I awoke from my slumber, as the shrill croaks of the cicadas reverberated in my ear canals, the warmth of the light caressed my skin and light illuminated my room.
It felt unusual to wake up in response to the rising sun and in accordance with my natural circadian rhythm.
It really does remind me that I'm in the past.
Breaking my thoughts was a mouthwatering scent that wafted around the house.
I got up to investigate, the wooden floorboards creaked under my weight as I walked delicately across my room.
The faint chattering of my parents echoed across the hallway.
I slid open the thin door to the dining area, where I was greeted by them both , they were kneeling down at the table and eating breakfast.
"Ah, You're finally up Kousei",
My father mumbled with a food still in his mouth.
"Watch your manners when eating! And Kousei, hurry up and eat before your breakfast gets cold!"
My mother smacked my father playfully as she called out to me.
"Alright… good morning"
In the centre of the room was an unoccupied area, where there were two bowls, one containing a steaming bowl of miso soup and another containing a heap of cooked white rice.
That's was the source of that amazing scent, my stomach grumbled and I couldn't hold back any longer so I decided to dig in.
I swiftly knelt down, grabbed the chopsticks with a strange sense of familiarity despite never using them in my previous life and attempted to scoop a bite of rice.
Wack!
"Ow!"
My mother smacked my head and I was quick to put my hands onto the radiating pain that rapidly formed.
However when I did, the pain suddenly stopped.
(Huh? Why did the pain go away so quick?)
"Did you forget your manners Kousei?! Seriously you two are just the same."
"Manners?!"
"Give your thanks for your food!"
Oh yeah. I forgot I live in Japan now.
"Sorry mum I forgot"
I clapped my hands together
"Thanks for the meal!"
And I finally proceeded to dig into my meal, satiating the voracious appetite that built up after the long wait.
After a finishing my meal, I spotted my father getting ready for work taking his equipment with him.
"Dad! Could I come with you today?"
He turned to me with a confused expression.
"Huh? I thought you didn't want to work in the mud?"
"I had a change of mind"
"I see, so you're finally lookin' up to your father", he gleefully exclaimed as he pat my head.
"Yeah yeah, let's just go already."
On my way out, I stubbed my toe. But instead of feeling the typical long lasting pain, I had only felt the initial jolt that left just as quickly as it came.
There's no way this can happen twice in a row? Is it that I can't feel pain?
I pinched myself to test the hypothesis but I could still feel it. However as I began to increase the force, the sharp pain suddenly disappeared accompanied by numbness.
What?! Why can I not feel pain after a certain threshold?
"Kousei! Are you coming or not?"
"Yeah I'm coming!"
I went outside with my father, following him on the trailing path to the paddy field.
In the midst of my walk to the field, I couldn't help but keep thinking for a reason as to why I couldn't feel pain after a certain threshold.
After a while, I came to the hypothesis that it's a drawback of receiving all my memories at once?
My brain might have utilised other areas to accommodate the sudden influx of memories.
I hope I didn't lose any IQ points…
Sigh, if that really is the case, I'm going to have to be way more careful and observant with injuries from now on.
"Kousei why do you look so down, cheer up! Aren't you excited to be working with your father?"
"Of course I am excited…"
When we arrived to the paddy, my dad greeted the other farmers and introduced me around to them.
Being the introvert I am both now and in my past life, I just nodded or gave them a curt bow.
"Wow! What a respectful kid you got there!"
"You should take lessons from your son!"
Eventually they stopped their socialising and got to work on the field.
There was clumps of young rice plants that was waiting to be transplanted into the soil.
"Kousei! Come here and follow my example"
He grabbed a clump of rice and inserted it into the damp soil.
I followed his lead and copied him, albeit with less precision and efficiency.
…
"Phew… that's the last one"
"You've done a good job today son! Now it's time for my favourite part of the day!"
After a day of hard work, my dad took me to the local communal baths.
But I don't think I could ever get used to this.
In my previous world, I was jumpscared by butt naked old men in the gym locker rooms but here? It's part of their normal culture to bathe next to each other.
Yeah… I had to cleanse those memories out my eyes.
After cleaning up, we went back home, farming was a lot of hard work and it was already late into the afternoon.
I went to the front of the house and after grabbing a tree branch, I fashioned a makeshift sword.
I swung it around in an uncoordinated manner, practicing sword play.
"Kousei, are you having fun playing there!" , My mother shouted out from the windows, waving at me.
I'm not playing, I'm training…
After a while I got tired of swinging aimlessly . Without a proper instructor of any kind, it's hard to not accidentally adopt bad habits.
In light of this fact, I only focused on basic swings.
Eventually, I ended it off by doing some body weight exercises.
***
Time flew by and I'm a lot older now.
I continued my routine of daily training which included farm work and daily jogging.
I'm around twelve now, so I'm getting to the age where I should work in the fields.
My body has developed quite well and I'm finally starting to gain some muscle on my frame.
And today's a special day, my father has decided that this is the day he's going to teach me the ins and out of work for those living the rural life.
Which is why, I'm going to the city with my father to sell some rice grains.
"Stay safe on your travels Kousei."
My mother kissed my forehead and ruffled my hair.
"Hurry up Kousei!"
"Yes father!"
We hauled a wooden cart, full of a mound of straw sacks and clay pots filled to the brim with rice grains, beginning our long trek into the city.
Since we are from the country side, the journey is long and we will need to take breaks at many villages over the course of approximately three days and three nights.
I'm definitely quite worried about the possibility of demons, so I pestered my dad for us to not travel after sunset, prolonging our journey.
"Kousei you're a grown kid now and you're still scared of those stories old man Toji told you."
"I'm telling you dad, demons actually exist!"
"Sure they do…"
After many pit stops and days of gruelling walking, we made it to the bustling city.
Around us was a rapidly modernising area, many people wore kimonos but there were a few people who stood out — adopting a more western style.
And as a man walked past us in a three piece suit, my dad stared at him like the country bumpkin he is.
"Are you not seeing this Kousei?!"
"Hah, there's nothing special about it, it's just a suit. Now stop embarrassing us! People will think were uneducated!"
"What are you talking about? Wait how do you even know what that clothing is called?! You've never seen anything like it in your life."
"Cough cough, uhhh mother told me about it"
We eventually made it to the food stalls, negotiating a price and selling the rice to the market.
After such a tireless journey, I wanted to explore a bit but my dad insisted we begin our trip back home.
And so we left, the empty cart rattled on the unpaved paths.
On our way we stopped at a small town to sleep.
Entering the inn, my dad paid the woman working at the reception a small fee and we entered the room.
It was a basic travellers inn, offering tatami rooms, futon bedding, and set meals.
Lodging at this inn was designated mainly for merchants or farmers.
After waking up, we were served food which we promptly ate and continued our journey.
Surprisingly, despite my fear of demons pestering me the entire way, we made it back without any mishaps occuring.
Since the travel was so long, I decided it was fine to travel during the night for the final stretch, so by the time we arrived home, it was pitch black outside.
Upon entering the winding path to our home, something seemed off.
The air was thick — I felt a bad premonition.
Then it hit me, the thick stench of bood.
Knowing what this world truly is, I expected the worse case outcome, I frantically dropped my stuff and ran to my house.
My father smelt the blood as well, he stopped hauling the empty cart, grabbed a small hand sickle and chased after me.
"Kousei! What happened?!" My father asked slightly out of breath.
By the time I reached my front porch, I knew it was too late.
Blood seeped from under the thin door, staining the grass, as a trail of crimson weaved its way through the sharp blades of green.
My fathers eyes shot wide open.
"Hana!"
Yelling my mothers name, he sprinted to the house, slamming the doors open in a panic.
A gust of wind blew across followed by a deadly silence, as the grim sight inside is unveiled.
It was like time itself had paused.
When the doors had slid open, a focused beam of moonlight shone down on a hunched figure. His head bobbed up and down as he was gnawing.
Despite the slam of the door, he kept on indulging and devouring his meal brazenly.
The discoloured pale green skin on his face was full of blemishes and he was hunched down chewing violently.
Despite his gluttonous attitude, his body reflected that of a emaciated and sickly individual.
But looks can be deceiving.
His razor teeth dug into a limp partially disconnected leg, only strewn on by a few long threads of torn flesh, tendons and ligaments.
My mothers lifeless disfigured corpse laid beside the demon, her kimono was tainted with splotches of blood. The horrific sight was traumatising.
"No… it can't be."
I tried my hardest to suppress the urge to vomit.
But even more then that I felt an intense grief.
Tears welled up but even then, I subconsciously tried to run to tend to my mother — it didn't matter whether she was dead or alive.
But a hand stopped me from moving — it was my father.
Even though he was feeling just as much grief and shock as me, he seemingly kept a level head, although his face betrayed his actions.
With the patter of my step, the demons attention finally turned to us, he contorted his neck to peer at us, the thigh locked in the clutches of his jaw, swayed with the rapid change of direction.
He snapped at us, and his bloodshot eyes fiercely gazed in our direction.
"How rude… can't you see I'm eating!", his necked torqued unsettlingly as he adressed us.
My fingers twitched, sweat trickled down my forehead.
A torrent of emotions swirled inside of me, grief, despair and fury.
I wanted to get revenge but I felt so weak…
Beside me, my father clenched his teeth. Veins protruded from his forehead and he clenched a sickle that was intended for rice harvesting in his right hand.
"Hana…"
After the brief moment of processing her death he couldn't keep his composure any longer, my father lunged at the demon, consumed by pure rage.
As he was charging at the demon he tried to order me.
"Kousei run!"
The demon decided to taunt him with a malicious grin, slithering out his tongue, "Was that your wife? She was delicious"
"You bastard!", he sliced at the demon but missed by a small margin as the demon swooped low.
He went on all fours, prowling low, his calves and quads became engorged as they flooded with blood, then he pounced like a beast .
The raw speed of the demon was able to take my father by surprise, he swung the sickle haphazardly. This time, managing to graze both the demon eyes.
"Aaah!" The demon screeched in pain and staggered back slightly.
Although he may have stunted the demons attack momentarily doesn't mean that it didn't come at a cost.
Splat!
My father was huffing and wincing in pain grabbing his arm, or rather lack thereof.
"Dad your arm!"
Blood spluttered out like a faucet had opened.
During their exchange, the sharp protruding nails of the demons managed to slice his arm off in one clean arc.
"Dad! You can't fight him, please just escape!"
"Just shut up and run already!"
"I can't! If I leave you here you'll just bleed out and die!"
His right arm that was sliced off had held the sickle, as the arm flew in the air the grip on the handle unwrapped and the sickle struck point down into the wooden floorboard.
I rushed to pluck it off the floor and clenched it tightly, pointing it at the direction of the rogue demon.
Remember all the practice and training for all those years.
I ran in front of my father, took in deep breaths in and out, trying to mimic breathing techniques from the anime, hoping to gain as much strength that I could feasibly muster.
Yet it was futile…
I stood my base but my hands trembled, my breathing was uneven and my grip loosened with every passing nervous tremor.