A young man with white hair and red piercing eyes wandered around the cramped alleyway, two dogs in tow. Tatsu changed into a simple black shirt and loose cargo grey pants, one of his favourite outfits sets if he was not wearing armour. He peeked out to the main pedestrian street, seeing the small number of Europeans walking to their destinations.

'From the looks of things, the apocalypse hasn't started yet. The dogs don't have any sign of a virus yet and their Oracles Cells are deactivated to prevent them from killing the virus. I'm somewhere in Europe, but I need to be in Japan for the main plot.' Tatsu thought as he walked out to blend with the crowd.

Strangers looked at Tatsu for his unique hair, wondering where this foreigner came from. Tatsu walked around to a nearby café and sat down on an outdoor seat, picking up the daily newspaper that was probably supplied by the store.

 

'Sevran, France? Why the hell am I in France? I don't remember any significant story plot in this country. Date....17/01/2020...So the virus will show up next year.'

'Woof?' Ollie barked at Tatsu quietly, making a little comment on the brainstorm.

'Right! We still don't know how it is formed!'

 

"Good afternoon, mister," a young blonde waitress eagerly took Tatsu's food order, "What would you like?"

"I would like a cappuccino and a serving of melted cheese sandwich or baguette," Tatsu ordered, using [COMMUNICATE] to speak in perfect French, "Thank you very much, young lady."

"Eeek~~~, such great French. Your order will be in a short moment."

"Thank you."

 

While Tatsu finished the ordering and went back to brainstorming with Ollie, pedestrians were seeing a picturesque thing of a handsome white hair young man, waiting patiently by reading the newspaper and having two lovely dogs by his side. Young French girls were very heart-struck by the beautiful scenery and were getting hesitant to approach the foreigner, while the French men were in awe of his posture and fashion sense, having a casual yet strong aura. Some people even took pictures of him, their intentions with it were currently unknown.

'In the story, the virus magically appeared out of nowhere but based on my findings in my last world, that is impossible. With the state of current technology in 2020, it was most likely forcefully accelerated with its growth. Someone or a team were tinkering with it but that begs the question, why did God tell us it was a curse of traditional liege?'

'Woof!'

'A curse into a virus, how does that work? And how did the God of Sorrow get itself involved in this? Do I have to look at every secret government laboratory and find every maniac that is trying to make a bioweapon? I barely got out of that mess last time.'

 

"Here is your order, mister!"

The blonde waitress carefully placed Tatsu's coffee and grilled cheese, still standing there, fidgeting a bit for some reason. Tatsu noticed this and asked the waitress.

"Is something the matter?"

"Umm...are you free after this, Mister? I'm nearly finishing my shift."

"Sorry, I got some prior arrangements planned already."

"Oh...okay," the waitress looked dejected, she never felt such a sad rejection.

Tatsu looked at the young lady, pondered for a bit and patted the sad waitress on the head. Everyone, including the waitress, was surprised but Tatsu didn't care and continued to rustle the young lady.

"Since I'm busy, if fate allows us, I'll accept your next invitation." Tatsu coaxed the little waitress.

"REALLY!"

"Yeah, I'll look forward to the next time we meet," Tatsu said as he finished his coffee, while T-Rex sneaked the grilled cheese into its mouth.

Tatsu dug into his pocket, pulling some Euros out of [INVENTORY], and passed the bills to the waitress.

"Keep the change as a tip."

"THANK YOU!" the blonde waitress skipped away in delight after cleaning up the cups and plates.

'It has been ages since I was flirted on', Tatsu remembered the early years from his God Eater world and a bit of the zombie world.

Tatsu stood up and walked away, aware that he was the centre of attention with his hair and dogs.

 

[DISTORTION]

 

The crowd of pedestrians got confused in that instance, wondering where the foreigner went.

Tatsu walked away from the crowd and went to a more isolated street, measuring the strength of the inhabitants to see if they could discern the illusion. Unsurprisingly, no one could see through [DISTORTION]. It was a very useful skill Tatsu acquired from an Ashwrought Aragami that used its electrical glands to wrap a curtain of electromagnetic stasis, manipulating the space as being occupied while remaining undetectable. It almost won against Tatsu with the ambush tactic if he didn't have [LIVING BREATH], thus acquiring the stealth skill.

While Tatsu was walking away to the more empty streets of Sevran, he pondered about his next course of action.

 

'Woof!'

'Yes, Ollie?'

'Woof!'

'Don't worry, T-Rex probably went off to eat some rotten human meat. He has [DISTORTION] as well so it should be fine.'

'Woof!'

'Oh, you were talking about something else. Sorry, I didn't pay attention. The waitress did have red eyes. What about it?'

'Woof.'

'Oh...that shouldn't be right. Ah! I was too used to seeing many other colours of iris in God Eater. I forgot! We are back on a similar earth so there shouldn't be red eyes.'

 

Tatsu looked around at every person in the vicinity, even the residents in their houses.

 

[TRUE SIGHT]

 

Tatsu scouted at each person in a 1-kilometre radius around him, inspecting their eyes and seeing their colour. This skill even let him look through people who had contact lenses that had different colours. Brown, green, hazel, blue. Only that waitress and some younger girls had red eyes.

'Why?' Tatsu thought as he was inspecting these red-eyed girls.

'Are we too far into the future? Has the apocalypse already finished? But then the dates don't match? There shouldn't be any Initiators at this stage yet, then again, I read that their red eyes are activated when they fight, which is absent here. I don't even feel any strength from them like they are depicted in the manga and anime, what is this eerie feeling that is coming out of them?'

'Woof'

'T-Rex is nearby. Let's fetch him and then investigate these girls.'

 

Using [TRUE SIGHT] and [DETECT], they followed T-Rex's trail and managed to find him loitering around an entry to an alleyway.

'What is it, buddy?'

'Woof'

'Oh'

 

Inside the alleyway, a scruffy, unkempt man was grabbing the collars of a person in a lab coat, holding a packed briefcase, seemingly stuffed with papers with some of it sticking out of its container.

"Cough it out nerd!," the scruffy man slammed the scientist onto the alleyway wall, "I heard you got a million dollar grant and you better be giving me a share of it."

"Ahh! I don't have it! I spent it all on my research, everyone knows!"

"Liar! Everyone knows scientists are money-sucking leeches on the government. Give me a piece, I'm not asking kindly!"

"Stop it, I need to pick up my girls!"

"Excuses! Excuses! I wonder how those girls will feel when I take their money out of this nerd."

"They would feel happy that trash is going to die." (Tatsu)

""Huh?""

 

Tatsu arrived in front of them and dispelled [DISTORTION]. He spartan-kicked the lanky robber, sending him flying deeper into the alleyways. T-Rex dashed after the flying man, his face drooling in excitement but Tatsu didn't bother to pay attention to his dog's meal.

"Are you okay?" Tatsu reached out his hand to the scientist that was slumped on the ground.

"Ah, thank you very much." the scientist straightened his messy coat before accepting the hand to stand up.

"Oh, what very white hair. Are you perhaps a tourist?" (Scientist)

"Yeah, I was wandering around the local buildings and heard the commotion in the alleyway."

"Thank you very....do you have red eyes?"

"Um, yes."

"Natural red eyes! No contacts?"

"Um, yes natural."

"WOW! Um, please come to my house. I would like to show you my gratitude for saving me and ask a few questions."

"Huh, is that okay?"

"PLEASE! The pleasure is all mine. I just want to ask a bit about your eyes."

"Okay then, weren't you in a hurry earlier?"

"NO! That doesn't matter anymore, I'll call my other daughters to take care of it. Please, come along!"

The scientist kept on shaking Tatsu's hand and politely guided them out towards his house.

'This scientist has a very strong reaction towards the red eyes and doesn't seem to have any bad intentions. He is so distracted that he doesn't even remember that scruffy man from early' -Tatsu thought as he followed the scientist.

 

Ollie stayed in the alleyway for T-Rex, who was spitting out bones when chewing on new parts of his meal.

"How was the meal?" (Ollie)

"Too skinny, too bony." (T-Rex)

"Let me have a piece next time."

"No!"

"Glutton!"

 

=============

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{Little Segment}

 

"So, do you believe in gods, Chief?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because they are also beings who will not be able to test the flow of time."

"Aren't they immortal?"

"Yes, but not immoral or sane. Without proper measurements, they can become just as bad as humanity."

"Then...what are you, Chief?"

"Me.....I'm a dead God walking."

"Even though I can hear your heartbeat when I'm on your chest?"

"...Yes, even with a beating heart, I'm still dead."

"Don't drag yourself down."

"...I wonder if I am."