THE ALTERNATE MULTIVERSE CHAT GROUP

Have you ever had an existential crisis?

The best-known definition of this term is the one that says that it is a moment or period where a person suffers a profound change or lack of knowledge of the essence of what that person believed to be their life.

A good example would be if one day you discovered that your entire life is a television show like in that Jim Carrey movie, or that you live in a simulation like in The Matrix.

And while none of these cases applied to me, or at least I hoped, my situation was still just as surreal, after all, discovering that reincarnation exists after hitting your head and recovering the apparent memories of your past life is, at least in my opinion, quite shocking, so my state of hyperventilation and cold sweats while I was on my bed was, at the very least, understandable.

My day started out being completely normal, I woke up a little late after staying up late watching a series of horror, mystery, and puzzle movies with my younger brother, so I ran out with him, leaving him at his school and then running to mine, Tegumi High School, I experienced another day of ordinary school while trying hard not to fall asleep, and when left I headed straight home to sleep until it was time to make dinner.

I was drowsy to the point where I didn't notice my surroundings and ended up colliding with someone and falling backward, the blow on my butt gave me back some of the clarity I had lost, and when I looked in front of me, I saw a woman who luckily was still standing.

Normally I would have stayed appreciating the blue-haired beauty for a few seconds longer than necessary, but the soft sensation I had felt before falling made me aware that I had collided directly with the enormous bust of this woman, so I quickly got up to apologize.

She didn't seem surprised by the crash or my apology, which she quickly accepted as if the whole event even happened.

But when I walked past her, a hand grabbed the sleeve of my blazer, stopping me and making me look back to find another girl, a short blonde with questionable taste in clothes.

'Is that a cosplay?' I couldn't help but wonder, but I was also struck by the fact that the blue-haired woman from before was also looking at me again.

'Were these two together? I didn't notice the cosplayer until she grabbed my sleeve'

"You need something?" I asked, maybe she was walking behind the blue-haired woman, and when she stopped after bumping into me this girl bumped into her from behind her.

"Since you're sorry for colliding with my friend and you seem to live in this town, could you tell us the closest place to get a delicious cake? We are passing through so we don't know this place much"

"The nearest pastry shop is a couple of blocks from here". I pointed the direction where they should go, although then I added. "But the best pastry shop I know is 3 blocks over there and then 5 on the right." This time I pointed in another direction.

The girl seemed thoughtful for a few seconds before answering. "I see, thank you". She said, patting me on the shoulder before turning around and walking away.

The blue-haired woman gave her a suspicious look, but she quickly turned around and they both walked away, I instantly felt that sleep was once again threatening to overtake me, so I shook my head a couple of times and quickened the pace a little.

When I got home I noticed that no one was there, and I remembered that my little brother was attending the birthday party of one of his classmates and luckily, my neighbor, Karasuma-san, was the mother of another of his classmates, so she had offered to take them both.

So, with the house completely at my disposal, I went to my room while I took off my uniform, and when I arrived I was already in my underwear, so I left my backpack on the floor and my clothes on the chair next to my desk before jumping on my bed.

But apparently, I was so sleepy that I misjudged the force I used, and my forehead hit the back of the bed, leaving me unconscious on my bed as an avalanche of memories hit my mind.

#####

"Ouch". I complained in front of the bathroom mirror as I cleaned the wound and the dried blood on my forehead with a small cotton ball soaked in alcohol before sticking a band-aid over it.

I let my bangs cover the area I looked at another scar, one a little bigger and that had almost disappeared due to the passage of time.

I gave a small sigh of disappointment and sat down on the toilet. 'It seems that even if I recovered the memories of my past life, I still can't remember anything I experienced in this life before I was 8 years old.' I thought, running my hands over my face as I sighed again and contemplated my situation.

'So, reincarnation? Damn, I don't even know how to take this, should I be happy to have another chance? Upset because I had died? I mean, even if I remembered that I had a past life, those memories still feel somewhat confusing and hazy'

"I know I've never drunk before, and according to the law it's not legal for me yet, but I think I need a drink to process this"

Getting up from the toilet I turned on the shower and took a bath to wash off the sweat and clear my mind in an attempt to think more clearly.

With my shower finished I went back to my room to change and then headed to the kitchen to prepare dinner.

But apparently, I was still a little distracted because I ended up adding sugar instead of salt, so I would have to do it again, but when I was about to start, I heard a knock on my door.

'It must be Touji, and dinner isn't ready yet'. I thought as I walked to the door, and when I opened it, I saw a woman with black hair and eyes, dressed in a black shirt and dark blue jeans, and next to her, a couple of children were talking animatedly.

"Kar-!!" I was saying hello when someone interrupted me.

"Brother!" One of the kids jumped at me, and I could barely catch him.

"Touji, I already told you not to jump at me while I'm talking to someone else". I said as I put my little brother down.

"Karasuma-san, thank you for caring for my noisy little brother, did he cause you any trouble?" I asked as I ruffled his hair.

"Don't worry about it, he was pretty well-behaved, plus it's a good way to keep my own brat in sight and entertained". She said with her perpetual smile.

"I see, that's good to hear"

"Aniki, hello!" Karasuma-san's son greeted me.

"Hey, how are you Koichi?" I returned the greeting.

"Brother, I'm hungry, what shall we eat?" Touji asked, and I could only tense up as I laughed nervously, but luckily someone else drew attention to themselves.

"Mom, I'm hungry too". Koichi said to Karasuma-san.

"Um? Well, I didn't prepare anything, but I can make something quick if you want". She suggested.

"Actually". I said as an idea occurred to me.

"If it's okay, would you two join us for dinner? I was planning to go eat at a family restaurant with Touiji"

"Oh really? You don't usually go out to eat, did something happen?" She asked.

"Well, let's just say I was a little distracted and ended up screwing it up at the end". I admitted with a bit of embarrassment.

"Ummm". Karasuma-san seemed a little thoughtful. "You're sure? Just a few days ago I gave you your pay". She asked to be sure.

"Yes, but a dinner at a family restaurant is not going to make me broke, plus you know that almost all that money goes directly into my savings and I only use it to indulge some whims from time to time". I assured him.

Karasuma-san seemed a little hesitant, but when Koichi begged again she accepted with a smile. "Well, if you insist". She said, and the 4 of us left the apartment complex heading to the nearest family restaurant.

"It's a shame the cafeteria is already closed, we could have eaten there". The woman said as we passed by a "Zacro Coffee", a chain of coffee shops that had several locations throughout the country, and the one we had just passed was the same one where I worked part-time and where Karasuma-san was the manager.

Once we got to the restaurant we sat at a table, and everyone ordered a dish, and seeing them all so animated I couldn't help but think to myself.

'Well, it doesn't matter if I'm a reincarnation or if I do not have part of my memories of this life, my life is good, not the best, but I have a brother that I love very much, a simple and quiet school life, and a future that now that I had my memories, no matter how confusing they were, could make things better for my brother and me'

"Yes, I will just continue living my life as before, after all, nothing has to change, right?" I said quietly as I took a sip of my drink.

#####

"This has to be a joke, did I really raise a flag when I said that yesterday?" I scolded myself looking at the glowing circle on the ground in front of me.

My day, like yesterday, started pretty average, I got up, this time at a decent hour, had breakfast together with my brother, and headed out to school, classes were pretty normal, and I spent some time at the arcade center before back home.

But when I was a couple of blocks away the breeze blew, and a piece of paper flew directly into my face, after taking it off I looked at it, it had a strange pattern drawn on it, and underneath it was written.

We will fulfill your wish.

I really don't know why I didn't throw it away, but in the end, I just put it in my pocket and forgot about it until just before I went to sleep.

I was alone at home because Touji was staying a little later at night at Karasuma-san's house to play video games with Koichi, and since the weekend would start tomorrow I didn't have any problems with that.

But once I took the paper out of my pocket and read it again, I thought about what was written, and I asked for a wish in my mind.

'I would like to know if there is any reason why I recovered my memories'

And after formulating my wish, the paper in my hand began to glow, I released the paper, and it moved as if someone was controlling it, flying a couple of meters away from me while I fell sitting on my bed.

And as if this wasn't surprising enough, a transparent blue screen appeared in front of my face.

Conditions met, interaction with energy unknown to the user has been identified, calibrating, choosing random members, please wait….

Then the text disappeared, and what took its place was the symbol of an hourglass.

My attention was caught once again, this time by a head that seemed to come out of the red circle on the ground, the whole situation got on my nerves, and the few seconds until the figure finished leaving the circle were quite stressful.

At the end, a blonde boy who seemed to be close to my age was standing in front of me while smiling at me.

"Good evening, I have come responding to your call". He said with a friendly tone.

And I fell unconscious on my bed for the second day in a row.

X-X-X-X

Well, first chapter, in the next, the members will be introduced, and I made a little effort to make a list of characters that are rarely used or that at least I have not seen until now, I made a huge list (23 characters) and then I put them all in one roulette app to choose five of them.

So I'm sorry if anyone here is a fan of Mikoto (To aru), Saeko (HOTD), Ruri (Oreimo), Kazuma (Konosuba) or Tsunade (Naruto), because none of them were on the initial list.