Mediocre Reincarnation

...

Life is hard.

No matter how much you try to understand things, and how much you think you know a lot about something, nothing is ever certain.

Several years ago, I had disregarded fantasies as exactly that very same thing... Fantasies.

All while thinking I was such a mature guy for accepting the harsh reality that we lived in. Thinking that dreaming was for idiots with no future.

Of course, that belief changed as the years passed.

Fantasies rapidly became a necessity in order to not collapse to the harsh reality that I had readily accepted so many years ago.

And it was not only me, everyone at some point in their lives adopted these "Fantasies" in which to lose themselves, and ignore the stressful reality of their lives.

Adult life was such a pain in the ass, after all.

Some people found those "Fantasies" in which to lose themselves in drugs, while others found it in sexual pleasure.

Some found it in the smiles of others, while others found it in the despairing and angry faces of others.

Some found it in entertainment, while others just found it in their own imagination.

One piece was one of those fantasies in which people lost themselves and separated themselves from the reality that surrounded them.

Be it because of its characters, its world, or even its story. All of them were valid reasons for people to like it so much that they would immerse themselves in it, and of course, lose themselves in its fantasy.

That anime was that good, after all.

I too watched it with that intention from time to time. Of course, it wasn't to such an extent that I could say that it was my main way of detaching myself from reality when I was too stressed.

No, imagining myself winning the lottery was my main fantasy. It certainly brought a smile to my face to think how a life swimming in dollars would be...

However, that was not important.

What was important is that in the end, as I said before, all of them were fantasies. Not part of the harsh and cruel reality that surrounded each one of us.

...

That was how it was supposed to be.

But oh surprise, I was proven wrong by life once again.

And this time, in a really abnormal way. Defying the laws of physics, and making what I thought was impossible, possible.

All while humiliating and humbling me a little bit in the process...

"Here comes the train...~!"

"..."

After dying to a passing truck whose driver I think was drunk, I woke up in the body of a baby and in a world of fantasy that I never thought would have actually existed.

And in a famous one at that.

"Damn it... What are the marines doing? Why are so many pirates roaming free nowadays? Some of my co-workers got attacked by them, and now they're telling me to go and replace them!"

"We can't do anything about it, darling. You know how much piracy has increased during the past few years because of the Pirate King's last words. Just make sure to stay safe"

"Sure. Thankfully, with the previous attack on one of our ships, the company will understand the dangers that roam the seas and hire stronger bodyguards... Otherwise don't expect me to come back next week..."

For some reason, both aspects, reincarnation and fiction worlds, which one day I had thought were nothing more than dreams and illusions of mankind, had appeared out of nowhere in front of me and slapped my face simultaneously.

My scientific thinking had gotten ravaged from one day to another, and I even went through a heavy existential crisis at some point because of it.

Were there any other realities that resembled works of fiction like this one?

Did God or some shit like that exist?

Did we have any purpose as humans? Or were we here just to fuck like animals and preserve our species for the years to come?

"Hmm... Why is he not eating? The train trick always works..."

"Maybe he has gotten bored of it... Why don't you try using the boat trick? They are far more common than a train"

"I don't think a little kid cares about that"

"But you never know, right?"

"You are right on that..."

At some point, I stopped giving a fuck.

Why do I have to torture myself with these questions, when none of them are really going to be answered?

Why should I care if I have a purpose or not, when I'm only a little kid right now?

In the worst case, if I continued thinking about those things, surely one day I would end up killing myself out of depression.

Some say ignorance is bliss... And I can help but agree with them. So I decided to play ignorant from then on.

Gods? They can fuck themselves. It's not like I'm planning on becoming a devoted believer or something like that. If they really exist, they can expect me to not care.

"Here comes the boat...~!"

Now I have more significant problems than having to deal with the existence of a divine being.

And that is, of course, to act like a normal kid of my age... Like, for example, eating the liquid food that my mom was giving me right now.

"Open wide...~!"

As much as it was making me cringe endlessly the fact that the woman in front of me was saying strange things about boats while aiming the spoon at my mouth, I had no more option but to open my mouth and eat whatever she was making me eat.

-Nom-

"You were right! Did he really get bored of the train thing? What a strange kid Rell is..."

"Well, he did not cry that much when he was born. Maybe he inherited my mental strength and persistence?"

"Darling, I don't think you are qualified to say that you have such things"

"Hmph, you say that simply because you haven't seen my true power"

...

They were quite an interesting couple.

My mother, Martha something, was a part of a small editorial here in the city, while my father, John something, was part of a merchant group that went and transported special items between islands every once in a while. It was quite a strange combination, but they seemed happy with their lives nevertheless.

More than that, I hadn't really learned more about them as they often left me alone at my crib so that I would sleep, and they didn't really talk much about themselves when they were around me either.

I mean, who would?

I don't think they would one day arrive next to their baby and tell him their name, their job, where they work, how many people work there, the information about their company, how the economy is, and what political figures they like the better...

No, the most you would say to a kid is tell him how cute he is, or on the other hand, tell him and complain at him about how he ruined your life and your promising future.

Though I never had any kids, and neither was I at the age to be thinking about that, so I don't really know about what people say to their kids. But I guess it depends of the person...

Anyway, because of that, I barely even knew something about them, even when I had been in this damned baby body for around a year.

I barely even remembered what their names were. Though, maybe that was just my poor memory at work instead of them not having said their names before.

Or was it my poor attention span? Maybe it was both.

Also, it seemed that they had called me Rell. No idea why, I just knew that was my name when they started calling me by it constantly. Thankfully, it wasn't a hard one to remember.

Either way, acting as a normal kid was indeed one of the many problems that were tormenting me for the time being... However, there was another problem currently, while it was something more mental than physical, it was still tormenting me to no end.

And that was the whole matter about my own existence.

As a person on Earth, I read a lot of novels about reincarnation or similar topics since it kinda became a trend during the last few years.

I had a lot of free time, so don't judge me.

Anyway, I noticed a certain detail in all of those stories... A detail that always involved the main characters in those stories.

And I'm not saying that I'm some kind of shitty main character or something like that. However, given my identity as a seemingly reincarnated human... There was still the possibility of me finding that detail that always appeared in those kinds of stories.

And no, I'm not talking about cheat-like powers (Which I had already given up on since I have been here for an entire year and nothing has come out), or the incredibly innovative and creative thinking that no real normal human has... (I'm dumb, unga unga)

No, I'm talking about the abnormal amount of problems that come after the reincarnators/transmigrators in every story... As if they were magnets of problems no matter what they did.

And given my identity as a reincarnator... It made me ponder whether I would become a magnet of problems as well.

Was there a cosmic entity somewhere in the universe wanting to enjoy themselves by throwing problem after problem at me?

And if that was the case.... Were those problems gonna come after me right away? Or would they wait for me to become older? I had no way to know.

Was a tragedy about to fall upon me, and make me become an edgelord seeking revenge? Or was I gonna lead a calm life until I became old enough, and then suddenly an exhausting amount of problems would start coming one after another, leading me into a troublesome life?

I mean, I was reincarnated. So, even the chance of me being the mc of a random fanfiction was a possibility!

If that was really the case, hopefully, it wouldn't be inside a yaoi one where I get paired with one of the male guys from the straw-hat crew, or an edgy one that represents One Piece world a thousand times darker than what it really is...

Or in the worst case... a Webnovel fanfiction...

Whoever writes fanfiction there is a psycho... and if I was really inside one of them... Then even death might be better than what will await me in the future.

-Disturbed baby noises-

Shit, that just gave me chills...

"What's wrong, Rell? Why are you shivering out of nowhere? Are you perhaps cold?"

Either way, whatever the answer was. I knew that something troublesome was probably awaiting me in the future...

And as the normal person that I was... I didn't know if I was going to be up for the challenge.

I had no talent.

I couldn't feel any strange energies swirling inside me.

I couldn't see any screens appearing in front of me.

I was just a mediocre guy with a few memories from my past life!

If someone had really reincarnated me here on purpose... Then I could only pray that they would be a boring guy just like me who doesn't want the story to change in the slightest... and only wanted to add an additional character to the story that doesn't change anything and stays low for the rest of his life.

...

Though, that doesn't seem likely, does it?

...

-To be continued-

°°°

(A/N: 😈)