Daiki and his brother Rudeus had just turned three. That was when Rudeus finally figured out their parents' names.
He was the second son of the Greyrat family, younger by just a few minutes. Since their mom and dad never used each other's real names and always shortened his to Rudy, it took him forever to figure out his actual full name.
"I see, I see... do you like books, Rudy?"
Zenith caught him wandering around the house with a book in his hand one day.
"Rudy, be careful not to get it wet."
They never scolded him for carrying a book around. They even let him keep one by his side during meals.
"I think it's interesting," Paul muttered, playing with his silverware.
"What is, honey?" Zenith asked.
"No... nothing. Let's just eat."
"Alright." Zenith raised an eyebrow but left it at that.
Daiki read too, though not nearly as much. He only had to read something once for it to stick in his memory. After finishing the five books they had in the house, he mostly just observed.
What started as a diaper cold war eventually turned into a truce between two reincarnated souls.
Daiki would watch his brother practice magic and his dad train with a sword.
"Swords..." The sound of steel, the stances. "They draw me in for some reason."
He'd felt this way since he was a baby. Whenever he got close to the window, the only thing he really tuned into was the whistling sound of a sword slicing through the air.
Rudeus, on the other hand, never showed any interest in swords. He preferred books, magic, and knowledge. Let's just say he wasn't exactly in peak physical shape in his past life, so he never really cared about improving in that department.
He figured he'd never end up in a situation like that in a medieval fantasy world, so this was good enough for now.
But Daiki was a different story. Even with the clumsy hands of a toddler, there was something about his grip that didn't feel entirely childish.
It was an echo of who he was in his past. Something he wasn't proud of in the slightest, but was going to use anyway. The urge to protect the weak didn't just vanish when he died.
However, he found himself at a crossroads. It wasn't like the people around him were weak.
His mother, Zenith, was a healer who used to be in an S-Rank adventurer party. His father, Paul Greyrat, was a advanced-Rank swordsman in all three sword styles and had been in that same party. To top it off, Lilia also had sword training, even though a leg injury kept her from ever running again.
The weakest people in the house were Rudeus and Daiki. That was exactly why Daiki felt so conflicted. He didn't know how to handle the hardwiring from his past life that he called "his foundation."
"Look at that!" Paul said. "Rudy prefers books..."
"And Dai seems interested in swords, just like you."
"Yeah, it balances out nicely." Paul smiled wider than ever. "Don't you think?"
"I do, dear. They're wonderful. Aren't they?"
"I feel a bit small next to them... sometimes."
What they didn't know was that in his previous life, Daiki had pushed his body to superhuman limits. He'd mastered martial arts, combat techniques, kendo, and more. But none of that mattered when he was dealing with a completely new system in a totally different world.
Even though he knew how to use weapons, he'd never actually had to use them in real combat. The feeling of holding a sword drew him in way more than he expected.
Despite sticking to magic, Rudeus avoided reading the magic manuals in front of their family.
"It's better this way. We can't let them see us," he told Daiki once.
He wasn't trying to be mysterious. He just had no idea how magic was viewed in this world.
Maybe there was some unwritten rule like "magic is only for adults." It was an absurd conclusion, but it had some solid logic behind it. After all, overusing it could make you pass out. People here might think that using too much magic stunted a child's growth.
"Do you really think no one ever tried experimenting?" Daiki asked him one day when he caught him flipping through the book again.
That wasn't exactly the best way to phrase it. Maybe people in this world just weren't smart enough to figure it out on their own. Or maybe they were just good people who didn't want kids passing out left and right just to test some unproven theory.
Whatever the case, the main thing was not getting caught.
"I doubt it. It is what it is. We still don't know what the humans in this world are really like."
"Hmm." Daiki thought about it for a second. "Yeah, you've got a point."
Then again, Rudeus had fired magic out the window more than once, so there was a pretty good chance their parents had already figured it out.
"Rudeus, you're not subtle at all," Daiki pointed out to a very excited Rudeus.
"It's not my fault... okay, maybe a little. I was just curious to see how fast I could shoot a projectile... and, well, yeah, it happened," Rudeus admitted.
---
One afternoon, while Daiki was out in the garden practicing with a wooden sword alongside Paul, Rudeus decided to stay inside and cling to their mother's leg.
Because of his past trauma, he felt it was safer to just stay indoors and avoid facing his old demons. Meanwhile, his brother was out there completely unfazed by those kinds of issues. Because of that, he envied his older brother a little.
One time, when Daiki went for a walk with their dad to meet the townspeople, Rudeus backed away and flat-out refused to join them.
"I don't... want to go outside."
Their parents exchanged a look but didn't push the issue.
Maybe it was better this way, they thought.
---
That night, Daiki was gripping a wooden sword in his room. Rudeus leaned over on his bed, propping himself up on one elbow.
"I see you're more into swords, huh?"
"Yeah," Daiki replied, lowering the blade.
"I prefer magic. It suits me better, brother," Rudeus said.
"I enjoy magic too, but for now, I'm treating it as a secondary skill."
Rudeus let out a small laugh.
"Only you could say something like that about magic."
"I guess so. It just hasn't really amazed me yet," Daiki replied.
It was true. Daiki could literally talk to the elements. What actually blew his mind was the speed his dad could reach, levels so fast his eyes couldn't even track the movements.
'Maybe it's just a reinforcement spell,' Daiki thought. 'I'll keep looking into it for now.'
"You know, brother, you're weird. I am too, so... I guess it's fine for us to be different, right? You with swords, me with magic. We can balance each other out," Rudeus said.
Daiki looked at him for a moment before finally speaking.
"Yeah, we can. It's a solid plan. Considering the kind of magic out there and the creatures in that book, death could come knocking at any moment."
Rudeus held out his hand.
"So, team?"
Daiki froze at the gesture.
'When was the last time I shook someone's hand?'
He sighed and finally reached out to take it.
"Yeah, team," Daiki said.
---
**--- Daiki Greyrat's Perspective ---**
Rudeus had fallen asleep. However, he was muttering words in Japanese.
"I was a... waste...? for... yeah... no... truck..."
The door was closed. The house was dead silent. Well, except for the noises coming from our parents' room.
Rudeus woke up with a start. He was panting, his hands frantically patting down his own body. I think he expected to wake up in his old one. Maybe he had physical issues before coming here, so I couldn't really blame him for freaking out.
When he felt his flat stomach, he let out a sigh of relief.
"Phew... thank god..." Then he noticed I was awake. "A-ah, just a nightmare. That's all."
[What... am I? It seems something happened after the reincarnation. I think something changed.]
Suddenly, a voice echoed in my head.
'Don't tell me...?'
'You? No... you couldn't have come back. If the elements are gone, why are you still here?'
[Calm down. I'm not the same as before. I can't analyze things like I used to.]
I decided to ignore the voice for a second and quickly turned my attention back to Rudeus.
"Rudeus, are you okay?"
"Sorry if I woke you."
"Rudeus, don't dodge the question."
"I know, I know... I'm not doing great. You know, stuff from the past," Rudeus said. "They're like intrusive memories. It's weird."
[Rudeus is showing signs of nervousness. That's obvious... oh. Am I being that obvious? How strange to feel this way.]
'Who are you?'
[I... don't know.]
'... Stay quiet for now.'
"Do you want to talk about it, Rudeus?"
That single question was all I could manage to process. Since I wasn't used to talking about feelings with anyone, in fact, I'd never done it, these kinds of conversations simply didn't exist in my world. So this was a first.
"Alright, but there's no going back after this," Rudeus said. "I decided to bury my past, but no matter how far you run, you can't escape it."
Then he started talking.
Rudeus had suffered a brutal humiliation at school. After that, he locked himself away and gave up on everything. He spent twenty years neither studying nor working, just living off his parents' money. He even ended up pushing away the only person who ever tried to help him.
When his parents died, instead of going to their funeral, he stayed home wasting time in front of a screen watching porn. In the end, his own siblings kicked him out of the house.
"That's... all I was, brother. A fat piece of trash they kicked to the curb that very day. And they had every logical reason to do it, because I didn't deserve anything, not even their disgust," Rudeus said.
"And?"
"What do you mean 'and'? What kind of question is that? Didn't you hear anything I just said? I was a parasite! A useless pervert who disgraced his family by—!"
"There's no denying that. You *were*. Or rather, you have another chance to not be that guy anymore, don't you think?"
"That doesn't..." Rudeus stammered a bit. "That doesn't make much sense. I'm still me. If it weren't for you, no one else would know I'm reincarnated. I'd be completely alone in this. But you know. That changes things, doesn't it?"
"Look, Rudeus. That person doesn't exist anymore. He died under that truck saving people he didn't even know. If you keep carrying that mindset around, aren't you just repeating the same mistakes? I see the 'you' sitting right here. That's the only thing that matters right now."
I could see the fragility in Rudeus's face.
"What if I turn back into that? What if I fail again?" he asked.
"You won't. I trust you. You've proven you're a good person. Yeah, sometimes you stare at Lilia a bit too much, but that's a normal biological reaction for an adult, so it's not a huge deal. Just try to hide it a little better, alright?"
"Even so... you can't promise I won't mess up, Daiki," Rudeus said.
"You're right. I can't. If you stray off the path, I'll correct you. I'll beat some sense into you until you're back on track."
Rudeus let out a small laugh.
"That's... pretty harsh, don't you think? But thanks. Just don't let me die by a truck this time like my siblings did."
"Rudeus, trucks don't exist here," I pointed out.
"A monster, then!" Rudeus replied.
"Since we're talking about pasts, I guess it's my turn. I wasn't perfect either. Actually, my life was way worse than that. At least you stayed human," I said.
Rudeus tilted his head.
"Huh? What are you talking about?"
So I started talking. I told him about how I lost my parents in a fire when I was eight.
"They put me in an orphanage. Families always came on Saturdays. They'd watch me. Whisper. They saw a handsome kid, a kid who showed intelligence, but they never looked at my eyes. When they finally did, they'd change their minds and reject me. Nobody wants to look into empty eyes that can't be healed. Or at least, that's what they thought."
I told him about how, one day, seeing some kids bullying another boy, something inside me just snapped. When I regained consciousness, the leader was on the ground with a broken arm. From that day on, they only called me one thing: Monster.
"From then on, everything went downhill. I became very efficient. Too good at anything physical—kendo, martial arts, anything that involved fighting..."
Rudeus didn't say a word.
"Long story short, I became a machine..."
Silence.
"So no. I wasn't a pervert. I was just... something worse. Someone completely empty. A ghost. The difference between us is that you, at least, always owned up to your mistakes. You carry them. You hate them. That means you have a conscience. Morals. The ability to change. I had to literally die and have this conversation with you just to see a sliver of hope in my life. Just a little bit."
There was a moment of silence before Rudeus spoke.
"Wow... I wasn't expecting all that. Don't get me wrong, I'm just surprised. The same person who claims to be a machine just taught me a lesson no one else ever bothered to teach me. Do you really still think you're that person...?" he asked.
I repeated the question to myself and finally answered.
"I... don't know how to feel. The point is, I'm not going to hate you. That's all I can tell you for now."
"You really don't... you don't hate me? You don't want me to stay away from Zenith?" Rudeus asked.
"Never, Rudeus. How could I ever hate you? That'd be hypocritical of me, considering I need forgiveness too."
"Daiki... thank you. I'm going to do better. I'll be the brother you deserve."
I let out a relieved sigh.
"Then go to sleep. Tomorrow will be a good day."
"Goodnight, Rudeus."
"Goodnight, brother."
I lay back down.
[I think that...]
'Shut up for a bit. Let me sleep.'
[Understood.]
I closed my eyes.
For the first time in this life, the void in my chest felt a little less cold. Maybe, just maybe, this second chance won't be a waste.
---
Eventually, Rudeus's secret training came to an end.
It was just an ordinary afternoon.
I was walking out of my room when I heard Rudeus muttering a new spell. The exact one I had warned him not to use.
'So he reached intermediate level... it was about time. But doing it inside the house?'
It was already too late to stop him. A massive amount of water burst forward, blowing a huge hole straight through the wall.
*Tap, tap, tap, tap!*
I heard hurried footsteps coming from the right, so I bolted in the other direction and peeked around the corner of the hallway.
I decided to head down to the kitchen and make myself a quick sandwich. If something happened, I needed a way to distract them. Seeing their quiet son eating a piece of bread bigger than his head should do the trick. I walked back toward the doorway and saw what was really going down.
"We need to hire a private tutor immediately! I'm sure he's going to become an amazing mage in the future!"
Zenith looked beyond excited. All my previous theories about magic being hidden just vanished. Still, Paul had a look on his face that clearly said he wasn't happy about this. Lilia was already cleaning up the mess.
"Honey, we have to put up an ad in the city of Roa tomorrow! We have to nurture this talent!"
"No, wait! We agreed that if it was a boy, we'd make him a swordsman!"
Paul crossed his arms.
"But he can use intermediate magic at this age! If we train him, he'll be a great mage!"
"A promise is a promise!"
"A promise, you say? You break them all the time!"
"That's completely beside the point!"
This was exactly the opening I needed.
"Munch, munch."
I chewed as loudly as I could and stomped my foot hard on the floor. Paul and Zenith turned to look at me.
"I want to be a swordsman. Urmg... I feel something... munch... like something's calling me to the sword. It's... munch... weird."
[It's true, you did feel something.]
'Shut up.'
"Dai?" Paul blinked. It took him ten whole seconds to process it and that was all he could say.
"Come on... munch... you saw me by the window watching you train... munch... I've always been interested in it," I said.
Zenith walked over and crouched down to my level.
"Dai, sweetie, don't talk with your mouth full. About the sword... are you absolutely sure?" Zenith asked.
"Yes, Mother. The promise was about raising a swordsman, right? And there are two of us. Since I was born first, that promise would apply to me, wouldn't it?"
"Yes, you're right." She gently stroked my hair.
"If I may interject..." Lilia, who had been quietly cleaning this whole time, paused. "Why not train both of them in both disciplines? Rudeus can study magic in the morning with a tutor and practice swordplay with Paul-sama in the afternoon. Daiki can do the opposite: swordplay in the morning with Paul-sama and magic in the afternoon."
"That..." Paul rubbed his chin. "That makes sense. That way, neither of them falls behind."
"A mage who knows how to defend himself with a sword, and a swordsman who can use magic! They can complement each other, just like they have since the day they were born!" Zenith added.
And just like that, our future was decided.
---
That night, Rudeus walked over to my bed.
"Thanks for today."
"You don't have to thank me. I told the truth. I genuinely want to learn how to use a sword, Rudeus."
"Still... you knew I was nervous about the whole swordsman thing, and we already agreed I'm not interested in it."
"Yeah, I know. But we're brothers. Brothers have each other's backs. We already talked about this, remember? You with magic, me with swords. Together..."
"Unstoppable?" Rudeus suggested with a small laugh.
"I was going to say 'competent,' but your version sounds better," I replied. "Relatively better."
"'Relatively' better, really?"
"Yep."
With that, we went to sleep.
---
Back home, they decided to hire a private tutor for the two of us.
As one of the few nobles in the region, Paul could afford to pay a decent salary. Even so, we lived in a rural area right at the edge of the country. It wasn't exactly a place crawling with mages or highly skilled people. Because of that, no one expected someone to take the job so quickly.
Apparently, the tutor would start working the very next day and would be staying at our house, since the village didn't even have an inn.
Paul and Zenith imagined it would be some retired adventurer. Maybe a middle-aged man, or even an old guy who had spent years perfecting his magic.
"I'm Roxy. Nice to meet you."
However, the person who showed up was a very young woman.