[What's life, just living as it goes]
[What's life, just living as it goes]
A person with the strongest combat power in Japan, and one of the top 3 in East Asia. It's not that I don't have anyone in mind if those are the conditions.
I say I'm not really interested in Force Users, but I know the famous ones well enough. I've seen their faces because they've been broadcast on TV often.
We rode the escalator up to the store on the 5th floor and took a look around.
"Who is it?"
"That guy."
I pointed my chin vaguely toward the man in the computer section.
They say the world has gotten better these days, and it's an era where there are many tall people over 180cm, but it's not like a guy over 190cm doesn't stand out. Especially if he has a sturdy build that would make you feel a bit burdened just standing next to him.
"What is he? A bodybuilder?"
"For a bodybuilder, his muscles are the practical kind."
"It's not like he's the strongest man on earth, are you saying they're combat-hardened muscles? As expected of Japan. I feel like I could shout, 'Don't underestimate reality, fantasy!'"
He had slightly brownish black hair, and his appearance was the masculine, sharp-featured type. People say you can't tell Asians apart if you put them side by side, but looking at him, he had such a rugged impression that you'd definitely think he wasn't Japanese. Furthermore, his exposed forearms were covered in countless scars. In a way, he could be mistaken for a yakuza.
His genes are on a non-Japanese level. His parents really worked hard.
Anyway, as that 190cm+ muscular, rugged man was wandering around the computer store, even the store staff were freaked out and couldn't easily approach him.
Even in service jobs, you need courage to deal with someone like that. If he had even a single dragon tattooed on his forearm, they would have called the police first, so that says it all.
"Huh?"
"What's wrong?"
"No, he's someone I feel like I've seen before."
"If he's the strongest Force User in Japan, wouldn't he be on TV a lot? Didn't you see him then?"
"Not just limited to his appearance. His inner self."
Just as you can get an estimate of someone when you master a certain field, if there's someone I remember, I can recall the parts that resemble them.
I've seen his face, but feeling like I'd met him somewhere before, I rummaged through my memories a bit, then got lazy and decided to look deeper.
Into the human soul. Just as everyone's fingerprints are different, even twins have different soul shapes depending on the lives they've experienced. If it's someone of that caliber, I must have seen them once in a past life, and if I look at the soul, I can roughly guess who it is.
"So that's where I saw him........ to meet like this here. And with a nickname just like himself, too."
".......?"
"You wouldn't know him, so forget it. It just reminds me of the old days."
Souls go through reincarnation. You could call it the theory of reincarnation, but even if the soul is reborn with its memories and karma reset to zero, the fixed soul remains.
A guy with a high-grade soul who has become a Transcendent will stand out in his next life as well.
That person's soul has the same soul as someone I know. However, he is not the same person. The most important element that makes up a person is, after all, memory.
Just as I wouldn't be me if I, who have gone through several reincarnations, lost those memories right now, memory is the most important element in forming a person. I don't treat someone whose memories have all been reset after reincarnation as the same person just because their soul is the same.
"Anyway, let's look at cameras. We came to take pictures at Comiket, so we should pick one quickly."
"Something with good performance! Something pretty!"
"What about something pretty and good, but expensive?"
"Open, wallet's door!"
Things like cameras are unexpectedly expensive. If it were a disposable camera, I wouldn't have to worry about the price, but since we're buying something we'll use often from now on, I want to buy a good one.
Come to think of it, because of that civilization device called the smartphone, cameras have become things that aren't used often. Of course, many people use them, but there's a big generational gap between looking for a camera to take a picture and looking for a smartphone.
.........Kids who are into fandoms these days don't even know Haruhi. I'll be able to tell my future kids some fucking awesome stories.
After looking around here and there, Sion picked one out. I don't know the type well, and the company is Sony. Since Sion picked it, it seems to be the best one or the best value for money.
"I've decided on this."
"Why Sony?"
"To honor the late Sonic........"
"That's Sega, not Sony. The company is different, isn't it?"
"Sony, Sonic, they're just one consonant apart and sound similar, aren't they? I tried making a pun."
"Then is Sony's nickname Sonic too?"
"........Ah, are you... getting old?"
"You're dead today."
I'll send you off in a mainly nocturnal sense. I need to show you how incredible the sex drive of a man who got married during the prime time when his libido is exploding can be.
After paying, since we had finished our business and only had to go down, we were walking toward the escalator when we brushed past the man we saw earlier.
He was contemplating the computers displayed in front of the store, specifically the ones on sale.
It didn't look like he came specifically to check specs; seeing him come in person and shop for a long time, it looked like he was agonizing over what to buy.
"The one next to it is better than that."
"Oh, you mean this one?"
I stopped Sion, who had let that slip as we passed by. I had even told her not to interfere on purpose, but it all went down the drain.
It's not like we had a bad relationship with that side; if anything, it was the opposite, but strong guys tend to get involved in troublesome things once a connection is made.
"Honestly, can't we help with something that's not even a big deal?"
"You, you........"
-It's a bit sad that you don't even meet friends on weekends and just stay home, isn't it? You're always playing, but I've never seen you get a call from a friend. Please make some friends. Some friends.
Sion secretly conveyed her thoughts through her will.
No! I have friends too! It's just hard to meet them right now because they all went to the military and are being discharged later than me! I have about two or three guys I can truly call friends.
They're lucky bastards, so most of them went to the rear, and it's hard to even go visit them in a day, so we just don't meet, but I have friends. Who do you think has zero social skills!
"Thanks for the tip, little miss. I don't know much about computers, so I didn't know what to buy."
"Shouldn't you have researched it? These days, if you ask for a quote on the internet, they tell you everything."
"Things like the internet don't really suit my temperament. I don't even have a personality that plays games, so it takes me 5 minutes just to type one sentence."
"What do you do in your daily life if you don't use a computer?"
"Drinking, or using my body."
Is this guy really not that person I know? Why does it seem like he's still a drunkard even after reincarnating?
Of course, since the soul is the same, some similarities would naturally arise.
I've been talking to him in casual speech from the start, but it wasn't particularly uncomfortable. As I continued the conversation as if it were natural, the sense of incongruity disappeared. He had that kind of personality to begin with........ no, I said he's a different person because he has no memories, so why do I keep overlapping them? Is it a stereotype?
"I'm Hiei Hibiki. I'm 35 this year. My job is, well........ I do manual labor."
"You're an old man. I'm Choi Ak. 22. This is my wife."
"I am Sion."
"........Wife?"
"Get that weird look off your face. She's older than me."
"I submit my ID, marriage certificate, and passport as evidence, Your Honor!"
Looking at Sion with eyes that found it hard to believe, he seemed convinced when he saw that her date of birth on her passport wasn't in the 2000s but before that.
"You look young...... very young, indeed. Anyway, call me Hibiki. I'm more used to that."
"Isn't it a bit much to use 'Yobisute' (calling by name without honorifics) from our first meeting?"
"It's better than being stiff and formal. If you really looked like you hated it, I wouldn't have done it. If you felt uncomfortable when I spoke informally at first, I would have changed it."
"Hmm."
.........Is this guy really memory-less? Seeing him not know me after seeing my face and hearing my name, he really seems to have no memories, but his personality is exactly the same as his past life.
"Since it's come to this, could you help me pick a computer? I want to give it as a gift to an acquaintance, but I didn't know much, so I was wandering around. Even if I try to ask the staff, they seem a bit busy."
Looking closely, I could see the staff deliberately looking away because they were burdened by Hiei Hibiki. They were doing cleaning that didn't need to be done or pretending to serve other customers.
"Why not just buy the one you recommended earlier?"
"It's a birthday gift. Money doesn't matter, so I want to give them the best one possible."
"Who are you giving it to?"
"Our team...... so, I'm trying to give it to the youngest at my workplace. They were complaining that their computer was old, so I'm trying to give it to them while celebrating their birthday."
I gave Sion a hint, and she had already calculated the estimate in her head.
"There's one that's expensive but has great performance, and one that's decent with good value for money. Which one would you prefer?"
"Price doesn't matter. Money is rotting away anyway, and the only place to spend it is when drinking. Even that alcohol is usually company dinner money, so the company pays for it, so there isn't really a place to spend it, but I might as well spend it on this opportunity. How expensive can a computer be?"
"Don't look down on computers. There are parts that cost hundreds of thousands of won....... so, tens of thousands of yen, and if you want to build one properly, you have to consider hundreds of thousands of yen."
"That's not much."
I wonder how much this guy's annual salary is. He probably makes more money than a successful chicken restaurant. Since his job is his job, he must get hazard pay.
"But tell me. If you're a person like you, you could just have someone else do it. You'd be in a position to do that, right?"
"Oh, you already knew? I thought you wouldn't know well since you're Korean."
"Because I'm Korean, I know even better. You also know the faces of our country's Master-class users, don't you?"
Yong Hwa-jeong of China.
Lee Kyung-jin of Korea.
And Hiei Hibiki of Japan.
These three are the Master-class Force Users representing East Asia. They show their faces on TV occasionally, so if you look for them, you can find them. Still, it's at a level where they appear once in a while, so if you don't try to know, you wouldn't know.
Was the number of officially known Master-class Force Users nine? One of them is Hiei Hibiki, who is right in front of me. By the way, his nickname is....... [Shuten-doji].
It's a name I'm a bit familiar with. And it's a name that suits this man better than anyone else.
"Aren't you reluctant? There are many people who are scared of Force Users for various reasons. Besides, Japan and Korea aren't exactly on good terms, are they?"
"What does that have to do with me? Did we meet as representatives of country to country right now? We're just a tourist couple and a local meeting, do we have to calculate that?"
"You rascal, I like that you're straightforward."
To be precise, I see myself and the country separately. Nationality has no meaning to me, so revealing the accumulated feelings between us doesn't affect me.
"If you don't care about money, I've put together the one with the maximum performance. I'll write it down on paper, so you can just tell them to deliver it like this."
"Oh, thanks. I was at a loss as to how to buy it, so I even thought about just buying everything expensive."
"Expensive things will at least be worth the price, but if you don't know well, there's a risk of getting ripped off. And just because you match only expensive things doesn't mean it's good."
Sion handed the paper with the estimate to Hibiki. There were a few products from companies I've heard of occasionally written on it, and it seems she matched it based on options without caring about money, just as requested.
"As for assembly, there must be a store in Japan, so ask them to assemble it. Ah, they'll probably do the assembly here too."
"Thanks, I've been indebted to you even though we just met."
"Then please give me an autograph later. Getting autographs from famous people is my hobby."
"I can do that much anytime........ then, I'll buy it like this. Do you have time in the evening?"
Hibiki smiled lightly and made a motion as if lifting a small glass with his thumb and index finger. It's a sign to have a drink.
"I know a good place. Since I've been indebted to you, I'll buy dinner. Do you both drink?"
"Drinking is good. My wife drinks well too, even if she looks like that."
"The only things to worry about are the store that will treat me as a minor and the remaining alcohol stock in that store."
"I like that confidence!"
I've met many types of people while reincarnating. But this is the first time I've met a different person with the same soul.
He's not the person I know. But still, it makes me think of the old days, so I feel good.
Sometimes, there must be days like this.
The restaurant Hibiki recommended was a quite well-known Teppanyaki restaurant. I heard it's a place that doesn't accept you without a reservation, but since the owner of the restaurant owed him a favor, it's always in a reserved state.
"Was it ten-something years ago? At that time, because of the aftermath of the Great Depression, I was flying all over Japan. I had a connection with the owner here whose shop collapsed due to the aftermath at that time, so I just supported him a little."
"You said you're 35 now........ the Great Depression was 20 years ago, so since you were 15? Wasn't a child soldier a violation of the coalition law?"
"In the first place, our country couldn't organize an army, right? At most, it's the Self-Defense Force. Even then, they were so busy dealing with the Enemy Species that it passed as a civil servant type, not a child soldier, to a specially created organization."
"It's similar to our country."
"The treatment is better than Korea, but........ it's about the same. Do you know that the places where Force Users are treated well are Russia or the US?"
"The US is a place that likes heroes, so I know that by looking at the stock prices going up in Marvel or DC, and Russia treats naturalized people well too."
It was a quite old restaurant. Since it was a shop that seemed to be at least ten years old, it had its own atmosphere.
Perhaps because he had already called, someone was waiting at the entrance to greet us. He was a middle-aged man with experience, and seeing the calluses on his hands, it seems he is the owner and chef who works himself.
"You've come, Hiei-nim."
We were guided to our seats while he bowed politely.
The sizzling hot iron plate welcomed us. Teppanyaki has things to see with its performance, but if you do it well, it tastes good too. There's no loss in grilling anything.
"You've come after a long time. Are these your friends?"
"We made friends today. They're good people."
"Then I'll have to show off my skills. Is there any type you avoid?"
"Not particularly."
"We can even eat the chairs if they have legs."
Don't say things like that when you look like you could really eat them.
At Sion's answer, the owner smiled slightly and checked the ingredients.
"What shall we start with?"
"If possible, vegetables or seafood first. Please do the meat after that."
"Why is meat later?"
"Do you want to eat something heavy from the start? And meat has a heavy taste, so if you eat it first, it's hard to feel the taste later."
"What would you like to drink?"
"I don't remember much about Japanese alcohol........ Hibiki, you order."
"Hmm, then lightly with beer, and when we finish that, the soju I kept in the bottle last time."
"You have a bottle kept? You seem to be a regular more than I thought."
"Because you come often. Originally, our shop doesn't provide that kind of service, but Hiei-nim is an exception. Ah, then how about lobster first? The ones that came in this time are fresh."
"No, if it's lobster from the beginning, what's coming out for meat.........."
"Our shop's Wagyu has two types, Matsusaka and Yonezawa, which one would you like?"
"I'll have both."
"You, look at that appetite. Why didn't you eat like that at home? It's not like you don't have money."
"Usually, you eat more than usual when you're on a trip."
I acknowledge that. Just like the saying that eating is what remains, photos and eating are both entertainments you can enjoy on a trip. No, in fact, those two are the majority.
The beer we ordered came out, and watching Sion, who gulped down the 500cc glass at once and emptied half of it in an instant, the owner looked surprised in many ways, and we also watched the cooking skills shown while grilling the lobster.
Beer is just for quenching thirst, like water, and the real thing starts with soju. My memory of Japanese soju is faint, but it's a good product, so the feeling of it going down the throat is good.
"Kuh, good. I wish other days were like today."
"Come to think of it, you're a Force User. Is it okay for you to be out like this?"
"I just have to not go beyond a certain distance from the lodging decided by the team. This time, I got a lodging around here. Besides, it's not like we don't have free time."
"In our country, they were on 24-hour standby. Because they don't know when an Enemy Species will appear."
"Is that a place where people live? Even so, if you do that, your motivation will drop."
Once, whether it's Korea or Japan, Force Users belonging to the country are treated as civil servants, but it depends on which civil servant they are. Japan is closer to a civil servant who doesn't have the freedom to leave work on time, and Korea is closer to a soldier.
It's like saying it's a day off, even though it's standby in name on weekends. Damn it, can't you just leave us alone on days off, you duty officer bastards.
"Still, if you have money, there's no country as good to live in as Korea."
"Doesn't that mean it's a country that's hard to live in if you don't have money?"
"Japan is hard to live in because there are so many things. Even if Force Users are okay, what about ordinary people?"
"I'm not immune to radiation either....... but you managed to come to Japan while worrying about things like that."
"I'm stronger than radiation."
"You rascal, I like that spirit."
He seems to think it's a joke, but it's the truth........ physical things like radiation wouldn't work on a Transcendent, right? There are many guys who don't die even if you hit them with higher concepts.
My wife? Radiation to someone who could go on a day trip to the sun to take a hot bath because her shoulders are stiff? Yeah, right.
"Talking is good, but please eat some meat too. Aren't you just watching me eat?"
"Do you want to drink something else too? Other than soju, what else is there........"
Whether the owner's skill is good, it was a passing grade for my taste too. To evaluate Teppanyaki solely by taste, the skill of the person grilling is more important than anything, and seeing that, it's understandable that he's a regular here.
Drinking and eating, drinking and eating. And chatting.
As we spent time drinking and carousing, I got a bit tipsy too. Originally, I detoxify alcohol right away, but on a day like today, I wanted to get drunk on purpose, so I left it alone.
A tipsiness that feels like my body is floating rises.
"Honeymoon? I thought it was just a trip, but it's a honeymoon?"
"Yeah, we didn't even have a wedding, and we came after things settled down a bit. So even though it's a honeymoon, it's late."
"I'm jealous. I'm at an age where I'm starting to think about marriage, so I'm worried."
"You don't even have a girlfriend?"
"Girlfriend, I'm not sure, but there is one person who is similar."
"Same workplace?"
"That's how it is."
"You're not guessing alone, are you? Are you sure it's a relationship where you have a crush and the other side has no feelings?"
"Do you think I'm a man who can't even distinguish 'some'? We've known each other for over ten years at least."
"You've known each other for a long time, even as friends. That's more than friends, less than lovers. What it becomes is the person's choice. If you're going to get married, make sure of it from now on. If you wait longer, it'll be too late, you know?"
"I'm still in my 30s."
"You're in your mid-30s. Getting old happens in an instant."
"You talk like someone who has lived a life once."
It's not once, it's over a dozen times. Time is faster than you think. Of course, after it passes.
Things you thought wouldn't come if you spent time aimlessly soon become the past.
For example, things like being discharged from the military. When I enlisted, I wondered if discharge would ever come, but it's already been a few months since I was discharged. It's an example that people who have completed military service will understand well.
"But is she pretty? That woman?"
"She's pretty."
"Wait, are you talking about women while leaving me aside?"
"Yeah, that's right. You're pretty too. The prettiest in this world."
"It sounds like lip service, but I'll let it slide."
Sion seems to be a bit tipsy too. Since she's adjusting her body to the level of an ordinary girl, most metabolism functions, so she gets drunk when alcohol enters.
"It's sweet, so it's good to see. Is it because it's a honeymoon?"
"Probably it will be a honeymoon even after a thousand years."
"People who are married always say that at first."
I want to tell him that I've been in a honeymoon life for hundreds of years. They say the hormonal action of the feeling you feel as love doesn't last long, but true affection that wells up from the heart lasts a lifetime.
"Anyway, tell me about that pretty 'some' woman. How did you meet?"
"She's one year older than me. She's a junior. We met after the Great Depression. She was the first female team member to join, so I took care of her in many ways, so......."
"Doesn't that mean you spent your 20s together, even if you take about 15 years? That much is half a girlfriend."
"I've never said anything like a confession."
"Do you lack courage?"
"That's not it. It's just that I'm anxious because I don't know when I'll die. If we confess and start dating, we'd both be uncomfortable with each other being in dangerous places."
"One of you will have to leave. You, on the other hand, are impossible."
"That's a problem in itself. She's not the type to stay quietly at home, and I hate leaving her waiting just because I might die."
"The answer is retirement!"
"I can't. The government is working me hard while I'm still in my 30s, so how can I retire? Unless there's another Master-class user besides me, I can't just retire without a successor."
"It's not like Master-class users are common either."
"Looking at it that way, Korea is good. Who was it? Raccoon Man?"
I got goosebumps for a moment, but I kept a poker face pretending I didn't know. I passed it off naturally as if it were something I didn't know.
"Ah, at that department store fire?"
"He looked young, but his skills were great. His ability seems to have the characteristic of interfering with something. His physical enhancement ability is also above Expert. If he learns properly, it looked like he could definitely reach Master-class."
Sorry, actually, I'm strong enough to kick Masters around.
"If that Raccoon Man or whatever exists, Korea at least has a successor to Lee Kyung-jin, so I'm envious."
"But what were we talking about that led to Raccoon Man....... Ah, was it about your girlfriend? Then you two should date happily and retire. If a man is in his prime, he should think about marriage, and even if it's late, he should do it in his middle age, but there's no time, more than you think. At least you should try dating."
"Dating....... I want to try it, though. In a way, it would be an office romance."
"You rascal, then if you lose the drinking contest with me today, you confess? If I lose........ ah, I'll pay for the computer you bought today instead."
"Whatever the outcome is, it's the duty of a man not to refuse a fight that comes! Come!"
We each opened a bottle of soju (and it's a large Japanese-style soju bottle) and went for a one-shot. The smell of alcohol rises from inside.
Sion was sitting next to me, quietly cutting and eating the well-grilled Wagyu steak, and said.
"Men are all idiots."
Shut up, leave me alone!!
After that, we drank until we finished all the alcohol in the store, and even brought alcohol from a nearby convenience store, and the fight was settled.
"I wonnnnnnnnn!!!"
"I...... lost......"
Dozens of alcohol bottles of various kinds were placed on the floor, and Hibiki buried his face in the table, admitted defeat, and then lost consciousness.
I drank a lot too, so my mind is faintly tipsy. I drank pleasantly, and I don't want to detoxify it right away.
"Ah, right. The payer collapsed, so it's a bit hard to pay......."
At the thought that suddenly came to mind, the restaurant owner waved his hand and said.
"It's okay. Please don't worry, as Hiei-nim will pay when he wakes up."
"No. We will pay this time. We can just get treated next time."
Sion coolly took out her Black Card and paid at once. Seeing that everything was settled with one card swipe even though we ate and drank a huge amount, capitalism is indeed long live.
Since we couldn't take Hiei because of the local standby problem, we decided to leave him at the store and have a team member come pick him up, and after leaving our contact information, we left the store.
"Let's go quickly....... Ah, the hotel, the last train is blocked, so maybe we can't go. We'll have to find a separate one nearby."
"Don't open your mouth, you. You smell like alcohol a lot."
"It's because I drank to my heart's content for the first time in a while. Even when I drank with my friends, I didn't drink like this."
The time is late, and it's past midnight. The night streets of Japan are bright too. It's mainly because of people working overtime. Damn it, would it kill you to be a little dark at night.......
Whether it's Japan or Korea, people living is the same. It changes depending on what kind of person lives there. According to the law of conservation of crazy people, crazy people exist in both Korea and Japan.
Ah, why am I like this. Did I really drink too much?
"........I won't do it today."
"No, why!"
"You smell like alcohol a lot. If you drank moderately and had the atmosphere, I would go along with it, but if it's that much, I don't like it either."
"I'll just hold your hand and sleep."
"Yeah, right."
I walked with Sion on the street, which was bright but still had few people around because it was past midnight. At least this way, it has an atmosphere and is good.
"Hold my hand."
"Why did you suddenly become a whiner?"
"Because I'm cold."
"Even if it's night, it's summer weather. Are you so drunk that you can't even grasp the humid air?"
"What does it matter, let's hold hands. Hands. Oh my, our wife is cute."
"You really seem to be drunk."
I held her hand and stroked Sion's hair. I want to hug her like this, take her out, and go to the hotel.
But it seems it wasn't a natural look to others.
"Excuse me, could you spare a moment?"
A police officer who was on night patrol approached us.
Clank, clank.