It was warm. My consciousness was slowly waking, but my mind still felt drowsy, unwilling to leave the embrace of Morpheus. Yet, my reason was already active, trying to figure out where I was.
Opening my eyes, for the first few seconds my gaze slid uncomprehendingly around the room as my mind tried to remember where I was. Only after a few moments did my thoughts return to normal, and I remembered that I was in my own room.
The nightmare in which I was reliving my past life had briefly clouded my mind, which was why I hadn't understood where I was.
Tossing the blanket aside, I jumped out of bed and started stretching with a smile, reaching my arms up high. Feeling the satisfying crack of my bones, I sighed and headed for the exit of my room.
Yeah, my new life. As strange as it sounds, having gotten a second chance at life, I was… honestly, at first, I didn't even know what to feel. But this time, I promised myself I wouldn't go near gambling and weed again. But… at least at the end of my last life, I was able to help my family and ask their forgiveness for having such a worthless son and brother.
This time, though, I would try my absolute best to do everything right, and I would never stray from the correct path. At least, that's what I told myself while I was growing up. Now, I'm the most feared delinquent in our little town. On the whole, it wasn't my fault. Is it my fault that the scumbags who were bullying my little sister jumped onto my fists themselves? Of course not!
The fact that their money then became mine wasn't my fault either. They were the ones who bled all over my fists with their faces! And you need something to pay the hospital bills in Japan, right? Besides, why does everyone always try to blame the poor big guy for all their problems?!
So yeah, I didn't touch gambling, drugs, or anything like that. But all the other problems found me on their own and jumped onto my fists. Even when I asked for peace with a sweet (in my opinion) smile, they would all turn pale and run away. That's why I tried to keep a poker face most of the time.
But! My soul found its calling in drawing! Specifically, I started drawing my own manga at 13. Since I didn't really have anyone to talk to, most of my time was spent helping Mom and hanging out with my sister. The rest of the time I was free, and I was bored.
I wanted to buy some manga and enjoy reading it, but every single one I bought was filled with nothing but stupid fanservice and no plot. It was like I was back in my world around the year 2025 when 99% of anime and manga was just dumb fanservice. But here, it was on another level, because 100% of the manga had no plot whatsoever. That's when I realized that, for some reason, the authors from my past life didn't exist in this world, and all the hit manga series had yet to be drawn.
When I realized that, a switch flipped in my head, and yen signs appeared in my eyes. It's worth mentioning that my family was having some financial problems back then because our coffee shop almost went out of business.
Seeing Mom so sad was… painful. In my past life, I disappointed my mother, so much that… it's better not to talk about it. There's no point in clinging to the past.
So I took all my drawing talent in hand and started creating! And I began by drawing the legendary JoJo!
Remembering my first attempts at drawing that manga, I smirked at myself in the mirror and immediately flinched. What a terrifying smile. I just can't seem to learn how to smile normally. Sighing, I left the bathroom and headed to my room to get dressed and leave for school.
Anyway, about my manga. The first few chapters I practically had to force out of myself. But after that, something clicked inside me, and my hands started drawing on their own, just like in the past, like back when my mother from my previous life used to take me to art school.
Tears streamed from my eyes that day, because… I could still draw. My talent for drawing was still with me, and I could use it just like in the old days. That's when I understood that even though I had disappointed my mom, she had never stopped loving me.
So I drew. I kept drawing all day and all night!
In a single week, I drew more than 10 chapters, 20 pages each. I can't even count how many pencils I went through! But I managed to save on paper, and it was all thanks to my talent! My reborn talent that allowed me to draw entire pages perfectly on the first try!
The very day I sent them to the publisher, I got a call. The ecstatic voice of the editor begging me to let them publish my "masterpiece" still warms my heart.
Since then, over several years, I've managed to draw JoJo from Part 1 to Part 6, only slightly altering the original plot. I've completely finished Demon Slayer, and I'm currently working on Naruto. Not to mention a bunch of short educational manga for kids. The pseudonym Sakino Meito was popular in Japan, and it goes without saying that I was one of the, if not the, highest-paid mangaka.
So yeah, I'm well-settled in this life. Money flows like a river, I'm doing what I love by drawing manga, and my mom and little sister are happy.
I couldn't wish for more. In such a cheerful mood, I left the house and headed to high school.
Our coffee shop was right below our apartment, on the first floor, but it was closed today because Mom had to go shopping for supplies, and my little sister was already at school.
And me? Unlike other people, I loved to sleep in. Because, why not? After all, I could support myself for the rest of my life with the income from my manga, since I was the number one manga author on this earth.
So instead of waking up too early like some freaks screaming about self-improvement and all that, I, like a sane person, slept until early afternoon and only then, after waking up, went to school.
Although I wanted to skip it, there were two reasons I still went.
First, Mom would be sad if I didn't go to school. And second, I wouldn't be around if some scumbags started bothering my little sister. So, yeah, I had to drag my ass to this useless school.
I stepped out of the house and immediately squeezed my eyes shut as the sun's rays hit them directly. Damn, I should have grabbed my sunglasses. But I had no desire to go back inside, so I sighed and started walking down the road to my school.
The street was lively, with all sorts of students running late for school, unemployed people going their own way, and young couples scurrying about.
And of course, every single one of them glanced at me as I walked past. It's not every day you see a nearly two-meter-tall Japanese guy with bleached blond hair.
Spoiler: Isao Tsumugi aka MC
Each of them would make a strange face, which would disappear the moment I shot a look back at them.
The Japanese were a pathetic bunch. I won't hide it; I felt a certain disgust for the majority of these people.
Anyone who didn't fit into their specific mold, they would cast out of the system. They wouldn't treat you badly, insult you, or anything like that. They would just stop paying attention to you and try to avoid all contact.
Yawning with my mouth wide open, I walked towards the school, whose gates I could already see, no longer paying any attention to my surroundings.
But I instantly focused when I noticed the P.E. teacher approaching the gates to close them. I broke into a run, immediately accelerating to an incredible speed thanks to my tall stature and athletic body.
Damn, I wasn't going to make it through the half-meter gap between the wall and the gate. Ugh, I didn't want to exert myself today, and here I was with physical strain first thing in the morning!
The muscles in my legs tensed to their limit, instantly giving me a good burst of speed. When there were only a few meters left to the gate, I tensed my legs even harder and leaped over the one-and-a-half-meter-high gate. I almost stumbled on landing, but thanks to my agility, I landed smoothly.
"What the hell, Tsumugi! You're late, get outside the gate!" The P.E. teacher, a fat ignoramus named Teshima with a unibrow, approached me while I was still crouched, seemingly forgetting one of the differences between us.
Slowly rising to my full height, I looked down on him.
There it was. The difference between me and most of the people here.
I was taller and far more athletic than most Japanese people. It was no joke; being 190 centimeters tall wasn't exactly common in Japan.
People here were happy if they reached 175 centimeters. Teshima was 178, which was why he acted like someone with real authority most of the time. All that fake self-importance just because he was taller than many of the students and teachers at this school.
Such a pathetic man, it was almost funny.
"Forgive me, Teshima-san, but I don't believe I was late, as I was on school grounds before you managed to close the gate, wasn't I?" I said, adding a sweet little smile.
Teshima instantly turned pale. His arms dropped to the sides of his stomach, and his eyes looked anywhere but at me.
"Ah… yes. Forgive me for keeping you from class, Tsumugi-san. You may go."
I smirked and, turning, walked towards the school entrance, feeling his hateful and humiliated gaze on my back.
My eyes lifted to the school roof, and there I saw an acquaintance of mine, Takashi Komuro. The dude was sitting there, staring into space, since his girlfriend had left him for someone else.
Honestly, the only people I really talked to at this school were his little group: his former best friend Hisashi, his ex-girlfriend Rei Miyamoto, and Takashi himself.
Hisashi was the son of some cop, just like Rei. And, as suspicious as it sounded, Takashi's mother also worked for the police.
The parents of these three were colleagues, so they were all childhood friends. Well, no, only Rei and Takashi were childhood friends. According to Takashi, they only met Hisashi in the first year of middle school.
Waving a hand at him and catching the heartbroken guy's attention, I snorted and entered the school.