The next day.
Time: 6:56 a.m.
Location: A beach in the country of Hino.
Waves crash against the shore.
A wave submerges almost all the sand on the beach.
When the water recedes, it leaves a pile of seaweed on the shore.
From beneath the seaweed, a strong wind shoots up into the sky.
The seaweed falls like raindrops.
Cough, cough, cough.
The small figure of Wendy coughs, spitting up all the seawater she swallowed.
"Gross, and so salty," Wendy says, sticking out her tongue.
"I need to get some water, otherwise I'll get dehydrated," I get up and walk in a straight line.
After walking for a few seconds, I feel a little cold on my torso.
I look down and notice that I'm not wearing the top part of my clothes.
I scratch my long, loose hair as I say, "I need new clothes too."
And I keep walking without feeling any shame.
After walking for 5 minutes, I find a river.
I cup my hands and drink some water, rinsing my mouth to get rid of the salty taste.
After drinking enough water, I throw myself into the river, letting myself be carried by the current.
I don't have enough energy to walk and find a village.
As I recall, last year in the country of the sun, there was a pandemic that killed anyone with little magical power.
But the pandemic was cured about 6 months ago.
And right now, Ryuya is helping all the people of the country.
I probably won't run into him on the way.
Although I don't know if I can learn ki from someone who isn't in an official position in the country.
While the river water carries me downstream.
30 minutes later.
While the river carries me to an unknown place.
"I should get out of the river and walk," I say aloud.
While I was thinking, at a certain point I see two human figures a little further ahead.
When I'm about 3 meters away from the human figures, they seem to notice my presence. "My God, it's a corpse!" one of the figures shouted.
"Don't talk nonsense, he still has ki and yoryoku fluctuations, he's still alive," the other human figure explained, slapping the one who shouted on the back of the neck.
"Huh? He's not dead, what a scare," a sigh escaped from his voice.
"So what do we do, leave him in the water?"
"Of course, who knows what trouble rescuing him will bring us."
"But?"
"No buts, let's go," without saying anything more, he picked up two buckets of water, turned around, and left.
Ah, I don't blame them, after all, I'm not injured.
Besides, if it were me in my previous life, I would hesitate a little before helping him.
And especially in this era of the country, there's no food or resources to help a stranger after a pandemic.
After feeling the mana fluctuations move away, I got out of the river.
"Well, I've recovered from the exhaustion."
Water dripped from my body as I walked towards where I could feel the mana presence of those two from before.
About 10 minutes later, I could see a small village of about 25 houses.
"But it's so small, and I can only sense less than 10 people ahead," my voice came out curiously.
After all, even in Hage Village, which is the furthest from the capital of the Clover Kingdom, there were at least more than 300 houses and almost 900 people.
"Well, let's see, I need new clothes, but how do I get them?"
"Should I steal them or should I ask for them hoping that someone with a good heart will give them to me out of pity?" I thought aloud while considering what to do.
I approached silently, using a technique that concealed most of my magical power.
I looked at some villagers and saw that their clothes were quite normal.
They weren't very worn and didn't look like clothes from the Sengoku period like in Inuyasha.
It seems that the economic situation isn't so bad in this village. After thinking for a while, I made my decision.
I'm going to borrow a change of clothes permanently.
After all, in this country, seeing a naked girl is disrespectful or something like that, unless you're her mother.
With my decision made, I didn't hesitate.
After looking around, I could see some clothes hanging in the distance.
Using Shunpo, I grabbed the top of a Japanese garment; I honestly don't know what it's called.
Only a blue blur was visible before the garment disappeared.
Landing on a tree branch outside the village, I sighed.
"It's a good thing I wasn't discovered, otherwise I would have had to run for a long time."
After all, I think those scenes where the protagonist is chased are unnecessary.
Although they help to speed up the story and allow readers to process and adapt to the pace of the narrative.
That only helps at the beginning, and then it becomes boring and tedious to read.
I put on the garment, which looks like a kimono but only reaches my waist.
That's if you're an adult, but this size is too big for a child like me.
I look at myself, and it reaches a little past my knees.
My entire arm is inside the sleeves.
When I raise my arms, a part of the fabric hangs down.
"It seems I'll have to hunt down some bandits to earn some funds."
"I'm becoming more and more like my idol, Lord Shadow, robbing bandits whenever I get the chance."
Without a word, I head towards the mountains.
After all, the mountains are high places, and I can see if there are more villages nearby.
And so, three months passed.
In these three months, I found many bandit hideouts, which of course I looted and kept the treasures.
With that money, I went to one of the capitals of the Hino country.
I remember that in the manga, the country is divided into five islands.
In one of the bandit hideouts, I found a map of the country.
The shape of the island is the same as Japan, and the only difference is that the country is divided into five islands.
As if it had been split apart because of a fight.
When I arrived at the country's capital, I bought a black kimono, dark gray hakama [that is, trousers], and a white undershirt.
I wanted to have Soi Fon's shihakusho made, but it's very expensive.
It's not the cost of making the shihakusho that's expensive, it's the material I requested to make it.
So I decided to have it made anyway, but with a less expensive fabric.
After all, it's cheaper in the long run to buy a backless, sleeveless shihakusho than to constantly be destroying my clothes.
I ordered it half a month ago; it should be finished by now.
As I walk down the street lined with Japanese-style buildings...
People walk along the bustling streets.
"Hey, look, that's the foreign girl you told me about the other day," someone says from one of the food stalls.
"Yes, that's her. Some bandits tried to rob on this street half a month ago, and she defeated them all with just her bare hands," the owner replied to the customer.
"Ohhhhh, how incredible! How is it possible that someone so small is so strong?" "They can't fool me, that little girl can't be strong enough to defeat adults with scrolls," a person next to another customer suddenly interjected into the conversation.
"Hey, lower your voice, don't you see her expression? She could kill you for speaking ill of her," someone whispered to the person who had butted in.
I overheard the conversation even though it was quite far from me, thanks to my dragon ears.
"Mom, why does that girl have blue hair?" a boy holding his mother's hand asked curiously.
"I don't know, Kenta, maybe she's a foreigner."
And so, many conversations about Wendy occurred wherever I went.
After walking for about 5 more minutes, I arrived at a small clothing store.
I opened the fusuma [traditional Japanese door] and entered the store.
"Good afternoon, Miss Saionji, I'm Wendy," my voice was soft and only slightly emotional.
Footsteps could be heard approaching from the back of the store.
A woman entered from the back.
Like everyone in the Land of the Sun, she had black hair and black eyes.
Her apparent age was about 47 years old.
She was wearing a kimono, light blue with embroidered cherry blossoms.
"Why, it's Wendy! You came for the modified shihakusho you ordered," the owner's voice was quite cheerful and lively.
"Yes, I came to pick up the shihakusho."
"You're in luck, Wendy, I just finished it about 10 minutes ago."
"Thank you," my voice was polite.
For some reason, only Saionji doesn't seem afraid of me or freely changes her expression when she looks at me.
Although I don't talk to many people anyway.
"Here you go, Wendy, do you want to try it on before you leave?" Saionji handed me the modified shihakusho.
"Okay, where's the fitting room?" I asked impassively.
"Follow me," I followed her and entered a fitting room in the corner. A few minutes later, Wendy emerged wearing the traditional black Shinigami uniform, but customized with no sleeves and an open back, allowing for complete freedom of movement. Over this, she wore a white haori, also sleeveless, revealing long black armbands. A white obi cinched her waist, contrasting with the uniform, while her traditional Japanese sandals (waraji) and white socks completed her stylish silhouette.
"But you look so cute, Wendy," Saionji continued cheerfully.
"I don't know. I feel like something's missing, I look a little strange," I said, looking at myself in the mirror.
I don't know if it's because the magical power in this world is different than in the Fairy Tail world.
Or because of my constant training, but at 8 years old I'm already 145 cm tall.
I don't think I'll grow much taller than this, probably only about 10 to 15 cm more in the future.
After looking at my reflection for a few more seconds, I realized.
"It's my two pigtails, that's the problem."
"Please, Miss Saionji, could you braid my hair into two long braids at the back of my head?"
"Of course."
A few minutes later.
"I'm not convinced, they're too thick. It's better if you leave my hair in two ponytails and undo the braids."