So for the whole week here, he'd just been at home, not going to school.
Speaking of school, he was a high school student, while his little sister, Risa, was still in middle school.
Kai opened Google and did an ego search, trying to find if there was any news about "himself" getting stabbed.
Staring at and scrolling through his phone screen, Kai didn't find any news about Ryan... as if "Ryan" had never existed.
This really is an alternate world, huh...
Ryan, or Kai, had reached the acceptance stage. It had been days since he tried to find traces of his previous life, but the results were nothing.
I am Kai...
Kai put his phone back down and looked at the small photo frame on the nightstand. He picked it up and stared at it.
That photo was a picture of "Kai" and Risa, taken when they were still little.
"..."
Kai sighed, his gaze still fixed on the photo frame he was holding up toward the ceiling.
Kai and Risa. Siblings only two years apart. In the dating-sim game, "Kai" would become the villain or obstacle for the protagonist trying to get Risa.
The character "Kai" was a perfect guy—smart, at the top of his school's rankings. Even the protagonist and another main capture target, Lily, were still below "Kai" academically.
The sibling relationship was a bit strained because Risa felt insecure compared to her brother, and eventually they grew distant from each other. "Kai" certainly tried to mend their relationship, but... the appearance of "Ren" truly drove him even crazier over his little sister.
"Come to think of it... isn't the character 'Ren' in that dating-sim story basically just barging in and messing everything up if you look at it from another perspective?" Kai muttered, putting the photo frame back on the nightstand. "Every capture target already had someone who was supposed to be with them, but it all falls apart because of 'Ren's' presence..."
But if that's the case, wouldn't it be weird for Risa to end up with Kai? Her own brother?
"Ha... 'Alabama' bait and forbidden love—it's always a staple in those kinds of eroges, huh."
Kai got up from his bed and checked the time. It was still 10:05 PM. Both parents and his little sister were probably asleep.
Walking out of his room, Kai headed to the kitchen to get a drink, but he saw the room across from his. From under the door, he could tell Risa was still awake.
"... still studying, huh." Kai continued on, heading down the stairs to the kitchen.
Reaching the kitchen, he opened the fridge and grabbed a bottle of mineral water to drink. After quenching his thirst, Kai opened the fridge again and put the bottle back.
Turning around to head back to his room, he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. And of course, it was Risa, who looked a little startled to see her brother in the kitchen.
"Next time, turn on the light, idiot." Risa approached her brother and gently pushed him aside so she could open the fridge door. "...are you feeling better now?"
Kai watched Risa grab a drink and some snacks. Looked like she wanted to continue studying.
"Yeah. I don't have a fever anymore." Kai stepped aside a little to give Risa space as she headed back toward the stairs. "You're still studying? It's already time for bed."
Risa stopped in her tracks, glancing over her shoulder at Kai with a slightly puzzled look. "Are you seriously telling me to go to sleep?" She sighed and turned around to meet Kai's eyes. "Not everyone can understand things just by reading them once like you can."
Kai was silent for a moment, thinking about one thing. Puberty-aged girls were seriously annoying. He was just asking a question, and she answered like she wanted to start a fight.
Ha... Mimi was better. Honestly.
Kai opened the fridge, saw there was pudding, and took it. He closed the fridge door before walking toward Risa. He took the bag of chips from Risa's hand and swapped it with the pudding.
"If you want to study more longer, eat something sweet instead of something salty." Kai patted Risa's shoulder and walked toward the stairs, carrying the bag of chips in his hand. "Good luck with your studying."
Risa turned around and touched the shoulder her brother had just patted. "What the..."
She looked at the pudding in her hand. A small smile appeared in the darkness of the kitchen.
"I don't like sweet things... Idiot big brother."