...

I blinked and I was already sitting somewhere else instead of the racing game cabinet I previously was in. Gasping, I opened my eyes to a dinner table with breakfast served and with parents and a sister I didn't know.

Already my expression changed to reflect my reaction to how strange this all was.

"Are you okay Thomas?" a dark-haired woman across the table asked me.

I looked at her. She did not look like my mom at all. Strangely, everything appeared different. Everything looked different. Everything was different, especially where I was.

In other words, it was if the world was in a different texture to me?

I stuttered. “U-Uh...no?”

I heard a baby babble next to me as a man fed her peas. “You stay up all night again? I told you you have school today.”

I held my tongue. Apparently I didn’t have much to say despite what was happening.

I turned my head and saw how unfamiliar this entire home was to me. It looked different to any other American household I’d ever been in, despite this middle aged couple being both clearly American or at least Caucasian. It gave off one feeling to me: wealth.

I looked at the baby sitting in her high chair to my left, focusing on her.

[LV 1 Skill Used- Observe 

-Info]

A block of text appeared when I focused on the baby. Somehow, as if things weren’t strange already, I had magical text boxes floating in front of me.

“A-Am I seeing this correctly?” I thought out loud as the woman across the table from me raised an eyebrow.

“Seeing what? Are you okay honey?” the woman got even more worried.

I took a second to let that sink in. I was seeing things others couldn’t. Also, I was in a body that clearly wasn’t mine. 

The question raised in my head. Just what exactly do I even look like?

I stood up from the table and walked aimlessly around the dining room hoping to find a bathroom. 

The woman kept looking at me. “Thomas, what is going on? You’re acting very strange.”

“Where’s the bathroom?” I asked.

The man and the woman looked at each other confusedly before. “Upstairs first door on the left.” she said slowly.

“Thank you.” I practically sprinted past the extravagant living room and up the stairs.

I opened the bathroom door as quickly as I could and rushed in, shutting it behind me. I ran to the mirror and sure enough I was right.

I looked like a character in an anime would. I had short black hair, brown eyes, and a very simple complexion. Also I was wearing traditional Japanese school clothing for boys, a white button up and black slacks.

Wait, was I in an anime? Or some sort of video game?

I looked at myself in the mirror intently again like how I focused before.

[LV 1 Skill Used- Observe

-Info]

I focused on the |-Info| button and another box of text popped up.

[Thomas Friedland- LV 1 Schoolboy

-Info]

So yes, I was in some sort of game. Or at least there were game mechanics involved in my life now. My brain was still adapting to this as it was easily the strangest thing to ever happen to me. Whether this was actually happening to me or not was not up for debate, whether I had fully accepted it or not might be.

I focused on |-Info| again and another box popped up.

I paused for a second. Racer class? Why the hell is that important? This can’t be like that dumb racing game I was playing like five minutes ago right? Also did I read that correctly? I could fluently speak Japanese? It makes sense given where I am but still? Feels weird to know that.

I heard a knock on the bathroom door and heard the woman’s voice again. “Thomas? Is everything okay in there?”

I shook my head and took a deep breath, processing all this. “Y-Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Well you’re gonna be late for school. It’s already 7:20 and you have to carpool with the Matsuo boy.” she said.

I checked a phone that was already sitting in my pocket, there were also car keys and a wallet. I opened it and I nearly dropped it when I opened it.

It was written completely in Japanese and had my picture in it. It looked exactly like a Japanese driver’s license would, meaning this was even more definitive proof this was not just some really strange dream.

I put my wallet back into my pocket and laughed to myself in disbelief. “Just because I have this doesn’t mean anything.”

As if my legs were acting on their own, I went to the bathroom window and peered out through the curtains. Yup, according to other rich looking houses on the street, I was in Japan for sure judging from how they looked.

So no matter how much I could deny it I was not playing a video game anymore. This was real. Either I could accept this and move on with this really strange day, or stay locked up inside this bathroom until the woman outside got even more worried.

I decided to go with the former since it seemed I might have a mental breakdown if I thought about this too much, looping downwards in an endless cycle of denial anyway.

Opening the door I |Observed| again on the woman and instinctually brought up her |Info|.

[Marion ‘Mary’ Friedland- LV 1 Housewife]

“H-Hey, sorry for being so weird, I’ll go...drive to school or whatever?” I muttered.

She looked at me and extended her arms before I brushed past. “What? No hug for your mother?”

Whoa, this should be awkward.

I embraced the woman for a quick second and walked away downstairs thinking.

If she was my mother and very clearly not Japanese, then why was I in Japan? The man downstairs wasn’t Japanese either. I mean now, I highly doubt things could get any stranger today after waking up in a racing game character’s body.

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