Takayama Kaito woke up to the sound of his alarm.
As always, he reached out to turn it off. Then, he slowly opened his eyes... but what he saw left him bewildered.
"Where am I?"
The night before, he had fallen asleep in his room—the typical, boring one of an average office worker. However, now he was in a completely different room.
His first thought was that he had been kidnapped, but after cautiously observing for a few minutes, he realized he was alone, completely unharmed, and—most importantly—with all his organs in place.
The room had a youthful vibe. Without a doubt, it was a student's bedroom.
But the strangest thing wasn't the place—it was his own body. He felt lighter, as if all the weight of work and stress had vanished. When he looked at his hands, he noticed they were smaller. Intrigued, he rushed to look at himself in the mirror.
What he saw raised more questions than answers.
His reflection was that of his teenage self: short black hair, dark eyes, about 1.70 meters tall, and a slightly toned body—not overly muscular.
He had returned to his youth.
"What's going on? Wasn't I supposed to meet a ROB or something?"
He remembered that in the stories he used to read, the protagonists would encounter a ROB before reincarnating—who would grant them powers or special abilities.
But in his case, nothing of the sort had happened.
"Status!"
He shouted into the air.
"…"
"System!"
"…"
He spent the next ten minutes trying every magic word he knew. Eventually, he reached a troubling conclusion:
He had no system.
"What the hell? What's the point of reincarnating without a system?"
Disappointed, he tried checking if he had any kind of special ability: magic, level-ups, flight, mind reading, power absorption… nothing worked.
"Alright... I guess my cheat will come later. Yeah, that must be it."
He tried to convince himself.
Knock knock knock
Someone banged on the door, making him jump in fright.
"Who is it?"
"Brother! Why aren't you up yet? You'll be late for school!"
'Brother?'
He blinked, confused. He didn't remember having a sister. So... this wasn't his world?
Was this another world? A normal one? An anime one?
Too many questions. He shook his head to clear it.
"I'm coming!"
He washed his face, got dressed in what he recognized as a school uniform from the closet, and headed downstairs.
A traditional breakfast was waiting for him on the table.
"Good morning. Why did you take so long?" said a woman with long black hair and a kind smile.
Kaito recognized her instantly. It was his mother. He smiled back.
"I stayed up late studying last night and overslept..."
It was a lie, but it came naturally. Clearly, it was an excuse he'd used before.
"You shouldn't push yourself so hard," she said, worried. "It's enough to get good grades—you don't have to be the best."
Kaito nodded. In his youth, he used to study a lot, but later realized that connections mattered more. While he ended up stuck as an office worker, others who got along with their superiors quickly rose through the ranks without merit.
"Yeah, brother, you should stop studying so much and get yourself a girlfriend."
Kaito turned at the sound of that voice. Sitting at the table was a younger girl, probably two or three years his junior. She had the same dark hair as him, styled in twin tails, and big, expressive green eyes—like an anime character.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked, confused.
Kaito used to reply with sarcasm or ignore her, but this time, he simply stared at her.
He sighed and looked away.
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"
Ignoring her complaints, Kaito reflected. If this wasn't his world... was it an anime world? Although his family members had black hair—which was common in anime—he expected something more "extravagant."
Still, what surprised him most was how naturally he interacted with his sister. He had no memory of her, but his body moved as if he'd known her forever.
"I feel like you're thinking something offensive about me..."
"It's your imagination."
After finishing breakfast, they said goodbye to their mother and left for school.
It was close, just a few blocks away, so they walked.
"Do we always go together?" Kaito asked, curious.
"Where else would I go?"
'I guess I'll get used to it...'
As they walked, Kaito paid close attention to the people passing by. And then, his eyes lit up.
Colorful hair: red, green, blue, orange... he was definitely in an anime world! Now he just had to figure out which one.
However, he didn't recognize any of the characters along the way.
Once at school, he separated from his sister and headed to his classroom: third year, class 3-B. He was 18 years old, and there were only two months left before graduation and college.
The strange part was, even though he remembered working hard to get into a good university, his mother had just told him not to push himself so much.
Was the anime world just easier? Or was his mother simply the best in all of Japan?
He reached the classroom door and opened it. Most of the students were already in their seats.
He went to his usual seat—he recognized it: he had sat there all through his childhood. He rested his head on the desk.
"You show up late and the first thing you do is sleep," said a familiar voice.
Kaito straightened up. It was a slightly shorter boy with blonde hair and sky-blue eyes.
It was Saito Hikaru, his best friend since elementary school. In his previous life, he knew that hair was dyed, but here it looked natural.
"You probably stayed up studying again, huh?" another voice chimed in from behind.
Problem: he had no idea who that girl was.
Light brown hair in a high ponytail, golden-brown eyes, a kind but determined expression.
'Who is she?'
She looked familiar, but he didn't remember being friends with anyone like her.
Another change?
The girl blushed slightly under his gaze.
"What is it? Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Well..."
"Who are you?"
She blinked, surprised. Saito also looked at him strangely.
"Are you joking?"
"I'm serious. I have no idea who she is."
"That's Aoyama Nanami, our friend of three years. How could you forget her?"
'Aoyama Nanami...'
That name rang a bell. Not from his past life... but from an anime.
The Pet Girl of Sakurasou?
A bit disappointing. It was a good story, but he was hoping for something with magic or powers.
Sakurasou was an anime... completely normal.
"Hey, don't ignore me."
"Sorry, Nanami. I'm still half-asleep..."
She looked at him suspiciously, but the bell rang and they went to their seats.
Kaito tried to focus in class, but soon gave up. He already knew all the material.
The teacher looked at him disapprovingly but said nothing.
Meanwhile, Kaito thought.
He had returned to the past... but not to his world.
An anime world, yes, but one without magic or abilities.
'Looks like my life is going to be pretty normal...'
He thought.
Completely unaware of how wrong he was.