Chapter 49: why am I so unlucky?

On his part, Kai, out of Nemuri's sight, had a complicated expression. Although he had achieved his goal of calming Nemuri and giving her something else to think about, he was fully aware that the problem was far from resolved and might have even worsened. However, in reality, he didn't know how to react and simply improvised on the spot.

After all, such an event had never even remotely crossed his mind, to the point where he doubted whether he would ever have children or even a stable partner in this life. In truth, all he wanted was to live peacefully and train to bring out his full potential, something he considered crucial in his plan of action.

His plan of action was quite simple; he just wanted to reunite with his mother once more. Although he was genuinely happy in this life, he couldn't shake the feeling that his relationships were unstable and fleeting. Like a beautiful trail of smoke that could disappear at any moment and bring him back to reality.

As a result, Kai felt that the only true relationship he'd ever had was with his mother. Due to his stupidity, he did not value it as he should have in his first life, and in this one, he did not have the chance. But ever since he saw her that day at the funeral home and heard her words, a crazy idea began to form in his head—next time would be the charm.

Although he wasn't sure if he could be reborn again, he had already done it once, so the chances weren't zero. Therefore, he needed to prepare for it because he couldn't allow his mother to lose her life tragically again. He had to ensure he could protect her.

The way he decided to prepare was very simple: hone his skills to the extreme. After all, there had been something that, from the beginning, seemed incredibly strange to him, and that was his absurd talent before awakening his memories. In just five years, he had reached a level close to the peak of skill that Daniel had achieved in engineering, not to mention that they were very similar even without the memories.

This inevitably led him to think that somehow Daniel had affected Kai, turning his hard-earned skill into a pure talent that Kai could exploit. So, following this line of thought, if he developed his strength to the extreme, it would have important potential for his next life—something that would be vital to keeping his mother safe.

Therefore, even if his new incarnation couldn't recover the memories of this life, he should still be able to keep his mother safe and make her happy. After all, another curious thing about himself before awakening his memories was that he was extremely attached to his mother, much more than he remembered being as Daniel. He wanted to believe this was due to his regrets and hoped that his possible third incarnation would inherit this trait.

But now, things have taken an unexpected turn. Nemuri had crossed a line that he didn't want to cross, forcing him to view this life from a different perspective. After all, the woman who had given him so much and sacrificed so much for him deserved to be treated with all the care and affection. His plans for his next life and his traumas were no excuse to be negligent.

But at the same time, he couldn't deny that his possessiveness was playing an important role. Somewhere within himself, he had already started to consider Nemuri as "his," and from his experience in his past life, he knew that could only end badly. After all, he had never seen those mythical lifelong relationships in real life—the only possible happy ending where he didn't end up rejecting Nemuri.

After a while, Kai realized that Nemuri had fallen asleep in his embrace. So, he quickly adjusted her before going to find Mrs. Yoshiko, the woman who had been working at his house for years, taking care of the household chores, and who had fainted a little while ago.

Even though he had confirmed it with his Observation Haki, Kai let out a slight sigh of relief when he saw the woman sitting unconscious in a comfortable chair near the kitchen. The woman liked to keep her own space to eat, out of respect, instead of joining them. Something that Nemuri and he accepted and for which they prepared a well-furnished place where she could feel comfortable.

Upon reaching her, Kai made Sage check the woman's condition and quickly concluded that she was in perfect health. He then helped her wake up with the help of his aura.

"Mr. Kai?" she asked, a bit confused upon waking, to which Kai responded with a small smile.

"Hello, Mrs. Yoshiko."

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Kai, for falling asleep during my working hours." The woman quickly stood up and then apologized, embarrassed, while bowing deeply.

"You don't need to apologize, Mrs. Yoshiko. I'm actually sorry for overloading you so much. How about you take the day off tomorrow? Also, I'd like to give you a small bonus from my side." Kai said with a smile on his face, causing Yoshiko to hurriedly decline, looking incredibly embarrassed.

"How is that possible, Mr. Kai? I am not overworked at all, and I definitely can't accept that bonus. The salary I receive every month is already incredibly high, not to mention the immense debt of gratitude I owe to Lady Yaoyorozu for helping my daughter. I can't ask for anything more."

"Don't look at it that way; think of it as a gesture of appreciation from me. Besides, Onee-chan and I will be leaving early tomorrow, so we won't be around all day. You can rest at home."

Kai responded while taking out his phone to transfer some money to Mrs. Yoshiko as an apology, which caused her phone to ring shortly after with a notification. This made the woman look at her phone, then widen her eyes in disbelief.

"Mr. Kai, I can't accept this much money." Yoshiko said, embarrassed, to which Kai casually replied.

"It's not much, just a small bonus, a bit of pocket money I earned a few days ago from selling a sword. It's better if you rest today; you must be tired. I'll have one of the guards take you home."

"But Mr. Kai..."

"Don't worry about it. Just buy something nice for your grandchildren or your husband and think of it as a gift from me."

"Thank you so much, Mr. Kai."

As the woman wiped the corners of her eyes, clearly moved, Kai quickly called one of the guards and asked him to take Mrs. Yoshiko to one of the cars in the garage. He then returned to the living room, where Nemuri was peacefully sleeping.

With a complicated expression, Kai carried Nemuri to her room, where he laid her on her bed, and then went to his own room, only to find his bed destroyed. This made him sigh in frustration, so he went to sleep in the guest room instead.

Once in bed, Kai couldn't help but let his mind drift into thoughts, trying to imagine what would come of today's events. But to be honest, he could not see a single good outcome ahead, which only made him sigh with a hint of sadness. He was so disappointed by the day's events that he even ignored the cat that timidly curled up on his bed.

"Sage, why am I so unlucky? Is it really so hard to live quietly and in peace while I train to be the strongest?" Kai asked in a somewhat sad and reflective tone, to which Sage softly responded as it landed on his chest.

"Master, as long as there are people involved, there will be problems. But as I understand it, humans can't live alone either, so it's an inevitable outcome. If it didn't happen now, you'd end up facing difficulties at some point."

"Certainly, it seems life is nothing but a collection of problems intertwined with each other..." Kai commented in an almost weary tone as he looked at the sky through the window, then added, "Sage, you know, Onee-chan will probably leave home tomorrow..."

"You're right, Master; it's the most likely scenario considering her personality," Sage replied seriously, to which Kai added, feeling even more tired.

"But you know, I never wanted something like this to happen. I never sought it out, and I even tried hard to prevent it. But still, it happened in the one moment I let my guard down... I really feel tired, Sage..."

"It's not your fault, Master," Sage said with a sad expression, while Salem snuggled closer to his master, sensing his sorrow.

"I know it's not my fault. In fact, I'm the victim in all of this, but still, I have to pay the price, or at least part of it. Now Onee-chan, the person who has loved and cared for me the most during this time, will leave me, which will undoubtedly lead to questions from the other girls. This is very likely to create a chain reaction that will end up leaving me alone."

In a soft and melancholic voice, Kai murmured as his gaze got lost in the stars, to which Sage could only reply in disagreement.

"I think you're exaggerating, Master. Although it's true that Nemuri's departure might provoke a strong reaction from the others, I think that would affect their relationship with her, not with you. After all, you said it yourself; you're the victim."

"That would be the logical thing to think, but you know, reality doesn't always follow logic, much less human relationships. Feelings themselves are illogical and irrational, and much more fragile than one might think.

Human relationships, especially one as peculiar as the one we all have in our unique family, work like a monolithic block. It only takes a small crack for the entire block to break into pieces.

But the problem is that Onee-chan's departure is a brutal blow, several orders of magnitude worse than a simple crack. After all, even if it might seem otherwise, Onee-chan is the true center of this family. She is the one who has actively kept this family together. I'm just a pessimistic and solitary guy who would eventually end up alone if it weren't for her.

So, although it's likely that what you say will happen initially, over time, Onee-chan's absence will be noticeable. There will no longer be anyone to organize the gatherings, no one to remember important dates, no one to make sure we're all present when it matters, and countless other things.

Without her, those bonds that now seem strong will gradually unravel, and what was once a family will soon become a group of strangers who barely recognize each other. Even more so, because everyone has something to belong to outside of this heterogeneous group that I arrogantly call a family.

Aunt Keiko has Momo, Aunt Yumiko has Nejire and her husband, and the Pussycats are an inseparable group. At the end of the list, there's only me, who has nothing—no friends, no family, nothing. I'm just a cynical, arrogant, and solitary bastard who only knows how to build things, nothing more."

Kai spoke in a tone full of melancholy as Salem moved to curl up on his chest, causing the young man with blue eyes to look at him with a somewhat sad smile as he asked.

"Will there come a time when even you will leave me alone, Salem?"

As Salem meowed as if swearing never to leave his master's side, Sage, unsure of what to say, quickly searched for information online but ended up finding too many contradictory things. After a moment, she could only comment uncertainly.

"But master, you could still learn to do those things to keep the family together..."

"Hehehe, that's not so easy. Although I have many talents, art and human relationships are not among them. They just don't come naturally to me, and even if I somehow managed to pull it off, in the end, would I still be myself? Or would I just be a distorted version of myself, trying to gain approval at the expense of my own identity?

Anyway, I guess ending up alone is my destiny. At least in this life, I have money and my powers to keep me from getting bored in the decades to come. Maybe in my next life, my mother can raise me properly so I don't end up being the failure I am now... But in this life, it seems very likely that the end of my life will be locked up with you in a dingy workshop creating strange things, Sage, hahaha."

As he lay on his back in bed with Salem on his chest, Kai spoke, filled with melancholy and self-loathing, which put an incredibly sad expression on Sage's face. Not knowing how to handle such a situation, she could only 'hug' Kai's cheek with her small body while sadly commenting.

"I'll always be with you, Master. Even if everything in this world abandons you, I will be your faithful follower forever and ever."

"Hehehe, it's good to have such a loyal assistant like you, Sage," Kai commented, somewhat amused amidst his melancholy, to which Sage didn't know how to respond, so instead, she remained silent while hugging her beloved master.

As he stroked Salem's soft fur, Kai slowly drifted off to sleep, his mind lost in his own melancholy and unresolved traumas, until he opened his eyes again with the first rays of sunlight. This only left him with a defeated expression as he set Salem aside and went to take a bath.