Chương 15

The first time he saw an actual working color television again, Rei genuinely froze for a few seconds. It had been 9 years he had seen one. A song was playing in MTV. The video and the song was enough to summarize his entire emotional state. It was the ordinary life that got to Rei. Honestly when Rei landed here, he was half expecting either TVA from either of the bosses or from the Ancient One. He was on edge too when he visited at night and was ready to escape at any given moment.

But there were no intervention, no knocks on the proverbial door. He was glad. Glad that he could enjoy his life here for a bit. Full freedom. At least for 2 years. By now he understood a bit that his new ability, though broken, was almost sure that after 2 years, there would be another phase and he didn't know what kind of new magical abilities with it provide him. Besides, in local terms, he was a superhuman.

"He says thank you after meals."

"He organizes his room himself."

"He reads voluntarily." One exhausted foster worker had looked genuinely emotional saying those words. Again… concerning standards. Eventually, after about a month, one family in particular finalized the adoption process. The Harris family. Or more specifically, Daniel Harris and his wife Laura Harris. Daniel Harris owned a gun shop alongside a local shooting range just outside the suburban areas. Wealthy enough to live comfortably but not absurdly rich.

Broad-shouldered, calm and carrying the type of practical personality Rei immediately associated with former military or law enforcement even before learning the man had previously served several years in the Marines. Meanwhile Laura Harris was a homemaker who somehow weaponized kindness itself. Honestly, Rei found her terrifying immediately. Because unlike most adults, Laura looked at him like she genuinely wanted him there instead of simply feeling obligated by morality.

That was a bit concerning, but he decided to look over it. Only time would tell if these 'parents' were good enough to be his. Soon there was a first proper meeting, or as they say it, 'interview'.

"So," the man asked simply, "you like reading?"

"…Yes." Rei answered cautiously.

"What kind?"

"Anything that is pleasing to the eyes and not boring." Rei read because it was the only time in the foster home that the other children didn't bother him. It was an escape for him, from these annoying loudspeakers. Laura meanwhile looked like she was seconds away from adopting him on the spot purely because of that answer. The process finalized surprisingly quickly afterward. Mostly because Rei himself intentionally cooperated. The Harris family was stable, financially secure and most importantly… useful.

Yes, he had intentionally showed the puppy eyes to the doctors and the social workers and made them not reveal the fact that he had amnesia. It was done so that he wouldn't find any problems while getting adopted. Of course, the adopted family was made aware that the police would be on a lookout for his parents as they have vanished into thin air [A/N: Quite literally], and made them known that in the future his parents might return to take him home, which surprisingly they were okay with.

This was the point where Rei found it odd, but it didn't matter. If it was some kind of scheme, he had enough ability to take care of it. They being useful was more important to Rei then them having some kind of scheme. The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. A gun shop owner and shooting range operator. In the Naruto world, long-range weapon systems barely evolved because shinobi existed. Here though? Firearms represented an entirely different philosophy of combat.

Though he was sure that a shinobi would always be able to dodge the bullets just for the fact that his own reaction time was much faster than a normal human being, which he had tested practically, but that didn't mean bullets were useless. Once a bullet hit a shinobi's raw skin, it would at least perforate, if not heavily injure.

A hit to the heart [A/N: Obito, Hidan and Kakuzu, you can sit down, I ain't taking all of you into consideration] or to the brain would definitely kill them, thus one mustn't look down on the firearms. And neither would Rei. Their world hadn't seen such firearms so their caution was zero. He would always use it as backup. Anything to keep him safe. And thus, Rei officially became part of the Harris family. Honestly… the first few months genuinely weren't bad.

That was probably the strangest part about it looking back later. Because nothing immediately screamed danger. Nothing immediately told Rei that something was wrong. The house was clean, the food was decent. Daniel wasn't an alcoholic lunatic and Laura didn't scream randomly for no reason. Compared to some of the stories Rei overheard from other foster children, the Harris household honestly looked almost ideal from the outside. The social workers certainly thought so.

For the next six months, they regularly checked up on him. Sometimes once every two weeks. Sometimes once a month. Questions about whether he felt safe. Whether he was being treated well or whether he liked his new room. And honestly… Rei answered truthfully most of the time.

"Yes."

"Yes."

"It's fine." Because technically it was fine. At least initially. Daniel and Laura never physically hurt him. Never screamed at him publicly. Never deprived him of food or basic necessities. In fact, they often acted extremely caring whenever outsiders were nearby. Too caring sometimes. And slowly… very slowly… Rei began noticing things that didn't feel right. Not enough to immediately raise alarms. Just… small things. The kind most children probably wouldn't notice. But Rei had lived one and a half life now.

He had already experienced two completely different sets of parents. One wealthy modern family from his old life. One hardworking shinobi family from Konoha. And because of that… he understood something most children didn't. Genuine affection had a rhythm to it. An instinct. Meanwhile the Harris family's kindness sometimes felt… measured. At first Rei ignored the feeling. Maybe he was overthinking again. That happened often enough. Living in Naruto was a bit jarring at times and thus he always measured his actions.

Still… the feeling remained. For example, Daniel often praised Rei publicly.

"Smart kid."

"Quiet kid."

"Well-behaved." But privately, the compliments almost always carried expectations afterward.

"Since you're responsible, can you clean the garage?"

"Since you're mature, help Laura with dinner."

"Since you're smarter than the other kids, organize the inventory records." Again… none of those things sounded abusive individually. That was what made it difficult to pinpoint initially. Because Rei genuinely didn't mind helping around the house. He had already done that naturally back in Konoha too. The difference however slowly became clearer over time. Helping was no longer optional here. It became expected and then normalized. Then silently demanded.

And if Rei ever hesitated even slightly, the atmosphere inside the house changed immediately. Very subtly. Laura would become colder. Daniel quieter. Meals quieter too. Small disappointed looks. Passive comments.

"We thought you were more mature than this."

"After everything we've done for you…"

"You know how lucky you are, right?" That last one appeared frequently. And every single time Rei heard it, something inside him became increasingly uncomfortable. Because that sentence wasn't kindness anymore. It was debt. The realization fully hit him around six months after the adoption. The adoption agency and everyone were extra careful to make sure that Daniel followed the laws of guns and not allow Rei to come close to guns. And the family was somehow very careful about it, not that it mattered.

If he wanted he could take the guns away from them quite easily. This family was really good at following the laws and make sure their names were clean. Since they wanted to keep their names clean he would keep them, Rei thought. By then the social workers had mostly stopped frequent check-ins. Their reports all looked excellent. Which meant oversight disappeared almost completely. And strangely enough… the Harris family changed almost immediately afterward.

One evening Daniel casually tossed a pile of paperwork toward him while sitting on the couch.

"Sort through these." Rei looked down at the papers. Inventory lists from the gun range. Receipts. Maintenance records.

"…Why?" Rei asked calmly. Daniel looked genuinely confused by the question.

"Because I told you to."

"What if I don't?" Rei wanted to push today. It had been more than 7 months now that he had been here. Of course that didn't mean he didn't visit his own parents. In these 7 months of MCU, he spent 4 months in his world. Going back to his home felt much better, but it didn't mean Rei would continue to handle this subtle manipulation any longer. He had adapted to this world and thus it was time to lay down his foot.

The Harris family didn't know that what they saw a easy prey to exploit, Rei saw them in the same eyes. Albeit for different reasons. And today it was time.