Chapter 3 : In the Wake of Rebirth

 

I have gone back to the past…I am still unable to fully believe it…

After all, I’m currently a baby… I have limited mobility… so I am unable to confirm much on my own. Every day, I can only move around in bed or be carried by my parents. It’s frustrating to have a clear consciousness yet be unable to move my body as I wish.

The only means of confirmation available to me right now is my own appearance and the youthful figures of my parents… And, of course, the interior of the house… From what I can see inside, it seems highly likely that this is the place where I was born and raised…

“Ah, ah…”

As I still can’t speak, there’s no means of communication with anyone. Well, there are only my parents here anyway.

My range of activities for the day are limited… Nonetheless, I managed to see the village scenery outside the window. I could only look freely after managing to move my head somehow.

The scenery and the people I see from there are all familiar… Seeing not only my parents but also the younger versions of the neighbours and the cranky old man across the street, I can’t help but realize that this is indeed the past…

Yet, I still haven’t fully come to terms with the fact that I’ve gone back to the past. It’s because I haven’t completely discarded the possibility that this might be a very vivid dream. There’s just not enough evidence to definitively say that this isn’t a dream…

Sure, days have passed already since I’ve been in this baby form…but I did die and maybe the moments of my life are flashing before my eyes… The possibility that my past memories are manifesting as a dream at the moment of death is equally high…

…

 

“…I did think something like that.”

While contemplating such thoughts, I realized that three years had passed. Since gaining control over my body, I’ve slapped my cheeks, fallen spectacularly, and even tried knocking my head against things… It hurt.

In other words, this is… reality. If it were a dream, I should wake up. So, I have no choice but to admit that I’ve been sent back in time… as unbelievable as it may sound…. But it’s undeniable. I’ve painfully come to realize this over the past three years…

I died at that time… yet, my life didn’t end there… Instead, I’ve been sent back to the past like this. What could this possibly mean? Nobody knows what happens after death, but going back to the past shouldn’t be possible…

Could a “Skill” be the cause…? No, there shouldn’t have been any ability to go back in time after death. So, perhaps it’s some sort of divine prank or something?

…But who knows…

…

I don’t understand why I’ve been sent back to the past. Whether it’s someone’s deliberate manipulation or…

Anyway, I died and returned to the past. To die and return… it’s like I’ve undergone “Rebirth through Death,” as I’ve painfully come to realize over these past three years.

I wonder if I’ll return to infancy again if I die once more… It crossed my mind, but I don’t have the courage to try it out.

“Hey, come here!”

Since I gained the ability to move around outside, I’ve been playing with other children quite often. Kids around the same age gather and energetically play… It’s truly healthy and good.

There’s something I want to confirm. If I’ve truly returned to the past, then the path I follow from now on should lead back to that time… In other words, if we consider the time before returning to the past as the “previous life”, will events unfold similarly to that previous life? Since I have memories of my previous life, my behaviour patterns will likely change. Well, it might not have a significant impact as long as only my actions change.

What I’m curious about is the flow of events besides myself. Will the events that unfold in this village from now on follow a pattern similar to those of my previous life?

“Hmm…”

For example, in my previous life, two years from now, there was significant interaction between this village and the neighbouring one. And, in my previous life, five years later, this village was attacked by a horde of monsters… Will such events unfold in the same way, even without my intervention?

I want to confirm that. However, there’s nothing I can do about such things directly. Or perhaps, by making different moves than in my previous life, some developments might change.

For now, I think I’ll try to follow the developments of my previous life as far as I remember. I wouldn’t want to mess things up and end up unable to meet the people I befriended in my previous life after all…