The rays of sunlight hit James face, taking his attention away from his task. Opening his eyes for the 2nd day in this new world, James readied himself and stood up having already decided what his tasks were. First, as much as James was reluctant to do it, it was clear simply looking at his own soul wasn't making him progress much, he'd have to start experimenting on other living things. Not human's obviously but trying to look at the soul of animals and comparing them was fine. 

After asking a random kind looking person on the streets where the nearest animal shelter was even though James was getting weird looks for being shirtless. At first James wanted to go to a pet shop but if he remembered correctly, if you wanted to touch animals you had to ask the staff there. With how he looks currently James is not sure he'll get to go to one without at least some sort of trouble happening. Despite the policy adopted by most shop that says not to judge your client, from all the shitty novels James had read he still felt anxious about it. An animal shelter was not the same, with the small amount of volunteers who can work there it was more likely that they would let James access the animals just because the animals feel lonely. Even if he had no intention to buy one the chances of trouble were drastically reduced if he went to an animal shelter.

Reaching the door of the shelter, James made sure it was the correct door for people who were not employees and entered. No one was in sight, the only thing James heard was barks from beyond the door on the other side of the room. Not sure what to do now that he was here James just stood awkwardly while waiting for someone to find him. It took almost 15 minute before someone spotted him and during that time James had already decided to volunteer here because it was the best place to get to touch as many souls as possible( pun unintended). He wouldn't actually try to modify any so soon. That was too risky.

The one who spotted him was a man with skin that looked like rock on his face, especially the top of the head, but with normal skin on his hands. He was moving a box filled with things to take care of the animals in the shelter. James lifted his hand unsure of himself with a small stressed smile on his face and said: " Uh... Hey"

The rocky looking man immediately flashed a smile so big that James wondered how his rock like skin didn't crumble.

"One instant, I'm setting this box in the back and then I'll be ready to help you" He said while hurrying in the room to get rid of the box. Not even 15 seconds later he was already out with a smile and leaning against the counter. 

"So what can I do for you" 

Again, things were moving fast and James wasn't the best with outgoing people but he could easily handle. It's not like he was shy or scared of people, he just didn't know how to handle them.

"I was wondering whether I could help around here," finally finding the right way to continue James continued "I'm really interested in animals and taking care of them so I was wondering if the animal shelter was looking for help."

"OH, that's perfect, mmh-mmh, you're a gift falling into my lap. I coincidently desperately need help with something" He waved his hand towards himself while smiling even brighter, if that was even physically possible.

Stunned by how easy this was James hurried to catch up with him while listening to his new boss silently, only giving nods to show he understood.

"Since you're new to this all you need to do is to give a little care to the animals. For example, walking dogs , playing with cats of playing with them so that they stay happy. Also, we can't have you walking around half-naked, I'll find you a shirt. If I need your help with anything I'll just come to get you." After reaching where the dogs were, the man turned around and continued to explain with evident passion what James needed to do and how to do it correctly. Reaching the end of his explanation, the man suddenly had a look of realisation and touched the back of his head with a bashfull smile, he said: " Ah, I'm sorry, I was so excited about having new hands to help around here that I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Hideo Koji and I work here full."

James knew he had to introduce himself but he was not sure whether he should use the name James. The place where he landed obviously had a japanese culture, it even had the same name so it would make more sense to use a name for himself that matched this place. Also, James wanted to honor Mahito by at least making it so that his name was know here. James owed it to him for getting his place in this world as well as all his abilities. So, having come to a choice James chose the name everyone would know him as. "My name is Mahito"

"Oh, okay. No family name?"

"I do, but just call me Mahito, everyone does." A lie. No one had ever called him that.

"All right, I'll leave this to you. Good luck." Hideo Koji left after giving to James a shirt.

Putting on the shirt while taking one of the leash and putting it around one the smaller but healthy looking dog, James discreetly put his palm on it.

This went on, with him touching a lot of the animals allowing him to get a lot more understanding. Differently from only checking his own soul, James could compare the small differences between animals and try to see how it affected them. This allowed him to learn a lot more about how the souls worked.

After the day ended James gave to Hideo Koji when he could come to the animal shelter ( basically all the time except for during the night and during lunch to not appear suspicious) and headed back to the park to continue with his training.