I know you're in there.
Ryo's thoughts echoed in his head.
You're the reader of this story, aren't you? I always knew you were there, even over the course of my many lifetimes. What a shame, that it's my newest body getting focus, I used to be pretty interesting in my first life, but it's no use crying over spilled milk. Hello Reader, my name is Ryo Kamito, and I'm the both the protagonist of this story and the most lonely man alive.
Ryo looks around at everyone, while knowing everything about them, he had no actual bonds with these people that were forged from something else other than manipulation.
I always knew I was special. I mean, each atom of the universe I live in, and each atom of places way outside of my universe, have a part of my consciousness in them! I've been here since the start, yet in all those years of living, I'm back on earth, again, with a juvenile perspective, starting over again. It may have been a blessing the first time I got reincarnated, but by the 5th time it just gets old.
Yet in all my lives, I try to search for some semblance of continuity. I marry the same person, or well, the same soul, both because I love them and they're familiar. I always have the same name, Ryo Kamito, I'm always born into the Kamito bloodline, I unfortunately have the same job, being a part of the military, this is terrible, but I've grown accustomed to it, and it's familiar, so that makes it a little better.
Do you know how it feels when the thing you hate is also the thing you're best at? I've seen so much blood and warfare over the course of my many lives, that I've grown desensitized to it. I'm just a killing machine now. To compensate for the many lives I've took, I try to do as much good as I possibly can. Lives are temporary, good can be forever.
Ryo looked to the side, a child was crying. He was around 6 or so. Ryo contemplated whether he should approach or not, but ended up walking over to the kid anyway.
Ryo said softly. "Hey, what's wrong?"
The child sniffed. "I... I lost my mom..."
Looking into your memories and what you did today, you're lucky she didn't abandon you on purpose. I would have.
Ryo says, patting the child on his head. "Hey, hey, it's okay. I'll find your mom for you. What's your name, kid? I don't really want to have to call you child or kid all the time."
The kid says in a shaky voice. "Seiichi..."
Ryo nods. "Okay, Seiichi-chan. We'll go find her, get up."
Seiichi sobbed. "My leg hurts..."
Ryo heals Seiichi's leg by using his Essence.
If you're wondering what Essence is, in it's rawest form, it's magic that's adapted to the body and soul of it's host. How much Essence you can hold is dependent on how deep the Essence has embedded in your genes. This is why some people have naturally larger Essence pools and can more easily control their Essence than others, their Essence is set extremely deep in their genetics and also in tune with their body. There's 3 types of Essence, destructive, healing and normal.
Ryo fake-smiles. "It's all better now, isn't it?"
Seiichi nods sleepily. "Yeah... it doesn't hurt anymore."
Great, now he's sleepy. I'm just going to fly to his mom, teleportation would be faster but I don't want people who know me to get suspicious.
Ryo gathers up his Essence, and uses it to scoop up Seiichi, making him levitate.
Seiichi smiled, suddenly wide awake. "Wow! I'm flying!" He looked at Ryo, confused. "Aren't you coming?"
Ryo shrugged. "I'll walk."
I'm not allowed to be near children, and definitely not near schools. Why? I molecularly disassembled some annoying kids, in a past life. I was going to turn them back though! Turns out being the whole military of a nation, and being regarded as the savior of them all, doesn't stop you from getting convicted for aggravated assault. They couldn't contain me though, and I wiped all their memories so I didn't get consequences.
Seiichi blinked. "Wow. You're boring! Why are you walking? You're old, old people are slow. Flying's faster."
If I have to talk to this kid anymore, I'll become a repeat offender. No, no, no, I promised myself, no more hurting children.
Ryo fake-smiled. "Most adults are. I'm not that old, I'm only 16, Seiichi-chan."
Ryo escorted Seiichi to his mom's location and made sure they were reunited. He trudged back to his house, remembering that it was a Sunday and he didn't have anything to do. He lay down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.
I wonder how my family would feel, seeing me like this. I know they'd like to find me, but I don't really want to meet them in this form for two reasons. One, they're all powerful so why haven't they tried seeking me out? Two, my father in this life fell out with the clan, so they may have a grudge against me. Just in case the latter's happening, I'm going to maintain a low profile and stay away from my clan.
I previously mentioned that I've taken a military job in every life, that also applies to this one. I am an Isokofo, someone who acts both as a policeman and military personnel. I go to school for this, it's a respected job, and extremely well-paid. What's better is that we work in squads, and are rarely interviewed. I have the perfect 8 people, they're powerful enough to take on hard missions that pay a shit ton, their personalities also mash well together, the public will love them! They can hide me from everyone. It's a perfect plan, I'll just have to do the hard work of recruiting them.
I would probably have to use my real Isorotomatai, but that shouldn't be a problem...
Ryo looks at the clock, it was 1:42AM.
Damn, that monologue took 3 hours. What the hell? Well, looks like I've nothing to do.
You could always just go to sleep.
Oh look, it's the author. I expected you, but strange of you to arrive at the first chapter.
I come and go whenever I want, regardless of how you feel about it.
Fine, have that attitude then. And for the record, I'm not going to sleep.
What are you going to do then?
I've been running low on funds, I'm probably gonna go rob a bank.
What? You're not serious, right?
Ryo walks out of his house and to the nearest bank. I'm dead serious.
What the fuck-
Ryo saunters into the bank, holding the unconscious bodies of the security guards he quickly dealt with, and yells. "EVERYONE GET DOWN ON YOUR HANDS AND KNEES -Oh wait, no, that sounds really sexual- I MEAN, EVERYONE RAISE YOUR HANDS UP IF YOU DON'T WANT TO DIE. DROP EVERYTHING YOU MAY HAVE."
Everyone immediately does as they're told.
The bank clerk, a purple haired and purple eyed woman, yells. "Please, don't hurt anyone! I'll show you straight to the vault!"
Wait a second... Shit. That's a Kamito! That's my 4th cousin!
Ryo clears his throat, suddenly a little less sure of himself. "Ah yes, show me the vault and no one gets hurt."
The bank clerk nodded. "Follow me."
They both walk to the vault, the bank clerk enters a code in and unlocks it. Ryo looks inside and is appalled.
Ryo stutters. "T-That's it?"
The bank clerk looks at Ryo, confused. "What do you mean? This is one of the most prestigious and acclaimed banks in the country!"
Ryo says sarcastically. "What are you acclaimed for? Protecting air?"
The bank clerk looks inside. "We're not seeing the same things, Robber-san."
Ryo shoots a sidelong glance at the bank clerk. "One, don't call me that. Two, it's just not that much money."
The bank clerk was offended. "There's 350,000,000,000 ryo in there! What are you talking about?"
Ryo says, unimpressed. "I've seen more. Man, I really wasted my time coming here. Here, have this." Ryo uses his Isorotomatai to create an extremely valuable metal. "You clearly need it more than me."
The bank clerk gasps. "T-That's Ikotorix! Why did you even feel the need to rob a bank if you can make that!?"
Ryo rolls his eyes. "Because I would've had to find a buyer, get certified as a seller, probably get investigated for having one of the most valuable materials on the planet, probably get televised and only then would I get the money. Compare that to walking down the street and into the nearest bank to steal their money. A lot less work, don't you think?"
The bank clerk nodded. "That's true... well, thank you for your patronage, I guess?"
Ryo says, disappointment clearly displayed on his face. "And thank you, for wasting my time."
Ryo leaves the bank, his head hung low as he didn't manage to accomplish his goal.
You have no one else to blame other than yourself. You could've just grabbed a couple million and left, but NOOO, you were being stupid and gave them a valuable metal instead!
Did you seriously think I didn't grab a few million while she wasn't looking? I'm broke, not stupid.
Oh.
Ryo opens the door to his house, runs up the stairs and shoves his money into the medium-sized safe at the top of his wardrobe. Now that he's not broke anymore, he peacefully goes to sleep at 3:42AM.
4 hours and 18 minutes later, at 8:00AM, Ryo wakes up. He quickly gets ready for school, putting more effort into his appearance than usual due to there being a big ceremony today. Noticing that he still has time, he sits down on the sofa and turns on the TV. He scrolls through the channels, until something on the news channel caught his eye.
The news reporter speaks with a stoic face, but there is a gleam of astonishment in her eyes. "This just in, a gentleman just walked into Ikamatei bank central, offered Ikotorix for the measly price of 3 million ryo, which is, a million times less than it's true value, and promptly left. We will now cut to Mikoto Sato, a bank clerk who claims to have witnessed the whole thing."
My 4th cousin's on TV?! Nice.
It cut to footage of a stunned Mikoto. "He was a thief, or an attempted one at least... I lead him to the vault, he looked inside, he looked at 350 billion ryo and asked me if that was it. If 350 billion ryo was it? Is he stupid? He's a thief, so clearly he's poor, yet he had the audacity to say that. I was so, so confused. I asked him what he was talking about. He looked at me with disappointment, and SOMEHOW conjured the Ikotorix out of thin air, and gave it to me. He told me I needed it, and then he left. He must have taken a few million ryo while I wasn't looking. I guess best case scenario happened?"
And she's slandering me.
It cuts back to the news reporter. "None of the other witnesses have corroborated Sato-san's account, it may just be that she's still reeling from shock. The other witnesses say that a man, who's face they can't quite remember, strolled into the bank and loudly requested Sato-san's attention as he held the Ikotorix in his hand, who then lead him to the vault. They assume that a deal occured from there on, which is quite different from Sato-san's account of things. That's all the information we have for now. Now, let's move onto the bushfires in Mekotoria-"
Ryo turned the TV off, he then put his shoes on and started walking to school, his head in the clouds.
I hope I'll see Mikoto-san again, hopefully not while I'm robbing her.