1 1. Yokoso Harune...WHO?!?

The blue light that had integrated around my body during my past Leap had now transformed itself into another body, and into another era. I had no idea where I am right now and which body I had transmigrated into. The surroundings around me seemed a bit off right now.

I could feel the unforgiving cold and hard ground beneath me as I slowly opened up my eyes and get accustomed to the surroundings. However, a dull thumping throb at the back of my head makes me hard to sense my surroundings well, as my eyes tried to focus on the almost greyed out environment.

The ground was grey and it was covered with something frosty, cold and wet. It looked rather grey as well to me. Snowflakes were slowly descending from the sky and were covering up where I was lying down right now.

A scent of smouldering wood was around me, and muffled footsteps, as well as hoofs sounded on the snow, surfaced area of the burnt-out village. The sounds slowly made me realise that I was somehow had been lying face down on the snowy ground for quite some time.

The snow that fell around me was not purely white but was mixed with the ashes that had slowly floated down from the sky from the nearby smouldering fires that were around me. I spat out a mix of coagulated blood with some dirt, snow and ashes from my mouth and my throat was dry from being face down on the ground for God knows how long.

I tried to lift up my body from the lying position as I tried to sit up and visualise and focused on my surroundings. I looked at my hands and discovered that it was almost child-like. It was not almost child-like but it DEFINITELY belongs to a GODDAMNED child...!

"Oh, Boy...! Oh, Boy...! Oh, Boy...! What kind of era am I in and what kind of mess I was going to face right now...?!" I looked at my small childlike hands and found that it was covered with a fingerless cotton glove that was made from some kind of rough material. It was a child's hand for God sake...! WHAT CAN A CHILD DO SINCE I MADE THE LEAP AND EXCHANGED BODY WITH HIM RIGHT NOW...WAIT...!!!! HOW THE HELL I KNOW WHETHER I AM A BOY OR A GIRL RIGHT NOW...?!?!?

I glanced at my clothes and found that I was shrouded in a reddish coloured soft kind of material, and it was a one-piece type and my waist had a sort of tassel tied to it that served as a belt. I looked down at my feet and found that I was wearing a type of leather sandals with white ankle socks and there was a leather strap that wound around my ankle to secure the sandals.

I looked at my feet and wiggled them as it pretty much still looked like it belonged to a child...! I reached my hands out and suddenly grabbed my crotch and found that I still had my nuggets and my little soldier in the middle of my legs...!

It was protected with a kind of diaper type of underwear. "FUCKING GREAT...! I AM STILL A MALE IN THIS EPISODE...!" I thought to myself and somewhat congratulated myself for having a one-eyed lizard in between my crotch...Hahaha...! PHEW...! At least I am not transmigrated into some kind of girl and I think I would be touching and pleasuring myself most of the time. Hahahaha...!!!

I was unable to sit up at this juncture but however, I managed to lie down on my sides instead as I try to view my surroundings as it looked kind of strange at the moment. The place that I had lain down was actually a half-burnt house, with small flickers of fire still burning on some places and there was some smouldering of fires elsewhere too.

Broken furniture was strewn across the floor and everything was in disarray. As my eyes were able to finally focus, I saw that I was in the midst of a burnt-out kind of settlement and there were some silhouettes of people walking around a path while some were riding ponies that seemed too large to be called one at the moment.

"Uurrgghh... Max! Where did you transmigrate me into, and why made me a small child, so hopeless and useless at this moment! HEY MAX...!!! What the HELL am I supposed to do right now?"

I lamented to myself that I had regrettably somehow transmigrated into a body of a child which I think, had little or of no use at this moment. With such a glum surrounding, I could feel the tightening vice of a foreboding doom around me. It was so heartbreaking and I nearly broke down in despair.

As I was lying on my sides and contemplating my-already-not-improving-situation around me, the sound of hoofs approached and stopped a few feet from me. I looked at the front legs of the animal that had stopped before me and found that thick fur was covering the hoofs. It was unlike any other horses that I had seen...!

"It's got to be a pony," I thought to myself. I scanned my eyes upwards and saw the silhouette of a large person riding on it. Since the sun was shining at the back of this person, all I could do was cover part of my eyes with one hand and squinted through.

"Where am I and what's this place? Was there a war before or some sort of catastrophe that happened here without my knowledge...??" I asked the person on the pony and he was unmoved with my words. But as soon as my words (English) came out from my lips, it sounded Japanese. Oh... Here we go again...! I am now in Japan again but this environment seemed rather off in terms of era and dimension.

The pony the person was riding on snorted, and there was some cold air emitted from its snout and mouth as it pranced back and forth a bit a few feet away from me. Horses are gentle and it would not trample on a little boy's body, right?

I was afraid that if the person doesn't control the animal well, it would definitely trample on my poor legs and body! What a start of the series being a crippled child who right now I had no recollection of who the hell I am since there was no indication of any identification on me...!

A moment later, a large burly person dismounted from the pony and walked to me as he swung his legs and gave me a slight kick over scrawny legs. "Ouch! Dammit, man! What the fuck are you trying to do?" I shouted as I grimaced my face as the kick happened to land on my shin and I quickly rubbed at the affected area.

The burly man placed his hands on his knees as he bent over to take a closer look at me. He peered at me from head and to toe and growled, "Stand up quickly, kid and get up on the mount or would you like me to throw you over it instead...?"

His voice sounded low and it growled as though he was chewing some kind of cud in his mouth. He was wearing a helmet that protected his nape and sides of his face. A black and red mask covered his face, leaving a small slit for the eyes, nose and mouth. A complete set of Samurai warrior set adorned his body, arms and thighs and he looked as if he had been through many battles in his life as a Samurai.

SAMURAI...??? ARA MA...!!! Another backward low tech era that I would be spending my time in. ARA MA...!!!

Two sets of katanas with a black sheath and golden oval handguards were hanging on his right waist while a kurisagama made from a sort of bone and a black handle with an attached chain was affixed on his left waist.

"What do you want from me? And who the FUCK are you?!" I shouted all the profanities at him through my gritted teeth. I don't care whether he was a friend or a foe but a person who dressed up like a fucking samurai with all the full battle gear in front of me should not be treated lightly...!!!

"Come with me, if you want to live, and do you think you have a choice right now? There are no survivors here in this fucked up pillaged village and sooner or later you would definitely die of thirst and hunger unless you become a vulture and start tearing at carcasses around you!"

I looked around and I focused on those clumps of figures that were scattered along the path with some arrows that protrudes from it. It seems there was no one alive in this small village after it was pillaged by some bandits or some persons who benefitted from their heinous crimes earlier. Whatever it is, it seems that sooner or later I have to trudge on myself out from here as this place would soon be forgotten.

"Alright, I'd come along with you. It seems I do not have a choice right now. Sigh...Please take good care of me." I outstretched my left hand and the burly man bent over and suddenly scooped me up and placed me in the saddle of the pony. He then mounted with me riding on his front as he flicked the reins of the pony and advanced.

It seems that he wasn't alone and there were some companions with him, wearing the same outfit and carrying the same weapons on their sides. I noticed that his pony was armoured well to deflect arrows from archers. His other companions were carrying a black elongated flag with a red "X" in the middle and were slowly advancing as they peered on their left and right at the burnt, smouldering houses looking for any signs of life or maybe spoils of war.

As they slowly approached the edge of the settlement, it seems that they only found a lone survivor, and that was me. "Hiko-sama, what are you going to do with that kid you found? Are you going to turn him over to the Mayor or you had better plans for the urchin?" one of the Samurai addressed their leader by their first name and it seemed that this gesture alone displayed that these men were not hostiles at all.

"I don't think I would turn him to the Mayor, it would do no good for this kid, as you know it as well too, Miroku-san. There is no reward and I don't think the Mayor's officials would fuss about with this unknown kid after all, right?" replied the leader that was called Hiko-sama. I just rode in front of him and listened to their conversation while trying to figure out what the hell am I doing in this era after all...!!!

"Haizz... I think you're right, Hiko-sama. At least, this kid would be a servant for the household. Nothing more, but at least he could still survive until his ripe age." one of the Samurais added.

"I see potential in him, Miroku-san. If he is able to survive the ordeal that the whole village had gone through, there must be a miracle that kept this kid alive. Let's report that there are no survivors in the village that had been pillaged. The rest of you hear me...! There are no survivors in that village and no one had seen me with this child, do you understand me?!" the leader raised his voice towards the group as he instructed on what he needs to be conveyed to the Mayor if any of them were questioned.

"Yes, we all hear you, Hiko-sama." chorused the men in the ponies as well as the rest of the Samurai on foot.

Later I learnt that the village was earlier pillaged by bandits due to the worsening weather, and the bandits had to survive somehow and had been targeting that small village for some time.

Since the village was not armed with any soldiers, it took some time before it was totally overrun. The men of the villages were killed, while the women were carried off by the bandits in a wagon, bound and gagged.

The children were either killed off or simply left to die in the freezing weather.

I was the only one that survived after being left half-submerged in the snow of a half-burnt house that once belonged to a person named Himeko. Don't you find it a bit cruel?! There must be a reason why I was not killed off or even physically hurt.

Later I learnt that my name was Yokoso Harune and I was an adopted son of Himeko, a childless spinster who had been living all her life here in this village and worked as a tailor to serve the community. Her only means of livelihood had been destroyed in a glimpse of a second the moment the village had been pillaged.

All her precious bundles of cloth and embroideries had been taken away and Himeko's fate was sealed from the day she was gagged and bundled in the wagon with the rest of the women. Only God knows what happens to Himeko since Mr Director doesn't indicate any further episodes about her at all. Like that also can...!!!

YOKOSO HARUNE... YOKOSO HARUNE... YOKOSO HARUNE… How come I find this name to be so unfamiliar but I cannot really put my fingers on it as well...!

By the way, Mr Director, would you be so kind as to put a few gold coins or a bundle of silvers with me next time so at least I have a proper start in this new series? I've truly got nothing now and it's really pathetic, you know...! What a start this is going to be since I was just a PAUPER WITH NOT A SINGLE COIN TO MY NAME...!!!

The group of Samurai on both foot and ponies soon trudged on slowly on the winding path and finally reached a small clearing some 3 hours later. We stopped and the burly man named Hiko-sama scooped me up and just dropped me to the ground like a sack of potatoes. Lucky I was nimble enough and landed right on my feet.