Chapter 1: Lonely Rebirth

Darkness surrounded him. It was warm and wet, yet comfortable. He couldn't see anything, smell anything, taste anything. He wasn't even sure if he could feel anything at all. Perhaps the warmth was nothing but his imagination?

'...Is this death? I thought there would at least be someone to greet me and tell me about my deeds after I died... Seems like all those religions are wrong. After death... there is nothing but unending darkness.'

It seemed like he could still think. He pondered if thoughts unrelated to the physical brain. Nevertheless, he could still use some rest after a while, and this situation offered him the opportunity to do so.

That is, until...

*badump*

'Huh? What was that?'

*badump* *badump*

'This?! This is the sound of a heartbeat! It is faint but I can still hear it. Could it be that I am not dead? Did the final act fail to wipe out my remains?'

Surprised by the voice of something unexpected, he tried move his body on instinct.

*tump*

'I can still move my limbs, but it takes so much energy... falling asleep.'

Just like that, unaware of his current situation, he fell asleep. Even slightly moving his legs had forced him to pass out.

For the next period of time, he kept on repeating this whole process. Sometimes, he could feel his feet or legs making contact with some kind of elastic materials.

Throughout this time, his ability to sense had healed a little as well. He could now feel the heat after touching the elastic "restraints", and he could hear some sounds like gibberish coming outside of the so called restraints of his.

'Hmm... this doesn't sound like any language I've heard of before. Could it be some encoded one used for secrecy? But... I seem to hear laughs every now and then as well. Normally expressions wouldn't be faked within headquarters of this industry and everyone would keep a straight face.'

He tried make sense of the voice best as he could, yet he couldn't understand a single word. Unable to open his eyes, all he could do was try to move his limbs to look for way to escape. With everyday he seemed to recover a little more of his senses.

After what seemed like an eternity, he suddenly felt his body being forced out the "restraints". He felt as if he was being pushed out of something. A little time passed, and some brightness could be seen beyond his closed eyelids.

"A boy, you have given birth to a boy! Helena, you need to hold on!' (In Genkai language)

'This is a women's voice? I still can't understand what they are saying at all... Could it be... that I have been taken by aliens!? Hahaha, guess I still have some luck. Finding something so interesting just as I was about to reach my end.'

Laughing at his presumed to be supernatural situation, all he could do was stay limp due to his exhaustion.

"Lady A... I... sorry... burden... you..."

"No! You need to keep holding on! Didn't you promise to help me take care of the other children? You promised to play with them!"

"... Ple...ase... for... give... me..."

"No! Helena! Lena!"

'Do I hear someone crying? Helena? That seems to be a name from european countries... Huh? I can feel my eyes now! Let me try to open them.'

Clueless of his surroundings, he did his best to open his eyes. His eyelids were ever so heavy, but something so feeble wasn't enough to curb his curiosity.

'This is... I see a woman holding me? Are they holding my head? They seem to be... crying?'

The woman holding him had pitch black hair, her face seemed to be very pale, yet that didn't make her ugly. If anything, she should be considered beautiful by Caucasian standards.

'But why... are they crying?'

He tried his best to turn his head to where the woman holding him was looking at. What he saw was a dark grey haired women lying on a bed. She seemed to be... bleeding from her legs?

'What? This woman... it seems like she just went through a very tough childbirth. Looking at the current situation... I think the woman couldn't afford a c-section so she had to go with the regular way. Doesn't look like she will survive. But... where is the baby?'

The woman holding him seemd to be crying because of the new mother's wounds. She was kneeling next to the bed holding him in her arms. Then another woman, an older looking one with surprisingly sharp ears approached the woman holding him.

"My lady, we must clean the baby at one. Guaranteeing his survival is the best thing we can do for little Lena... if only the potion delivery from outside wasn't delayed!"

"I... I will stay by her side for little more. Can you please take care of the boy for now? I am really sorry... I just..."

"Please don't say that my lady. You know there was nothing that could be done... please don't blame yourself."

"... Thank you."

'Whoa what's this? She just handed my head to the other woman? She- she is lifting me up just by holding my head? What's going?!'

"What a cute little boy, just look at his eyes curiously glancing around. If only... *sigh* "

The old woman holding brought him to a table and put him on top of it. She wiped him with a damp towel, and wrapped him up in some cloth after everything was done.

'Just what is going on here? Could it be..

Right as he was about to make the wildest guess he thought he could ever make, his eyes found a mirror standing right before him.

'I... I WAS REINCARNATED AS A BABY?!'

"Whoa- calm down little boy, stop flailing your arms around like that. Haha, looks like we will be having another naughty boy in the village."

She stopped his flailing arms by wrappimg him into a human burrito and brought him back to lady sitting by the bed. The lady had stopped crying, but her eyes couldn't be any redder. Her face looked grim, as if she was forcing herself to not cry.

"Thank you... Ven."

"Please don't mention it my lady. Unlike everybody else around here, I have the most free time... seems like getting older does have some benefits. So... was little Lena able to leave a name for our little boy here?"

"...Yes. Mirage. From now on, his name will be Mirage."

The two women came together next to bed, and started cleaning the place up. While that was going on, there was only one thing he, Mirage, was feeling.

'I don't see a father around. Could I be born to a single mother? Looks like even in this life...'

He was calm, he could make perfect sense of his environment. There was no way for someone who lived like him to act ignorant on purpose.

'I...'

Yet, even so.

'stil don't have a family.'

Lonely, that's how he felt.

That's how he had always felt.