《Restart》


 Prologue

    ¡°Miss Liena?...Miss Liena?......Ahem. Miss LIENA!¡± a voice said. ¡°Miss Liena, the time has come again for you to wake up and start your Selection.¡± As I heard that voice, I started to slowly open my eyes and give my whole body a whole stretch since it¡¯s been so long since I used it last. As I was yawning, ¡°It¡¯s already that time again? It feels like I didn¡¯t even get my full sleep cycle. Are you sure it¡¯s that time?¡± The voice explained, ¡°Yes Liena. How many times we must go over this? We¡¯ve been doing this routine for so long that we¡¯ve already been through how many Celestial Cycles that were already soon coming up to the next once you do what you must do.¡± Hearing that is a relief since I¡¯ll be able to sleep longer before the next Celestial Cycle to begin.


    ¡°Well I¡¯m glad you decided to wake me up now since the Earth is in its 21<sup>st</sup> century right.? This is definitely favorite time to pick someone.¡± Thinking to myself, I always forget I¡¯m asleep floating in this bluish void till I must make the Selection again. I then start stretching some more to get my body used to its proper functions. ¡°So, anything new with planet Earth or just the usual normalness that humans do?¡± The voice explained, ¡°Unfortunately, humans are the same. I feel like this Earth¡¯s Celestial Cycle is worse than the last Earth Celestial Cycle. But always remember, there are humans that are not as foolish as others and do deserve to be Selected.¡±


    As usual, It knows the right words to say before I go to Earth to select someone. I then slowly swing my right arm to make a map of Earth appear. Thinking to myself, ¡°I wonder where I should go next? I don¡¯t want to go anywhere too cold or too hot. Maybe somewhere with a beach would be nice. What do you think?¡± as I asked It with a questionable look. It said, ¡°Well Miss Liena, you just have to follow the heart in your spirt to take you where you must go. I gave It a sarcastic look, ¡°Yeah, sure. But if I end up in the middle of nowhere or in an ocean, I¡¯m really going to lecture you about your following the heart in my spirt saying!¡±The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    As I made my point, ¡°Well I¡¯m headed out of here, wish me luck.¡± It interrupted, ¡°One last thing Miss Liena. Remember to not get emotionally attached to the human you select. Remember what I had to do last time don¡¯t you? I would hate to get involved again. Do you hear me Liena? Oh, do put on some decent attire. I know humans can¡¯t acknowledge your existence but the human you select will see you with no clothes on.¡± I see he tried to give the situation a comedy relief to cover up the threat It just made, ¡°How can you say that?¡± I whispered, ¡°You know how painful that experience was for me?¡± After I said that, I gave It the cold shoulder and drifted on my way.


    As I was floating off, I started to have painful flashbacks of that time. Even though I sleep, I still can¡¯t forget those painful memories that I even have nightmares trying to sleep. Sometimes, I wish I can use my own power on myself to restart everything that¡¯s happened to me in the past. Someimes I wish I wouldn¡¯t have to do this same routine anymore and just be free from all of this. I then drifted deeper into the Void heading toward Earth dimension while not noticing tears slowly drifting from my eyes wondering if there is any true hope for my being.

 Chapter 1: Beginning with a Normal Routine

    Ring¡­. Ring¡­. Ring is all I hear by my bedside. I hit the snooze button knowing I can sleep for another 10 minutes. Ring¡­Ring as I hear my alarm again 10 minutes later as I slowly open my drowsy eyes, ¡°Well it¡¯s 7:00am, time get up¡± as I was yawning and stretching.


    I get up as usual and look at my calendar as the date was June 12th, 2017. ¡°Oh man, I really don¡¯t wanna work today¡± as I was still drowsy. I scratched my brown short hair and went off to wash up and get ready for work. I went to put on my work clothes and went to brush my teeth and told myself, ¡°I hope it¡¯ll be a good day today.¡± As I noticed the clock, it was already 7:30am where I had to hurry up and leave for my part-time job. I quickly put on my shoes, grabbed a snack and headed out the door.


    As I was walking, I quickly gobbled up the snack and plugged in my headphones to my cell phone to listen to music as I walk. My usual playlist is a bunch of my favorite anime openings like to Order of the Fate, Re:Gate, or even the new popular anime that just came out, Attack on Zero. It¡¯ll be so embarrassing if anyone unplugs my headphones listening to this stuff since everyone is so judgmental these days.


    As I was walking, I go across this bridge that looks like it can be used as a setting for an anime fight or an even in a video game. As I walk, I check out the TimeBook to see the news feed and notice how interesting people are with the status they post. I then get to work to be greeted by my manager Tyler, ¡°Good Morning old man Ri¡¯n Makato.¡± I just don¡¯t get why he keeps telling me that, I¡¯m only 25 years old working at this restaurant full of younger people that are 19 or 18. But I forget that the night shift is made up of kids still in high school. With an angry look, ¡°I¡¯m not that old, just a quarter old. Jeeez.¡± I told him. As usual I say my hello to everyone and start my shift.


    * * *


    After my exhausting shift was over, I always overhear my co-workers being chummy in the back talking about how they all had fun last weekend doing fun stuff together. ¡°It¡¯s always like this every day.¡± I whispered to myself. I then gave them a cold shoulder and walked out the door to head home. As I was walking, I start to think to myself, ¡°How come they never invite me to do anything fun with them? Am I just too old now? Am I not nice enough or cool?¡± Usually these types of things run through my mind all the time as my past was the same way.


    Ever since I can remember, it was the same way in grade school, middle school, and even high school. I never really got noticed even when I was being myself or even trying to be someone I wasn¡¯t. Due to who I was, I was always alone. I guess you can say I was viewed as an outcast because how weird my personality is. Most of the time, I was shy and reserve due to always changing schools every so I really never had a consistent friend(s). I then start having flashbacks of my past self as I was walking across the bridge toward my apartment.


    I finally get home to see my brother Yue cooking dinner, ¡°Hey Ri¡¯n, how was work? I¡¯m making hamburger today.¡± I replied, ¡°It was good, the same.¡± Walking toward my room I see my niece Rin, ¡°Hey uncle Ri¡¯n.¡± I greeted her with a calm look and went into my room. I decided to just collapse on my bed, tired from exhaustion, and just looked at the ceiling, ¡°Another day has passed for me.¡± I took out my phone to look at my TimebBook and heard my name get called that dinner was ready.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    After dinner, I went into my room to work on my summer homework for college and I just remembered something earlier today, ¡°Was it me or did it feel like was being followed or watched on that bridge today? Maybe it was my imagination.¡± I finished my homework and decided to get some sleep as it was 11:45pm. I turned in and set my alarm clock, ¡°Another day tomorrow.¡±


    * * *


    Ring..Ring..Ring¡­I hear my alarm clock go off. I get up to wash up and get greeted by Rin as she was about to leave for school. I then sit down to eat breakfast and think to myself, ¡°How lucky is she being her age with no care in the world. She has the whole world ahead of her. I hope her childhood turns out better than mine.¡± As I was finishing my breakfast, I see Rin leave as she waved a passing goodbye to me, ¡°Bye uncle Ri¡¯n, have a good day.¡± I waved back to her and decided to go gather up my stuff and head out to my college classes today. I gathered my things and headed out before I¡¯m late for the train.


    On my way to the train, I start thinking to myself, ¡°Seems like nothing changes around here, it¡¯s always the same routine almost every day for me.¡± I get to the station and hop on as this will take me half way to my college and I walk the rest of the way. I get off and start walking my usual route to class. Out of nowhere, I start to get that strange feeling again like yesterday on the bridge. As I was getting that feeling, I turned my head around suddenly and sure enough¡­no one was there. ¡°Maybe just my imagination or I just been drinking too much on the weekends.¡±


    Throughout the rest of my day, I still got that creepy feeling of someone watching me but I just decided to just ignore it. I go throughout my day minding my own business while other students do the same. Usually I notice the students at my college don¡¯t really interact but more to themselves. I guess that¡¯s what growing up into an adult is, there¡¯s no need to make any new friends after you found them all in high school.


    After classes were over, I traveled back home using the train ignore the summer heat wave, ¡°I just want to get home and lay in my bed.¡± While on the train, I start thinking to myself if this really was my life now. It just feels I wasted my entire life with no highlights I can remember of my past like I had no purpose to begin with. How did this happen to me? I then got off at my stop and walked on the route back to my apartment.


    After I get home, I just collapsed on my bed looking up the ceiling. I then decide to write in my journal about how the day went for me. As I was writing, I notice my past entries I wrote down 10 years ago when I was in my senior year of high school. Just reading them is a little painful since there¡¯re things I wrote about my past. In today¡¯s entry, I wrote about what I done today, what I learned, what went through my head, and about the strange feeling I keep getting lately like I¡¯m being followed. After I was done, I decided to pass the time by watching anime and playing video games till Yue comes home so he can start dinner.


    * * *


    It was 11:30pm as the night was coming to a close, I closed my calculus textbook and decided to wash up after a long day. Knowing I have my shift tomorrow morning at my part-time job, I set up my clothes and hung them on my chair so they will be ready for me tomorrow. I turned off the light and collapsed on my bed, ¡°Work tomorrow¡­... yay.¡± Before I went to sleep, I talked a little to myself, ¡°Ri¡¯n, was this how your life was meant to turn out? If only back then I would¡¯ve made different choices in situations that happened, I think my life would¡¯ve changed for better. I just don¡¯t feel happy at all but more depressed. How can a person like me go through so much and in return end up with nothing to show for it? People around my age are already working in their careers while I¡¯m still stuck in college trying to find what I want to do with my life still. I just feel the tunnel for me is closing so rapidly that I don¡¯t know where my own life is headed.¡± Before I finally close my eyes, ¡°Please¡­give¡­me a purpose.¡±


    Not knowing after this very night, my life was about to dramatically change.

 Chapter 2: You are Selected for a Restart Mr. Rin Makato

    Ring¡­ Ring¡­ Ring is what I hear to wake me up for another day of work. I slowly opened my eyes to look at my alarm clock on my phone yawning, ¡°It¡¯s that time to wake up again for work.¡± But for some odd reason, I had this weird feeling that I felt another presence right behind me. I slowly turned my head while I was still laying down and to my surprise, my expression changed as I see this young cute girl that looked she was at least 18 with a light bluish hair coming down and a type of pony tail coming down her shoulder. I gasped while staring at her with her eyes close while she¡¯s sleeping right next to me so peacefully.


    Right at this moment, a lot of things are going through my head right now just staring at this girl. Of course being a monkey of a person, I slowly looked down and that¡¯s when my heart started racing and my blood pressure went through the roof. If I was in an anime, my nose will be squirting out blood from what I seen¡­She was completely naked! I didn¡¯t know what to do till I got fed up and jumped right out of my bed, ¡°AHHHHHH! Um miss, miss, miss. Wake up! Wake up!¡± I was shaking her to wake up and at the same time I was trying to get that picture of her chest area out of my head. Thinking to myself, ¡°This is not happening right now! This is not happening right now! There is an actual girl sleeping in my bed and completely undressed with just a blanket covering her!¡±


    As I was shaking her, I finally get a response from her, ¡°Would you stop shaking me! I¡¯m trying to sleep!¡± ¡°Lady! You got a lot of nerve! Do you even know where your at and did you just say your trying to sleep?! YOUR IN MY BED TRYING TO SLEEP!¡± as I was yelling in a whisper tone. ¡°But it¡¯s so comfortable. I don¡¯t wanna get up right now. Give me 10 more minutes.¡± as she said while rubbing her head into the pillow. ¡°Lady! You realize you don¡¯t have any clothes on! Would you please get up!¡± as I was trying to be quiet while yelling.


    ¡°Fine, fine. Jeeez, I can¡¯t even get a good rest.¡± as she was getting up. At the same time when she was getting up, I had to close my eyes with my hand as I was trying to find a random t-shirt for her to wear so she can cover up. I then hear Yue from the other room, ¡°Is everything okay in their Ri¡¯n?¡± I responded, ¡°Yeah!, everything is okay. I just had a big¡­ummm¡­big cockroach land on my face while sleeping.¡± Thinking to myself, ¡°More like I just woke up to a big bug with no clothes on right by me.¡± ¡°Well okay, I¡¯m headed to work. I¡¯ll see you later.¡± As I heard the front door shut in the living room. Trying to get a grip here, I handed the mysterious girl the t-shirt, ¡°Here put this on.¡± She said thank you and put on the t-shirt. ¡°Oh yeah, don¡¯t get any weird ideas! Just because I was lying next to you doesn¡¯t mean you should think of any naughty thoughts.¡± She said. ¡°You act like I was expecting you to be in my bed naked you weirdo!¡± I angrily replied.


    ¡°Oh, you have a pretty cool room. It¡¯s not too shabby. But I wanted to ask why you have dolls on your shelf? And it¡¯s super humid in here, why don¡¯t you invest in some type of device that cools you down when it¡¯s hot.¡± She said. I responded to her, ¡°Well first off, there not dolls but figurines from some of my favorite anime. Second, I don¡¯t remember going to bed last night with anyone. Third, who are you and how did you sneak into my apartment?¡± ¡°Oh, where are my manners. My name is Liena. I¡¯m what you say¡­let¡¯s see, how do I put this? I¡¯m not of this world/dimension. Let¡¯s just say if something doesn¡¯t exist doesn¡¯t mean it exist.¡± She¡¯s says cheerfully. ¡°Well, I¡¯m Ri¡¯n Makato and what do you mean something that doesn¡¯t exist doesn¡¯t mean it exist? Are you trying to say you don¡¯t exist even though I can see you?¡± questioning Liena.


    ¡°Let¡¯s just say it¡¯s complicated for me to explain at this moment. Anyways, I want to get straight to the point. Ahem¡­ ¡®Mr. Ri¡¯n Makato, I hereby state I official select you for the Selection and will grant you permission to Restart your past at a specific time of your choosing to make amends.¡¯ The statement I just told you is the start of the contract between you and me Mr. Ri¡¯n Makato.¡± Thinking to myself, ¡°She just sounds so crazy. ¡®Ummmm? I¡¯m confused. I really can¡¯t believe the words your saying right now. You know how crazy this sounds coming from you. It just sounds so clich¨¦ like some cheap anime set up. Just tell me truth how you broke into my apartment.¡¯¡± I said.


    ¡°It¡¯s okay if you don¡¯t believe me. All the people I Selected didn¡¯t believe me at first either so it¡¯s okay if you feel this way right now.¡± She explained. I then interrupted her, ¡°Wait a second, what do you mean by others you Selected? What¡¯s this whole Selection thing about anyways?¡± Everything that is happening at this very moment is just unreal. My heart is still pounding because I¡¯m still confused and my adrenaline is rushing from the recent events that just unfolded. I just woke up right beside a cute girl named Liena that didn¡¯t have no type of clothing on, is saying she doesn¡¯t exist, and stating that she Selected me for something called a Restart. This all just sounds so crazy that stuff like this doesn¡¯t happen in the real world but like in some video game or anime.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about the small details. Just know I made my Selection, out of everyone in this world, which is you Mr. Ri¡¯n Makato to give you the chance to make a Restart of your life.¡± She says sarcastically, ¡°Hey you should feel lucky. A beautiful girl like me waking up right next to you with no clothes on and offering you this opportunity of a lifetime is like the cherry on top of a cake.¡± Giving a slight wink at me. ¡°So you did just acknowledged that you were fully well aware that you didn¡¯t have no clothes on and your saying I¡¯m lucky. I bet you even expected me to make a move on you while you were sleeping right beside me. Jeeeez, I think you really are a weirdo in this whole situation!¡± as I was scolding her about what she said, ¡°Plus, just call me Ri¡¯n okay.¡±


    As I breathe in a sign of relief, ¡°So let¡¯s say I do believe you about me being Selected for this Restart to restart my life. What do you mean exactly? I really don¡¯t know anything about you Liena or who you actually are. How can I know this isn¡¯t some type of prank?¡± Suddenly, Liena had a serious expression and then puts out her hand, ¡°I will show you. I want you to remember anything that happened to you in the past. It could be any type of memory that you remember vividly. When you do, I want you to close your eyes and focus it on the palm of my hand. I will then tell you to open your eyes and it will show in my hand.¡± She had to be joking because this is reality and not fiction. I guess she was trying to perform some cheap magic trick on me so I guess I¡¯ll play along, ¡°Okay.¡± I stared at her open hand and closed my eyes thinking of a memory from my past. I start to focus on a time in grade school when I was sitting down on the floor with the other kids in my class learning about how to read a clock. The teacher was sitting on a chair in front of us explaining how to tell what time it is as I was paying attention and looking at the addition chart on the wall.


    A minute into this, Liena told me to open my eyes and to my surprise, I see a orb of light like kind of resembled a bubble. Staring into that orb of light, I see an exact like simulation of some sort of that time in my life and in a first person view. As I was staring, my jaw dropped, my hands started to sweat, my whole body started to tremble. I felt a freighting presence just came over me, ¡°What the hell?¡± as I stared at the orb of light in her hand. I was watching it and to my disbelief, it was that exact memory in grade school to the very little detail how I remembered it. Millions of millions of things just running through my mind right now that I forgot where I was and the time it was this morning. I then not notice that a tear started to slowly run down my cheek because of what I was witnessing. She then slowly started to dim the orb of light in her hand and just like that made it vanish out of thin air.


    With sincerity, ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I didn¡¯t intend to make you cry. Look, I will let this sink in but I have to tell you one thing. After I have made my Selection, I can only give you a 72-hour window from the time I pronounced the statement towards you. After that window closes, you will automatically forget that I was here and that I never existed, you¡¯ll never see me again in this lifetime. So I will go.¡± As she was talking, I was still frozen on what I just witnessed. It wasn¡¯t just a cheap magic trick or prank but it was a very authenticate orb of light in her hand showing a part of my life as a simulation right in her hand. As she was leaving, ¡°Oh, mind if I borrow your figurine¡¯s clothing?¡± Liena asked me while I just turned my head slowly towards her still in a disarray. She pulls out her hand with her palm facing my figurine from Fate of the Order and slowly closes her eyes. Out of nowhere, outwardly symbols appear around her and just like that, the t-shirt I gave her to wear just vanished and her wardrobed changed into my figurine¡¯s attire. ¡°Thank you Ri¡¯n¡± as she smiled, ¡°We¡¯ll keep in touch and remember 72 hours got it.¡± She makes her leave from my room and goes out through the front door like everything that just happened was casual.


    I was still standing there frozen on what just happened until Rin seen me. ¡°Um, uncle Ri¡¯n, are you okay? What was all that screaming about?¡± To my surprise I asked Rin, ¡°Didn¡¯t you just see a random girl just walk right out of my room and leave?¡± What she said next really gave me goosebumps throughout my body. Rin¡¯s response did not only surprise me but really made me think I was going crazy¡­


    ¡°What are you talking about uncle Ri¡¯n? Why would I see another girl if you and I are the only ones here?¡±