Lost Echo

Now that he knew about his reincarnation, he could plan about the future. There were too many problems that he need to solve in his second chance in life.

The first problem for him was that he knew nothing about the original owner of this body. He knew nothing about his past, background, or his relationship with the people in this world.

The second problem was that he wasn't sure that this world had the same condition and setting as his previous world. Most reincarnation type novels would send their protagonist into a problematic world that either endangered by extraterrestrial or from the lunatics who aim for world conquest. The milder case would be the cultivation based world where it's all about rivalry against the strong where if you kept low profile, danger won't approach you as long as there's no idiot who likes to poke a hornet nest.

The third problem was he didn't know why he was sent to this world. If they said that it was his positive karma for saving lives using his cure he might believe that if he had seen the cycle of the reincarnation mentioned in the literatures such as Sanzu River, Styx, or Judge of the afterlife. Furthermore his reincarnation process was too swift and unpleasant to be called a proper reincarnation. And reincarnation wouldn't include his previous life memory normally right?

There're many other minor problems that can't be mentioned one by one but at least those three were the most problematic one.

As he was pondering, the door was opened. At first he thought it was a nurse who took care of him who came in but sometimes reality is much stranger than a fiction. The ones who came in were two prople who looked like a nurse and a doctor. He thought they came to check on him but as soon as they came they locked the door and began kissing as if it was their private room.

He kept staring at the two in dumbfounded manner for a while. The two didn't realize that the third person who they thought was still unconscious was staring at them. That was a disaster for him as he was in a child body and suddenly was shown a scene from an adult rated movies.

It was very fortunate that the nurse's eyes met with his before they could start the next step. The nurse pushed back the doctor and quickly tidied her disheveled uniform. Seeing the strange behavior of the nurse the doctor finally realized his gaze too and began tidying the uniform.

The were some fiction that sometimes doctor and a nurse would have an affair at unexpected places like in the morgue, storage, or in the vegetative patients that was forbid a visit outside certain conditions for the security reason. That confirmed that the original owner of this body was either a VVIP, a criminal, or a crime witness.

But, knowing that he was still a child the criminal option was crossed out. The remaining one would be that he might be a VVIP, a crime witness or even both.

The nurse quickly unlocked the door and departed with a completely red face from embarrassment. The doctor cleared his throat and approached the bed as if nothing had happened.

"Tachibana-kun, thank god you're awake now. Can you hear what I said? "

The doctor said.

He need to get as much as information now. His only option now was the classic among classic, pretend to have an amnesia.

"Wh-o? "

His voice didn't come out as he expected. Hos throat was sore and dry. From the condition he probably had been unconscious for days or weeks.

"Ah don't have to force yourself to speak. Ah, that's right I need to get my kit first. Please take it easy for now. "

The doctor said before leaving.

This kind of reaction shows that this doctor was an intern doctor who tends to slack off when he had a chance. But, he was indeed a gutsy one to blatantly slack off to have an affair with a nurse.

Not long after he left, a doctor accompanied by several nurses rushed in with various tools. They began checking his pulse, pupil dilation, blood pressure, etc. just as they had to do in the Standard Operational Procedure.

During the motoric test, itbwas discovered that his muscles had been considerably weakened thanks to his long term of inactivity. There were also impairment in the vocal chord too from the inactivity but according to the doctor, it should be recoverable.

"But, this is troublimg. Do younreally doesn't remember anything about yourself? "

The doctor asked again.

He nodded at his question and pretended to be dejected. He wish to know this body identity and background as soon as possible so the amnesia route was deemed as the fastest and the most efficient.

Later the ceckup continued with the MRI, CT scan and EGG. The result probably would be normal if there was no problem with the body prior his reincarnation aside from the vocal chord impairment and the muscle atrophy after prolonged inactivity.

Pediatric, neurologist and a psychologist came into the ward and began discussing about the future treatment needed for his recovery.

From the information he had listened during their discussion, he managed to gain quite a bit of information. They discuased it so openly in front of the patient and used a lot of difficult medical terms thinking that a 7 years old child would never understood what they are talking about.

The important information he can get were quite a few. First, his name was Tachibana Kotetsu, a 7 years old boy. Second, he was a scion of a well known family. Third, he had been unconscious for 1 month. Fouth, he was diagnosed with an amnesia caused by a mental trauma and not injury. This means that the original owner of this body didn't become vegetative because a head injury but an excessive shock from a thing they called 'Tragedy' since they said that his amnesia was a blessing in disguise for him.

"Doctor, how is my little brother conditions? "

A lady broke inside the room in hurry. She had long black hair tied in ponytail and had slightly disheveled look. It seems like she rushed here as soon has she heard about his recovery.

"Luckily, there's no lingering after effect or injury. He currently had some weakened muscle and unable to speak caused by long term vegetative state but it was temporarily and can be cured with a therapy. But the problem is... "

The pediatric explained.

"Is something wrong with my brother? "

She looked panicked when she heard he had a problem.

"Unfortunately, he lost his memories. It is suspected to be caused by a strong mental trauma instead of an injury. "

The pediatric added.

"That's a lie! Please tell me that's a lie, Kotetsu! "

The girl asked him.

The boy looked down and avoided an eye contact with the girl.

"No way... "

She slumped down hearing the fact.

"The memory loss might be just a temporary but please be ready if his memory doesn't return, Tachibana-san. "

The pediatric said trying to assure the girl.

"But, it might be a best for him if his memory doesn't return. After all, he had to witness that tragedy with his own eyes. After all if it return and he wasn't ready for it, he might relapse and who knows when he'll came to again. "

The psychologist said.

"That's..."

The girl was lost of words.

He, Kotetsu, felt an unexplainable worry now. He had heard that he was involved in a tragedy. What that tragedy event was the thing that worried him. Could it be a disaster, accident or an incident? He could only speculate that it was something terrible that can cause a mental scar on a 7 years old boy.

"We'll leave you two by yourself for now. Please take your time. "

The doctors left the room leaving the girl who couldn't hold back her tears at the cruelness of the reality. The room fell into silence and awkward for a while.

Kotetsu wished that he could speak and comfort her but his throat didn't allow him to and his weakened muscle was too weak to raise his body by himself and patted her head.

The girl took a deep breath and slapped her own cheeks as if to mptivate herself.

"You don't have to be worried about the memories you have lost or your past, Kotetsu. From now on, I will protect you as your older sister. "

She declared while clasping kotetsu's hand.

After that day, the girl waould come visiting him almost everyday and accompanied him to his rehabilitation and therapy. Thankfully his voice cord was back to normal after three days of therapy. After regaining his voice, kotetsu began asking few things about the surroundings and can finally get more useful information from his sister and the nurses.

First, he learned that Tachibana family was a well known family in both business world and military in the surface world and underworld. This information was the reason why Kotetsu get a VVIP treatment with a super maximum security.

Second, he also learned that the girl, Tsubaki, was his sister who was born from different mother. Kotetsu and Tsubaki were very close because their mother were originally best friend who fell for their father's charm. Aside from their mothers, his father also had 3 more wives and 4 more older siblings. He tried to inquire more but no avail as Tsubaki became awkward when he asked it for some reason.

Third, about the geography. It turned out that this world had almost same shape with the previous world with slight difference here and there. The most different thing compared to the previou world was the country name and size.

The name of country wasn't like the previous worlds' but it became sounded like their nickname or titles instead. For example, this country was called Sakura Kingdom led by a Monarch and royal family. The Tachibana family was one of the major family that had the rank of Duke apparently.

The known countries from the intelligence gathering was that the China became the Empire of the Sun, Russia became the Empire of the Snow, America became Star Federation, middle East became Flare Empire, Britain and the United Kingdom became one country including few other countries in Europe becoming A United Knight Kingdom, there were few others but this was the current major power that existed.

Fourth, the technology in this world was more or less similar to the previosu world since the people had smartphone and online shopping and the stock investment in a platform that sounded like Bitcoin was quite trend lately. Kotetsu planned to try them after he got discharged from the hospital ward.

Fifth, the current government of this country had a semi absolute oligarchs with a delegated duty to the parliament and ministry or so they said. Kotetsu wasn't really interested but he had no reason to delve any further now and planned to study more later due to the family background as a duke.

Sixth, the time difference. Tjis world had longer time with each month had 32 days per month and 8 days a week. So, even he was said to be just a 7 years old, he might be older than that in the previous world. The days name was Sun day, Moon day, Fire Day, Water day, Earth Day, Wind Day, Wood Day, and Sky Day with weekend holiday was on Sky Day and Sun Day. The 24 hour system was stayed as is and it seems like in term of growth speed, 1 year in this world still had the same growth pace as the 1 year in the previous world so even he was calculated as an older boy in previous world but he was still physically had the body of a 7 years old.

Seventh, it seems lime tha cureent world trend doesn't have a mandatory military services instead the job as a knight and soldiers was quite popular and had tight selection system with strict requirements and strict procedureon the selection and the absence of the corruption, collusion and nepotism existed during the selection. Although in the term of promotion speed, a relation and background influence was quite commonly happened here and there causing some of the military structure a bit fumbly at the upper echelon but stay solid thanks to the strict military law and discipline. Also, Kotetsu was known as an oddball compared to his peers thanks to his lack of interest in military and martial arts.

Eighth, learning martial arts was quite common nowadays that dojo business was quite fourishing despite the existence of modern weaponry and chivalry was highly respected worldwide. Kotetsu was almost couldn't hide his disbelief when one of the nurse excitedly told him that her father who was a police officer was promoted after managing to capture the terrorist group after he won a one on one duel with their leader.

Ninth, about the culture, especially otaku culture. It seems like anime was still popular from this country. However, there was a slight difference. It was the genre. Science fiction type such as the mecha anime, esper and alien related genre existed but considered a rare and unpopular. Instead anime about martial arts and knight or hero fantasy genre was the most popular now. Isekai and magic fantasy was almost doesn't exist with a few titles and lineup listed. Romance anime, slice of life anime, and the rest genre still had more or less the same position as before. What make him felt a loss was the absence of the Big Four anime. There were similar anime but they didn't have flashy moves and was discontinued after the 12th episode on season 1 without any further adaptation. The manga version also unpopular that it was discontinued after few volumes too.

Same goes for games. Fantasy Sword and Magic RPG that had the application of job classes wasn't that popular and considered a maniac and obsolete. However roleplay games that involve knights and physical job related game (example: assassin creed series) was still considered normal. The Fighting game was the only thing that stayed popular and retained their flashy moves and almost magical abilities. The FPS games had became number 2 genre that existed especially the pvp one. There were many other genre with skewed rating compared to the original world but they didn't had that much change compared to the previouly mentioned ones.

He gained a lot information in this aspect thanks to the lazy and philandering pediatric intern who he saw when he came to. His name was Sakamoto Ryuichi and was known as a gamer, otaku, yet genius and charismatic doctor.

There were many other information but so far the main and major information were as such. And after gathering enough information, he can finally conclude which kind of world he was going to live in. The biggest clue doesn't come from the world background or setting but the person he had met before instead.

Sakamoto Ryuichi, a former pediatrics intern who was later known as one of the world first guardian. He was a character in a webnovel he had read in the previous life. He wasn't a main protagonist but he was often mentioned in the background and had become a legend the protagonist had aspired. And the world the novel was about monsters invasion, dimension gate, and player awakening.

Furthermore upon a deeper recollection about the story, he remembered another certain character. She wasn't a member of the humanity side but a Villain with the Codename Underworld Queen. She was a villain who awakened abilities of assassin yet adept in the necromancy using magic items and artifacts.

Underworld Queen was described as mysterious yet cruel individual and in the story, she had caused a lot of casualties and made the protagonist hold a personal grudge on her after she killed the mentor figure of the protagonist. According to the story, the true identity was revealed at the latter arc. She was a sole survivor of a noble family. She became a villain after she lost her only last surviving kin after a corrupt upper echelon had killed her brother in a human experiment that used the vegetative patients and criminals. As the result of the research was a doping agent that can increase a player leveling speed and temporary stat boost, called Transcendent Potion. The Underworld Queen went on killing spree to fill the death energy of her artifact to eventually resurrect her brother while enacting revenge on everyone who had used Transcendent Potion.

There might be several young ladies from a high ranked noble family with a vegetative younger brother admitted by famed hospitals that was going to be acquired by the association. However, the criterion further narrowed to a single candidate when a certain part from the story was mentioned. After the death of the Underworld Queen, Ryuichi came to the Underworld Queen cremation with a regretful expression not a disdainful one he used to show on the cremation of a villain body. It was told that the aforementioned little brother of Underworld Queen was a patient of the hospital he where he studied as an intern that he often visited from time to time.

Noble family daughter + vegetative younger brother + hospital where Ryuichi study as an intern + he often visit the little brother

The equation alone was enough to pinpoint that the aforementioned little brother was him. And the future Underworld Queen was his sister. This gave him a quite headache.

He then started to calculate then D-day of the first player awakening event. The main canon of the story happened three years after the the first awakening event and the first awakening happened three months after the the main canon start in April. Which mean that the first awakening happened in July 20xx, 8 years in the future.

After the first awakening the players awakening would be simplified thanks to Ryuichi's effort during the first player tutorial session. That was why there were numerous players in the good and evil side. Well, without those the humanity would perish after all if they only rely on the first player considering the number of dimension gates in the future.

But, since Kotetsu wasn't in vegetative state anymore, the plot should have changed drastically. Although it sounds dangerous, Kotetsu had determined that he need to awaken as a player and collect the artifacts his sister used as Underworld Queen to prevent tge emergence of the second Underworld Queen since his sister won't become one anymore.

Since the day Kotetsu realized the direness of the situation, Kotetsu began intensified his attempt of recovery. With the high end treatment and therapies, gradually the strength returned to Kotetsu's muscles.

Days in hospital was very long and boring if not for Ryuichi's eccentric behavior. That lazy intern had visited his room to slack off from time to time but not to do something inappropriate to be shown to minor. He, who found Kotetsu as a fellow entusiast of Fantasy related Genre, brought a game console into Kotetsu's ward room to play a game similar to monster hunter but with loest level graphics.

6 months later, Kotetsu was dischaged with a full recovery. Now he would have no difficulty in any kind of excercises even if he want to lear martial arts.

He didn't forget to geta contact number from Ryuichi who had become his otaku friend he can relate despite their age difference. Before getting discharged they even make some plans for them to do in the times Ryuichi got a day off and had no plan with his girlfriend.

Tsubaki picked him up from the hospital personally and when they left the hospital, something that he didn't expect happened. Horde of mass media came crowding on them to get an exclusive scoop. Tsubaki who was already expectimg this had provided Kotetsu with eyeglasses that protect his eyes from camera flashes and a top grade noise cancelling headphone to prevent him hearing any of those reporters.

Kotetsu was shocked. He forgot that his family was a public figure and as the sole survivor of a tragedy befalling a duke family of course a mass media would crowd come to him to get their opinion about the tragedy. Kotetsu didn't hear them but he could still read Tsubaki's lips that yelled at the unruly reporters who dared to ask the traumatized little brother about something he didn't want to remember either. She was so fierce like a lioness who tried protect her cub.

With the maximum effort of the SP, Kotetsu and Tsubaki finally managed to enter their car. She ordered the chauffeur named Tanaka to drive them home right away. Kotetsu had his attention glued to the scenery of the high rise buildings that looked slightly different than the ones he used to see in previous life.

He now got 7 years time to prepare for the upcoming global change.

First, he need to improve his physique and learn multiple types of martial arts since he didn't know what kind of skill he would gain in the future as a player.

Second, he need to somehow gain some passive income through investment using the skill he had trained in his previous life. He might need to do it in secret from his sister.

Third, he need to reintroduce the true potential of the fantasy genre and RPG games to the world. He even consider of plagiarizing the masterpieces in his previous world. But, he doubt 7 years is enough to gather enough fund for this project.

"Now then, since Kotetsu is already fully recover, finally I can hand off the title of the family head to you. "

Tsubaki said.

"Eh, what do you mean by that, Nee-san? "

Kotetsu broke from his deep thought about his plans.

"What fo you mean by what? Of course as the current only male heir of Tachibana family you need to take that role instead of me. "

She said.

"Eh? Why? Didn't you said that we have other brothers? Shouldn't they take that role in our stead? "

Kotetsu asked pretending to be innocent and unaware of things.

Tsubaki was taken aback by a sudden unexpected question.

"You will see when we arrived at home. "

She said with a solemn expression.

Th car arrived at their destination an hour later. As he had expected from a Duke family, the house had a very wide yard and garden surrounded by a high level security walls. The main building had western mansion style despite being a Duke from Sakura Kingdom.

After getting off, Tsubaki received a flowe bouquet from Tanaka-san and didn't get into the house right away.

"Come this way, Kotetsu. "

She called him out.

"We're not coming inside, Nee-san? "

Kotetsu asked.

"We will later. But we must greet someone first before we can go inside the house. "

Tsubaki said.

Kotetsu didn't say anything and followed her obediently. They walked small pathway leading to a wide opening with numerous unique shaped stones embedded on the ground. Tsubaki had Kotetsu to the largest stone and put the flower bouquet near the stone.

"We're home, Father, Mother, Mama, Kaa-sama, Rei-Kaa-san, Mio-kaa-sama. Nii-sana-tachi too, we're home. "

Tsubaki said to the stone monument with warm yet sad gaze.

Even he didn't know how they looked like, he could understand. This was where his family was buried.

Drip... Drip...

Tears flowed out unknowingly from his eyes. To his consciousness they were supposed to be a stranger but subconsciously he had felt a deep connection to those buried in this site. Father, Mothers, brothers, Uncles and Aunts, cousins, and grandparents all were resting gor eternity in this place.

A warmth feeling of longing gripped his heart out of nowhere. He took steps closer to the grave and knelt down. Tsubaki hugged Kotetsu who couldn't hold back the unknown sadness and sense of lost. He cried out out of his deepest heart like a child befitting of his age.

Kotetsu fell asleep after he was spent from crying. Tsubaki carried her brother on her back and brought him back to the mansion.

Kotetsu woke up a few hours later. By tge time he woke up it was already dinner time and he was already starving. He raised his body from the bed and found himself in an unfamiliar yet nostalgic room.

He got off from the bed and walkedbout of the room. There he met a maid with expressionless face standing in front of the door as if expecting his arrival. She was around her twenties and probably just few years older than Tsubaki.

"It's pleased to meet you again, Young Master Kotetsu. Please let me reintroduce myself. I am your personal maid, Ayakawa Megumi. "

The maid said.

"Ah, uh. Yeah, pleased to meet you too... Ayakawa-san. "

Kotetsu said awkwardly.

"Please don't use keigo with me, Young Master Kotetsu. I am just a mere maid of this house. "

Megumi said.

"Uh... Right... Sorry about that... Ayaka- ehem! Megumi-san. "

Kotetsu was about to call her by surname again but changed it to her first name when she glared at him.

"Please don't use, -san suffix, Young Master Kotetsu. "

She insisted.

"Then, you also need to stop using Young Master thing too... It kind of uncomfortable for some reason. "

Kotetsu said.

"As you wish, Kotetsu-sana. "

Megumi bowed.

"Good, i'll be in your care, Megumi. "

Kotetsu said with a smile.

"Yes, Kotetsu-sama"

Megumi said with a slight tint of pink on her face while maintaining her expressionless face.

Growl...

Kotetsu's stomach rumbled. Hearing it, Megumi chuckled a bit while averthing her face.

"Dinner will be served soon, please let me guide you to the dining room. "

Megumi said.

Kotetsu followed the expressionless maid through the corridor and descended the stairs to the first floor. She opened the door leading to a long table with white tablecloth and numerous lined up chair just like how he had seen in western medieval movies. Even the chandelier and the candelabra was decorated with lit candles.

"Ara Kotetsu, you're already up. Please take your seat over here. "

Tsubaki said while pointing out the seat on her right as sokn as she saw her brother entering the dining room.

"Yes, Nee-san."

Kotetsu said excitedly.

"Are? Megumi-san, isn't today your day off? How come you're here? Also, where's Maika? I was sure I already have her to take care of my brother if he woke up. "

Tsubaki said as soon as she saw Megumi who followed Kotetsu and stood diagonally behind him as if it was normal.

"If its, Maika-chan it seems like she had dozed off in her duty so I took liberty to move her to her quarter. Also, please don't worry about my schedule as my life schedule is already decided to serve Kotetsu-sama for 24/7."

Megumi said.

"You're still saying that now, Megumi-san. You know well that your actions will brings me more trouble than benefits. I'm already sick of the call from the Labor Office complaining about me exploiting you. "

Tsubaki said.

"It's a duty and obligation of a maid to dedicate her all for her master, Tsubaki-sama. "

Megumi insisted

"Megumi, you know well that those guys in the office doesn't want to know your unreasonable demmand. You even refused the overtime pay. That's unreasonable you know. "

Tsubaki said.

"I understand your concern but please don't underestimate my resolve and dedication as a maid for Kotetsu-sama. "

Megumi said.

"Kotetsu, can you beat some sense into this crazy maid? "

Tsubaki pleaded help from Kotetsu.

Kotetsu couldn't believe what he heard and see. He had read and seen a lot of maid with crazy mindset and screw loose in the head from novel and anime but never expect to find one under his roof. But, thanks to those book he might know how to handle the situation.

"Megumi"

Kotetsu called her out without looking.

"Yes, Kotetsu-sama. "

Megumi said in flat tone.

"How many days the total paid leave you have accumulated so far? "

Kotetsu asked.

"I believe it should be around 18 days to be precise. "

Megumi said without hesitation.

"And the overtime pay? "

Kotetsu asked.

"It's around 4 million yen by now, Kotetsu-sama. "

Megumi answered.

"Use that money and paid leave to have a vacation. "

Kotetsu said to her without looking at her.

"I humbly refuse that order Kotetsu-sama. I can't bear to leave you behind unattended. "

Megumi said.

"Then just say this is not an order from thr household but my personal request. Please take that paid leave and overtime pay and use them to have vacation somewhere. You can recommend me that place for me to use on the summer vacation later. Remember this, I won't allow you to come back until you spend your paid leave or your overtime pay. You are only allowed to return early under conditions you submit me an evidence you're having fun with a photo or video that I approve. Also, to avoid cheating on fund, you're forbidden from wasting money outside the necessity of having fun or personal needs during the vacation. Buying excessively expensive items unrelated to Having fun also prohibited. Gambling is prohibited. And donating them is also prohibited. "

Kotetsu said.

"That's... "

Megumi hesitated.

"What? You refused my personal request? "

Kotetsu asked while turning his face toward her.

"I will gladly accept the paid leave and the payment. "

Megumi said.

"Then your vacation start tomorrow. Take an early leave today for the preparation."

Kotetsu added.

"As your wish Kotetsu-sama. "

Megumi said.

"I'm surprised that you can handle this crazy maid, Kotetsu. "

Tsubaki praised.

"That's nothing special. "

Kotetsu added.

"Ah, since we're already here, let's talk about your future plan for your studies. I can arrange some home tutors for you to regain yournlost knowledges or would you prefer going to private school? "

Tsubaki asked.

"Private tutors please. I don't think i can handle crowd just yet."

Kotetsu made an excuse.

"Fine, i'll arrange the private tutors for you. "

Tsubaki said.

"While at it can I get a private tutor on martial arts too? "

Kotetsu asked.

"Why Martial arts all sudden? "

Tsubaki asked.

"F-For self Defense. "

Kotetsu said.

"Hmm..."

Tsubaki stared at Kotetsu with a flat gaze.

"Fine, what kind of martial arts do you want to learn? "

Tsubaki asked.

"Hmm... For now I want swordsmanship, close quarter combat, axemanship, spearmanship, dagger arts, hammer arts, and archery for now. "

Kotetsu said excitedly.

Tsubaki's gaze became colder at the stupidity of her brother. She reluctantly agreed to the request after the pleading that last till the end of the dinner under conditions if a non martial arts lesson gain a red marks, he need to reduce the martial arts session. She expected that Kotetsu would fail in a lesson or two but unexpectedly he was more resilent than she expected.