Chapter 69 World B: Reincarnation Side Story - Tenas Encounters...
Tenas met a very strange person.
He had just bought three ice creams and shared them with his two best friends, Nadia and Reena, when he turned around and noticed a person standing at the park entrance. The person was wearing a drab gray cloak, and although he couldn't see the face clearly, he could see a small part of the exposed face with many dark red burn or scald scars, staring straight at him.
“That person has been staring at you.” Nadia gulped down half of her ice cream in one big bite.
"Do you know that person?" Reena asked Tenas, licking her ice cream.
Tenas shook his head.
He secretly observed the person out of the corner of his eye. The person was no longer standing at the park entrance, but sitting on a park bench dozens of meters away from them, having taken off their cloak and hood.
The man was male, and his entire face was almost entirely covered in scars. His cold and imposing aura made people afraid to approach him, and his eyes were fixed on the three of them.
"Do you think he's going to do something to us?" Reena thought about it carefully, then suddenly blurted out, "Do you think he's a pedophile?"
The three five-year-old children looked at each other, a little uneasy.
“You guys go first.” Tenas tugged at Reena’s sleeve and whispered in her ear, “I’ll hold him off. He’s probably after both of you, so I’ll be safer.”
"What if he's targeting you?" Nadia leaned in and whispered, very worried. "You're so pretty, all the other kids are vying to be your friend. Even when they're angry, they don't get angry just looking at your face."
“I think so too,” Reena expressed her concern. “How about we split up and run separately later?”
The man on the bench listened as the children's initial chatter turned into a heated argument, creating quite a commotion. Gazing at the distant lawn, he couldn't help but drift into memories from many years ago.
When he came to his senses, Tenas was the only one left in the park. He was sitting right next to him, and Tenas had bought ice cream sometime earlier. Tenas was eating one while Tenas handed him another.
"Am I your target? You've been staring at me the whole time." Tenas licked the ice cream that was melting and almost dripping onto his hand, and asked curiously, "Uncle? Are you trying to kidnap me?"
"...I just happened to be passing by..." The man called "uncle" paused for a moment, did not take the ice cream, and stared at the shimmering stream in the distance, somewhat lost in thought: "I used to live around here, but I moved for some reason. Today I just happened to come back to this area."
Tenas glanced at the blazing sun, then at the two ice creams in his hand. He imitated Nadia's earlier actions and took a big bite of one half. However, the cold air made Tenas's head ache, so he had no choice but to start melting the ice cream in his mouth before swallowing it.
The man looked at Tenas's sticky hands, which were covered in melted ice cream, hesitated for a moment, and then took out a small pack of wet wipes and handed it to him.
"Thank you, Uncle." Tenas thanked him politely, took the bag, and quickly wiped his hands clean.
"..."
The two sat on a park bench, neither of them speaking first. Tenas even swayed his legs boredly and hummed a light tune.
"How are you doing these days? Do you have any friends? How's your family? Have you been having any worries lately?" Finally, the man broke the somewhat tense atmosphere and asked softly.
"Uncle, are you an FBI agent? Why are you asking these questions? It's so strange. We don't know each other, do we?" Tenas tilted his head in confusion, but still said, "No, my parents' parents are business partners. Even though they don't come home often, the three of us often hang out together. We take turns staying at each other's houses. We're super good friends! But I won't tell you their names. You're being weird."
“We’re currently just taking lessons at home with a tutor and haven’t gone to school yet, so having these two friends is enough for me!” Tenas’s voice lit up when he talked about his good friends. He clasped his hands together, his smile beaming, and it seemed as if a glow emanated from him as he spoke, with stars and little flowers floating around him: “They are both wonderful people. They share their delicious food with me, and they share their favorite things with me. We play together, study together, and are inseparable. Except for their love of playing house and letting me be the son, they are all wonderful—”
“We’re the same age!” He said, his tone tinged with helplessness, complaining unconsciously, his cheeks puffed out in anger. “We were even born on the same day, but I just happened to be a few minutes later than them, and I’m the one playing those roles in pretend play! I really want to be the dad! Why can’t I be a single dad with two kids?”
Once Tenas starts complaining, he goes on and on, chattering away about all sorts of trivial things.
For example, if one person steals a piece of their dessert first, and then the other person eats it too, the two people will cover for each other and lie to each other, saying that there was only a small amount of dessert that day. Neither of them even wiped the crumbs off their mouths.
Because the three of them grew up together, their sense of gender wasn't very clear. The children were also young and couldn't tell each other's genders just by looking at their faces. It wasn't until they took a bath together that they realized he was a boy. He ran away in a sorry state under the thoughtful and puzzled gazes of the girls.
We exchanged gifts for birthdays, and we had agreed with one of them not to tell her. However, she couldn't keep it to herself and accidentally blurted out the gift a few hours before the exchange, which meant that the two kids had to change their gifts at the last minute.
The two girls were very close. He and the girl with the loose tongue accidentally broke a book that belonged to the older, self-important girl who had been born before them. Before he could even figure out how to fix it, restore it, or buy a new one, the girl was already crying and running off to apologize, afraid that he would be angry with her and that she would stop playing with him.
Tenas's voice was sometimes high-pitched and excited, sometimes low and listless, and occasionally she would use a sweet tone to tell about the fun things the three of them did together. It was full of childlike fun, and their biggest fear was that the other person would get angry and stop playing with them, or that someone would steal the children's pudding.
At the end, Tenas reflected on what he had just said and suddenly realized, "I feel like I'm being ostracized!"
"...Why do you say that?" the man asked after a long pause.
"They tried on clothes without me! They can wear men's clothes, so why can't I wear a skirt? They've both worn my clothes, so why can't I wear their skirts? It's so unfair!" Tenas seemed genuinely angry, huffing and puffing, "It's fine if I don't wear a skirt, but they didn't even invite me to their dressing room! They didn't even plan to invite me to the pajama party! They only agreed after I said I really wanted to go, and then after turning off the lights and going to sleep, they started arguing about whether they preferred cats or dogs, and they even asked me to judge, asking which animal was cuter? I said snakes and they got upset..."
He didn't know how much time had passed, but Tenas's mouth was dry. He noticed that the azure sky had taken on a warm hue, and the setting sun made the white clouds look as if they were burning with flames. The man listened in silence the whole time.
Listening to him chatter on about his friends, I learned that although his parents were busy, they were doing alright. He got all A+ grades in his studies and was almost finished with elementary school material. In a couple of days, he would be starting middle school material. He also had tutors for piano and music who were all graduating.
Tenas looked up at the sky: "I'm going home for dinner. They're waiting for me."
"Then I'll be going too." The stranger who had listened to him all afternoon stood up and walked straight towards the park entrance.
After taking two steps, he suddenly stopped, walked back to Tenas, picked up a hair that had fallen on his shoulder, and took out a sealed bag from somewhere and put it inside.
"Tenas," the man said, looking at him, "be a good person."
How can I describe his eyes?
His reflection was mirrored in his dark eyes, a complex mix of emotions that made it impossible for him to discern much of what was in them.
The most easily discernible feature in those seemingly calm eyes is sadness.
Because sadness filled his eyes so much, so intense it seemed almost tangible, his eyebrows were slightly furrowed, and the sadness in his eyes made it look like he was about to cry. He stared blankly at him, lost in thought.
Even though it's the first time you've met them and they don't know each other, why do you look like you're about to cry?
How did he know my name?
Before he could even ask a question, the other person turned and left, quickly disappearing from his sight.
Only a single, soft sentence drifted on the wind: "If you do something bad, I will come back to you."
Years later, when Ethan passed by the park where he first met Tenas, he was still a little dazed. He glanced around and saw a familiar yet unfamiliar figure.
It's Tenas.
To be precise, it should be Tenas after his reincarnation. Nadia and Reena are even standing next to him. It's hard to tell if it's a karmic entanglement or fate. It's said that the three of them tormented each other in their previous life, but they are still friends in this life.
He should have left, he should have left. He has a mission and shouldn't have wasted his time here.
But he stopped. Not only did he stop, he even went into the park, sat on a bench, and watched the three of them laughing and playing in the distance. His keen hearing allowed him to hear their discussion clearly.
Tenas eventually managed to persuade the two girls to leave first, while he stayed behind to deal with him.
Listening to Tenas, who has no memories of the past, is like a real child, living an ordinary yet happy life. His parents are not very noticeable but are okay, and he has friends who eat, live, and grow up with him. He was not born in the terrible environment of Yangyan City, and his living environment has improved a lot.
Listening to his childlike complaints, Ethan was in a daze for a long time, unable to reconcile the Tenas in front of him with the little Tenas in front of him.
How could the difference be so big? He's practically the same personality as the Tenas that Ethan's world talked about. But that's fine... as long as he doesn't go down the same path as before, it's good that he lives an ordinary life like this.
The grudges of the past will not carry over to his reincarnation.
But if you continue as before...
Ethan stopped and turned around to look at Tenas, who had become a tiny dot in the distance but was still standing there.
...He will kill him again.
If Tenas commits another crime, he guarantees he can find him no matter where he flees. The hair that served as the medium is also in his hands. Even if he dies, he can find his soul in hell.
It's getting late, let's go see Bertha first.
Ethan left.
Later, he turned that hair into a special sensor. As soon as the hair detected Tenas's criminal behavior, Ethan would know and appear near him immediately.
When Tenas was five years old, he met a strange man, but soon forgot about him because he never saw him again.
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The author's note: "Even though it's the first time we've met, and they don't even know each other, why do you look like you're about to cry?"
I forget where I first saw the meal replacement meme, but it seemed really relevant.
He hasn't found his mother yet in this chapter... It's hard to say whether he wants to or not. He has no memories or feelings of his past relationship with his mother. It's hard to empathize with the person he used to love so much. So he just lets things take their course... He can think whatever he wants. Maybe one day he'll compromise and go looking for her. He wants to find someone who can heal his face, but he's afraid of scaring his mother.
There should be another "what if" scenario, and then this world ends. Actually, last year I was thinking there was an "what if" scenario for this world, with a dual-magician setting, where Tenas, after regaining his memories, hypnotizes Ethan to continue being good friends. Below is the hypnosis scene.
Tenas: Little Ethan, I've been practicing hypnosis lately, can I try it on you?
Ethan: Okay
Then the man was conscious and controlled...
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