Akarui has died four times.
After reincarnating the fourth time with overpowered abilities, he escaped from certain death and lived the life of a hermit in a forest, fully utilizing the limited ROB-protected peaceful time by training and becoming more overpowered, before losing all those powered in The Apotheosis, and gaining potential to reach further heights. While he was unconscious, he was saved by an unknown wannabe-hero and sent to a hospital.
That concludes what happened so far.
"A familiar ceiling." He said.
Don't judge him. Normally, isekai protagonists tend to say 'an unfamiliar ceiling' so often that it's now considered common trope, so wanted to try saying 'a familiar ceiling' once, although it was also being overused.
"It seems you woke up. How do you feel?"
He heard a voice nearby. A slightly childish female voice. And it's not the nurse's.
'Ah, another woman. No, this time, it's a girl. This is gonna be a pain to deal with.'
He turned his head, and was slightly surprised. Sitting beside him is a cute elementary school girl wearing cute cat ears. But that wasn't what surprised him. What surprised him is that the girl is wearing anime-style sailor uniform.
'Is she the cosplaying or something? Definitely doesn't look like that, it doesn't look like it's low quality. Who'd spend big money on... Wait, this is a VIP hospital so maybe she actually did spend huge bucks on a cosplay outfit? Hmm...'
Of course, he didn't stare too long. Someone who could casually spend on a high quality cosplay outfit definitely isn't an ordinary person. He could easily offend her and cause misunderstandings (considering that kids these days are scarily perceptive and smart), which is something he wishes to avoid considering his weakened state.
"I feel better now. Thanks for asking." He said, and went silent. He just lied down again and closed his eyes, pretending to be a cold person who doesn't like interacting with people.
'Seeing that I'm being cold, she should lose interest in me quickly, right? Unless she has other ulterior motives, that is.'
"It seems you are still tired. It's fine. Let me introduce myself. My name is Hana Haruta. What's yours?" She asked.
'It seems she has ulterior motives alright. Just why is she so eager to talk to me? Uh, maybe she finds me, or my situation, interesting? It's possible. In that case, let's satisfy her curiosity. Better not offend her, even though being cold is already touching that line.'
"My name is Subject-02, Haruta-sama." He clearly showed that he's not interested in becoming close by adding '-sama' at the ending. And calling himself 'Subject-02' will definitely render her speechless.
'Fufu, I'm truly a genius. I can now steer the conversation the way I want, by making her sympathizing about my situation when she asks about my name, and slowly getting her guard down. Since I can't seem to avoid interacting with you, don't blame me for using you for my purposes, little girl.'
As proof that his little plan worked, the girl replied, "Just call me Hana. Also, why are you calling yourself by that strange name?"
She asked that question with a strange tone of voice.
'Huhu, it worked. Now I just need to tell her a tragic story and convince her that I'm a pitiful, cute, harmless bunch of fluff which is in immediate need of a caring onee-san to mend his broken heart.'
"Because that's my name? That was how I was addressed for a long time."
He didn't tell any lie. Though it wasn't the complete truth either. He was addressed as Subject-02 the entirety of his third life, which was considered as a long time. And it's technically his own name.
'fufu, any lie detection magic or devices won't work, and I'd definitely pass off as an honest child. If she's a noble scion, she'd have one or two of those fancy stuff, right? Better play my cards right, lest I be exposed.'
After hearing what he said, the girl went silent. She stared at him for a long time, long enough to make him uncomfortable.
"...Do you have any other name? It's fine if it's something you like to be addressed as. Maybe a name you take a fancy for."
'A name, huh... Let's act hesitant and scared. Also, if possible, I don't want to reveal my true name. Who knows what kind of magic some weird individual might do with it? I don't enjoyed being cursed.'
"I-it's fine, I-I'm already used to it. Just call me Zero Two.1Don't hate me for this, fellow Daoists. I mean no harm. Promise."
"...Do you not remember your name? Or maybe you don't have any other name?"
Akarui cleverly averted his gaze and fell silent for a while.
'Allow her to think whatever she would. That's the best way to do this. Hmm, but if it's like this, I'd not have any reasons to explain my skills if we do this. Yosh, let's do this. I'll explain that it's how I was addressed in my dreams. When my true skills are revealed, I'll just say that it's from dreams. Technically, I go to the Jutsu Library when I'm sleeping so although it's stretching the logic a little thing, it still counts as a dream, right?'
"...Then, call me Harukin."
'I heard a suppressed laugh, but it must be my imagination. I mean, Harukin sounds cute and my current appearance is cute so it works, right? Don't judge me.'
"Harukin it is then."
She said while shaking slightly, which he ignored. Surely, she must be flabbergasted by his majestic name.
After a while, she asked quietly, "Can you remember who your parents are? About where you live, or stuff like that?"
'Oi oi woman, the doctor chose to ignore that so why are you bringing that up? Don't you know that someone with 'Subject-02' as his name would surely have had a traumatic experience and you should avoid bringing that topic up? Tch, this is why I hate dealing with kids.'
"I remember living in a strange scary place, and then living in a shelter in the forest for as long as I can remember. As for my parents, I don't know much about them other than that they abandoned me."
He surely didn't know his parents much. Other than what happened to him and what he can infer from that, he knew next to nothing about them, so this sentence should also be 'safe'.
"...Is that so? Then, you now don't have a home, do you?"
The girl fell silent after saying that line.
'Uh, yes, technically. Now, little girl, don't say that you'll invite me to your home, if possible, I don't want to get adopted, nada. Don't you dare say what I think you'll say next, girl, coz that'll only end a nightmare for ya. I don't know how her 'Haruta' family fares compared to my seemingly rich father but since my father was influential enough to employ an assassin, I'll temporarily assume that he has more influence in shady areas so I'll just escape this hospital when I recover some mana reserves and think of ways of paying back my savior later.'
"Then, why don't you come to my home?" She said the damned line.
After denying her suggestion and putting up with her fuss for a while, the nurse came and said that I'd need to rest, resulting in the girl leaving the hospital room somewhat grumpily.
The next few days, the girl repeatedly came to his room and tried to strike up conversation, which he gave stiff replies for or just said something dark and killed the mood.
After a week and half has passed, he recovered enough mana and physical abilities to use spatial shift-type skills twice in a row. If it was before, he could do that all day even without the Rikugan managing his reserves but right now, his pitifully low mana reserves only allow him to shift twice a row before becoming exhausted.
'I'll escape the hospital tonight. As is common for all isekai tropes, spatial abilities should be fairly uncommon so the hospital wouldn't set up defensive measures against it. Well, since this is a high class establishment, it's possible that they did set up some defensive measures but I'd like to think that I could escape somehow. May RNGesus bless me.'
Why escape, some might ask. It's because he still doesn't trust humans and since he's weak, he'll try not to interfere much with any human, even if the show him goodwill, until he gained at least passable levels of power. Afterall, when Regeneration EX's cooldown ends, he'd recover almost instantly and that is bound to give anyone, including his saviors, some strange ideas. It doesn't help that his savior is a rich fuck who can more than possibly cover up his disappearance should they deem him experiment-worthy.
When the moon went high up the sky, he got up from the bed, wrote a letter for the one who saved him (he still didn't meet that person and the hospital personnel were uncooperative in telling him the name but he assumed Hana is a relative of that person), donned another set of clothing which he asked for from the nurse, brought his hands together, and clapped.
With that, he disappeared from the place he was staying at for the past week.
A few miles away from the hospital, he appeared, floating in the sky. And promptly fell.
'Scanty places are a no go. This world seems to have magic so I'd die if I run into some shady fella. And Haruta family seems to be a well-off family too. They'd have some influence so if they try hard enough, they'd find me. My first priority should be leaving this city.'
He scanned his surroundings and found some railway lines, and teleported there instantly.
When he reappeared, he's already a tens of miles away from the hospital.
'It'll take a while before they find out that I'm missing, and the search range shouldn't be long. I'll regenerate my mana and shift to a moving railway when it passes by, then cast an invisibility spell(which he learned from the Necronomicon) and hide inside till the last stop. I'll probably end up in a countryside town. I'll stay there for a while and gain more mana reserves before deciding my next destination.'
After a while, when a train passed by, he clapped his hands again, teleported inside, and cast an invisibility spell.
'Now I just need to wait for a while.'
Like that, he escaped from the city, blissfully unaware of the storm he created due to his actions.
