chapter 1

Feeling the mysterious energy I had used all of my life drain rapidly, I knew my time had come. I had been putting this off for about 9 years now.

15 years of life, in it I hadn't done much. Just the usual, go to school, make friends and hang out with them, fall in love just to get crushed.

Oh, and fight demonic entities that threatened the existence of humanity and all of the progress it has made over hundreds of thousands of years.

Just the usual.

A piercing laugh cut me off from my thoughts. A man, looking to be in his late-teens, wore a black suit with a sword being scraped across the floor of my school building behind him.

"You've done well enough. I promise being sold off in Jujutsu human trafficking isn't that bad. At most, you will be raped for your special grade amount of cursed energy," an uncaring expression sprawled across his face. As if talking about the weather or today's shopping needs.

Raising his sword in the air, he lowered it onto my forehead. Fear consumed me, as a small trickle of red blood flowed down my face.

Moving his head in a particular motion, I got the clue and got on my knees, feeling the cold cement floor on them. Still not satisfied by my prone position, he jerked his head once more, making me put my hands on my back.

Alright, alright, how do I do this again? Memories of the technique I hadn't used since I was so very young reemerged in my head, as if I had trained in it since young.

My cursed technique, as it called itself, Reemergence.

Although I wasn't completely sure of the principles behind it, and probably wouldn't for the next few decades. The most basic explanation of its ability was to travel back in time, but that wasn't the whole story.

If I touched something, I could travel back through space-time and attempt to alter its fate. Creating a 'reemergence' of its existence. Or I could not, whatever floated my boat.

Although this ability was very costly and I could barely use it once or twice a day depending on how far I traveled back in time. And even then I could only go a few hours at its maximum.

But, my current amount of energy was merely enough to go back a few minutes.

Grinding my teeth, a terrible fear overcame me, while my anger and indignation took a backseat. The man, content to watch me squirm beneath his sword and gaze, merely tilted his head to the side and smiled.

Suddenly my fear dissolved slightly while my anger grew a couple magnitudes. Not only had this man come to kidnap me, but even have the audacity to smile at the suffering he was causing me?

I would not allow this.

Closing my eyes for a brief moment, a newfound resolve filled me. Adding to my resolve, a knowledge that I had never even heard about entered my head.

But why? No need to look gift horses in the mouth after all I guess.

Binding vows, the act of binding oneself to a condition for an equal boon.

And I had the perfect one in mind.

Raising my eyes to meet the middle-aged man's own eyes, even if his sword sliced through my forehead skin, I began to whisper in a voice only audible to myself.

"I shall put the conditions of, 1.) I must alter the 'reemergence' of the object in a significant way, I shall instinctively know if I have accomplished this or not. 2.) After entering the 'reemergence state' for 7 days I will be forced back to the exact moment I entered the 'reemergence state'. With the changes I have done altering the 'exact moment' of return. And 3.) If I do not complete condition 1. I shall be subject to the target of Reemergence using my own technique on me, subject to the same conditions above."

Taking a deep, refreshing breath of air, I started to whisper rapidly again. Much to the annoyance of my fellow teen, who interrupted my speech, "Pray to however many gods you believe in later, right now you have two choices, the easy way or the hard way."

Ignoring him, I finished my whispering, "in exchange, I want - need - my cursed technique to become as efficient and powerful as possible."

Echoing my inner thoughts, a loud strike of thunder sounded as I finished my rapidly thought of binding vow. Moving my cursed energy in a pattern I hadn't dared to do in such a very long time, I felt my reality begin to shift.

The man before me vanished, along with all of my surroundings. Replaced by a vast, white nothingness. Getting off of my knees, I googled at the vast area of nothingness surrounding me.

In a not close competition against red, white was my second favorite color, but I had a feeling that wouldn't stay true if I stayed in this place for much longer.

Seemingly answering my plea to not stay in this place for a moment longer, the surrounding around me started to shift once more. This time turning into a room.

The walls and ceiling were painted blue while also being decorated with a few small pictures of a family of four. One man and woman, presumably the parents of the two now mentioned children.

But all of that wasn't nearly as important as the baby crib on the left wall.

Slowly tip-toeing over, I saw a peacefully sleeping baby-boy, with no care in the world to be found.

Was this…? It must be. Picking the baby up, it instantly awakened and started to scream its head off. Panicking, I ran towards the only window in the room and opened it with one hand while carrying the baby in the other.

Looking out of the window it was the ground floor, so I wouldn't have to jump. Raising my leg as high as I could I walked out the baby room and began to sprint away.

After a few minutes of running, I looked down at the still crying baby and wondered what the hell I should do.

After thinking for a moment, an idea formed in my mind. Break into an orphanage and leave this fucker there.

Steeling myself for the… unannounced 'orphaning', I started to wonder how far back in time I had come.

I transported myself at least 15~19 years back, at less than a quarter full tank at that. Considering my previous full tank limit was barely 3 hours, I would say that the binding vow I made pretty fucking massively increased the strength of my technique. And was most definitely worth the risk.

Another hour of me running around with the baby in my arms made me consider that finding the orphanage was simply not worth it. And I should rather just throw the baby somewhere. In a big city like Tokyo it would be near-impossible for the parents to find their baby.

A surge of doubt encompassed me, making me wonder if I was actually doing the right thing.

That doubt instantly vanished once I remembered what the grown up version of this baby was doing to me. Perhaps I should just throw it off a building? Worst case scenario I get put on death-row, but after 7 days I'm gone.

The doubt that vanished once again emerged, rearing its ugly head in my direction. Should I throw a baby that hasn't even done anything to me off a roof? Even if its adult version was trying to subject me to human trafficking.

Well, I had seven days to think about it right? Actually no, I'm just going to do plan A. I had seven days to find the orphanage, right?

——————

Three disembodied heads floated around me, their faces of less than savory people in my life.

"Freak!"

"Monster!"

"Disgusting!"

"Wha- I haven't even done anything yet!"

The faces roared around me in unison, doing a sort of combined sentence. Like you see twins do on the internet/anime.

"Of course,"

"You haven't done anything,"

"YET."

The faces spun around me faster and faster while spewing insults. Putting my knees up to my chest and my hands on my ears, I slowly reverted to a younger version of myself.

——————

"WAAAAAHHHHH!!"

Jumping at least a meter high, I looked around me in a panic. Fearing the faces from my… nightmare?

Oh, thank god it was just a dream.

Sighing, I picked up the baby and looked at him far differently than before.

If before, I was choosing between two options. I had now settled into only one of them.

—————

Shoving my way through a gathering crowd, I smiled. I had made the right choice. My arms free of any baby, I managed to make my way to the center of the crowd.

My binding vow informing me of my success in changing the fate of my attacker.

A smile grew on my face, making the onlookers gasp in disbelief and disgust. In appall at the thought of someone smiling at the sight in front of them.

Red was my favorite color after all.

Kneeling down to the paved sidewalk, I managed to find a small piece of pink.

Raising it to my eyes, my smile grew a slight bit more.

Pink was the combination of my two favorite colors after all.

Sirens began to ring in the far distance, informing me it was time to leave. Shoving my way back through the crowd, I didn't even have to do much as they all parted for me.

Snickering in disgust at their cowardice, I calmed myself down by remembering about Bystanders effect.

If they had a problem with what I'm doing, then speak it.