The words hung in Kaito's vision like a fly that refused to die.
[Initiate Contact?]
Y / N
The square was still noisy—people arguing about wages, mothers pulling kids back, old men shaking their heads like they'd seen this play out a hundred times. But for Kaito, everything went quiet. The only thing he could hear was his own heartbeat and the small, cold chime of the system waiting for an answer.
Aria Voss.
Fifteen.
Fire.
And she'd looked at him. Not the way grown-ups looked at kids. Not even the way mages looked at commoners. It had been a sharp, curious glance—like she'd caught him doing something he shouldn't.
Kaito swallowed.
*No. Not now.*
His body was eight years old. His mind wasn't. But that didn't matter. The world would only see the body.
He blinked slowly and thought, **N**.
The prompt didn't vanish. It dimmed, like it was amused.
**[Deferred.]**
**[Observation Phase: 29% → 30%]**
**[Tip: Contact may be non-intimate. Bonds begin with recognition.]**
Kaito almost laughed. *Of course the system would say that after trying to scare me half to death.*
"Oi, Kaito!" Renn hissed, yanking him lightly by the sleeve. "You spacing out? That mage was looking right at us like we're dirt."
Bram nodded, eyes wide. "H-he said porter duty. My pa's back is already ruined from hauling grain. Now they want him hauling rift packs too?"
Tavi looked like he wanted to disappear into the ground.
Kaito forced his face to work properly. Kid face. Kid voice. "He's just talking big. Guild people always do."
Renn spat to the side. "One day I'm gonna knock that staff out of his hand."
"Sure," Kaito said, and this time the smile he gave was real—because Renn's anger was honest. Simple. The kind of anger Kaito used to have on Earth before he learned it didn't change anything.
Behind them, the mounted mage was already turning his horse, bored of the crowd. Aria followed like a shadow, a pace behind, rope-straight posture, red hair catching the light. A few townsfolk stared at her like she was a dragon in human skin. Some looked jealous. Others looked like they were waiting for her to trip.
As she moved, her gaze drifted again.
Not at the crowd.
At Kaito.
Just for a breath.
Then she was gone behind the mage's cloak and the guards, swallowed by the road heading toward the mage quarter.
Kaito didn't move until Toren's big hand landed on his shoulder.
"Come on," his father said, voice low. "That's enough listening to guild snakes for one day."
Lira was already pulling Mina along by the hand. Mina kept looking back at the square with the kind of curiosity only a kid could afford. "Did you see the horse, big brother? It was huge!"
Kaito nodded, walking with them, mind still stuck on the system's words.
*Contact may be non-intimate.*
That mattered. That meant the system wasn't just… what he feared it was. At least, not immediately.
It meant it could be… slower.
It meant he could breathe.
***
Dinner smelled like onions and roasted meat—simple, filling food. Mina chattered through half of it, describing the horse with dramatic hand motions like she'd personally ridden it into battle.
Toren listened with a half-smile, but his eyes were tired.
When Mina finally went quiet long enough to chew, Toren spoke to Lira. "The guild's offering coin because they're desperate. That's what it means."
Lira stirred her bowl thoughtfully. "Or because the rifts are getting closer."
Kaito perked up, careful not to look too eager. "Rifts get closer?"
Toren snorted. "They don't walk, boy. But when beasts start showing up nearer the roads, guilds start hiring. And when guilds start hiring, commoners start dying."
Lira shot him a look. "Not in front of Mina."
"I'm not lying," Toren muttered, softer now. He looked at Kaito. "You remember what I told you. Work, learn, stay out of guild business. Magic people fight magic problems."
Kaito nodded because that's what an eight-year-old should do.
Inside, he was doing math.
Magic people fight magic problems… until they need bodies to carry supplies. Then it becomes everyone's problem.
He waited until after dishes, until Mina was asleep upstairs and Lira was folding cloth in the corner.
Then he slipped into the small side room where Toren kept tools and spare wood.
He sat on a crate, shut his eyes, and whispered in his head. Status.
Blue light opened across his vision like a book.
[Host: Kaito]
Age: 8
Mana Core: None
Physical: 0.7
Mental: 1.4
Observation Phase: 30%
Bonds: 0/7
A small new line blinked at the bottom.
[Recent Scan Logged: Aria Voss (Fire)]
[Candidate Locked: Yes]
Kaito stared at the word *locked* until his eyes stung.
Locked meant the system wasn't forgetting her. Even if he tried to.
He swallowed and pulled up the only thing that felt safe right now.
*Rules.*
He started asking the system small questions in his head, one by one, like he was testing an app.
"What happens if I ignore it?"
No answer. Just a faint pulse.
"Can I remove it?"
No answer.
"Can I get power without… that?"
A pause—then a single line.
[Power acquisition methods limited. Bond depth determines class.]
Kaito exhaled slowly through his nose.
So the path was set. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow. But it existed.
And the first person on that path was a fifteen-year-old fire mage who looked like she hated the world just as much as he did.
Kaito opened his eyes.
From the window, he could see the mage quarter's lights on the distant hill—cool, white, unreachable.
He clenched his fists until his knuckles turned pale.
"Five years," he whispered to the dark room, not sure if he was promising the system or himself. "I have five years to understand everything."
The system pulsed again—quiet, patient, almost smug.
[Tip: Observation includes the self. Grow worthy of bonds.]
Kaito stared at the message.
Then he stood up, grabbed one of Toren's lighter training hammers, and started swinging it slowly—careful, controlled—again and again, like he was carving a future out of air.
Outside, the town slept.
Somewhere up on the hill, the guild had brought a fire mage apprentice into its walls.
And Kaito's system had already decided she mattered.
Five years can feel like yesterday when you're waiting.
Kaito stared at the glowing crystal in his palm, the Awakening Festival square packed tighter than a goblin den. The air hummed with chants, incense thick enough to choke on. Hundreds of thirteen-year-olds lined up—commoners like him mixed with mage hopefuls sneering from velvet ropes. His hand didn't tremble. He'd grown into his body: tall for thirteen, lean muscle from endless hammer swings and hill sprints, black hair cropped short, eyes sharp as flint.
Family watched from the crowd—Toren arms crossed, Lira clutching Mina (now ten and all legs), friends scattered nearby. Renn bulked up, sling master now. Bram led river crews. Tavi? Solid scout, stutter gone.
The crystal stayed dull. No spark. No mana ripple.
Laughter rippled from mage kids. "Mana-less!" a tester barked, tossing him a token for "citizen labor."
Kaito pocketed it cool. Expected. Observation phase ended at 99% months back. He'd tracked Aria Voss like a ghost—fiery flares over guild walls, market whispers of her "unruly talent," demoted to rift scout after torching a rival's tent. Twenty now, still single per rumors. Perfect storm.
Crowd thinned. Failures slunk off. Then his system exploded to life, blue flooding vision:
[Observation Complete: 100%. Phase 1 End.]
[Maturity Lock: Physical bonds delayed until 18. Emotional bonds active.]
[Quest: Initiate Aria Voss Contact. Reward: F-Class Fire Spark (Affection Scaled). Risk: Guild Notice.]
[Y/N?]
Kaito's lips curved. *Finally.*
He slipped the crowd, heading for river bend where scouts watered mounts post-festival. Aria was there—alone, red hair loose, patched cloak hiding curves honed by rift runs. She sketched flames in dirt with a stick, muttering curses.
Heart steady, Kaito stepped into view.
"Hey," he called, voice low teen timbre. "Saw your fire shows from the hill. Impressive control."
She startled, stick snapping. Ember eyes narrowed—recognition flickering from that square five years back. "Kid from the scout day? Grown some. What do you want, mana-less?"
Kaito met her gaze, system pulsing warm.
Y selected.
"Talk. Got questions about rifts. And power."
Her laugh was smoke and spice. "Power's for mages. Scram before I test control on you."
But she didn't turn away.
Aria didn't turn away, but the air around her warmed anyway—like the riverbank itself was getting warned.
Kaito stopped a few steps short. Close enough to talk, far enough that she couldn't accuse him of creeping. He kept his hands visible, palms open, the way you did with a stray dog that had teeth.
"I'm not here to start trouble," he said.
"You came to a rift scout's watering spot right after the Festival." Her eyes flicked over him—quick, sharp, practiced. "That's trouble by definition."
Kaito exhaled slowly. The system hovered in the corner of his vision, quiet now, as if it understood that this part wasn't about prompts or shortcuts.
*Talk first. Earn a name in her head.*
"Then let me make it simple," he said. "I've watched you for years."
Aria's fingers twitched.
The river surface shivered. A thin ribbon of steam rose where her hand hovered, like the heat couldn't help leaking out.
"…Say that again," she said, voice suddenly flat.
Kaito immediately regretted his wording. *Idiot. Earth brain, teenage mouth.*
He lifted his chin. "Not like that. I mean… everyone knows you. The fire scout. The one the guild doesn't know what to do with."
Aria's mouth twisted into something almost like a smile, except it didn't reach her eyes. "You're bold for a mana-less boy."
"I'm bold because I don't have mana," Kaito said. "If I had power, I wouldn't need to talk. I'd just take what I wanted like the rest of them."
That got her attention.
Aria's gaze sharpened, and for a moment, Kaito felt like he was back in that first square five years ago—only now he was tall enough to meet her eyes properly.
"You hate mages," she said.
"I hate how the world works," Kaito corrected.
Aria snorted softly. "Same thing."
Kaito glanced past her, to where two guild horses drank from the river, their saddlebags marked with blue thread. No guards in sight—just the distant voices of scouts down the bank.
"Why are you alone?" he asked.
Aria's jaw tightened. "Why do you care?"
"Because if you weren't alone, you'd already have someone telling you to stop wasting time talking to a commoner."
Her eyes flashed. There—something honest, something raw. Not anger. Not just.
*Loneliness.*
She stared at him for a long second, like she was deciding whether he was worth burning.
Then she leaned back against a tree, arms crossed. "Talk. But quickly. I'm not your teacher."
Kaito nodded. "Fair."
He sat on a rock across from her, keeping the river between them like a boundary line neither of them had to acknowledge out loud.
"I failed the Festival," he said, even though they both already knew it. "No mana. Same as my father."
Aria didn't react.
"So my path is either: accept being small forever… or find another way."
Aria's gaze drifted to his hands. The calluses. The faint scars from training.
"You're trying to become a fighter without mana," she said. "That's suicide."
"Maybe," Kaito agreed. "But rifts don't care if I'm scared."
Aria's nostrils flared slightly, like she hated that answer.
Kaito leaned forward a little. "I want to understand rifts. I want to understand scouts. And I want to understand how someone like you survives while the guild looks down on you."
Aria's eyes narrowed. "Someone like me?"
"You're strong," Kaito said simply. "And you're still here. That means you know how to live in a world that wants to use you."
A flicker passed over her face. Something that looked almost like surprise.
Then she laughed—short, sharp, and tired. "You talk like you've lived two lives."
Kaito's heart kicked once.
He kept his expression steady. "Maybe I just pay attention."
Aria stopped laughing and stared at him again. This time, it wasn't contempt. It was evaluation.
Kaito's system finally whispered, a small line sliding into view:
[Emotional Contact Established.]
[Bond Seed Planted: Aria Voss]
[Current Depth: Recognition (0.5%)]
Kaito didn't let it show on his face. But inside, something loosened in his chest.
So it starts like this.
Aria uncrossed her arms and stood up. "Fine. You want to understand rifts?"
She picked up a small iron knife from her boot and tossed it—hard—into the dirt between them.
The blade sank in clean.
"Tell me what you see when you look at that," she said.
Kaito blinked. "A knife."
Aria's eyes sharpened. "No. Look again."
Kaito stared. The dirt around the knife looked… slightly scorched. The tip wasn't just metal—it shimmered faintly, like heat was trapped inside.
"A rune," he said slowly. "Heat stored in the blade."
Aria's lips curled faintly. "Good. At least you're not useless."
Then, without warning, she stepped closer to the river's edge.
A small flame bloomed above her palm—tight, controlled, dancing like it was attached to an invisible thread.
"Rifts aren't just holes in the world," she said. "They're wounds. And wounds… bleed."
The flame flickered, and Kaito saw it—tiny black sparks inside the orange. Like ash falling upward.
Aria closed her hand and the flame vanished.
"If you really want to survive," she said, "stop asking how to get power."
She looked him dead in the eye.
"Ask how to pay for it."
Kaito held her gaze.
For the first time since he reincarnated, the world didn't feel like a playground or a cage.
It felt like a contract.
And he was about to sign.