02: “The one who decide my race is c*m”
That evening, me and my friend Aragaki Takuto went out for an early dinner at Tenka Ippin, a famous ramen chain restaurant.
"Stoopp! Stop this flashback right now!"
"Why so suddenly? Do you have any problems with your own monologue?"
"Takuto! Takuto!"
"Aa, is that your friend? I"m surprised you actually have one and didn"t make one up."
"That"s not the problem! He was right next to me, right!? How is he right now!?"
"His condition? Please wait a moment."
Takuto… Please be safe.
I don"t know if that prayer will reach him or not but for now…
"Ah, he"s alive."
"R, really!?"
"Don"t worry, even I wouldn"t make a joke about someone"s life."
"T, thank G.o.d…"
I was so relieved I started to tear up. Seem like not even death will cure being a crybaby, huh.
"I"ve known Takuto ever since elementary school. He"s the only friend I have."
Strong, manly and reliable.
To me, Takuto is like a real life version of a protagonist for a sunday morning anime that little girls want to watch. It"s not that his sense of justice is strong, he just likes to help anyone that asks for help and to try and stop those around him from doing bad things. It"s like he"s a real life light novel protagonist.
And there"s me. Weak, meek and miserable.
I don"t have any special traits, still haven"t hit a growth spurt yet, I"m a tiny crybaby and I"m also socially inept. Yep, that"s me.
The only reason I became friends with him is because our houses are so close to each other and we liked the same manga. Those sort of petty things. If he wasn"t there with me I would"ve been bullied throughout my elementary and middle school life. He always protects me when I get bullied.
"To care so much about your friend, you"re a kind one, huh."
"N, not really."
To get called kind by a girl, even if she"s a pervert, still makes me feel a little embarra.s.sed.
"Takuto is like my hero, he"s someone I"ve always aspired to be. I"ve always been weak and dumb since I was born and he always ends up helping me a lot. Even if he, the person himself hasn"t said anything about it, I"m still really grateful for him. That"s why, even if it"s only him, as long as he lives then I"m fine with it. Well, since I will never see him again it"ll make me feel a bit lonely though." (Earth: m, moeee)
"Is that so? Well, even though I said he"s alive, he"s still heavily injured. He took the flow blow from the truck and fell unconscious. Without any help, the chance of him surviving is bleak. We even finished making plans for his reincarnation. Be it a slow death or a fast one there isn"t much difference, is there."
"Then say that from the start!"
"With luck he might be sent to my division. Anyway, time is running out so let"s continue the flashback shall we?"
"Takuto… fuooo Takutooo…"
Both of us pa.s.s through the shop"s entrance and the smell of Chinese cuisine just hits our noses. The room is entirely filled with the aroma of chicken bone broth which stimulates our appet.i.te.
"Hey, Riichi, I"m glad you came out of your room but why are we coming to the same place every week?"
"Because the food here is delicious?"
"No matter how good it is no one would eat it every week, you know."
"Well, sorry for that then."
"If you"re really sorry then show me some sincerity and pay the bill this time "kay?"
I can"t really give away my precious pocket money so I"ll instead buy him a drink later. I order the food without even looking at the menu like I always do. A medium sized bowl of noodles with thick soup, topped with a boiled egg and a fried dumpling.
Takuto ordered the same thick soup but a large bowl of noodles instead. He ordered it with roasted pork and a fried rice with fried dumplings.
"Or rather, why are two dudes eating out every week?"
"If you don"t like it then why don"t you find yourself a girlfriend?"
When I said that he shrugged in an exaggerated way.
"I would if I could. Hey, at least I look cool right?"
"Don"t praise yourself. But well, your looks aren"t that bad.".
"Even you say I"m average, huh? Girls probably don"t even care about me."
"Being too greedy for a girlfriend will deter them you know."
"I"m still okay but you, you"re rotten."
The h.e.l.l are you saying, I"m not some sort of perverted old man.
"The only thing bigger than your l.u.s.t is probably your appet.i.te."
"I don"t wanna hear that from someone who eats twice as much as me. And how can you stay so fit despite the amount of food you eat?"
"Unlike a certain someone here, I"m a growing child. All that food gets used for developing my my height and my muscles."
"I didn"t stop growing yet you know. I"ll overtake you one day, just you wait… 15 centimeter gap is pretty huge though."
While we were arguing back and forth, our orders had arrived. Before I start eating, I have to enjoy the aroma of the dish first.
"Mnnn~ so good. As I thought, this place"s thick broth is the best."
"It"s made with chicken bones, right?"
"Yup. Look, this soup, this thickness… Uhaaa (Earth:( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)) and it goes perfectly with the noodles too. Did you know? The thickness of this broth doesn"t come from resin or anything like that, it comes from chicken stock and vegetable potage."
"Yes yes, stop talking and just eat already."
After saying "itadakimasu" with chopsticks in our hands, we start eating.
"nmmm… So good~~ you start eating yours too, Takuto."
"I"m eating and don"t talk with food in your mouth. It"s bad manners."
I divided the boiled egg in two with my chopsticks and toss one half into my mouth. The taste of the thick broth mixed with the oozing egg yolk is simply the best.
"But still, it really is super thick. It"s like I"m eating carbonara sauce. Well I guess some people just have strange preferences…"
"The noodles are good too you know. Although someone might say that the noodles always get entangled, I like how chewy and smooth they are, this is the texture that I like best."
"Anyone can see that you love it just by looking at you."
"If it"s Tenk Ippin"s thick ramen then I can probably eat it for all 3 of my meals everyday!"
As I said that, the camera zooms on my face like a dead person"s portrait and the flashback ended.
"Eh? It ends there?"
"I see, you"re not even trying to hide it."
"Where!? No matter how you look at it it"s just about food, right!?"
"What are you saying? Didn"t you just use a bunch of obscene words? Like how much and how fast it is, how it felt amazing to the touch, how it became big, how you said you will e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.e (TL note: "overtake" have a slang meaning "e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.e"), how 15 centimeters is really big, how thick and sticky it is, how it"s entangled with each other, how you like it thick and hard and also liking how it felt to the touch and to top it off you said you want to eat it three times a day with a smile on your face is basically saying that you love to drink c.u.m. And that"s why becoming a succubus suits you perfectly."
"It"s about ramennnnnnnnnn!"
No matter how you look at it, it can only be about se-, about ramen, right!?
"It seems there is a little misunderstanding. For that conversation to just be about food."
"But isn"t it obvious!?"
"Since none of the officers here are knowledgeable about your world, a misunderstanding is bound to happen not to mention that we didn"t look too deep into your world so we have no way to know it was about food. But at least seeing someone talking about drinking c.u.m is entertaining, right?"
"So you"re just going to shift all the blame on to me!?"
"While it"s unfortunate, your new body has already been constructed and it"s impossible to modify it now. We don"t have the budget to make a new one for you either, so we hope you understand."
This is insane.
"But don"t be worried, we won"t just send you to another world without anything to help you on your journey. All reincarnates will get a special power."
"A special… Power?"
"Yes, a cheat or so to say. It"s common sense that all reincarnates get one."
Whose common sense? It sure isn"t mine.
According to her, being reincarnated is a way to let a person with regret live their life to the fullest a second time so this treatment is to be expected.
"I, is that so? But this cheat… What is it exactly?"
"Basically, you will be born with the greatest potential your reincarnated race have to offer, amongst humans there"s those who became heroes and battled the demon king, revered as a great hero of the past and such."
"Ohh, that sounds so cool, doesn"t it?"
"Be that as it may, it does come with ups and downs."
"How so?"
"If you suddenly find yourself with a newfound superpowers then you would feel elated, right? And that feeling will lead to false a.s.sumptions like that they"re invincible so they kill themselves by jumping inside a dragon"s lair and dying like an idiot. The statistics of those who made it past the first year of reincarnation is around 10 percent or so."
"The rest 90 percent are dead!?"
"That"s right. As of now, no other reincarnate is present in the world you"re going to because they all died. You too please don"t fall into the same situation as them."
Any remaining excitement about reincarnation I had has been properly snuffed out.
"But now that I think about it, succubi isn"t all that great at fighting anyway so you probably don"t have to worry about it. As expected, succubus is the best."
"Just for reference, what sort of cheat a succubus would get?"
"To give an example, you would be able to charm any man of any race and build your own reverse harem empire or something like that. Such a good power I"m jealous. I wish we can swap places."
"IF YOU WANT TO THEN PLEASE SWAP WITH MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!"
All of the frustration that I had built up due to the conversation ended up coming all out like an explosion.
*End of Chapter 2*