Chapter 2: Mother

Zenkichi wiped his wet wild blonde hair with a towel, his face blank, and stood in front of the mirror once more and took a hair dryer to dry his hair much more easily.

Letting out a sigh, he looked at himself and appraised his appearance.

He has straight and slightly straight natural blonde hair, a rare hair color an asian in Japan should have, which he inherited from his mother. A pair of bright blue eyes that could make anyone feel as though they were being easily seen through, and a young handsome face set in an indifferent expression that exudes an air of boredom that could make most normal girls around his age to easily crush on him.

His body was slender and skinny looking but he has defining muscles, due to the exercises and martial arts training that the original had done for the past few years.

"Heh. Never thought I'd ever get this kind of body, well not in my previous life." Zenkichi said with a bitter smile. He was a fat guy in his previous life after all, not to the point of being a giant meatball, so seeing him looking like this made him feel a bit emotional...

Shaking his head Zenkichi quickly grabbed his set of uniform clothes in the basket and changed into them.

A few minutes later he came out of the bathroom, fresh and clean, and was wearing his school uniform consisting of a white jacket with blue and gold trim, along with white pants and a red tie underneath the jacket.

He smirked to himself, feeling cool while wearing his school uniform.

"Damn, I look good." Posing for a moment of vanity Zenkichi then walked down towards the living room, where he found a little girl wearing a lab coat and an apron over an elementary school girl uniform.

The little girl was busy humming to herself as she fixed the dinner table; putting down a pair of plates, spoons, forks, etc. while roller skating! And the way she was putting the tableware was, although reckless and dangerous, it was, in a single word, elegant!

She looked to be around ten years old, with a cute face with short blond hair and blue eyes that would make anyone mistake her as a westerner with such characteristics but she was undeniably a Japanese, born and raised in Tokyo specifically.

Seriously, Hitoyoshi still couldn't believe that most of the native population of japan had differing hair and eye color than he was used to just simple black in his previous life. Were their hairs just dyed and not natural? Or is it something else? If so, then...

Whatever. He'll think more about that later. Food first, then trying to decipher a great mystery that may have something to do with aliens, probably, would come next.

By the way, that little girl that was setting up the tableware and the food?

"Zen-chan! Good morning!" The little girl with similar characteristics as Zenkichi turned to greet him with a bright smile.

She's Hitoyoshi Hitomi, or Hitomi Hitoyoshi, the mom of Zenkichi.

Yup. His mom.

"?" Hitomi blinked her eyes, a smile still on her face, and tilted her head to the side.

"..." Zenkichi stared at her for a brief moment in silence with a blank expression before shaking his head.

He, he knew that the "original's" dad had walked out of the lives of him and his mother because he had felt really insecure about his wife's greatness, basically a piece of shit that couldn't be a man and take responsibility for his family, which sounds eerily similar to someone he possibly knew but he couldn't remember who.

But looking at his mother...there might be another reason and the FBI might have a hand with it.

'Nonetheless, I won't pity or miss you, you sack of shit. Nobody walks out on their family, unless said family treats you like dirt, but both me and mom, especially mom, aren't like that. So wherever hell I hope you are in right now, I hope you fucking rot.' Zenkichi's eyes momentarily glazed over, a painful past from his previous life resurfaced for a moment in his mind that made his blood turn cold.

Although that little memory was all blurry and vague, a certain figure that appears suddenly made him feel an incomprehensible feeling of rage.

He didn't know why, but all he could feel right now was the urge to kill the figure in his memory.

Kill. Kill. Kill. KILL–!

"...Zen-chan?" Hitomi's concerned voice soon snapped him out of his trance.

Zenkichi had a look of confusion on his face for a moment, trying to recall what that memory was before shaking his head as he found it had disappeared from his mind.

"...It's nothing mom, just recalling the nightmare I had last night is all." Zenkichi said with a small smile, though a bit stiff, at his mother to reassure her.

Hitomi frowned as she stared at him right at his eyes and both her hands lowered to her side, clearly not believing him.

"Sorry for taking so long in the bathroom." Zenkichi coughed and took a seat at the table, quickly changing the subject. Seeing the pot of curry on the table, that was still warm and steaming a bit, he shot her a glare and said, "But you're such a liar, you said the food was getting cold!"

"W-Well, you were taking too long! I thought for sure that you were going to be late for taking such a sweet time in the bathroom." Hitomi replied with a huff, crossed her arms, and turned her head away.

'Looks like she isn't going to further ask me.' Zenkichi let out a sigh and simply said, "Well I can forgive you for that. But not for eavesdropping on me!"

"..."

"...Well?"

"So how's school been?" She asked with a bright and innocent smile fitting for someone with her appearance.

'She changed the subject!' Zenkichi sweatdropped and decided to go along with her. 'Well, since she didn't bring up what I was talking to myself and my actions just now, then that must mean she either didn't hear what I was talking about and doing or she's pretending not to.'

"More or less the same; listening to lessons that I'm pretty sure 98% of it won't help me much in my life and hanging out with some of my classmates, especially Shiranui, as much as she's a pain in the ass most of the time..." He grumbled at the last parts as he took a spoonful of curry and started eating.

Hitomi's eyebrows rose in curiosity and a gleam of recognition appeared in her eyes for a moment before it disappeared and she smirked. "Heh~ Well, isn't this a pleasant surprise."

"What is?" Zenkichi quirked an eyebrow as he continued eating his curry. 'Dang, this is one good curry. Homemade meals are definitely better than any other food made in some diner or restaurant.'

"You, hanging out with someone, especially a girl, other than Medaka-chan."

"...I don't hang out with her that much. I hang a lot with other people" Which was true, as he saw in his memories that the original had hung out with a lot of people in the past. It wasn't like he wasn't popular after all. Although he wasn't at the level of a genius monster, he was still someone who's above average in both academics and physical capabilities.

"True, but how many of them have you considered as a friend? And not merely a classmate or a clubmate?" Hitomi said flatly with a raised eyebrow.

"..." Zenkichi opened his mouth to reply but no words came out as he really couldn't think of anyone in middle school or high school currently that qualifies a friend except... Shiranui.

'Holy fuck. Was the original Zenkichi really a loner? That can't be right. Didn't he start, although it lasted for a brief moment, a gang back in middle school? For kids to follow me that easily, I should've made a friend or two from that gang that could've lasted till highschool. And yet...' Zenkichi put down his plate and slumped his head into his hands, and let out a breath of disappointment.

"...What the hell have I been doing for the past 16 years of my existence?"

Hitomi giggled at her son's depressed state and turned to glance at the clock, making a cute sound, she said, "Ah, Zenkichi. You're going to be late at this rate if you don't hurry up."

Zenkichi blinked his eyes, turned towards the wall clock, his complexion morphed into surprise and anxiety. "Shit! I'm going to be late!"

He hurriedly ate his curry, to the point of choking.

Hitomi sweatdropped. "You don't have to hurry that much. Are you really that in a hurry to meet with this, Shiranui?"

Zenkichi ignored his mother's words as he gulped down on the last piece of his breakfast. "Thank you for the meal." After saying those words he got up from his seat, took his bag, and immediately went straight towards the main door of their house.

"Goodbye mom! I'll see you later tonight!"

"Hm! Take care~!" Hitomi waved her hand at her son as he left the house, her smile slowly disappearing from her face. Her eyes narrowed down.

'...Was it just my imagination? Zenkichi, that boy, acted completely different today. I hope it's my imagination. Hm. I'll just have to watch him closer for the next couple of days and hope that it has nothing to do with... those people messing around with something they shouldn't, again.'