Chapter 47 Ayumu’s Parents
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
(Father…? Ah… this is… inside a dream…)
Ayumu saw his father standing before him and, for a fleeting moment, thought he had returned to his original world. But it wasn’t so. As far as he could see, the surroundings matched those from the time he had attended elementary school in Rhode Island, in the Northeastern United States.
(That’s right… this was the day I—unlucky me—was caught red-handed taking a military-related book from Father’s study. He was a Coast Guard warrant officer, and I was sneaking it into my room… only to run into him when he was supposed to be working in Boston. Then… he beat me senseless with close-quarters combat techniques!)
Because it was a dream, his small hands now clutched a book he had once adored as a child—a dangerously titled volume: On the Manufacture of Chemical Weapons from a Scientific Theory Perspective. The shock of recognition made him grip it tighter.
”Ayumu—!!” his father roared, his voice cutting through the air. “You snuck into my office again, didn’t you?!”
Though not white, his father was a third-generation Japanese American and a former member of the Maritime Safety Sada Rapid Response Unit. With a face twisted in fury, he advanced on Ayumu. Even in a dream, there was no mistaking that expression—it was the look of a predator. Ayumu knew there was nothing to do but run like a rabbit from a wolf.
”Uwaaaaaaahhh!” Ayumu screamed, his legs pumping desperately as he tore through the house.
That violent father… the kind of man who would not hesitate to punish his own child. Even here, in a dream, the fear was suffocating.
* * *
He kept running through what was once their home in America—until suddenly, the scenery shifted. Without warning, he found himself in the bustling streets of Yokosuka, the homeland of his mother’s birth.
It was here, in this town, that he had spent his middle school years after his parents divorced. There was nothing romantic about their meeting—his mother, during her time as a sex worker, had met his father, who was on a solo posting from America, and they had married internationally.
When the divorce came, she returned to Yokosuka. A high school dropout, she couldn’t secure a decent job, and so they lived in poverty. Returning from America, broke, with a mother known for her past as a sex worker… there was no shortage of fuel for bullying.
This was the life of Ayumu Sanai—his half-life.
And yet, he hadn’t given up. Even as a middle schooler, he worked hard, filing a patent with the patent office for a core technology that prevented internet connection congestion. He sold it to a globally diverse start-up for three billion yen, and finally entered high school, believing he could live a normal life at last.
But then… he had been thrown into this other world, forced into survival and rebuilding his efforts from scratch.
(Enough is enough…)
Standing in the familiar bustle of Yokosuka, Ayumu turned slowly—only to find that the scenery had changed again. He was back in his childhood home in America.
His father stood behind him. Without warning, the man seized Ayumu by the collar and began to choke him.
”Ayumu!!! If only—! If only—! If only you had never been born!!!” His father’s grip tightened, fury distorting his features.
Behind him, Ayumu’s mother stood motionless. Even as her son was strangled by his own father, she did not flinch. Her eyes were cold.
(You know… it would have been better… if you had never been born.)
It wasn’t just her. The faces of the bullies from middle school emerged from the darkness, surrounding him.
”Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!” Ayumu’s scream tore through the dream.
* * *
He jolted awake in his home in the other world.
”Haah! Haah… haah…” His chest heaved, breath ragged.
His nightclothes clung to him, drenched in cold sweat.
”It was… just a dream…” he muttered, voice hoarse.
Rising from his bed, he reached for the water bucket and drank deeply, letting the cool water soothe his parched throat.
Even now, he couldn’t shake the sense that, back in his original world, his father and mother were locked in a bitter struggle over the wealth he had left behind.
And somehow… he was certain he was right.
Notes:
• Sada – A bullied student with a dark and arrogant personality, who awakens as a Dark Knight.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
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