1 Year Later
I am born.
Well, more like I "popped out." I don't remember much of the hospital, just blurry lights, some dude in a mask who was probably a surgeon, and a lot of screaming. My memories are like a cheap WiFi connection; they're starting to buffer in slowly, but most of the time, I'm just a potato with a diaper.
Oh, and I'm kind of an orphan? Actually, no, not exactly. All I see is this one dude taking care of me. No mother in sight. I'd ask where she is, but unfortunately, I don't speak Japanese yet. I'm out here trying to learn the language from scratch while my brain is still mostly mush.
3 Years Later
Musutafu. The city of heroes. Or, in our case, the city of rundown apartments with peeling wallpaper and questionable plumbing.
Our place is... cozy? If "cozy" means "I can hear the neighbor sneezing through the wall." It's an old apartment, the kind where the floorboards groan every time you take a step. The living room is mostly empty, save for a small TV that gets three channels and a low table where my dad tries to figure out taxes.
RIKO POV
So, I'm four years old. I live in Mustafa with my dad because, apparently, my mother pulled a "pro-gamer move" and left us. It's a complicated adult thing. I asked Dad about it once, and he got that "tragic anime backstory" look on his face, giving me some generic line about her being in a "faraway place."
But I heard him talking to the new neighbour. And she did leave, cus not being able to cope with stress or something. Well anyway, after she left, we packed our three boxes and moved here. You know, the city where the main characters of this world are supposed to be.
Anyway, I feel like I'm forgetting something. Something important. Hmmm...
Oh.
I'm reincarnated as a girl.
THAT MOTHA— ahem. ROB. That slime-ball was definitely messing with me. Wait... was this the "price" he mentioned? Is this some kind of cosmic prank? I'm not discriminating against girls, I swear! It's just... was I even a guy in my last life? I remember a lot of dick jokes. I'm pretty sure I was a dude. Ugh... can it get any worse?
"..."
I jinxed it, didn't I?
The realization hits me like a truck. I start rolling around on the floor, clenching my head. Why me? Why a girl?!
"Riko?"
DAD POV
It's been four years since my beautiful baby girl was born.
Ever since she arrived, she's been a blessing. After her mother…my ex-girlfriend…walked out, I was a wreck. I don't have parents or relatives; I'm an orphan myself, so raising a child alone felt like trying to climb a mountain with no legs.
But Riko became my hope. My ray of sunshine. Is that cringey? Yeah, so what? My kid deserves the praise. She's the cutest thing in the world, even if I'm failing at the "rich dad" thing. We don't have good clothes, and my cooking is basically a biohazard, but Riko never fusses. She never cries when I leave her alone. She's an angel.
Was I being cringey? Yeah, probably. So what? My kid deserves it. Even though I've failed a dozen times…living in this dump, dressing her in hand-me-downs, and barely managing to keep the fridge stocked…she never makes a fuss. She doesn't cry for toys. She doesn't scream when I'm late from a long haul. She's an absolute angel.
She's got these piercing green eyes…just like her mother's …but she keeps her hair chopped short and messy. I'm the one who cuts it with a pair of kitchen shears, and honestly, I suck at it, but she just shrugs and says she loves it that way. She's... acts differently, though. Not like the other kids at the park. Most kids are out there pretending to be All Might, but Riko spends her time doing... whatever this is.
I walk through the door, and she's rolling on the floor like she's possessed by a demon. By now, this is just a normal Tuesday for us.
"Yo dad, when did ya come, yer shift over?" Riko says after noticing me
I felt a sweatdrop roll down my neck. "Uh, Riko... you feeling alright? You were doing the floor-roll again."
She stood up, dusted off her oversized t-shirt, and puffed out her chest. "Ya, Dad. Imma cool as a Cucumber!"
What does that even mean? "Uh... right. Cool kid. You hungry?"
Riko's eyes did that sparkle thing. "Yes! I already made the rice. You do the curry."
My heart actually ached a little. Look at her, taking care of her old man. "Leave it to me, Riko. Go get ready for dinner."
RIKO POV
Heh. Curry. Curry is cool.
The old man's curry isn't half bad, not that I have much to compare it to. Curry is basically the highlight of my existence right now.
The old man's curry is decent, mostly because anything tastes like a five-star meal when you've been a baby for four years. I haven't had much "cuisine" in this life yet, so I'm treating this like a religious experience.
But man, tomorrow is the big day. Elementary school. Am I excited? Please. Going to a building to learn 1+1 with a bunch of literal toddlers who haven't mastered the art of using a tissue? Hard pass.
But then again... look at my life. I spend all day in this apartment. I've been here so long I've started running a census on the local wildlife. I've named every cockroach in the kitchen. Little Raka Jr. already has grandkids. My social circle is literally made of household pests. Compared to that, school is basically a VIP lounge.
SMACK.
I slammed my hand onto the floor, feeling the crunch.
"RIP, Raka Sr.," I whispered. "Time to make space for the next generation."
I wiped my hand on my shorts. Tomorrow, I go to school. I'm four years old, I'm stuck in a girl's body, and I still don't have my "Rex Splode" powers. If I have to listen to a teacher explain the alphabet while some kid named Taro picks his nose next to me, I might actually lose it.
Hopefully, I get to blow something up soon.