Chương 16: I'm A Big Boy Now!

I really hoped that she'd said something like 'maybe tomorrow' or something like that. For some reason, I really want to go outside. Being isolated in this house was funny for a while, but it's not that funny if that's the only thing you can do for a year. I still don't know in which year I've been reincarnated in. The technology around me is weird, I have no idea if it's 2389 or we're in 1668, no idea. And that's why, I was really hoping I would go outside soon. That was a lie. A big lie.

No, for the next four months of my life, I didn't go outside. I had the opportunity to look outside the window, or from the front door more than once with supervision. But going outside? Exploring? And walking around unsupervised outside? This? Didn't managed to do it, not yet, well, more like my parents didn't allow me to walk outside. Supervised or not. They didn't even carry me in their arms when they went to buy groceries and stuff! THAT'S FUCKING INSANE!

Wait is that even healthy for a baby to be cooped in their house for a year? Eh. Who knows? So, for the next four months of my life. My life was filled with a lot of training. A lot of meditation, a lot of training, and a lot of Kiko visits and dancing. The little devil is not growing on me. I hate her. But finally, at one year old. I managed it. I'm finally outside! WOOOOOOW! The world is sooooooo shiny and ugly and... poor. And... I look up at my father, who's on my right, my right hand in his own big left hand.

We're walking in the street. He doesn't seem to notice my look. Then I look up at my mother, on my left. Holding my left hand, walking on my left side. She does notice my look and tilt her head as if she was asking me a question. I don't answer, and instead I look above me. At the sky, the biiiiig sky, cloudy with... well clouds. To be honest, I didn't expected my first day to be a perfect day and all, but still, couldn't I get a bit of sun at least?

My weird shoes, big, elevated, and tight, fully ecompasing every part of my feet until the ankles make me unable to feel the wet ground under me. But I can see it, and this makes me thankful for having a day without rain at least. It's raining a lot around here. Don't know in which country I got reincarnated to, but it's a place where it rains a lot. So maybe it's a perfect day for my birthday? Most of the buildings around me. Most of the buildings I see, are made to resist rain.

The roofs are in weird slanted shapes. They're in a different material than the wood the houses are mainly consisted of. Said material almost looks like clay but has a bit of a darker tone to it. Weird dark red. The slanted roofs push most of the water that lands on them on the street. The streets, themselves, are made to resist water. I don't know why I expected some packed mud. Maybe because I have low expectations because I think we're poor. But the ground beneath us is solid.

It's not dirt, not mud, and it's not gray like concrete would be. But it's solid and in a dark brown color. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. It's weird. I know it's not packed dirt or anything like that because there's still traces of the rain on it, and there's no mud forming, also, if I drag my feet on the ground, I can feel the ground beneath me and hear it too. It feels closer to rock than packed dirt for sure.

When my foot grates on the ground, the sound is kind of annoying to be honest. On the side of the streets, beside the weird brown ground, there's some kind of channels? Of gutter? I'm not too sure, but it's made in a whiter material than the ground beneath my feet. And most people walking around are careful enough to avoid walking on it. It's close to people doors, just under the slanted roofs. The slanted roofs gather the rain falling on it, and the rain slide down directly in the gutter. Which is...

well, filled with water and traveling around somewhere. Maybe to be recycled or something? Damn, how unlucky can a man be? Get reincarnated as a child. But you're fucking handicapped, and your parents are poor as fuck. Well, at least I have parents. Which is better than nothing, couldn't I have been reborn in a fantasy world though? Would have loved being able to throw around some magic. Damn, I sound like Kiko. Therefore, I sound like an annoying kid.

How about being happy about what you have instead of complaining in the middle of your birthday? You got a cake for your birthday at least. I lick some of my growing teeth, pieces of chocolate still on there. It was a tasty cake for sure. Oh right right, you may wonder why we're outside? Well, the answer is pretty simple. Like I was saying before, today is my birthday! I'm officially one year old! Yeah, yeah, I know, you can be proud of me. Be proud of me.

I survived one whole year with this horrible FUCKING disease! It's still not gone too. Which is... saddening, to say the least. Well, maybe it'll go away when I reach Kiko's age? When I first met her she was older than I am now, maybe when I'm two it will be taken care of? In any case, my calculations were wrong. Maybe it's because of the first weeks of my life, or my rounding errors, but my birthday happened the day when I thought I was eleven months and two weeks old.

So I probably messed up somewhere, probably during my first weeks of life. I was pretty close tho Eh, doesn't really matter now. What matters now is that I'm between my parents while they're boxing me in, father on the right, mother on the left, and me in the middle walking around as we're exploring the town. Well, walking is a big word. I'm walking for sure, but I'm more jumping up and down while following them more than anything. Yep, you heard me. I'm jumping.

One step forward, small jumps, my parents support me, my father sometimes let out a small laugh at each of my jumps. And we go at it again. One step, one jump. I float down with the help of my parents, and the next leg goes at it. It may looks like a cute childish thing to do, and it kind of is, but to be honest. It's more something that I do to avoid looking like I'm dancing and walking at the same time. Yeah, those weird movements are getting mighty noticeable the more I grow up.

Well, to be honest, I don't know how I look like, how I REALLY look like when I stay still. But not gonna lie? Kiko gave me a fucking insecurity I swear. So don't blame me man, let me jump around while I explore. In any case, who cares if I jump around? I look around at the people that passes us by, some give us glances, most people ignore us. Some gives me bad glances, but most of those bad glances dissapeared after I started jumping.

They apparently don't like seeing childrens walking and dancing at the same time See? Nobody cares if I jump. They actually care less when I jump around, than when I try to walk normally. I see an old grandma giving me a bad look before she smiles at my parents..... okay, maybe I was wrong. They still looking at me weirdly.... What the fuck is this weird village? That's a great question here. What the fuck is this weird village? To be honest, most of what I see hasn't been what I expected.

There isn't a lot if people in this village, well, I don't recognize anyone, and not everyone knows my parents. I went fully cliché mode and thought that it was the kind of village were everyone knew everyone. But it's not, so the village is probably bigger than I thought. Or my parents are loners. One is true, don't know which one. But the lack of recognition is not the problem here, it's not why I believe this village is weird. No, what's making me judge the village is the weird mix of technology.

Sometimes, I see stuff that shows that this village is pretty advanced technologically speaking. And sometimes, I see primitive methods as if I was in the middle of a medieval drama or something. For example, let's look at my right right now. Beside my father, and on the right side of the street we're walking on. On this side. On my direct right, there's... a shop, I'm pretty sure it's a shop.

It seems to be a shop that sells pretty much everything and anything, I can see clothes, and chairs, and a lot of different random things, passing from books to forks. Overall, it seems to be a general shop. But do you see what's wrong with what I said? I can see it. I can see what the shop is selling. Why? Because there's a gigantic window, a perfect plane of clear glass that shows the inside of the shop, something only advanced technology should be able to do! But then...

On said pane of glass, attached to the window with the help of some kind of glue is a weird rag. On it, there's clearly the name of the shop. A shop name I can't read yet because of my skill in the language. Still. WHY IS THERE A PERFECT PIECE OF BEAUTIFUL GLASS AND THEN, JUST ON IT, A GENUINE RAG WITH A NAME SCRIBBLED ON IT!? See? That's what's weird with this village. It's a mix of technologically advanced and... not? All at the same time? That's what's weird.

And that's what I'm going to try to figure out while going out. Where the fuck am I?