1. Re-Life

A boy with green hair & worn out clothes is lying on the grass. There are trees around him and he is surrounded by thick bush. He opens his eyes and looks at the unfamiliar place.

"Huh? Where am-"

Stinging pain suddenly assaults his head as memories flash in his brain. He starts to remember a lot of things like his previous life as a poor man who did anything to fill his stomach but then died in winter after being chased out of the small room he rented because he couldn't pay.

His name was Eddy and he died at the age of 25 in his previous life. Yes, previous life because he's sure he has died. He thinks that he somehow survived, but after a while, he's sure he has been reincarnated because he has a different body.

"This body is much smaller than my previous body. There's no way that my body could shrink. Reincarnation sounds more possible. But why didn't I reincarnate as a baby? Sigh, I always wanted to have parents but I still don't have them even after reincarnation."

In his previous life, he has been an orphan since he can remember things. He never knew who his parents were as he grew without his real parents. The ones who raised him were some homeless people who used him to gain pity from pedestrians as they begged when he was a baby until he can beg on his own.

He was sick of being a beggar, so he tried to get a real job. It wasn't easy to find a job because he wasn't educated. But then he got lucky and got a job as a janitor in a new company. They needed some janitors urgently and he applied at the right time.

He managed to save up his money and then rented a small apartment. But life was still hard because his wage was barely enough for him to live. Still, at least he had a roof over his head and he could eat 3 meals a day even if those were just cheap food.

It was still better than when he lived on the street as a beggar. He thought nothing would change, but then the company went bankrupt after he worked for 5 years there. He didn't know the reason, but he knew he lost his job.

After that, he tried to find another job, but of course, it was difficult for an uneducated person like him. He could read and calculate because the people in his previous workplace taught him quite a lot of things. But he didn't have any school certificate, so he couldn't get any job.

Until eventually, he ran out of money to pay his rent. So he was kicked out of the apartment and it was winter. He didn't have any choice but to live on the street as he tried to get a job. But he didn't get any, and eventually he also ran out of money to buy food.

He tried scrapping from trash or anything to fill his belly. But then he got severe food poisoning and couldn't do anything because of it. The winter was also very bad at that time as the temperature gets very low. With an empty stomach, he couldn't endure the freezing winter and died.

Now, he is reincarnated, but he still doesn't have any parents. There's nothing he can do about it though, so he accepts it quickly. The problem is what he will do from now on.

'Is this like those anime stories my former colleagues like to watch? This should be another world, right?'

The young office workers often watched anime in their break time or when they ditched work and he often joined them. They were also the ones teaching him how to read and calculate when they were free.

Anyway, he is quite familiar with this plot of being reincarnated to another world because it was a popular anime genre before he died. But the MCs of those stories usually have unusually powerful abilities while he is reincarnated as a weak young homeless boy.

'M-maybe I should try saying that..... Status!'

....

Nothing happened.

'Fuck! Do I need to say it out loud?'

"S-Status!"

....

Nothing happened at all.

"Motherfucker! Will I really live this 2nd life without any kind of special ability? Then why do I keep my memories? It would be better if I don't have any memories of my past life because it only gives me false hope."

"Sometimes having false hope is better than not having any hope at all."

Suddenly, he hears a voice from his left which startles him. He turns his head and sees an orange cat with white stripes staring at him. He frowns and looks around to find the person who has just talked.

"What are you looking for?"

".... Hey man, can you show yourself if you want to say something to me?"

Suddenly, a paw grabs his face and pulls it to look at the orange cat that looks pissed.

"I was the one that said those things."

"..... Seems like I am hallucinating. I actually think a cat is talking."

"I am, I-AM-TAL-KING!"

"..... Ah, I see, I've gotten crazy."

"BASTARD! I KNOW YOU ARE MESSING WITH ME!"

The orange cat scratches his cheek, making him scream in pain.

"A-alright, alright, I'm sorry, but it's still surreal to hear a cat talking even if I've assumed this is a different world."

"Good grief, this is why I don't want to deal with a reincarnated human."

"Y-you know I'm a reincarnated person?"

"Of course, kid. After all, I am your guide, your assistant for your 2nd life."

"Guide?"

"Yeah. You've watched some anime about other worlds reincarnation, right? The protagonists of those stories usually have assistants in the form of something like game systems. I am also an assistant, but my form is a cat because the God that reincarnated you thinks it's ridiculous for a living being to have a game system. He said people aren't computers, so they shouldn't have a User Interface in their brain."

"W-well, maybe it was convenient to use in those stories."

"Oh? You have the same opinion as that God. He also said that the systems in those stories were made because the writers were lazy as it is a very convenient tool to use in their stories. That, or they were just too obsessed with games. Also, he can't give you a system because you won't be able to use it."

"Huh? What do you mean I won't be able to use it?"

"You never played video games that use similar systems as those stories, right?"

".... Yeah, I didn't have money to play those games or to be precise, I couldn't buy the devices to play those games. I could only hear others talk about those games or watch them play from afar, so I don't really understand it."

He was so poor that he couldn't afford to even buy smartphones. He only had an old second hand phone that was only useful to receive calls from work. It was almost never used, but he always charged it and brought it all the time because it was like his treasure.

"A system will be useless if you don't know how to use it. So God thought that it would be easier for you if your assistant is an intelligent living being that can talk to you. That's why he created me to be your guide."

"Ah, that makes sense. So, what's the deal?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean why does God reincarnate me? It's not like I am the only human on Earth that can be reincarnated. Furthermore, I am not smart nor have any decent skills. But he chose me out of everyone on Earth."

"Heh, you said you aren't smart, but you surely are not stupid. You were just unfortunate in your previous life and couldn't get a good education."

"Just answer my question. You are my assistant, right."

"Well, I'm just about to answer. There are 2 reasons. First, you weren't supposed to die yet. You still have 37 years of lifespan, but the Grim Reaper mistaken you for someone else and took your life instead. The target has a very similar appearance and soul wavelength with you, so he mistakenly took your soul."

"I don't know what soul wavelength is, but how could that person have a very similar appearance to me?"

"It's because he was your twin brother. A real twin brother related to you by blood."

"WHAT?! I HAVE A TWIN BROTHER?"

"Yes, and he lived with your parents. You were actually kidnapped from the hospital when you were still a baby by your father's ex-girlfriend. She was very jealous of your mother and planned to kidnap you & your brother. However, your brother was born with a weak body, so he was placed in the ICU for a few weeks which made her unable to kidnap him and could only kidnap you. Then she left you on the street far from your parents' home and the homeless people took you to help them make money."

What the cat says really shocks him. He doesn't know if it's actually true or the cat just lies to him, but it makes him think that his life would be much better if he lived with his blood family.

"Your parents actually still tried to find you to this day using your twin brother's picture because they think that you will have similar faces. But the police didn't take this case seriously because it's been too long since you're missing. They finally found you only because the police needed to find your identity after your dead body was found."

"Damn police!"

Tears flow out of his eyes because his whole life has been ruined by a jealous bitch.

"Do you want to see what your blood family looks like?"

"Sure, I am very curious about what my parents and brother look like."

The cat puts its right paw on the ground and many black characters in the form of a circle appear on the ground. Then with a poof of smoke, a piece of paper appears. The cat gives the paper to the boy and he looks at it.

There's a picture of a family of 3. A strict looking middle-aged man, a middle-aged woman with a warm smile, a tomboy-looking girl, and a young man sitting in a wheelchair. His eyes widen when he sees the young man's face because it looks just like him.

Now he gets fully convinced that they are twins. But there are differences like how his twin brother is thinner, looks very pale, and doesn't have hair. Their difference in hair style could be the biggest reason why no one could recognize him. But he knows his face well enough to know what he'll look like if he's bald.

"Your parents were truly heartbroken when they saw your dead body. They finally found the son they've been searching for for years, but when they finally found you, you've already died. You're actually fated to be found by your family a while after your brother's supposed death, but then this mess happened. So to compensate you for this, we are reincarnating you to another world."