The year 2057 wasn't the flying-car utopia science fiction had promised, but it had its perks. Arthritis medication beat anything from the roaring 2020s, and holographic screens didn't strain my eighty-year-old eyes like the old flat-screens.
I adjusted the thermostat with a flick of my wrist—smart implants were a blessing for weary bones—and settled into my armchair. The faux-leather creaked a tune I'd known for decades.
Beside me, wrapped in woolen blankets on the sofa, was my eight-year-old great-granddaughter, Hina.
A stomach bug had swept through her elementary school, so she was home with me, watching some loud holographic magical girl show. I couldn't follow the plot—too many sparkles and high-pitched transformations. But if it kept her resting and distracted from the ache, I'd sit through it.
I watched her sleeping face, her chest rising softly beneath the blankets. Warmth spread through my chest.
Family. I never fell in love. Never married. In fact, I was dying an eighty-year-old virgin, a fact I intended to take to my grave. Romance simply never found me. When I was twenty, I discovered a baby wrapped in a fading blue towel on my porch, abandoned in the freezing rain. I took him in, fought to adopt him, and named him Daiki. One adoption became two, then three. Before I knew it, I'd built a family from scratch, held together by elbow grease, cheap ramen, and stubborn love.
Sixty years later, I was patriarch of a bustling clan. My adopted kids had kids, who had kids. I was the glue that kept everyone coming to Sunday dinner.
"Grandpa..." Hina mumbled in her sleep.
"I'm here, my little bird," I whispered, reaching to pat her forehead. She felt warm. I should fetch the smart-thermometer.
I braced my hands on the armrests to push myself up, but exhaustion washed over me. Not painful—just heavy, like a blanket pulled over my existence. My eyelids drooped. The sounds of the anime faded into silence.
*Just a quick nap,* I thought. *Five minutes before I get her medicine...*
I didn't wake up in my armchair.
I floated in a vast expanse of nothingness. No floor, no ceiling. And for the first time in thirty years, my lower back didn't ache.
"Well, I'll be," I muttered, looking at my hands. They felt weightless. "I suppose I finally kicked the bucket. Pity. I wanted to see Hina's school play next week. She was going to be Tree Number Three."
"MORTAL SOUL."
The voice boomed from the ether, loud enough to rattle my spiritual teeth.
"Keep it down!" I shouted, covering my ears. "I may be dead, but I don't need my eardrums blown out! Who's there? God? Buddha? The tax man?"
"I AM THE ARBITER OF SOULS. YOU HAVE LIVED A LIFE OF SACRIFICE, HOLDING TOGETHER A FAMILY BOUND NOT BY BLOOD, BUT BY WILL. YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN FOR REINCARNATION."
"Reincarnation?" I stroked my chin. "Like those isekai shows my grandsons watch? Reborn as a slime? No thank you. I'd like a comfortable cloud and endless green tea."
"YOU SHALL BE GRANTED A FORMIDABLE VESSEL. A SECOND CHANCE AT YOUTH. THE BODY OF SASAKI HAISE, IN HIS BLACK REAPER AWAKENING."
I paused. The name rang a bell. Daiki, my eldest, had been obsessed with that anime in his twenties. *Tokyo Ghoul*. Posters of a dark-haired boy with cold eyes.
"Hold your horses," I said, pointing into the void. "Sasaki Haise? From that cartoon where everyone eats each other?"
"YES. A POWERFUL FORM—"
"I veto this!" I interrupted. "I'm eighty! I enjoy miso soup and grilled mackerel. I'm not going to another world to chew on arms and drink blood. It's unsanitary, rude, and my digestive tract won't allow it. I get heartburn from spicy curry!"
The voice paused.
"...VERY WELL. YOUR VESSEL WILL RETAIN GHOULISH STRENGTH AND KAGUNE ABILITIES, BUT YOUR BIOLOGY WILL ACCEPT NORMAL FOOD."
"Mighty reasonable," I nodded. "But to be honest, Mr. Arbiter... I don't want to go anywhere."
Sadness settled over me, heavier than the exhaustion that killed me.
"I miss my family," I sighed. "I just died. My Hina is only eight. Who'll make her ginger tea? Who'll slip her pocket money? I didn't spoil her enough. I just want to watch my kids grow up."
"YOU CANNOT RETURN. THE THREAD OF YOUR LIFE THERE HAS BEEN SEVERED," the voice said, gentler now. "HOWEVER... TIME FLOWS DIFFERENTLY HERE."
"What do you mean?"
"WHEN YOU PASSED, THE GLUE DISSOLVED. WITHOUT YOU TO MEDIATE, YOUR CHILDREN FELL INTO BITTER DISPUTES OVER YOUR ESTATE. THE FAMILY SHATTERED."
My breath hitched. "No... they wouldn't..."
"THEY DID. YOUNG HINA WAS NEGLECTED. HER PARENTS DIVORCED. SHE CARRIED THE GRIEF ALONE. AT NINETEEN... SHE ENDED HER LIFE."
The void fell silent.
Nineteen. My little bird.
Anger bubbled up—not youthful rage, but the cold fury of a patriarch whose children failed their only job. I gave them everything. I clenched my fists. The second I close my eyes, they abandon her?
"SHE WAS REINCARNATED INTO A PARALLEL WORLD," the voice continued. "I GIVE YOU THE CHANCE TO JOIN HER. TO WATCH OVER HER."
"Show me," I demanded. "Show me where she is."
"BEHOLD."
The void rippled, revealing a modern city resembling Shibuya. There, backed against a convenience store alley, was a young woman. Nineteen, beautiful but tired, shoulders hunched. Those bright, terrified eyes—my Hina.
Around her stood three men with tanned skin, bleached spikes, silver jewelry, and shirts unbuttoned halfway. They wore smug grins, reeking of cologne.
My heart stopped. I'd confiscated enough manga from my grandson to recognize this setup. This wasn't a mugging. This was an NTR doujin opening! Those gyaru-o apes were the enemy of wholesome girls everywhere!
One delinquent grabbed Hina's wrist. She flinched, trying to pull away while bowing apologetically.
"Hey, little lady," he sneered. "A gloomy thing like you shouldn't wander alone. Come to karaoke. We'll cheer you up."
My eyes narrowed to slits.
Then a strange, glowing blue interface popped up directly in my vision, emitting a cheerful *DING!*
[Notice: You have been added to the Multiversal Groupchat!]
[Hatsune Miku (Admin) has logged on.]
Hatsune Miku: "Hiii~! Welcome, welcome! ♪(´▽｀) It's so nice to meet you! What world are you from? Do you like music? I hope we can be friends! ♡"
[Kazuma Sato has logged on.]
Kazuma Sato: "Tch, great, another one. Look, I'm begging you here—please tell me you're a normal guy. Just a regular, average dude. I'm already stuck in a party with a useless goddess who cries all the time, a chuuni mage who blows up everything including our rewards, and a crusader who gets off on getting hurt... if you're some overpowered rich kid with a cheat skill and a harem waiting for you, I swear I'm throwing myself off the highest building in Axel. My self-esteem can't take another perfect protagonist."
[Lady Avalon has logged on.]
Lady Avalon: "My, my~ ♡ A fresh soul to play with? How utterly delightful! Are you a hero? A villain? Or perhaps something... more exotic? Do tell us your story, mysterious stranger. I do so love watching new tales unfold—it's been dreadfully boring here lately~"
[Irene Belserion has logged on.]
Irene Belserion: "Quiet, all of you. Can't you see the child is processing a traumatic transition? Give the newcomer space before you bombard him with your incessant, trivial chatter. Show some dignity."
I didn't read any of it. I swatted the floating blue boxes away with an irritated thought, completely ignoring the holographic pop-star, the whiny teenager, the mischievous woman, and the stern command. My eyes remained locked on the vision the Arbiter showed me.
"Mr. Voice," I said, my tone cold. "Send me down there. Now."
"YOU ACCEPT THE VESSEL?"
"I don't care if you put me in a magical girl poodle," I growled. "Drop me in that alley. Now."
"AS YOU WISH."
The void collapsed in white light. Gravity slammed back into me. I smelled damp asphalt and that awful cologne.
I opened my eyes in the alley shadows. My hands were pale, youthful, clad in black leather. I felt my face—smooth skin, sharp jawline, glasses, dark hair. Black shirt, tie, trench coat. The Black Reaper phase. A bit edgy for a pensioner, but my joints felt fantastic.
I cracked my knuckles. The sound echoed. The strength coursing through this body was intoxicating.
I stepped out, coat snapping in the breeze. Ten feet away, the three delinquents still had Hina against the wall, that hand clamped around her wrist.
I didn't walk. I moved. Ghoul speed defied physics. One second at the alley entrance, the next behind the blonde, looming like death.
I reached out and clamped my gloved fingers on his shoulder. He froze, turned, annoyed.
"Hey, back off, four-eyes! Can't you see we're busy with—"
I gripped his collar and hoisted him off the ground with one arm, bringing us eye-to-eye. I pulled back my fist—channeling eighty years of grandfatherly fury, twenty years of teenage angst, hatred of NTR tropes, and Tokyo Ghoul strength.
I drove it into his smug face.
"ANTI GYAROU PUNCH!!!"
The impact sent a jolt of satisfaction vibrating up my arm.
The rat-faced blonde soared backward like a poorly thrown sack of flour, crashing headfirst into a pile of damp cardboard boxes at the alley's end. He didn't twitch.
"Bro!" One of the remaining delinquents yelped, his gelled spikes practically vibrating with shock. "You're dead, four-eyes!"
They lunged simultaneously, fists raised, reeking of cheap body spray.
'My eighty-year-old instincts screamed at me to brace for a shattered hip and six months of traction,' I thought, 'but this body...'
The reflexes were monstrous. I ducked under a telegraphed right hook with the grace of a gymnast—'and caught the punk's outstretched arm. A perfect pivot, a smooth rotation, and I sent him flying over my shoulder in a clean judo flip. 'My lower back didn't even twinge! Sixty years of morning stiffness, evaporated!'
I was so delighted I nearly laughed aloud. As he slammed into the pavement, I used the momentum to drive an uppercut into the third delinquent's stomach.
Crunch.
He folded like a deflating accordion, eyes bugging out of his tanned face before he collapsed beside his friend, clutching his gut and wheezing.
I stood straight, brushing imaginary dust off my pristine coat. 'That's the stuff. Clean, efficient, and not a single joint complaint.'
Then I turned to the wall.
My heart swelled. 'There she is. My little bird.'
She was nineteen now, taller, her face matured, but she had the same button nose and those big, expressive eyes that used to gaze up at me during Saturday cartoons. The love of a great-grandfather flooded my chest, washing away the alley's grime. I summoned the warmest, gentlest smile this sharp, edgy face could possibly manage.
I took a cheerful step forward, arms open. "Hello there—"
BZZZZZZT!
"YEEEOW!"
A piercing crack of electricity bit into my ribs. I yelped—somewhere between a startled chihuahua and a stepped-on squeaky toy—and stumbled back, clutching my side.
'Betrayal! Absolute betrayal!' The shock didn't injure this ghoul body, but heavens did it sting! 'My own precious great-granddaughter, frying me like common bacon!'
My heart shattered into a million geriatric pieces. The psychic damage far outweighed the physical.
"Stay back!" Hina demanded, thrusting a sparkly, pink, rhinestone-bedazzled stun gun at me like a miniature sword. Her hands trembled violently. "Who are you?! How did you move so fast?! Are you with the yakuza?! Are you a stalker?!"
I rubbed my ribs, wincing. 'Need to de-escalate. Need to look trustworthy before she cooks my nervous system.'
But how? 'What do young people think is cool nowadays?'
I wracked my brain, remembering Daiki's anime collection from the 2020s. 'Right. The cool mysterious protagonist. That's what they like.'
I straightened up, ignoring the pins-and-needles sensation. With theatrical precision, I pushed my glasses up my nose, making sure the streetlight reflected off the lenses in a cool, mysterious glare. I attempted a suave, reassuring smirk.
"Do not fear," I intoned, deepening my voice. "I am... your guardian angel."
It was meant to sound heroic.
Instead, Hina's expression shifted from terrified to thoroughly creeped out. Her lip curled in disgust, and she took another step forward, the pink taser buzzing menacingly '—aiming for my neck this time, the little rascal.'
"Wait, wait, wait! Put the sparkly torture device down!" I panicked, hands shooting up defensively. The cool persona evaporated, replaced by a frantic old man terrified of his own kin. "I know things! Things only family would know!"
Hina paused, eyes narrowing. The taser didn't lower. "Like what, you creep?"
"Like the fact that when you were a baby, you were an absolute terror!" I blurted, words spilling out in a desperate rush. "You'd scream the house down if anyone—but me—changed your dirty diapers! Your mother was at her wit's end! You only wanted your grandpa!"
Hina's face flushed crimson. "W-What?! Shut up!"
"And when you were four, you refused to sleep unless I rolled you up in your fluffy blankets!" I continued, gesturing wildly to mimic wrapping motions. "Burrito style, sitting in the armchair! Then you graduated to the 'ball wrap' so you could bounce on the cushions like a rolly-poly!"
Hina's jaw unhinged. The taser wavered, the buzzing finally stopping. Her eyes darted over my unfamiliar, trench-coated figure, struggling to comprehend how this edgy, yakuza-looking stranger knew her most embarrassing secrets.
Seeing her guard drop, I lowered my hands. I let out a soft, fond sigh, the adrenaline fading completely. I looked at her, letting the unconditional affection pool into my eyes.
"But..." I murmured, my voice cracking as the weight of how much I'd missed her settled over me. "...no matter how fussy you got, or how much you cried... you always calmed down for my special handmade strawberry candy... didn't you, my little bird?"
The sparkly, pink, rhinestone-bedazzled stun gun slipped from Hina's trembling fingers. It hit the damp asphalt with a pathetic clatter, the angry electrical buzzing finally dying out entirely.
Her big, expressive eyes, wide with terror just moments before, locked onto my face. She searched my unfamiliar, youthful features, looking past the stylish round glasses and sharp jawline, trying desperately to find the grumpy, tired old man who used to fall asleep in the recliner with the television blaring.
Her lower lip quivered. "G... Grandpa...?"
"In the flesh, my little bird," I said softly, my voice losing all its feigned bravado. I gave her the exact same warm, crinkly-eyed smile I used to give her when she'd show me a messy crayon drawing from elementary school. "Well, not exactly my original flesh, as you can see. The knees work a lot better now, and my back doesn't sound like stepping on dry leaves anymore. But it's me. It's really me."
That was all it took.
Hina let out a sound that was half-gasp, half-sob. She launched herself forward, completely ignoring that I looked like a dangerous enforcer, and slammed into my chest. Her arms wrapped around my midsection with the desperate, crushing grip of someone who had been drowning for years and had finally found a lifeboat. She buried her face into the dark fabric of my trench coat and began to wail.
It wasn't a delicate, polite cry. It was the messy, loud, entirely uninhibited sobbing of a child who had finally been reunited with her absolute favorite person in the entire universe.
"Waaaaah! Grandpa! I missed you! I missed you so much!" she bawled, her tears soaking through my crisp black shirt. "You took so long! I thought I was all alone!"
All the tension, the righteous anger at her attackers, the confusion of this bizarre afterlife—it all melted away into a puddle at my feet. I wrapped my arms around her shoulders, pulling her tight against me. I rested my chin on the top of her head, gently stroking her hair with my black-gloved hand just like I used to when she was eight years old and had nightmares about monsters under the bed.
"I know, sweetie. I know," I murmured, rocking her slightly back and forth in the middle of the alley. "I'm so sorry I left you alone. I'm so sorry my foolish children didn't take proper care of you. I missed so much. I closed my eyes when you were just eight, and now... look at you. You grew into such a beautiful young woman, and I wasn't there to see any of it."
"I... I was so scared," she hiccuped, clutching my shirt so tightly her knuckles turned white. "Everything changed when you left. The house got so quiet, and then everyone started yelling... and then I was here, in this weird city..."
"Hush now," I soothed, patting her back in a steady, rhythmic pattern. "We don't need to talk about the bad things right now. You've been very brave. So brave, my little bird."
We stood there in that dingy convenience store alleyway for a good ten minutes, me just holding her while she cried out decades of pent-up grief and loneliness. I didn't care if the delinquents on the ground groaned, or if passersby looked at us strangely from the main street. My only priority was the trembling girl in my arms. Slowly, the heavy, racking sobs turned into manageable hiccups, and finally, into a long, exhausted sigh.
She pulled back slightly, wiping her red, puffy eyes with the back of her sleeve. A wobbly, brilliant smile broke across her face. "You're really here. I can't believe it."
"Believe it," I chuckled, fishing a pristine white handkerchief from my pocket and gently dabbing at her tears. "Now, let's get out of this filthy alley before those three bleach-blonde buffoons wake up. I don't want to have to discipline them a second time tonight."
Hina giggled, a sweet, musical sound that made my eighty-year-old soul sing.
We stepped out onto the neon-lit sidewalk of this strange, parallel-world modern city. Without even thinking about it, I offered her my hand. 'It was pure muscle memory from when she was a little girl. Whenever we walked to the park or the grocery store, she always held my hand so she wouldn't get lost in the crowds.'
Hina looked at my gloved hand, then up at my face, and a furious blush suddenly painted her cheeks. She tentatively reached out and intertwined her fingers with mine.
"What is it?" I asked, raising an eyebrow behind my glasses as we began to stroll down the pavement. "Are my hands cold?"
"N-No, it's not that," Hina stammered, looking away, her face practically glowing red under the streetlights. "It's just... you look so different, Grandpa! I was expecting an old man with a walking stick! But you look like... like an absolute Ikemen! you're so brooding and handsome! It feels weird holding hands with a guy who looks like a cover model!"
I smiled my usual fond and affectionate smile coming onto this youthful brooding face
"Well, you can thank your late grandfather Daiki for the fashion sense," I explained, swinging our joined hands lightly as we walked. "The voice up in the starry void told me I needed a formidable vessel to protect you. I demanded something practical, so it gave me the body of some fellow from one of those comic books Daiki used to leave lying around the living room. Sasaki Haise, I believe the name was."
Hina's eyes widened in realization, nodding enthusiastically. "Oh! I know that one! Dad had the whole box set! That makes so much sense. You definitely have that whole tragic backstory aura going on. It suits you, actually. But wait... how do you know what to do in this world? Have you been here long?"
"I haven't the faintest idea how this world operates," I admitted cheerfully, dodging a businessman rushing past us. "I just arrived about five minutes ago. But you seem to have been here a while. You've lived a whole life without me."
Hina sighed, leaning her head against my arm for a moment as we walked. "Yeah. It's been a long time. After... after I died back home, I woke up in this world. But not as a teenager! I was reborn as a literal baby! Grandpa, do you have any idea how humiliating it is to have an older brain but lack the motor skills to hold your own neck up?"
"I can certainly imagine," I chuckled, giving her hand a gentle squeeze.
"It was awful!" she groaned, rolling her eyes dramatically. "I had to go through elementary school all over again without you! Learning basic fractions for the second time was absolute torture! But, there was a silver lining. When I was reborn, a weird blue screen popped up in front of me. I got a System!"
"A system?" I frowned, the word bringing up vague memories of the grandsons playing their noisy video games...'ah wait, what was that thing that showed up earlier again?'
"Sort of! It's like a magical cheat ability that reincarnated people get in those novels," Hina explained, her eyes sparkling with excitement. "But mine isn't overpowered like shooting fireballs or flying or anything dangerous. It just gives me random stuff. Mostly items from Earth. Specifically, it seems completely obsessed with giving me manga, light novels, and snacks from when you and Dad were younger! Every week, I get a supply drop of retro stuff right into my inventory!"
"Is that so?" I hummed, stroking my chin thoughtfully. "Well, at least you haven't been bored growing up all over again."
"Exactly! I've been hoarding them for years. I'm going to look through my collection when we get to my apartment," Hina said proudly, puffing her chest out. "I have over a thousand volumes now! It's basically a historical library of classic literature!"
'My grandpa radar immediately began to ping. A loud, piercing, imaginary alarm bell went off in my head. A thousand random comic books?' I raised several boys, including her father and grandfather. 'I remembered the kind of degenerate material my boys used to try and hide under their mattresses and behind their bookshelves.'
I stopped walking abruptly. I turned to look at her, my expression shifting from warm and grandfatherly to stern and incredibly serious. I adjusted my glasses slowly.
"A thousand volumes, you say?" I asked, my voice dropping an octave into my strict-parent tone.
"Y-Yeah?" Hina blinked, sensing the sudden, dangerous shift in the atmosphere.
"Hina," I said, folding my arms across my chest and looking at her with the ultimate glare of patriarchal authority. "I am going to have to inspect this collection of yours. Immediately upon arrival. I am going to comb through every single page."
"What?! Why?!"
"To make sure there is no hentai in there!" I declared loudly, not caring who on the busy street heard me.
Hina let out a squeak of absolute panic, her face turning so red it rivaled a stoplight. She began waving her hands frantically in front of her. "G-Grandpa! Shhhh! Don't just say that out loud! People are staring!"
"I raised boys, Hina! I know exactly what kind of smut they printed back in those days! Tentacles, hypnosis, time stopping, literal aphrodisiac zombie virus!!! I won't have it under my roof! Or your roof! I am confiscating any and all indecent materials!"
"No, wait! You can't!" Hina panicked, grabbing the sleeve of my trench coat. She looked left and right, sweating profusely. "I... I can't give those up! Some of the hentais and mangas... they're real!"
I froze. I stared at her, my brain refusing to process the words she had just spoken.
"They're... what?" I repeated, absolutely deadpan.
"They're real!" Hina squeaked, doubling down. "This world is completely crazy, Grandpa! It's an amalgamation of all sorts of stories! If I don't read the mature mangas, how am I supposed to know who is who? I need to know the lore!"
"The lore?!" I gasped, clutching my chest almost falling to the ground in shock.
"Yes! For example..." Hina lowered her voice, looking incredibly guilty. "You know that... um... Master Piece The Animation? The really famous hentai one?"
My jaw dropped. 'I knew exactly which one she meant. I remember confiscating that exact cursed DVD from her father's stash years ago and throwing it directly into the incinerator.'
"Hina... please tell me you did not..."
"I'm currently living with the three main heroines from it!" Hina blurted out. "They needed a place to rent, and I needed roommates to cover the lease on my apartment! They're actually really nice girls when they aren't... you know! And surprisingly, the main male character of that animation doesn't even exist in this world, so they're totally safe and normal!"
Tears began to well up in my eyes. Actual, genuine tears of grandfatherly despair. I looked up at the neon-lit sky, clutching my chest as if I had been physically wounded by a shotgun blast.
"Oh, heavens above," I wept dramatically, wiping my eyes behind my glasses. "My sweet, innocent little eight-year-old bird. I miss your childhood, and you grow up to become a degenerate landlord for adult animation characters! Where did I go wrong? Was it my fault for dying too early? I failed you! The world has completely corrupted my sweet angel!"
"Grandpa, you're overreacting! I'm an adult! I'm nineteen now!" Hina protested, though she looked thoroughly embarrassed. "It's just rent money! I had to survive!"
"Clearly, I have been absent for too long," I sniffled, pulling myself together and standing up straight. I puffed my chest out, projecting the absolute maximum amount of authority I could muster in this five-foot-seven body. "The lack of discipline in my absence has been a total disaster. You are living in a den of iniquity! It ends tonight. As your guardian, I am stepping back into my role. I am going to have to start disciplining you much harder!"
Hina gulped, taking a nervous step back. "W-What do you mean?"
"First of all," I declared, holding up one leather-gloved finger. "You are completely grounded from my handmade strawberry sweets. You will receive absolutely no grandpa-candy until your room is thoroughly inspected, the smut is secured in a lockbox, and I have a long, stern conversation with your roommates about their life choices!"
Hina crossed her arms, trying to look defiant and mature, though her bottom lip was jutting out slightly. She looked away, pouting exactly like she did when she was a little kid denied a toy. "Hmph. Fine. I'm nineteen anyway. I'm a teenager. I don't even need your sweets anymore. I can buy my own grown-up snacks at the convenience store. I outgrew candy years ago."
I narrowed my eyes. 'She thought she could bluff me? Me? The man who successfully raised a house full of rebellious, lying orphans from scratch? She had merely adopted the teenage rebellion because I wasn't there to guide her through it.'
I leaned in close, ensuring she heard my next words with crystal clarity. 'I deployed the ultimate, nuclear option of grandfatherly punishments. A punishment so severe it bypassed her nineteen-year-old pride and struck directly at the core of the eight-year-old girl who had missed me so terribly.'
"No more bedtime talking."
Hina's defiant facade shattered into a million pieces instantly. Her eyes blew wide open in sheer, unadulterated horror. 'Bedtime talking was our sacred ritual!' It was the thirty minutes before sleep where I would sit on the edge of her bed, listen to her ramble about her day, tell her stories, and make sure she felt safe before the lights went out.
She dropped to her knees right there on the sidewalk, completely uncaring of the dirt or the stares of the pedestrians. She lunged forward, desperately wrapping her arms around my pant legs, gripping the fabric of my black trousers as if her very life depended on it.
"nnNNNNOOOOOO!!!"
"That's final," I declared, my voice echoing with absolute, uncompromising grandfatherly authority.
I turned on my heel and began to walk down the neon-lit sidewalk. For the first few steps, my progress was significantly hindered by the fact that I was dragging a sobbing nineteen-year-old girl across the pavement. Hina clung to my slacks like a barnacle to a ship's hull, wailing about how unfair the world was and how she promised to be good.
"Get up, you're getting street grime all over your knees," I scolded lightly, though I couldn't completely hide the fond amusement in my voice. "And don't think tears will work on me, young lady. I invented the counter-measures to the puppy-dog eyes before your father was even born."
Realizing her ultimate weapon was useless against my ironclad discipline, Hina finally let go of my leg. She sniffled, dusted off her skirt with a heavy, dramatic sigh, and trudged after me, her shoulders slumped in absolute defeat.
The walk to her apartment was a quiet one, mostly consisting of Hina occasionally shooting me pitiful glances that I expertly ignored, and me marveling at how smoothly my knees bent with every step. I didn't need a walking cane! I wasn't out of breath! Oh, the sheer joy of a brisk evening walk without feeling like my spine was made of rusty hinges.
Eventually, we arrived at a surprisingly upscale apartment building tucked away in a quieter district of the city. As we rode the elevator up, I let out a long, weary sigh, the adrenaline of the night's events finally beginning to ebb.
It was then that I noticed the little blue icon pulsing insistently in the very corner of my vision.
Ah, right. The magical computer thing. The Arbiter had given me a 'System' too, hadn't he?
With a mental nudge, I opened the interface. A translucent blue screen popped up right in front of my face, nearly giving me a heart attack. It was filled with a massive backlog of unread messages from that 'Multiversal Groupchat'.
[Multiversal Groupchat]
Hatsune Miku: "Is he ignoring us? (´• ω •`) Maybe he doesn't know how to type?"
Lady Avalon: "My, my~ Has the bud fallen before it could open? What a tragedy... I had so wanted to cultivate a beautiful, handsome flower in this garden. But perhaps he's simply lost in a pleasant dream? Dreams are such delicate, fleeting things... like petals caught in the morning breeze~ ♡"
Irene Belserion: "Patience. Give them some time."
I frowned, adjusting my round glasses.
'What a noisy bunch of youngsters. I supposed it would be terribly rude of me not to at least introduce myself, even if they were just holograms or whatever this witchcraft was.'
I squinted at the floating keyboard, my fingers clumsily poking at the air to type a message. It felt ridiculous, like trying to play a piano made of fog.
Sasaki: "Hello. I am Sasaki. I apologize for the delay. I am currently very busy disciplining my great-granddaughter. I will speak to you all later."
I nodded to myself, satisfied with my perfectly polite, to-the-point introduction. I reached up to physically swipe the window away, ready to be done with the internet for the day.
Suddenly, the screen practically exploded with a frantic ping.
Kazuma Sato: "WAIT! HOLD ON! BEFORE YOU GO!!!"
Kazuma Sato: "Are you... are you a fellow man?!"
I stopped, my finger hovering in the air. I stared at the message, completely bewildered. What kind of profoundly stupid question was that? I furrowed my youthful brow. Is Sasaki not a male-oriented name? I certainly hoped it was! Daiki always said this character was a cool guy. What if the Arbiter had tricked me and this was actually a girl's name in this era?!
Panic briefly flared in my chest, but I firmly pushed it down. No, I was wearing a suit. I had a sharp jawline. I was a man.
Sasaki: "Yes."
Kazuma Sato: "YES!!! OH THANK THE GODS! FINALLY! NOT ANOTHER OP WAIFU! A BROTHER IN ARMS! WE HAVE SO MUCH TO DISCUSS!"
I rolled my eyes, feeling a headache coming on. Teenagers were exhausting no matter what universe you were in. I didn't have time for this Kazuma boy's yelling. Without another word, I decisively shut the interface off, plunging my vision back into the quiet reality of the elevator just as the doors dinged open.
"Right this way, Grandpa," Hina mumbled, leading me down a plush, carpeted hallway.
She stopped in front of a heavy wooden door, tapped a keycard, and pushed it open. I stepped inside and immediately felt my jaw slacken.
I was expecting a tiny, cramped, messy college dorm. Instead, I walked into a massive, sprawling penthouse suite. It had vaulted ceilings, sparkling chandeliers, a gorgeous open-concept kitchen with marble countertops, and a living room that looked larger than the entire house I raised my children in back on Earth.
"Good heavens," I whispered, slowly taking my shoes off at the entrance. "Hina... how on earth are you affording this? You said you were nineteen! Are those... are those solid oak floors?!"
Hina rubbed the back of her neck, a sheepish but undeniably proud smile breaking through her earlier gloom. "I told you, Grandpa, my System gives me stuff from Earth. Rare manga, out-of-print novels, vintage consoles... and it turns out, in this parallel world, some of that stuff is considered super high-tier magical artifacts or incredibly valuable lost media. Collectors pay an absolute fortune for it."
She walked over to a sleek digital safe embedded in the wall, typed in a passcode, and pulled out a sleek, black tablet. She tapped the screen a few times and handed it to me.
"I'm actually quite rich," she said casually.
I put my glasses on properly and peered at the glowing numbers on the banking app.
Current Balance: ¥247,283,913
I choked on my own spit. My eyes bugged out so far they nearly pressed against my lenses. Two hundred and forty-seven million yen?! That was an astronomical sum! I had spent my entire adult life pinching pennies, clipping coupons, and eating instant noodles so my kids could have decent winter coats, and my little bird was sitting on a dragon's hoard of wealth!
Before I could even process the sheer magnitude of those numbers, Hina walked over to a side table, picked up a sleek platinum debit card, and practically shoved it into my chest.
"Here," she said brightly. "I transferred forty-five million yen to this secondary account. It's for you."
My brain bluescreened. The tablet slipped from my hands, barely caught by my supernatural reflexes before it shattered on the oak floor.
"F-Forty-five million?!" I stammered, my voice cracking, stumbling backward as if the tiny plastic card in her hand was a live grenade. "Hina! Have you lost your mind?! I cannot accept this!"
"Why not?" she blinked, looking genuinely confused. "You don't have any money in this world, Grandpa. You need clothes, food, maybe a nice watch... oh, we should definitely get you a nice watch to go with that suit!"
"Absolutely not!" I panicked, throwing my hands up and backing away from the card. "I am the patriarch of this family! I am the elder! I should be giving you pocket change for the arcade, not the other way around! What kind of degenerate, deadbeat grandfather leeches millions of yen off his nineteen-year-old great-granddaughter?! I would be a disgrace to my ancestors!"
"Grandpa, seriously, it's fine!" Hina laughed, taking a step forward and trying to press the card into my gloved hand. "My System makes making money incredibly fast. I sold a single mint-condition volume of Dragon Ball last week and made enough to pay rent for the year! This is just pocket change to me!"
"Pocket change?! It's enough to buy a modest house in the suburbs!" I protested, bobbing and weaving away from her attempts to hand me the money with all the agility my new body provided.
"Just take it!" she whined, stamping her foot. "You took care of me when I was little! You fed me, you clothed me, you bought me toys even when you were broke! Let me spoil you for once!"
That stopped me in my tracks.
I looked at her earnest, pleading face. She wasn't just throwing money around carelessly; she was trying to take care of me. The little girl I had wrapped up like a burrito was now trying to wrap me up in financial security.
A complex knot of profound pride and deep, agonizing grandfatherly embarrassment tightened in my chest. Slowly, with a trembling, leather-gloved hand, I reached out and took the platinum card. It felt heavier than a bowling ball.
"I... fine. I will accept this... for basic necessities," I muttered, my cheeks burning red with humiliation. I couldn't even look her in the eye. A patriarch, relying on his little bird. The shame was immeasurable.
But as I slipped the card into the inner pocket of my trench coat, a fiery resolve ignited within my soul.
I won't be a burden, I have a System now too. That Arbiter fellow gave me this Multiversal Groupchat thing. I don't know how it works, and I don't care how many noisy teenagers I have to deal with. If there is a way to make money through it, I will figure it out. I will exploit the ever-loving life out of that chat room! I will become the wealthiest grandfather in the multiverse, and I will repay my little Hina a hundredfold! Just you wait!
"Now," Hina clapped her hands together, pulling me from my internal monologue, completely oblivious to my secret vow of multiversal capitalism. "Since you're officially moved in, let me introduce you to my roommates! They should be in the lounge!"
My strict-parent radar instantly rebooted, the humiliation of the money completely forgotten.
"Ah, yes," I said, my voice turning frighteningly calm, my posture stiffening into that of an elite military general. I reached up and adjusted my glasses, a dangerous glint reflecting off the lenses. "The roommates. The ones from the... Animation."