Ren, Do You Remember Me?

“Know you?” The woman scoffed. “What the hell were you drinking last night?” Max was speechless. Why did he already have an identity? This was the first time he was given an identity rather than selecting it through prompts. “Go get ready. We need to get going now or Mum’s going to kill us.”

Mum? This body came with a biological mother? “I… I’ll be ready in a few minutes.”

The woman was about to turn around before pausing. “Are you alright? You’re acting really weird.”

“… I had a bad dream.”

“A bad dream?” Why did she look so sceptical? Were dreams uncommon here? “Well, pull it together. You look like shit.”

The second the door was closed; Max began ransacking the room for any clues as to what the hell was going on. It took him a minute to find a wallet with a few cards tucked within a pocket of a pair of jeans thrown on the floor. A student ID badge confirmed his name, Kaito Wilson. Seeing the face he now possessed stare up at him was unnerving. Who was in this body before him? There was a past. Something must have been in control of it before Max took over… The name was a bit familiar. A few bank cards were in the wallet, but there was nothing else useful.

Max took a moment to think. Where was the system to guide him when he needed it? Restrictions were sometimes as useful as they were annoying. He tried to think about it in another way. This looked like a modern age world… Phone, there had to be a phone somewhere. The clothes quickly came up empty. He looked around the room before his eyes landed on the desk. There it was. As he picked it up, a female voice shouted from the other room, “Get your ass in gear!”

“I’m on it!” Max shouted back with significantly less aggressiveness in his voice compared to her. The lock screen on his phone showed a class schedule. It looked like Kai was studying IT. He tried to open it up, but the phone pressed for a password before it could activate face ID. What could the password be? Hearing the irritated closure of a door caused Max to quickly put the phone away and search for clean clothes. There’ll be a clue somewhere. His birthday? A partner’s birthday? Lucky numbers? Maybe he wrote it down? Whatever, it could wait.

The moment he was dressed in simple clothes, Max stepped out into the tiny apartment. “Finally, we’re going to miss the bus. Mum’s going to kill us if we’re late,” the woman complained. She said ‘mum’ again. Did that make her his sister?

“We’re going by bus?”

“Unless you want to walk,” She rolled her eyes. Neither of them could legally drive? What a shame. “Come on.”

“遅いよ,” An older woman pulled him into her arms before shoving him into the semi-detached home. “はいて、はいて.” Max couldn’t help giving her a blank look. For so many lifetimes, he spoke this language backwards. Hearing it spoken forwards was jarring. “パパ、ご挨拶ー　靴を縫いなさい！” Max gave her a blank look before realizing she was staring at his shoes.

“Has your brain started to rot? Take your shoes off dumbass-”

Max complied while watching his ‘mother’ tear into his ‘sister’ for her language. Through the short scolding, he was able to pick up the name Yumi-chan. Yumi must be her name… Why did it sound familiar? While deep in thought, his mother barked at them to go deeper into the home and greet their father.

“We’re home, Dad,” Yumi called out while heading deeper into the simple home. To their right, there was a staircase. In a door through the left, there was a kitchen. It was strange going down the corridor filled with family pictures. This family travelled a lot. With every picture, Max was starting to get more unnerved by the silence of the system. There were no prompts. There wasn’t a HUD to open. No sign of an after either… There was just a normal family. At the bottom of the corridor, there was a living room where his ‘father’ waited. He was sitting on the sofa with his feet up and was watching football on the tv.

“Good to see you sweetheart,” he said while half-heartedly accepting the hug. His eyes never left the screen. “Is Kai with you?”

“He’s… Why are you fucking lurking by the door?” Yumi called him out. Max felt uncomfortable with suddenly intruding the private, family moment.

“Come here,” his father motioned for him to join him on the sofa. He felt reluctant before joining him. On the other side of the room, Yumi took a seat in an armchair and pulled out her phone. “How’s uni life treating you?”

“Um… Good.”

“Really?” The man looked away from the screen to make eye contact. Max squirmed nervously from the sudden spotlight. What can of worms did he accidentally open up? “You’re doing better?”

“Yes?”

Yumi snorted. She wasn’t as focused on her phone as Max had expected. “I’m sure it’s going great considering you’re skipping all of your classes. You need to get serious about learning.”

The words threw off Max. There was something about her cold choice of words which reminded him of Cy. “I… I’ll study more?”

A sudden hand on his knee caused Max to flinch. He didn’t do anything as he watched the hand pat down a few times. “If you need to take a break then so be it-“

“Dad!” Yumi scolded but was clearly more distracted by whatever was on her screen.

“I took a year off too.” His father’s eyes turned back to the TV. “It’s no big deal.”

“(Kai-kun!)” His mothers voice summoned him from the other room. With no hesitation, Max leapt up. He was relieved to be given an excuse to leave. In the kitchen, his mother was about to shout again before realising he was already by the door frame. “(Take out the trash.)”

Without a word of complaint or acknowledgement, Max took out the garbage as requested. It wasn’t too hard to figure out she wanted him to place the bags into an outside wheelie bin. However, there were two with different colours… Taking a guess, Max threw them into the blue one and walked away. When he returned his mother was calling for his sister. “優海ちゃん！優海ちゃん！”

“I can help,” Max offered. The menial tasks gave him a source of comfort while he tried to formulate a plan.

His mother gave him an odd look before pointing over to a basket of clean laundry. “海斗くん…” She looked torn about saying something before giving out more orders. “(Fold up those clothes please.)” Max got to work with neatly folding. Every time he picked up a piece of clothing, the smell of the detergent caused him to pause. He could barely smell it over the stench but there was something familiar- “(Yumi-chan! Come over here!)”

After her name was called twice more, his sister stormed into the room. She was still glued to her phone, “(So loud.)”

“(Go to the store and get some milk-)”

“(Huh!? Why me? … What’s he doing in the kitchen?”) Max slowed his movement while under her fearful look.

“(Never mind him. You’ll do it because I’m asking you to.)”

“(I’m busy. Get Kai to do it before the kitchen explodes.)”

“I don’t mind going,” Max offered. It would be a good chance to explore this world.

His mum gave him a weird look. Why did they keep looking at him oddly? Was he not blending in? What would they do if they figured he was an imposter? “(You’re already doing the laundry.)”

“I can go after…?”

His mother didn’t acknowledge his offer this time. “(I asked you to Yumi-chan. Go do it.”

“(Fine!)” Yumi stormed off in a huff. “いってきます!”

“いってらっしゃい!” His mother shouted back. When the door slammed, Max could hear a sigh escape the aging woman.

There was something about her. He couldn’t quite place it, but the scent of the laundry supported the nagging thought churning away at the back of his mind. This whole world was a bit too familiar. Had he been in this world before? The strong personalities of his mum and sister… The language… The names…

Finally, the pieces of the puzzle clicked together in his mind.

This was his first life. The place where it all began. The home he spent the first hundreds of lives trying to return to. The people who were left behind and forgotten with time.

“お母さん？” Max asked in a quiet voice. There was no response. He tried again in a louder voice, “(Mum?)”

“(Hmm, what is it Kai-kun?)”