Volume 2 Chapter 1 Reincarnated as a Modern Japanese
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
”Ma-kun, aren’t you a lucky boy? You’re all better now, aren’t you?”
As I am picked up and swayed rhythmically by a woman, I raise my hand to respond to that voice speaking to me in Japanese.
”Mm~, Ma-kun worked so hard. You really… you really did your best…”
The woman’s smile suddenly crumbles, and tears begin to spill out. I want to comfort her, but in my current state, I can only desperately reach out with my tiny hands.
”Mm? Sorry… Mama just got so happy,” the woman said.
She readjusts her hold on me. I touch her face as she draws near and wipe away the tears.
”Mm? Ma-kun, are you doing ‘yoshi-yoshi’ to me? Hehe, thank you~,” she said, smiling.
Yeah. I definitely prefer her smiling face. Because I’m finally full of energy now.
* * *
So, the point is, I-Satake-after various things happened, met a Megami-sama¹ and gained a chance to reincarnate.
It was a trope I’d read a thousand times in stories, but I never thought it would actually happen to me. Even the scenery I’m looking at now-I might believe it if someone told me I was still in a dream.
However, immediately after the reincarnation, it was pure hell.
While my hazy consciousness gradually sharpened, what attacked me was intense, searing pain. While awake, I could do nothing but endure the crushing malaise and a headache that felt like my skull was splitting; before I knew it, my consciousness would slip away. Then I’d be jolted awake by that same agonizing fire. Over and over.
When would this hell end? I cursed that Goddess more times than I could count.
But that intense pain, which I thought would last forever, eventually faded. By the time about three years had passed by my subjective physical sensation… I became mostly able to endure it. Once I finally had the mental leeway to look at my surroundings, I devoted myself to grasping the situation.
The words I hear are Japanese… they have to be.
The era… I don’t have enough technical knowledge to identify it from hospital equipment, but I feel it isn’t that different from when I died. If I think about it logically, I’m probably within several dozen days of my death… unless time in that white void was distorted. For that matter, is this even the same world I knew?
But honestly, being told this is Japan feels completely natural. There’s even a sense of security in it.
…
That Goddess. She really reincarnated me into the same world, and modern Japan at that.
…Are you freaking kidding me?
Certainly, there might be nowhere better than here in terms of cleanliness, medical technology, and public safety. Since it’s an environment you can’t get just by wishing for it, maybe I should be happy. In fact, the reason I, who almost died immediately after being born, am alive right now is likely because this is modern Japan.
I’m grateful for that. To the doctors and nurses of this hospital, anyway! Not the Goddess.
That aside.
What is so depressing about being in this familiar world? Labor productivity and wages are low, the future is pitch black with a declining birthrate and aging society, and despite the fact that the nail that sticks out gets hammered down, you have to respond to a situation that is constantly changing and accelerating-otherwise, you’ll be left behind to rot.
I’ll say it again. Are you freaking kidding me?
…
That said, since I’ve been born, I have no choice but to live. Because although this new life is “me,” it isn’t the “me” from before.
Looking at the woman holding me-Mother-who looked so worried about me, even though I must look like a normal infant, I felt that conviction strongly.
…
It’s not like I fell in love at first sight, okay?
She’s a sophisticated beauty, like a sharp student council president with a slightly delicate, tragic air. The type who is usually hyper-competent but seems vulnerable to sudden pressure… a “capable person” you just want to protect.
She happened to hit my preferred type right on the mark, that’s all!
I might have actually felt a spark of gratitude toward that Goddess. Just a little!
…
Anyway, that’s how it is. I have to make this woman happy.
I never want to see that expression again-the one I saw through that transparent incubator wall, where she was tormented by self-reproach and looked in such pain.
In my previous life, I couldn’t get anything right, but in this life…
Therefore, I’ve decided to take the matter of my previous life to the grave. I mean, if she thought the soul or consciousness of some guy had taken over her child… she’d be like, “Are you kidding me!”, right? On top of that, we’re going to live together from now on. From a woman’s perspective, it would be nothing but disgusting.
My own “Are you kidding me!” would be blown away in an instant. I’d be too embarrassed to even say it. I do worry about the people from my past, but what on earth could I even tell them now? There’s nothing left I can do for them…
”…”
”Mm? Staring at Mama’s face? What’s wrong?”
”…”
”Hehe, Ma-kun, it’s Mama~,” she said gently.
The gap between her “hard-working career woman” aura and those sweet, doting words is irresistible. She looks definitely younger than I was when I died, even if she’s a bit haggard, yet she’s trying her absolute hardest to spoil me.
…I wonder if this is that ‘babumi’² Hirose was always talking about. I thought he was an idiot when I heard it, but experiencing it for real… it’s not bad.
However, the fact that this woman is my mother means that naturally a being called a “father” also exists. I haven’t met him yet, but the thought leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Why am I the son…?
Kuh… well, fine. I’ve heard that for a mother, once a child is born, that child becomes the absolute priority. If I think about how I can monopolize this woman’s affection, I actually start to feel sorry for the father.
…Oops, dangerous. While saying I’ll take my previous life to the grave, my disgusting male nature is already leaking out. I am a family member. I am the son. I must be a pillar of rationality. I must be the perfect “Ma-kun.”
…I wonder what Ma-kun’s real name is? Also, I’d like to ask your name as well…
* * *
Then came the day of my discharge.
”Doctor, thank you truly for everything,” Mother said.
”No, I wasn’t able to be of much help… It’s all thanks to Ma-kun fighting so hard to live. Right, Ma-kun?” the doctor replied.
No, Doctor, I’m truly grateful to you. I don’t remember much because I was in a daze, but it’s precisely because of everyone’s accurate treatment that I am here now without losing this life. I reach my hand out to the doctor to convey my gratitude.
”Oh my, Ma-kun! Thank you as well,” the doctor said, shaking my hand.
”Hehe, it’s going to get lonely once Ma-kun is gone,” a nurse added.
”Ma-kun is popular, after all. I’m looking forward to seeing him grow up,” the doctor said.
The doctor and the nurse laughed together. Well, since I’m in their care, acting a bit charming is the least I can do. Baby power is amazing. I might have gotten a bit carried away. Self-restraint, Satake.
”Well then, Ma-kun, see ya. Mother, I’m sure things will be tough in a different way once you’re home,” the doctor said.
”Yes, it’ll be okay. I’d do anything for this child. Besides, I have a reassuring ally waiting,” Mother replied.
”That’s true. Well… if there’s even a small thing you’re concerned about, please don’t hesitate to contact us.”
”Yes, thank you very much.”
Mother bowed her head repeatedly as we left. I raised a hand in a final wave. I’ll probably be back here eventually, and honestly, it might be too late to fix my reputation anyway…
We left the hospital, and I rode in a taxi while being held by my mother.
”Ma-kun, we can finally go home. Even though it took three whole months…”
Finally returning “home”… I wonder if that’s the right word.
Wait… three months? Only three months?! My sense of time is completely warped. I need to look outside and calm down.
”Mm? Curious about the outside? Here… can you see now?”
She readjusts me so I can see out the window. The passing scenery is… totally normal.
Cars driving orderly on the left, standard traffic lights, pedestrian signals, billboards, convenience stores, houses, apartments… nothing is out of place. It really is the world I know.
”Mm, what’s wrong? Did you get anxious because it’s all unfamiliar? It’s okay. Mama is right here with you,” she said.
That’s not why I’m anxious… but if I’m with this woman, I can make it. I have to!
Alright! Let’s go! To my first home! Being held by her is so comfortable I’m starting to nod off, but my spirit is willing!
”We’re almost home. Hehe, you’ll get to meet your cute little bride soon, too. …Hm? Hehe, is Ma-kun sleepy?”
And so, my new life with my beautiful mother begins.
…
…Wait. Huh? What did she just say?
—
Summary:
Satake reincarnates into modern Japan as an infant named Ma-kun. After enduring three years of subjective pain during his transition, he is discharged from the hospital. He resolves to live a new life and make his beautiful, doting mother happy, only to be shocked by her mention of a ‘bride’ at the end.
—
Trivia:
- Satake experienced three years of subjective pain while being an infant for only three months in real time.
- He was in an incubator (transparent wall) initially.
- The mother is described as a ‘career woman’ who looks younger than Satake’s age at his death.
- The setting is confirmed to be modern Japan with orderly traffic and convenience stores.
- Ma-kun’s real name has not been revealed to him yet
—
Character Insight:
Satake is torn between his adult cynicism regarding Japan’s societal decline and his instinctive attraction to his new mother’s beauty and care. He displays protective instincts toward her while struggling with his ‘disgusting male nature’ as a son.
—
Behind the Scenes:
The term ‘babumi’ highlights the protagonist’s otaku background from his previous life.
—
TL Notes:
Notes:
• Satake – The protag. Tall and lean in a rumpled suit, with faint stubble, tired dark eyes shadowed by deep circles, and a perpetually composed expression, he carries the quiet wear of overwork in every line of his posture. A 28-year-old software engineer and OJT mentor, he is “Paisen” to Toda and Mamiya, the unseen “Satake Wall” shielding them from burnout. Beneath his poker face lies dry cynicism and a self-mocking “ojisan” complex, shaped by years of isolation, relentless duty, and a life lived at his desk, now culminating in a hospital stay born of exhaustion.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
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