Wano Country, a land locked away by mountains and tradition. From the icy hills of Ringo to the rice-laden fields of Hakumai, each region bows to its own daimyo clan, buried deep in honour, fear and old grudges.
Among them, the Udon Region is home to the powerful Kurozumi Clan. Although cast into the shadows by the ruling Kozuki Clan, the Kurozumi are not weak.
--
When I finally opened my eyes, I saw no familiar place, the hospital ceiling or my cramped apartment. Instead… I saw nothing.
It felt like I was floating in a hot spring in winter. I could feel soft pushes and hear faint muffled sounds, something like chanting or talking. My whole body felt restricted. Then suddenly, a strong push from my head, and I was out.
The first rush of cold air hit my face. My skin felt wet, sticky, and I could hear someone, a woman letting out relieved sobs. I realised I was lying on some kind of soft surface, and there were louder voices nearby. My mind was still fuzzy, but one thing became painfully clear: I'd been reborn.
Ah… so this is reincarnation, I thought, ironically calm. No white room, no godly old man with a long beard giving me a cheat. Just like my past, normal and confusing.
Slowly, I tried to move my head, but it felt heavy. That's when it happened.
Even though my eyes were blurry, I started feeling something else. As if my mind could stretch beyond my vision. In that moment, I felt different "colours" and "auras" around me.
There was a warm, bright pink glow nearby — probably the crying woman holding me. Further away, I sensed a strong red aura, intense and suffocating. Then some softer, faded lights moved in the background, like small flickering flames.
I didn't know what any of it meant. I didn't even understand why I could sense it.
What the hell is this…? Some kind of sixth sense?
This sense… It's like radar or sonar, but more detailed. I could sense their emotions, movements, and aura, almost like a weird instinct warning me of danger or intentions.
Later, I might figure out what exactly this power is. But for now, one thing was clear: I wasn't completely helpless here.
Somewhere inside, I felt an odd comfort. Unlike my past life, where I felt trapped between office walls and a silent life, this place — felt like a holiday trip, albeit a permanent one.
I took a breath, steadying my scattered thoughts. In my past life, I was just a normal guy. No genius, no friends, and no grand purpose. I was decent at studying, average at sports, worked in an office, and wasted my life away playing games and working overtime to pay up for student loans. It was not like this at first, when I had my mother with me, my love and sole anchor of my life. I never had a good relationship with my father. He wasn't with me when I needed him, but his expectations were like I owed him for ten lives. We never had any long conversations because they led to arguments. The sarcasm and taunts at home were unbearable when you are already trying hard but f*cked up and exhausted by college life.
He had a great talent for "petrol" intake and polluting the air. He worked as a truck driver and my mother was a housewife. Still, everything was pretty good until he got addicted to drinking and smoking. Then things started to go crazy, he started to bring less money, and with my growing age, came more expenses and my parents got into repeated arguments regularly. Next, my mother got high blood pressure for the next twelve years, till she passed away on her way to the hospital.
At that time I was an intern at the hospital, the one in which I worked as a slave for the next twenty years to get a stable life. I still remember the unbothered look of the drunkard at the funeral. It was the closest breaking point I've ever experienced. Sad from my mother's loss and mad and hurt by my unbothered father. And that was the last time I ever met or talked with him. I moved on. Later when I turned twenty-five, my relatives started bringing me proposals as I had a stable income and some properties.
At first, I was indeed interested in relationships, but later my paranoia over the incidents happening around me won over my interest. First, the relatives were "worried" about my response, then "angry", and later "indifferent". Either way, I never liked them either.
--
Soon, I snapped out of my thoughts as I felt the gazes of the people around the room. The most intense gaze was from the person with the crazy red aura, the person making me feel the most threatened inside the room. Soon, he closed the distance between us and came near me.
He gave the "cold" person vibe, but internally, I could feel his emotions, and I hated him already. Not just him but almost everyone else in the room had the same emotion toward me.
The same feeling which led me to hate my drunkard of a father and relatives.
"Expectations"
And I had an answer for all of the idiots inside the room.
F*ck off, will ya? :)
I wasn't going to live for anyone else. No chasing dreams forced on me by someone else and I don't give a damn what you all think about.