Chapter 1: Take Over
A teenage boy in his puberty can be seen lying on the ground motionless.
Anyone with good judgment can see that he is dead. Because no matter what at which angle you look at it, someone just lying there motionlessly that you can't even see their chest moving is most likely a dead person.
And that would be the correct guess since the teenage boy, Hayase Masamune had died due to exhaustion.
A boy bullied because of his physique, cruelly humiliated by his crush. He went overboard with training and thus died because of his lack of rest.
But it seems like this is not the end for Masamune. As a lost soul from a place unknown, just happen to have a connection with him and was a force to take over his body, fusing with his remaining soul.
"Huh?"
The motionless Masamune earlier suddenly moved. He started looking around him, appearing to be confused that became expressionless as time passes by.
"Masamune? Japanese?"
'Masamune' asked himself, completely unsure of what was happening to him.
Imagine a situation where you suddenly find yourself in the body of someone you don't know but at the same, it felt familiar like this is the place where you were supposed to be.
'Masamune' finds it really hard to describe what he was feeling right now, so he decided to just go with the flow, just like what he usually does.
"... usually?"
Masamune's thoughts at the moment are chaotic because he is still assimilating the memories with his predecessor's memories. The uncontrollable clash of the two memories causes him to not able to identify the difference between the two and got it all mixed up.
Because it would take him a few hours before he could calm himself down. Masamune continued lying on the ground as he stared at the gradually darkening sky. His thoughts flying randomly.
*_*_*_*
Makabe Arata who had been staring at the sunset released a long sigh.
He had been thinking about his grandson who had been devastated and traumatized because of his experience. He really did not expect kids to be too cruel these days. Although there had been the same cases as when he was a child, it was not at this point.
His sweet grandson got bullied and was then humiliated, destroying his self-esteem. His daughter-in-law had been crying for several days because of this. With his son not being there to accompany them, the family of three is in chaos.
So Makabe Arata decided to take action and take in the three, his wife accompanied the other two while he trained his grandson.
Thinking of his grandson, his granddaughter hated him because he took away his big brother. Makabe Arata could only sigh in frustration as he had to sacrifice himself for this.
'My granddaughter hates me...'
Just the thought of it brings tears to his eyes. Makabe Arata continued with his thoughts until he saw Masamune's silhouette from the distance.
"Oh? He finally decided to come home."
He murmured as he looked at his grandson, who had been out of for the whole day. Unaware that his grandson had just died and was replaced by a lost soul.
"Grandpa, I'm home!"
Masamune greeted Makabe Arata as he entered the house. Taking off his shoes before slipping in into his slippers. He first went to where his grandfather was.
"Oh, you're finally back. How was your training?"
Makabe Arata leaned on the chair as he stared at Masamune with a smile. Even though he had never wanted to underestimate his own grandson, he had never thought that a wimpy child would transform into a fit young man.
'And he even looks like me when I was young'
Makabe Arata thought to himself.
"I did not train much today. I have been thinking about something for the past few hours and I have come to a decision."
Masamune let his grandfather know of his decision. As he had decided to accept everything from now on, that means he will be Masamune and Masamune will be him.
"I want to end my training here and go back to see mom and Chinatsu."
He had already left for five years and had not seen his mother and sister for so long. Masamune wanted to spend the last two years he had left before he starts to attend high school.
Makabe Arata looked at his grandson as if he had seen someone else. He had never thought that this grandson of his, who had been so obsessed with training yesterday will suddenly stop training.
"Why?"
Makabe Arata couldn't help but ask.
Masamune had long expected that his grandfather will ask him why he wanted to suddenly stop training.
"I have been away for five years. And I think that I have been very selfish for suddenly leaving them. Mom and Chinatsu are worried about me. So I decided that I will make it up to them."
Makabe Arata looks at Masamune's eyes, they stayed silent for a few seconds until Makabe Arata sighed.
"It seems you have finally grown up."
Hearing his words, Masamune smiled.
"Of course. Grandpa has taught me well."
"Don't think you'll flatter me with just words. Go prepare dinner."
"Yes, Grandpa!"
Makabe Arata watched as Masamune went to the kitchen, with a clear smile on his face. He had finally felt like a huge burden was lifted from his shoulders.
"He is a lot like you, Manabu."
*_*_*_*
A week later...
Masamune decided to spend one more week with his grandfather, but this time, he did not train for the whole and just spent his time playing shogi or fishing with his grandfather.
His relationship with his grandfather had improved by quite a bit and he had promised to solve the misunderstanding between his little sister and his grandfather.
I'm gonna leave this here first. This will be an AU so expect a few things that will be different.