Chapter 1

――There's a sense of regret.

Fortune and misfortune.

Reality lies in a place beyond the reach of daily actions and efforts.

Talent one is born with.

Unavoidable misfortune that befalls one, leaving no room for action.

Such things exist in people, and in that regard, I have been generally fortunate.

I have never struggled for food since I was born, and I have lived without suffering from any major illness.

Thanks to a favorable environment, I have encountered things that interested me and could focus on learning them.

I can't say I have accomplished everything I wanted to do, but that's what life is.

It was just that the timing of my death was sudden.

I couldn't bring myself to hate the person who caused this accident.

However, I think there was more I could have done with the way I chose to live.

I wonder if I could have repaid my family, who helped me live the way I wanted, and my friends who were always there for me a little more.

Perhaps I tried to be alone too much, even though it was due to my personality.

In the fading consciousness, I felt a formless sense of regret lingering in my heart.

◇◆◇◆◇

I can hear a voice.

What is it...? It sounds like a song, but I've never heard these words before...

I can't see very well.

I can sense the presence of people and living things around me.

My body moves, but I have no strength.

Ah... Could it be that I was seriously injured in the accident and have some kind of aftereffect?

Is there a nurse call button? I can't press it in this state.

I've regained consciousness, but will anyone notice...

I hope someone will notice...

Several days passed.

The situation was far more serious than I had imagined.

My body still doesn't move well.

I can't see clearly, but I can tell the difference between day and night by the light.

During this time, I realized that I am not bedridden due to an accident or something.

I know this because...

I receive regular feedings...

In other words, I am a baby...

When it first happened, I was shocked.

I was lifted up and spoken to from a high position, and I was in a panic.

The instinct as a living being to know what to do is really terrifying.

However, humans adapt.

Now I can drink milk without any problems, and even being changed is part of my daily routine.

There's a limit to how much I can endure.

Each time, I feel a bit of guilt, but there's nothing I can do.

There's one more thing I noticed.

I am not the only one receiving "care for life" here.

There is another baby.

I often hear crying and sometimes our fingertips touch.

So, they must be right next to me.

I don't know if it's a boy or a girl, but they are probably my sibling.

It's tough to be woken up by crying when I'm trying to sleep.

However, since they can't understand words, there's no point in trying to reason with them.

They probably can't understand words either.

I just have to endure.

After all, I'm also causing trouble, so let's get along, buddy.

Recently, my main focus has been language learning.

The only other thing I can do is cry and ask to be held.

—I tried practicing whistling, but it didn't work.

Above all, understanding words will broaden my world.

I am very serious about this.

The only material I have is the words I hear occasionally.

It's a Spartan listening-only method, but it's surprisingly working.

Everyone learns words this way, so maybe it's natural.

So far, I have learned a few names.

My name is Ein, and the one next to me is Kyle.

We seem to be siblings, but I don't know who is older.

We are probably twins.

I'm glad it's not Cain and Abel.

Elise, who I think is our mother, might be a nickname.

She sometimes sings, which is one of my few pleasures.

The language here seems to have a grammar similar to English.

The order is subject, verb, object.

The command form also starts with the verb.

I can't pronounce words properly yet.

My tongue doesn't move well.

Is this what being tongue-tied means?

For now, I'll focus on expanding my vocabulary.

Recently, my vision has started to improve.

I'm really happy.

It's still blurry, but the amount of information I can take in is much better.

There are many things I want to observe, but one thing I can say is—Isn't Kyle too cute?

He has fluffy, smooth blonde hair, yes, blonde.

His eyes are a light greenish blue.

His skin is so fine, it feels like silk.

He often looks at me intently.

I guess we have nothing to do and are bored, so I understand.

And sometimes he smiles softly.

This is not good, he's an angel.

Are babies this cute?

If I keep rolling around next to him, I'll become a brother complex.

Buddy, are you really my sibling to begin with?

I have doubts about our relationship.

I also think Elise (for now) is quite beautiful.

It's hard to compare, but she is the most beautiful among the people who come in and out of this room.

Kyle's hair and eyes probably come from her.

And isn't she quite young?

She looks younger than me in my previous life, which makes me feel uneasy...

Looking around, I can tell that the room, the cribs, and the swaddling clothes are quite retro.

The clothes look hand-sewn.

I have plenty of time to think, so I come up with various hypotheses about my situation.

There's one more thing that has been bothering me since the beginning.

In this body, I have a kind of sixth sense.

I can feel something flowing around my body, even though I can't see it.

By paying close attention, I can tell if there are people outside the room.

Am I a superhuman?

And by carefully observing, I can feel something stagnant inside me.

It seems to be the same as what is outside, but it feels heavy.

And there's not much of a flow.

I have found that I can move this "something" inside me with my will.

By circulating a tiny bit of it through my body, I feel much better.

With this, I can crawl! It feels like that.

Maybe babies learn to walk like this.

Life is amazing.

Since I realized this, I spend most of my time, especially at night, thinking and practicing circulation.

For convenience, I call the something outside "Mana" and the something inside "Odo."

It feels like yoga or chakras, and naming them makes it feel more magical.

By naming and practicing, I can now crawl and am practicing standing up using the crib's railing.

Recently, Kyle's gaze has been intense.

It's obvious that it's because of my circulation practice.

Sorry, I know it's distracting when I roll over and crawl next to you.

Kyle is usually quiet and doesn't move much.

He just looks at me with his gem-like eyes.

I feel a lot of guilt, so I decided to try a few things.

First, I held Kyle's hand and tried to explore his inside.

I have Odo, and maybe Kyle does too.

After some trial and error, I got it! This is definitely Kyle's Odo, though it behaves a bit differently from mine.

Next, I tried to interfere with Kyle's Odo while circulating my own.

Oh... I think it worked.

Kyle's eyes widen.

Can you understand, buddy? This is Odo! (My naming)

I slowed down my circulation and gradually started to circulate Kyle's Odo.

Kyle's snow-like cheeks turned red.

His eyes remained wide open and didn't move at all.

Blink, please.

You look like a doll made by God...

I thought it might not be good if this state continued, so I slowly slowed down and stopped.

Kyle returned to his usual angelic self.

I'm relieved.

After that, Kyle started to look at me with a meaningful gaze, so I helped him with circulation a few times.

During circulation, he becomes a divine baby, probably with more aura than me.

One day, Kyle started to circulate on his own.

It's not as fast as when I help, but it's definitely circulation.

I can tell even without touching.

This is what it looks like from the outside.

Then Kyle rolled over.

It's his first roll.

And this smile.

Combined with the circulation aura, he is a real angel.

To be able to make a doya face and become an angel... What are you, man...

Since then, the baby room has been in a circulation boom.

I've been adjusting Kyle's circulation speed to prevent it from getting too fast.

Buddy is reasonable and doesn't increase the rotation speed (for now) too much.

I'm glad...

However, our noisy bed has drawn attention, and it was inevitable that our standing practice would be noticed.

Kyle was the first to be noticed.

I had been practicing in secret.

Ilma, a woman who often changes our diapers, noticed Kyle crawling and left the room with wide eyes.

After a while, Ilma returned with Elise and excitedly talked about something while looking at us.

Her tone was fast, and there were many words I didn't understand, but I could tell it was about Kyle crawling.

At that time, we were sitting facing each other and playing a hand-holding game, which Kyle has recently enjoyed.

Elise, who seemed to be listening to Ilma, picked us up and carried us around the crib.

I could tell she was flustered.

I'm impressed she could carry both of us...

Kyle was very excited.

After that, Elise muttered something and instructed Ilma to call someone, then sat down in a chair, looking exhausted.

After that, it was busy.

Several adults came in and out, examining us.

Some seemed to be clergy, and some seemed to be doctors.

After talking for a while, they all left the room.

When it was completely dark, Elise hugged us one by one and whispered words of reassurance.

I'm glad she's calmed down.

However, I feel the helplessness of being a baby, and I mutter to Kyle, who looks at me with a puzzled face.

I can't actually speak, so I just look back silently.

Being a baby is really inconvenient...

I realized again how worrying one's family can be.

After that, our daily lives changed a bit.

There were more people in the baby room.

It's a bit unsettling, but I have more opportunities to listen to conversations, so my language learning is going well.

Kyle's physical training is progressing rapidly, but the adults around us don't say much.

I continue my circulation practice, so I show the adults that I can stand and walk, following Kyle.

Recently, the weather has been warmer.

Now that we can both walk, we are finally allowed to go outside.