Happy birthday, Eric!


    Congratulations, Eric!


    Thank you, Mom, Tina.


    Today, I finally turned 16 years old.


    I never forgot it in my previous life - this year.


    Now I''m at home being celebrated by my mom, my dad, and Tina with a surprise for Tina''s parents.


    ''It''s Eric!　Because I''ve hunted the forest for you!　You can eat all the meat you want today!


    ''Eric, the meat is good, but you must have the cake that me and Tina made together~''


    I think I made a good one, if you want to try it.


    ''Yeah, thanks Dad, too. I''d be happy to eat anything my sister Tina makes.


    My dad is also making more noise than usual, and my mom is laughing and looking at it in disgust, but she doesn''t seem to be stopping today.


    Tina''s parents celebrate me like I''m their own son, too.


    Tina is as happy for my sixteenth birthday as I am for hers, and that makes me happy.


    I''m more than happy about that - and in my head, I''m calmly thinking about tomorrow.


    Tomorrow - it''s no exaggeration to say that tomorrow is the day I regretted my most desperate need for power in my previous life.


    The day I lost everything. It was the day after my sixteenth birthday, literally, ''even in death, I haven''t forgotten it''.


    I was born and I''ve been building up my strength for tomorrow.


    When you decide to save everything, you can''t start by not saving this incident that happened when I was 16 years old.


    It''s okay......... I''m well prepared for tomorrow.


    ''Eric?　What''s going on?


    "...hmm?　Oh, no, it''s nothing.


    As I was thinking about tomorrow, Tina started talking to me, wondering how I was doing.


    I have to be careful I don''t want Tina and my mom and the others to be worried.


    It''s hard to believe me when I tell someone here what''s going to happen tomorrow. And even if this number of people believe it, it doesn''t mean that everyone in the village will believe it and act on it.


    I''m not going to be able to tell anyone about tomorrow''s events, but I thought that was impossible, so I decided to do something different to protect the village.


    ''Thank you all,''


    I spent this happy time with a smile on my face so that everyone who was celebrating my birthday wouldn''t worry about me - and I was happy.


    That night...


    I had come to the forest alone.


    Tomorrow--the village will be attacked by a horde of demons.


    Around noon tomorrow, hundreds of demons will rush into the village, knocking down the raggedy fence that surrounds it.


    I have known this since before I was born. That''s why I''ve trained and strengthened my strength like this, but....


    ''''It''s strange........''''


    For tomorrow, I had come to this forest this evening to reduce the number of demons as much as possible.


    However - I''ve been looking for demons for several minutes now, but I can''t find a single one.


    Normally, if you come this far into the forest, you should be able to encounter a few of them.


    Besides, many of the demons are nocturnal. Although they move reasonably well during the day, they are often more active at night.


    In particular, night birds, such as the night feathered bird (night bird), are black birds that have good night vision, and they move quickly and blend in with the darkness of the night, and there are some troublesome demons and other demons in this forest.......but it''s strange that none of them can be found.


    ''''Is this........an omen of tomorrow''s attack?''''


    When you think about it calmly, it''s strange.


    Since I was born in this village, there has never been a large scale monster attack like the one that will happen tomorrow in my previous life or this life.


    If there have been, it has been no more than a few demons descending on the village to raid the fields.


    If there are no demons here.......it''s too strange indeed. For sure, it will have something to do with tomorrow''s demon attack.


    ''''What''s going on in this forest........?''''


    I walked and searched the forest a bit more while thinking about it, but.......I still couldn''t find a single demon.


    I had no choice but to start back the way I came - but in a moment I felt a glance.


    I''m not going to be able to get a good idea of what I''m talking about, but I''m not going to be able to get a good idea of what I''m talking about.


    I did feel a gaze, but.......is it my imagination?


    I waited on the spot for a while, on the verge of battle and not being distracted, but.......I didn''t feel anything from anywhere, so I let go of my hand from the hilt of my sword.


    Was it my imagination, after all?　Maybe I''ve been thinking too much about tomorrow to be skeptical.


    Let''s go back and go to bed now.


    Tomorrow - the first big thing to happen to me in this life is going to happen. It would be a disaster if I didn''t get enough sleep and didn''t feel strong enough.


    I left the forest, wondering...


    ----


    Well, when you''ve detected that much of a hint of a presence....


    ----


    I walked quietly past my parents'' room without making a sound of footsteps to make sure my mom and dad didn''t wake up back home and head to my room.


    I walked into my room and looked at my bed Tina was already sleeping in my bed.


    I''ve been sleeping in the bed with Tina since I was three years old...................but I didn''t expect to still be sleeping in the bed with her when I was sixteen and Tina was eighteen.


    In a previous life I don''t remember.......................... I remember sleeping with her, but I don''t know if we were this close all the time.


    I crawl under the covers and lay down next to Tina, careful not to wake her up.


    ''''Hmm........erikku.......''''


    I heard Tina mutter that as she climbed into the futon.


    I thought I had woken her up, but it was just her talking in her sleep.


    ''''Ehehe.......cute....''''


    ...Is he talking about me?


    I don''t know, but I''m sure Tina is prettier when she''s dreaming and sleeping happily.


    I look at Tina''s happy, smiling face and stroke her head so I don''t wake her up.


    When she''s asleep, her hair isn''t tied up, so I can stroke it through her hair, which is longer than it was when she was a child, without tangling my fingers in it.


    I don''t know if she can tell even if I''m asleep when I stroke her, or if she''s ticklishly writhing, but she says "hmm..." and slides toward me.


    I''m lost in thought as I look at such a lovely Tina.


    If I can''t prevent the demon''s attack tomorrow ... then I will lose this smile.


    No, I lost it once.


    In my previous life, I was powerless to do anything. I was so afraid of the demons that attacked our village that I just ran away from them.


    My father and all the other hunters managed to defeat the demons and get everyone in the village out of the way, but the sheer number of demons soon became too much for them and they died one by one.


    I remember my dad fighting to the end without falling down.


    ''Serena!　Take Eric and the others and run!


    Witnessing my dad''s fighting back at the end of his life, I ran with my mom and Tina through the village and into the forest.


    But before I knew it, we were being chased by a demon and my mom took the bait and ran away from us.


    ''Eric, Tina I love you.''


    I''ll never forget my mom''s screams from behind me as I was running with Tina and the forest that suddenly ceased to exist and became silent.


    And after that, we both struggled to get away, but they soon caught up with us.


    With us trapped to the cliff, Tina - with me in her arms - fell to the cliff.


    ''Eric won''t let you die........alive.......!


    Tina hugged me tightly and fell down the cliff and I passed out as the strong impact came.


    After that, I was covered in wounds, but I was still alive. The person who found me said that I had to be treated right away or I would have died.


    And the main reason I was alive was because of Tina, who was still holding me in her arms even after I died.


    She had saved me. My father, my mother, and Tina had saved me.


    I didn''t have any power, I was only saved.


    I didn''t have the strength to defeat demons like my father, I wasn''t prepared to sacrifice myself to protect the people I cared about like my mother, and I didn''t have the courage to protect people like Tina did, even if I died.


    But now..............................I have a chance to start over.


    I''ll never feel that way again.


    But I have to help. Save everybody in town, save my dad, save my mom.


    And I can''t lose the smile on her face when she''s sleeping in front of me.


    I vowed that, and as Tina hugged me as usual and began to sleep, I slowly closed my eyes, feeling her warmth.