ASAKA AND KUNIHIKO
My name is Asaka Kushitani.
I was given a name in this world, too, but I have the vague feeling I might never be called by that name again.
The only people who called me that were the people of our clan; my fellow reincarnation Kunihiko Tagawa and I call each other by our original names, after all.
And now that everyone in the clan except for Kunihiko and me is dead, I’m sure I won’t be hearing that other name anymore.
For some reason, we were reincarnated.
I don’t really understand why.
Kunihiko tells me that this “isekai reincarnation” was a popular genre of light novels and stuff, but when I actually experienced it for myself, I thought I was just having a bad dream.
But it was real: I woke up one day as a baby in an unfamiliar world.
It’s impossible to accurately describe the distress and confusion I felt back then.
And when I realized that Kunihiko was right there and had witnessed every moment of me bawling my eyes out…well, I almost died of embarrassment.
Still, it was an immense comfort to have a friend close by in the same predicament.
Kunihiko and I were reborn into a clan of bandits.
Reminiscent of Mongolian nomads, they lived in tents, roaming the human-demon borderlands in search of prey. They attacked any demons they found, stole all their belongings, and reported the kill to their empire to receive pay.
A strange kind of legal banditry.
I wanted to get out of such a place as quickly as possible and live a normal life.
Kunihiko always wanted to go on an adventure, but I just wanted normalcy.
I longed to find a safe place to settle down in peace.
But I never imagined this was how we would leave the clan.
“I see one.”
“…Yeah.”
Up ahead, a town is coming into view.
Our clan was massacred, but fortunately the carriages and horses were left intact.
So after we dug graves and buried the rest of our clan, we packed all the luggage we could into a carriage and set out for the nearest town.
There was no point staying there any longer.
When we reach the town gates, we explain the situation to the guard.
The guard looks perturbed but lets us into town without the usual entrance fee, recommending that we pay a visit to the church.
A church…?
I don’t know what we’re going to do next, but I suppose we might as well go there for now.
“Heading out on a request, Gotou?”
“Yep.”
As our carriage proceeds down the road, I see two men having a conversation nearby.
Kunihiko is looking at them, too.
“…!”
“Huh? Ah! Wait!”
Kunihiko suddenly jumps down from the carriage.
Then he runs up to one of the men and grabs his arm.
“Hunh? Whaddaya want, brat?”
“Gotou! A katana!” Kunihiko shouts. “Are you one of us?!”
“Huh?”
Gotou? A katana?
Looking closer, I see that the man called Gotou has a katana-like sword at his waist.
Then I finally realize what Kunihiko is getting at.
His name is Gotou, and he has a katana.
Could he be Japanese, too?
He certainly doesn’t look Japanese, but then again, neither do we.
Maybe he’s a reincarnation like we are.
“Uh, what’re you talking about, boy?”
But that faint hope is quickly dashed.
Mr. Gotou looks genuinely confused.
Kunihiko tries to speak to him with Japanese words mixed in but still no reaction.
“Please make me your apprentice!”
But even though we know he’s not Japanese, Kunihiko still seems to feel strongly about this encounter.
Why would he ask a total stranger to make him his apprentice?
“Erm…wait a sec. What am I supposed to do here, huh? I gotta go take care of a request now, y’know. Uh, what should I do?”
Gotou looks sincerely flummoxed.
But it doesn’t seem like he’s going to turn his back on us. Somehow, that causes the dam holding back all my feelings to break down, and I suddenly start weeping.
“Huh? Uh…hang on. Don’t cry, little girl. It’s okay, see?”
Mr. Gotou’s kindness as he reaches out to comfort me despite his confusion has a profound effect on me.
Our whole clan was suddenly slaughtered, for unknown reasons.
We didn’t know what to do next, so we came to this town, but of course we had nowhere to go.
The moment Mr. Gotou showed us kindness, I felt for the first time like I could still go on.
This is a cruel world, without a doubt, but maybe it’s not a total loss after all.
I can’t think about any of that right now. I just want to bawl my eyes out all over again.
I’m sure I’ll live to regret this embarrassing moment, but right now I can’t bring myself to care.
In the end, the guard hears the commotion and brings over someone from the church.
The clergy agrees to look after us for a while.
I’m so grateful.
“I’m gonna get stronger.”
“Uh-huh.”
“That guy Merazophis must’ve been a demon, right? I’m gonna get strong enough to beat him one day. I swear.”
“Uh-huh.”
I don’t know if that’s actually possible, and all I want is to live in peace without worrying about all that. But even stronger is my desire to not be separated from Kunihiko.
So whatever he decides to do, I’m going to follow him.
But for now, I just want to cry like the child I appear to be.
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