Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan
"Hah… hah… hah…"
Sunlight poured gently through the glass windows of Sugisawa Hospital, illuminating the sterile white ward as the boy lying on the bed panted heavily. His body was wrapped in layers of bandages, from his head down to his legs, making him look like someone who had barely survived a major disaster.
Messy black hair spilled out from beneath the bandages covering his head. His chest rose and fell rapidly beneath the hospital gown, his arms and legs completely wrapped, only his fingers exposed. Every visible inch of skin told the same story—he had been pulled back from the edge of death.
His black eyes darted around the ward with sharp vigilance, scanning every corner as if expecting danger to appear at any moment. Machines beeped softly beside him, their steady rhythm grounding him in reality.
After several long seconds, his breathing finally slowed.
He exhaled deeply and leaned back against the pillow, one bandaged hand moving to clutch his head in frustration.
"Sigh… not again with this nightmare," he muttered in fluent Japanese, his fingers running through his hair as if trying to shake off lingering fear.
The words felt strange, yet familiar.
'I really said that so naturally…'
Click—
The sound of the door opening broke his thoughts.
An elderly woman wearing a nurse's uniform stepped into the ward, stopping mid-step when she noticed the patient already sitting up. A professional yet warm smile appeared on her face as she approached the bed.
"Oh… you're awake, Amakawa-san," she said gently. "Are you feeling unwell?"
Her eyes lingered on his posture and the way his chest still rose a little too quickly.
"Was it another nightmare?"
The boy hesitated briefly before nodding.
"Yes… it's the same one," Amakawa Haruto replied quietly, his gaze shifting toward the window. Outside, a small bird perched on a ledge, feeding its chicks inside a neatly built nest.
The sight made his chest feel oddly tight.
"It's been repeating for the whole week."
The nurse's expression softened. "The same one again?" she asked with concern.
Haruto nodded once more.
A week…
The thought echoed in his mind as his eyes lost focus.
A week has passed since I woke up.
[Negative. Two hours still remain for the completion of one full week.]
His brow twitched.
'It doesn't matter, Great Sage', Haruto replied internally, irritation lacing his thoughts. The calm, mechanical voice inside his consciousness still unsettled him, no matter how many times he heard it.
Even now, the situation felt unreal.
'I really reincarnated, huh…'
He stared at his hands resting on the blanket. They were thinner than he remembered. Smaller. Younger. They didn't feel like his own.
Just a week ago, he had been Allen White—a medical student dying in the middle of a warzone. Bleeding out on the floor of his destroyed home, waiting for death to claim him.
Now, he was alive again.
In Japan.
In the body of a fifteen-year-old boy.
The transition had been disorienting, to say the least. When he first opened his eyes, he hadn't understood a single word spoken around him. Panic had set in almost immediately. He had tried to speak, only to realize he couldn't even understand his own voice.
That was when he heard it.
A cold, emotionless voice that calmly identified itself as Great Sage.
'I honestly thought I'd finally gone insane', Haruto thought wryly.' But it's all real.'
With Great Sage's assistance, it had taken only minutes for him to understand Japanese, then speak it fluently as if he had known the language all his life. The shock of that alone had nearly overwhelmed him.
Unfortunately, one thing remained missing.
The memories of this body.
He knew nothing about the boy he had become.
From conversations with doctors and nurses, he pieced together fragments of information. The body belonged to Amakawa Haruto—an orphan, just like him. A first-year student at Sugisawa Municipal High School No. 3.
The cause of hospitalization was a tragic accident. The school roof had collapsed during night when Haruto was residing in school doing some club activity.
'An orphan again…' The coincidence wasn't lost on him.
"Okay, all done," the nurse said, finishing the last of the bandage changes. She gave him a reassuring smile before turning toward the door.
Then she paused.
"Oh, by the way, Amakawa-san," she added casually, "the reception got a call yesterday. The person who brought you to the hospital said he'll be coming again today to discharge you."
Haruto blinked.
"Discharge?" he repeated, his thoughts momentarily derailed. "The person who brought me here…? Do you know his name?"
The nurse tapped her chin as if recalling it. "Ah! Yes, he said his name was Gojo Satoru."
"…Gojo Satoru?"
Haruto repeated the name blankly.
For a moment, his brain completely stopped functioning.
Click—
The door opened again.
Both Haruto and the nurse turned toward the entrance.
A tall man stepped inside, dressed casually in dark clothing. A black blindfold covered his eyes, yet his presence alone seemed to fill the room. A carefree smile rested on his face, radiating absolute confidence.
"Yowai mo~"