Hey guys, the edited chapter is here.

Those who left a review, favorite and followed, Thank you. I can't mention everybody as it would be boring but don't worry. I read all your reviews and trust me they really help the writer in continuing the story.

I hope this chapter also pleases you.

Also, I am sorry for any spelling or grammar mistakes I may have missed (English is not my native language). Please review and tell me what do you think, any suggestion would be appreciated.

Sorry, but there is no lemon in this chapter.

Those who like self-inserts can check out my other stories. "Harry Potter: Self Insert"; "One piece: Self insert"; "Dragon Ball Z: Self Insert"; "Young Justice: Self Insert" and "Dragon ball: Self Insert"

As per tradition,

Disclaimer: I do not own Highschool of the dead, just my OC

"Talking"

'Thinking'

Flashback

…

Chapter 1

Reincarnation and Training

...

My first few thoughts were fuzzy, unclear only with few moments of clarity in between them.

My head was throbbing with the mother of a headache.

I thought about the reason for the headache and tried to focus on the last thing, I remembered. Still coming empty, I concluded that I likely drank too much beer the other night.

But then I remembered, I didn't drink last night. Moreover, I start remembering getting dressed for college and then HOLY SHIT I was driving when suddenly this truck came out of nowhere so likely I am in the hospital. (Cliché I know)

"Saito Kun?" A familiar voice exclaimed drawing my attention from my thoughts before they turned to some more gory details.

"Dammit Kaa-chan not so loud" I mumble. I understood the words that came out of my mouths, but for life, I could not remember where the hell I learned Japanese. My throat hurt by even saying those words.

My thoughts came to screeching halt 'Who the hell is Kaa-chan and why does She seem familiar? Moreover, why the hell can I speak Japanese?' These questions were swimming in my mind.

Opening my eyes and then shutting them from too much light, I decided to try opening them slowly like shown in movies and novels. (Again cliché, I know)

I tried one more time by slowly opening them; this time it worked.

I looked up to see, a white ceiling, which confirmed that I was in some hospital. The smell of disinfectant also proved my theory. I tried moving to the direction from which voice came but could only move my head and that too with a considerable effort.

I felt sluggish. It was like my body was drained of energy and placed in higher gravity.

Looking beside me, I saw this familiar woman sitting beside me. Red hair, angelic face showing concern, her brown eyes were filled with tears – she took my hand in hers and rubbed it you could say lovingly. She again said/asked "Sai-Kun".

Instantly I recognized her as my mother and instinctively mumble "Kaa-chan". I tried saying something else but suddenly my vision starts turning black. My headache intensified and whatever energy that was left in my body, started leaving. My senses gradually began to fall and I drifted to the world of dreams and saw some visions….

No…, not visions, but memories, memories of Saito Sakazuki in reverse from his perspective – 8-year-old boy falling down the stairs, hitting his (my) head on something and then blacking out, her (my) mom chasing me (him), etc. One by one I saw his (my) memories of going school, his (my) birthday party, playing with kids his (my) age and then some more. Not all of his (my) memories but some which he (I) consciously remembered.

This continued for how much time I cannot tell, but next time I woke up in the land of the living, I understood many things:

I was now in the 8-year-old body. Damn, I will be going through puberty again, why couldn't I have been reincarnated in some teenage body?

I died and now I am reincarnated in Japan in the year 2008 or you could say I merged with an 8-year-old boy but as I was older my will conquered his or I am still me but with some extra memories.

I could not recognize any fictional thing from his memories so I am not certain whether this world is some fictional world or not. However, I hoped that it was not a fictional world and I was reborn in some parallel universe where this earth follows the same pattern as my earth followed – I hoped my situation doesn't change into those self insert fan fiction… who am I kidding I totally wanted to go into Highschool Dxd with some sort of powerful sacred gear and have a harem of hot girls. But I know my luck is not that good.

Hopefully, this situation would not turn to worsen. If by some miracle I am in some fictional world and not familiar with it, then I am royally fucked.

I also learned that I am the only son of Angela White and Haruto Sakazuki. Also, my family is rich, which is a pro.

Thank god my family is rich; (Hey don't judge me. Those who say that they are okay being reincarnated in some orphanage or poor household are lying. They do that only so that they could get pitying 'likes' from readers or they can make the story interesting by making the character struggle for every moment. Moreover, that is seriously overrated and used far too much)

I also remember that I go to some school but for the life of me, I could not remember its name.

And now here I am sitting in a hospital bed in those gowns which are absent from the rear side like those in some movies.

'Who the hell uses these types of gowns in these days' I wondered, my thoughts drifting to this morning incident.

Flashback:

This time when I opened my eyes there was no spitting headache (thank god for small mercy) though my head still felt heavy. I was still in the same room judging by the ceiling or maybe they moved me to another room I can't say, I was quite delirious last time.

I could also hear some conversation.

Turning towards the voices I saw 2 nurses talking while doing their respective work. One was writing something in her notebook after watching the machines, while, the other, was just standing idly and gossiping with the first one.

I wanted to ask them about his (my) parents but then I noticed my condition. My throat was dry and suddenly I was feeling very thirsty.

Somehow I manage to croak out "Water" but they did not listen. I tried to get their attention by waving my hands towards them and to my astonishment, I could move them. Last time I could only move my head with a considerable effort but now I was good as new… no, not good as new but still manageable. Still, they didn't notice me. I was getting angry at them.

I looked around to see something that could get their attention, but I could only find some medicines, flowers, and some get well cards. Still, I could work with them. To get their attention I took the flower bouquet beside my bed and threw it in their direction with all my might. The bouquet landed beside their feet and got its job done. The 2 nurses shrieked probably from the surprise.

But the main thing was, that did get their attention.

I sighed in relief and managed to ask for water when they came towards me. The tall one got me water while the other one went out most probably to get a doctor or my parents.

I just finished drinking water when my new mom entered the room looking frantic, her eyes were glistening with unshed tears. When she saw me sitting she sighed in relief and marched towards me without wasting any second and hugged me as her life depended on it. I instinctively tried to hug her back, the keyword 'tried'. Due to my small size, my hands couldn't reach her back, only her side waist.

I could feel her relaxing and second by second tension leaving her body. Feeling wet on my head, I concluded she is crying (Damn I don't know what to do with a crying woman, I was already bad with these types of situation in last life.)

Thankfully, before she could ask any questions and it turns into some awkward situation, the Doctor came.

He was your typical doctor, white coat, kind face, notepad in his hands and smiling to ease the patient – 'me'. Noting the reading from machines he started interrogation while my 'Mom' sat down beside me.

Time to wing it and see if my acting is good enough,

"So how are you feeling Saito," he asked

"Err….. Ok, I guess" I replied in a bland tone.

"Does something hurt" He gently asked.

"No nothing hurts but I can't move my body and my head feels heavy" I replied with hoarse voice.

'It will take some time to adjust my vocal cords as they were not used for some time' I realized

"Head you say hmmm…, those are just side effects of sleeping for a long time and not using your body," He said and nodded.

He did not ask many questions when I told him again that my head is hurting again, he ceased his questioning and left immediately. Thankfully the Doctor asked me to rest and told mom not to pester me too much.

When the Doctor went out, my Mom came and hugged me as I would suddenly go away so to extract me from her death grip I asked her "M-Mama, I am hungry, do you have any food?" even to me those sound fake but maybe in her happiness, she didn't notice but instead a wide smile came to her tear-stained face.

Flashback ends

Now here I am sitting on the bed looking outside, thinking about my future.

'How I am going to adjust here, what should I do about the gaps between Saito's (my) memories? Should I say something about my predicament to my parents? No, no, what am I even thinking, I can't tell anybody about my situation, especially not my parents and why would I even think of telling them it makes no sense'

I then realized that somehow Saito's memories have affected me so much, that I am even thinking of telling my(his) parents.

'It may be his instinct of telling problems to his parents, did I reincarnated in some Ponce? Damn here goes my reputation' I started wondering

All this thinking was giving me a headache.

'Can I even think about something complicated without getting a headache? Did Saito lack in the brain department so much that his brain can't handle some thinking, maybe my brain's adapting? I hope it is adapting' and with that, I blacked out

Later I realized that I was rambling in my mind and spouting nonsense. Maybe I was in shock.

...

2 days later

Much has happened in the last 2 days.

It has sunk in that I got reincarnated into an 8-year-old boy named Saito Sakazuki. Even now I am not comfortable with my name. When someone usually calls me, it takes some time to respond because I think they are calling someone else.

At least I was not reincarnated in some baby, those fan fictions painted a very embarrassing childhood if somehow it were to happen. Thank god for small mercies.

The first thing I did was find out the date. It was the 28th of July 2008.

I learned that I was in a coma for more than 3 months. My body is still weak from not using it and it will take at least 1-month rehabilitation for getting my body to get healthy enough so I can go somewhere without anybody shadowing me.

I also learnt that the doctors tried to explain to my parents that I had very little chance of surviving prior to my arrival here. But the parents of the boy continued to hope (especially his mother) and forbade the doctors to pull out the plug. (I later learned that my mother couldn't have any more children which explained why they hoped to see my previous body, live).

I can't fault the doctors as they were realistic enough to see it. My case was just an exception or 'miracle' if you will.

I also learned that I can't write Japanese but at least I can speak and understand it.

My dad also came the other day. I learned he was in a different city when I woke up.

When he came with a big guy, I recognized my dad immediately and got the impression that I knew the other guy but for the world couldn't remember him.

Flashback:

"Hey Dad" I greeted my dad with a smile when he came.

Mom was sitting beside me. We just finished eating lunch…. Well, I just finished eating lunch, mom just finished feeding me. You have no idea how embarrassing it is to not able to lift spoons without getting tremors in hand.

He smiled back at my greeting. My dad was tall, just a little short of 6 feet, black hair with blue eyes in a suit. He looked quite handsome; standing beside him was an even taller man, at least by half a foot, Japanese origin, black hair, and brown eyes with a kind face.

Before my dad could speak I looked at the man and asked "Umm…. Who are you?" and regretted immediately at my childish and arrogant tone.

'I need to control my mouth and emotions more; I didn't think the brat would leave some type of imprint in my mind. Damn him' I mentally berated myself.

At that, both my parents and the man looked surprised,

My mom asked, "Sweetie don't you remember Mr. Fujiwara here?"

Ok so maybe Saito remembered him, but I clearly don't. I quickly realized that this is a perfect opportunity to clear things about my memories. This way if I don't remember any other things, it can be attributed to my accident.

I replied negatively.

Judging by their troubled expressions they were reaching the obvious conclusion. For a second, I felt guilty for lying but ruthlessly quashed that feeling. 'It is necessary' I reminded myself

Seeing the situation Mr. Fujiwara left the room to get the doctor.

Flashback ends

When the doctor came he asked my parents to ask me some questions like my name, my birthdate (My birthday was on – 25 March 2000), the name of the school and many other things. I replied to which I could remember but there were many things I didn't know.

I understood that my plan worked, this way I got the best excuse for my memory loss. I hated doing this to them but I could not tell them that their son is lost to them and in his place, there is me, a stranger. But this way with my 2 decades of additional knowledge, if I am lucky, I can play this off as some impact to my brain making me some type of genius.

I maybe not a specialist in the brain department but I have heard these types of cases before. People who were hit in the head real hard suddenly waking up, being as either a genius or an idiot.

Other than doing some light exercise to get my body moving (courtesy of rehabilitation schedule). I didn't have anything to do and I was getting bored. Seeing I was not going to leave the hospital for at least a month, I asked my parents to get me a tutor for writing Japanese. While at first they didn't agree but my reasoning was perfect so in the end, I got an instructor or maybe they were trying to coddle me now that 'I have returned from coma'. I don't know and moreover, I didn't care.

...

8 and ½ Months later (12th April 2009):

My respect for linguists rose exponentially in this last year. Learning Japanese was a tedious task. Saito started learning in the last 2 years so due to that I could recognize some letters after the first lecture but after that, it was quite a pain in the ass to learn.

These 9 months were still quite boring if I was being truthful. It took more than a month of rehabilitation for my body to work properly, and only then I was released from the hospital. Also, my parents hired a servant to cater to my needs.

Yeah, that was my reaction.

They treated me like I was made of glass and any moment I would break. At first, it was quite touching then it turned into quite an annoyance. Thankfully after 4 – 5 months of my somewhat rebellious attitude they ceased treating me like that but till then I had been stuck home.

Due to my circumstances, I was held back for a year, so now I have to repeat the class. Initially, I was thinking of starting the second semester and continuing from where my previous body left off. Unfortunately, my body didn't heal by that time (1st November). Well, I think I was perfectly fine to attend the school but my mom didn't want me to.

Well, it is not much of an issue as I will be able to jump ahead seeing as I was quite good on the educational level in my last life so Mathematics and English like subjects are not too difficult but History was quite different. Still, I was fine with it.

I was getting bored in the hospital all day sitting around so I asked my parents to arrange a tutor for me. They easily agreed and arranged for a Japanese tutor. From there, I learned that I had quite an ability to cram knowledge. You could say I even had a photographic memory. But I didn't. I could just retain much information. I abused the hell out of it although it went away as the days progressed.

My parents were happy that I got this gift. Then some bastard from the hospital had to leak this info out and suddenly I was locally famous. Thankfully Japan is not like other countries where journalists are like sharks. I did give some interviews but that was it. Some doctors asked my parents to conduct some tests but I was quite paranoid and threw a tantrum to get out of it.

All in all, it took 2 months for me to learn how to write Japanese fully and that shocked many people. Still, I had 7 more months to spare as my classes were to be started in the 1st week of April. It wasn't easy. I had to learn so many things. If I was at my previous level of intelligence, I am damn sure it would have taken 10 times longer to do the same.

My body was already healed; I was bridging the gap of memories left behind by Saito so to alleviate some boredom I decided to learn another language. I don't know why I decided that but at that time it looked like a good idea, now I am not so sure.

After much brainstorming, I decided to learn Chinese. At first, I decided to learn or you could say ''re-learn'' English, as I already knew it somewhat so this way I had the perfect excuse for it. But when my mom told me that I will be learning it in school, I changed my decision. It was a good decision on my part. It also laid down the foundation of my decision to learn other languages.

In the last 7 months, I learned Chinese, Korean and Russian and now I am learning French by myself. I already knew Hindi, Punjabi and English so I was quite proud of myself.

I also started to settle in my new life. Feeling tremors in the ground was now a normal thing. The first time I felt an earthquake was in the hospital. I totally freaked out and ran away from the room. It was embarrassing as hell to tell you the truth. Thankfully there was no one to witness that moment otherwise I wouldn't have lived it down. There were some other cultural shocks but that was one of the most profound ones.

Coming back to my education – I also got re-admission into a nearby elementary school just a few weeks before.

There is a rule which was passed by the government a few years before. According to that – Those children who are 6 years old by the 1st April are only entered in schools. Fortunately, my birthday is on 25th March so I was admitted for the 2nd year. You heard it correct. I wasn't able to jump like I wanted so I had to repeat my year. And so my 1 year was wasted.

Well, that's what I thought, but my father's friend helped in this case and I was able to jump the class after a test easily. My somewhat famous reputation also helped.

I was also surprised when I learned that for Japanese students, 6 years at elementary and 2 years at junior high are compulsory. (I know it is 3 years for junior high in only national schools but I changed it for the plot) although foreign nationals are not subject to Japanese compulsory education. So I was stuck there for a long time.

Trust me my parents tried to jump me more classes but were unable to do so. Apparently the education system does not want intelligent students to complete their education early.

It was quite a brilliant policy as many students, who jump through the classes are bad at socializing later in their life. In this world, there is no problem with students committing suicide, due to this policy. It gave the student quite enough time to adjust. The neck-breaking pressure that students had in my previous life was not here. In fact, some other countries have also started to enforce this policy.

After junior high students can jump classes but they have to pass the test for that particular class. Although the test is for high school, it is actually a college-level test. In Japan, students learn higher studies in lower classes. Students are adults by the time they complete their high school education.

It came as quite a shock to me when I learned that the students are usually 18 or 19 years old by the time they complete high school. Moreover, after high school, they just have to pass the college as they have already studied the material. Companies offer students, the job in their 1st or 2nd year as they know that they already covered the material. Even parents know that college is for fun so they leave them to be themselves and have fun.

About half of the students don't even go to college. (In hindsight it was so obvious. From the manga, I remembered Asami being 19 years old and still held an officer level post.)

All in all, it was a good system compared to my previous country but here it was in my way. Still, I can jump after completing an 8-year compulsory education.

Anyway, coming back to the story – Today we are going to my father's friend's house that helped me for his daughter's birthday party. He is some political hotshot. Moreover, his wife and my mother are also quite good friends. So now I am expected to be their daughter's friend. They didn't exactly say so but I could read between the lines.

I don't have much problem with that. Moreover, if she is some spoiled brat I will just ignore her. It seems to work on the brats near my house when I have to interact with them, 'courtesy' of my mother wanting me to make friends.

Initially, I thought it will be different from talking with adults who seem to treat me like a child even if I have established my mature personality after the accident but then I learned that children my age are quite annoying and stupid. Cruel too, but a glare from me dissuaded them from attempting anything stupid.

Thankfully my previous counterpart didn't have any good friends so I didn't have to appease anybody else. I also learned he was a bit spoilt and a cry baby but those characteristics thankfully weren't left behind. Or if they were, my personality overrode those habits hopefully,

I felt as if I had heard my father' s friend's name before but even after brainstorming for an hour, I couldn't remember him. In the end, I left the matter lie. It would come to me by itself. The more I try to remember, the more it will elude me.

...

3 Hours later at the Takagi Manor:

I am fucked, totally and thoroughly fucked.

I just met my father's friend 'Souichiro Takagi'. My mother's best friend is 'Yuriko Takagi' and their daughter, my 4th least favorite character after Shido, Rei and Hisashi – 'Saya Takagi'.

Her parents are also my Godparents and my parents her Godparents. This is a total Cluster fuck. Now I know why Tokunosu city name sounded so much familiar when I heard it. At that time I didn't think much about its name or why it sounded so familiar as I didn't know every Japanese city in last life but now…. I was on the verge of having a panic attack.

'Ok Calm down, let's think this thoroughly' I told myself. I slowly inhaled and exhaled air again and again. It did it until I was calm. Once my erratically beating heart slowed down, I could think clearly again,

'Now think rationally what I know about Highschool of the Dead series'

It was released sometime around 2011 (This implied that the dates/year is also quite different from the canon.)

There are many hot women and girls in it;

Its writer died but not too sure about that but it was put on hold due to that and moreover, I don't know what happened after chapter 30 but most importantly this world is going to go shit in next 10 years,

Yup, I am fucked.

When I first saw the man I knew I was fucked.

Souichiro Takagi was every bit of intimidating man shown in anime, black hair and orange eyes with a gaze of a predatory animal. How my father was a friend of his, I could never understand. While Souichiro was quite tall standing at 6'4 and had a harsh personality, my father had a welcoming aura and smile plastered to his face all the time.

Even at the party, he was wearing his sword.

'At least it keeps the annoying people away from him' I mused.

He also just became Don of a Right-Wing political Association of Tokunosu city and purchased quite a beautiful manor that was shown in anime. It was more of a celebratory party for that and less for the birthday of a 6-year-old brat.

Speaking of the said brat, she was sulking around the corner not far from here. Apparently she hasn't met Takashi yet.

The 8-year policy is specially made for children like her. It forces them to connect and socialize with children her age. She hated it as she had to wait for next year to get into the school. But his father's political clout was far more than my father so she is going to school anyway. There she met some other children but she eclipsed everyone there in the intelligence department.

Also, she doesn't get to be around with other kids as she spent her first six years with her parents while servants usually catered her every need. When she does spend time around other kids, either she annoys them with her bitch personality, or they are quite stupid for making friends. When she heard that I was like her 'a genius', she obviously wanted to meet me and test that and what do you know I fulfilled the criteria.

But now I am ignoring her in favor of thinking my fucked up situation and she can't stomach it. Apparently she wasn't used to being said 'no' or ignored so she was sulking and pouting. I didn't care. I wasn't going to bend over just to appease her.

She looked the same as in anime but more adorable, orange eyes like her father and pink hair from…. I don't know where she gets her pink hair from as her mother has purple hair. Meh…. Anime rules

Speaking of her Hot Milf mother – she was with some ladies and my mom talking and laughing with no care in the world. Damn, she looked hot in her purple dress, slender figure filled in right places with her hair down. Standing at 5'7 with a figure of 36(E)-28-38, she was every bit of a hot Milf as she was portrayed.

'No wonder that cold and hard personality of her husband cracked seeing her' I mused.

Apparently my mom met her while they both worked in Wall Street. They, both were successful stockbrokers at Wall Street. There, they became best friends. On her way home from an overseas vacation, she met Souichiro at a party, and the two got married the next day. Since then she has used her financial talent to substantially increase the Takagi fortune.

My parents were already married by then and I was already born. Moreover, she and Souichiro met through her at the party so you can say that Saya was the product of my mother's matchmaking.

Sometime she would glance in our direction to see if her daughter is alright even if those 2 brutes are shadowing her.

Yeah.., she even has freaking bodyguards. This didn't happen in anime or maybe it did and they already became zombies or maybe she didn't need them anymore back then.

"Too many variables, too little facts" I murmured.

"Huh, you said something?" Saya asked with big hopeful eyes. Maybe she thought I was talking to her. I negatively shook my head but seeing her pouting again, I sighed and decided to play with her. Damn my weak heart for adorable girls.

'Maybe playing with Saya wouldn't be bad, at least her day would not get waste away as mine did and this way my mind would not go to future zombie pandemic' I mused after some time and with that, I started talking with her.

While we were chatting, my parents decided to stay here for the night and we were sent up. I didn't have any problem with that as I knew the party would go on till midnight and so like obedient children we went to Saya's room (Get your mind out of the gutter we are kids for Christ sake). We only played and talked for sometime before she fell asleep.

When Saya fell asleep, my mind again start wondering again about the future zombie invasion,

I realized some things now that I was not panicking.

First I can't stop it as I didn't know where it started. Moreover, it starts happening all over the world at once or it spread very fast so if a virus caused all of it then maybe a terrorist organization did this and released it at a particular time or maybe it was some lab accident or maybe it was some type of bio-weapon although I knew that they were banned on previous earth.

'But how the hell that spread all over the world in a single day' I could not decide. Or the last and most horrifying case – It was caused by Mother Nature to eradicate humanity like in the case of "NOAH". A cold chill went through my spine by just thinking about it. Well thinking about it would not do me any good as I can't stop it. Still, I was quite scared.

Telling anyone about it was out of the question. If I told anyone about it, I could say my freedom goodbye and start preparing for mental facility directly. Nobody would believe me.

So that left me with the only option – Getting strong and preparing for the eventual pandemic.

"(Sigh) so much for not reincarnating in the fictional world" I mutter out loud

First thing first, I can't suddenly decide to start martial art classes as it will be suspicious and way out of normal. So first I have to build my stamina so running and Exercises will do for now.

Then when I have built my stamina, I can ask for martial arts and sword classes from my parents and guns too.., Can't forget them. Maybe I could use the Souichiro example as an excuse to learn the way of the sword. At least this way he will be of some use.

...

A month later (12th May 2009):

The last month was hell.

While I was skeleton-thin when I woke up from my 'coma', but in the following months, I became a little fat and pudgy, not too much but still above average. The rich lifestyle would do that do anybody. So when I start exercising, it caused me a lot of pain but knowledge of future pandemic and will to live it through kept me motivated. I think death by Zombies will keep anyone motivated.

Last month's hard work is showing. All of my fat (even baby fat) is gone and now a lean body is in its place. I don't have full abs or muscles as I am a 9-year-old, but there is a definite outline of them. I don't know how I just chalk it up on fiction rules.

'Maybe I will get them in the following months or years' I mused.

Now I can run up to 10 KM if push comes to shove. That was quite something. I suspect there is some sort of power that can be used but so far nothing, nada. Still, maybe it's just my imagination.

I have also observed that there is some difference between humans of this world and humans of the previous world. I can't explain it biologically but in simple terms:

For 1 – Here we have bigger eyes and pupils than our counterparts, just like in anime. (If you are having trouble imagining just watch 'Alita: Battle Angel') There is also much more variety in hair colors and eye colors. There is no pressure from Japanese society and they don't care what color of hair you have. I remember that in the previous world people with different hair colors were considered delinquents in Japan and there was considerable pressure for quite a few normal things.

2 – Humans in this world are more resilient and tough than their counterparts even the normal human beings who have not trained a day in his/her life. For i.e. top record for the 100-meter race, is 8.33 seconds rather than 9.58 seconds. People also heal at a faster rate compared to my previous world.

3 – '18' is still considered a milestone to become an adult but 17 is considered the actual legal adult age. 16 is the milestone for drinking alcohol here.

4 – The people don't age much easily just like anime. Here you can get confused by their appearance. Even after 6 years of living here, sometimes even I had difficulties in guessing their age. Thus, the plastic surgery industry is not that popular compared to my previous world.

5 - There was only 1 atomic bomb dropped in WW2 instead of 2. Thus, the population of Japan was not low compared to my previous world. I suspected that change was what makes this world different from the previous world.

There may be many more differences but I was only able to observe those till now.

Thankfully my parents, at last, acquiesced to my demands, for training in mix martial arts. Well, my mom acquiesced last week. My father was all for it from the start, him being of Japanese origin helped very much in that regard.

The Dojo was a little new, but I selected only that. Most Dojo's were of Karate, Aikido, Judo, etc separately. Nobody taught mix martial arts in this city. My father suggested that I learn some basics of any, first from a reputed Dojo but I stood firm. In the end, my father agreed to my demand.

The teacher there was very strict but I haven't been in any problem thus far. Still, I get goosebumps just being near him. I don't know why but my instincts told me to stay away from him. As that wasn't possible, I decided to be on alert when in his vicinity. After all, he could be a pedophile. You never know.

And what do you know I also met 4th character in the form of "Asami Nakaoka". In fact, that should have been my 1st clue, as I met her before the Takagi family. I just didn't remember her until the last week when she mentioned that she wants to be a police officer on the behest of the teacher. She spoke herself as 3rd person. In fact, quite a few of the children speak that way. I learned it was considered cute in Japan. I didn't consider it even a little bit cute. It was more annoying.

Though judging by the canon Asami probably didn't lift from that phase. I later learned that that is also the way police officers spoke of themselves, though they refer themselves as 'this officer'.

Still, I didn't want to forget the story, so I wrote everything down, I remembered in a small Diary. It was written in code and its language is in Hindi but English letters. It is read from upside-down instead of from left to right. That ought to confuse everybody.

Still, I even hid it in my closet as nobody checks it. And even if by some bad luck it is discovered, it will show gibberish to anyone who doesn't understand Hindi. My handwriting is so atrocious that even if they understand Hindi, they will have a hard time deciphering the words.

...

5 years and 2.5 months later (27th July 2014):

"Come on faster, faster" Sergeant yelled at us from over the cliff.

'Come on man just 1 round left then I can rest up' I reminded myself running with other guys. I quickly got lost in thoughts of the last 5 years to ignore the burning pain in my lungs, legs, shoulders… well, the whole body.

This was my first summer camp at the military base and I can safely say that in a month my physical endurance has shot up exponentially (Like in previous life we, students get 2 months, June and July for our summer holidays)

It took more than a month to convince my mom to let me come here and that too with my pile of complaints, I get from schools… It was quite difficult for me to convince her while changing schools every now and then for beating some wealthy businessmen' son or back talking to some teachers

If my marks were not in the top tier and I was not a famous person, I am sure I would have been expelled much early and even with my parents' money and influence, I wouldn't have got in any school.

I had to guilt trip, my mother, in the end otherwise I would have missed this. Thankfully my previous summer holidays were not wasted. My parents sent me on a camping trip just like last time. Last year was my 3rd and hopefully the last trip. 1st trip was amazing. The second was also good but more than that and you start getting bored.

Japan has mountainous terrain so going on a camping trip was common. It was your usual camp. We had to sleep in tents, bathe in the river and cook our food by ourselves. I even learned swimming there during my first time. Truthfully I totally forgot to learn swimming as I didn't learn it in my last life but thanks to that trip I learned it.

Thankfully we didn't have to hunt for our food other than some occasional fishing but it gave me some knowledge in what to expect from the future, if, mankind was wiped out. By the last time, instructors didn't even need to bother as I already knew everything.

It was an enlightening month away from all the distractions of the city. I fully enjoyed the nature. It was something else. I even forgot about the future zombie pandemic while I was there enjoying nature. The ever-present tension was lifted from me due to that camp.

Today was the last day of the military camp, while I was not allowed to handle guns or even taught how to use them; my body was ground through hell and back in last month.

At the age of 14+, I was quite tall for my age, standing at 5'4 with a lean but strong body. Cross country race lifting pieces of equipment with us, exercising day and night for a month would do that to anybody.

Yeah… exactly it was not your normal summer camp where kids come for playing and fun, it was another one – for Military candidates. Trust me it was very difficult to join as it is only for above 18 years old. Thankfully other candidates thought I was just short and young-looking. All that grime and dirt really helped me in hiding my identity.

Apparently there is a law against training child soldiers. I didn't even know child soldiers existed in this reality. My father had to ask for a favor from uncle Takagi and then too, it was quite difficult, even with both of their political clout.

Didn't I tell you about my father's profession?

I didn't huh….

Well, my father is in the same political party as Souichiro Takagi but on a lower tier. We also have many properties spread throughout the city which are used to collect rent. It is actually our main source of income and fortune.

While my father is in a political party, my mother manages a small company which deals in new inventions. If the invention is profitable then the inventor is given a percentage of the profit. The company markets the product. The whole cost of manufacturing and transporting is also given by the company although it deals with small-time inventions.

Getting back to my training,

My mix martial arts training was done in just 3 years, with the help of my 'sensei'. I even had few trophies back at home to prove it. Till now I had participated in the competitions which were in the country and winning most of them. It gave me some recognition across the country and made my school back off from rusticating me for beating up bullies. After all which school doesn't want to have the top martial artist in their school?

Through those competitions, I also met the 5th character of the series: Hisashi Igou.

At that time I was at the cusp of being 12 years old while he was some 10 years old. The competition was for Under 12, so naturally, I qualified. Any martial art was allowed.

I faced him in the quarter-finals in which I easily won. Initially, I was a little out of it as I recognized his name. But I easily shook off my shock and defeated him. Still, I wasn't about to miss an opportunity to befriend a character. When he was down I helped him get up and complimented on his fighting prowess even though I wasn't much impressed with his martial arts. Then again he was only a ten-year-old boy.

Anyways, I invited him to spar at any time which he didn't take although he started coming after our 2nd meeting. He was quite surprised that we lived in the same city and not too far away.

From then he and I became sparring buddies through those sparring didn't help me much, as I was quite superior in martial arts compared to him. His prowess, on the other hand, increased quite much with all the practice he did with me. We were not quite friends. You could say we were more like acquaintances who had the same hobby or more like I was his 'senpai' and guided him in the martial arts skill.

Hiashi was like something Naruto, very jubilant and outgoing. He was very different from his canon counterpart. I suspected that something or some incident will mellow him out as in the canon, he was definitely not like this.

Most of my initial training was done in the Dojo with my sensei.

Speaking of my sensei – He was from China. He stood at 5 feet, quite small. I was about the same height when I last saw him.

He was very professional but a cruel man. I later got to know his sadistic personality when he belittled some students just after a month of my joining. He expected all his students to be ruthless as him. The first 3 years were not bad, as I was in the beginner's class, just learning the steps and stances. I diligently practice all the stances. It became second nature to me after practicing for 3 years.

When I got in higher class (3rd highest), it all changed. It was after the summer holidays. I just came back from my 2nd camping trip. We were shown how to spar only after 2 years of practicing.

During the spar when he asked me to 'finish' (knockout) a student when I beat him. I refused to do it. Not because I wanted to but because I decided to take a stand. Truthfully, I liked his teachings. He taught us to be ruthless while fighting, which I admired. But, lately, I started noticing some problems. Due to his teaching, the students were beginning to get into bullying.

I wanted to stop that though, I had to give it to him. He only showed this side when students had already studied under him for years. By then students were used to obeying his order so nobody questioned him.

Next, I knew was he told another student to teach me the lesson; and then next until I was black and blue. Still, I didn't obey him. He had no choice but to send me away when the time was over. By the time it was over, I had beaten 5 students of the beginner's level which was quite frankly good; scary good.

I was somehow able to hide all my bruises from my parents. Not because I was scared. Well, I was scared but I could have easily told about it to my parents who would have taken some actions against him.

But I didn't. The reason was simple. I wanted to check my theory. It proved to be true. If my theory would have been wrong, I would have told my parents everything…. It didn't prove wrong.

I went there again after a week, as it took a lot of time to heal all those bruises. They were quite surprised to see me there. No doubt, they thought I won't be coming back.

When it was time for the spar, naturally I was the first one to be selected. I already knew this would happen so I was prepared. I already healed in 4 days but the last 3 days were spent in training.

This time he told me a year above me to teach me a lesson. This time instead of wearing me down, my 'sensei' sent the best of the bunch. They all were surprised to see me defeat him easily though I took my time in defeating him.

Next, he sent the best that batch had to offer. After quite some time, we both ended up in a draw due to time getting over. We were both evenly matched. In no time, class ended.

When my 'sensei' asked me to stay back, I was suspicious. I decided to stay but be on my guard. When everyone got out, he told me that I will be attending the next batch. I instantly understood his intentions. The next batch was of the senior batch. They were his most prized students. Now I wasn't a coward, but I understood my position so I quickly made a tactical retreat.

I just told him that my parents expected me soon and I couldn't be late.

Before he could refute me, I was out of the Dojo. After all, I wasn't some stupid bloke who would just get beaten for his pride.

I also tested my theory.

It appeared that by sparring, I gained experience. Even during the spars, I was constantly improving my fighting style. Even before this, there was this instinct that let me figure out how to fight. It was somewhat like Garou's power, the more you fight, the more you learn. I don't know how it happened but I wasn't complaining. If this was a gift from whoever left me here and I wasn't complaining.

I continued to go there 2 more times in the next week. Every time I was promoted to the new batch and every time I either won or the spar ended in a draw. My 'sensei' was so fed up that he decided to teach me the lesson 'himself' at last. That was one of the best experiences I had so far. I didn't win but I didn't lose too badly either. My 'sensei' didn't come out without a set of injuries. I was quite thankful for my body's mutation. Otherwise, I would have easily died then and there.

It took me 2 more times in the next week to defeat him. Last time was far too easy in my opinion which only made him all the madder. He was so mad that he ordered all his 'special' students to kill me. His words, not mine.

Despite that, I was able to win the match. All the bodies groaning under me on the ground only made him madder. He then tried it himself again and got kicked around.

I don't know how it happened. I was skinnier than all of them and quite short. Despite that, I was able to win. I know skill can win against age but not when the other person is also skilled. This confused me but, seeing that I couldn't solve it, I let it be.

I left his Dojo in mid-August of that year. I also told my parents about it.

After that, I gave an interview on a local news channel, in which I told him about his inhumane teaching. I didn't have to exaggerate any of his deeds though I did drop a few 'tears' here and there. His all-time popularity hit rock bottom and mine soared. Some more students came forward to speak against and that sealed the deal. His social life went so bad that he went back to China. I later learned that his teaching license also got revoked, so he had no choice but to go back to China as he could still teach there.

So for the last 2 years, I have spent my time participating in the tournaments. I also started challenging the Dojo's of every martial artist, I could find to further my training. There were many times, I was defeated but it only made me all the stronger.

It took me some tries to defeat them but I did defeat them nonetheless. I have no doubt that my mutation only made it possible. At this time, I have defeated everyone in Japan. My fighting style has changed so much in these last 2 years that it is not even funny. I had to change it to defeat my opponents. I even used the internet to watch some fights and learn from them. Unfortunately, they were not that efficient.

I also met Hiashi again when I challenged his master. His master sent me one of his best pupils, which surprised the shit out of me. It was not Hiashi. Usually, the dojo masters first send one of the beginner's levels to defeat me as my popularity was still not much that they knew about me. Only after that, they send one of their prize student or their champion of the Dojo. Only when I defeat them, I go away…. only to come back once all their classes are over.

After all, it is not good to defeat the masters in front of their students. I only defeated the masters in front of their students who were like my 'sensei'. It quickly circulated that I was going around defeating all the masters of Dojo.

It looked like the masters of the Dojo's are like gossip queens.

In the last 5 years, I have learned everything there is to learn in the world of martial arts. Many masters, in fact, told me so. It even showed during the spars I had with them.

I was also called 'Dojoyaburi' as a nickname. It is a term that means the one who challenges Dojo and defeats them. This practice was actually used in the past to showcase one's dojo prowess when one defeated the rival dojo. The other dojo usually gets closed after that. It's ironic I was doing the exact opposite thing. It's not like I did it for my dojo or sensei.

This practice was stopped in the early '90s so when I did this, the first few dojo masters were surprised. After that, it became common knowledge that I was seeking every dojo to further my abilities. You gotta' respect the networking of the dojo masters.

I wanted to try out some underground fights but I decided to try that later. I did not want to die just because I became arrogant.

Though my popularity continued to soar, my social life was a bust. I only had 1 friend 'my age' and that was Asami. It was only possible because she lived near our house with her parents and brother. There were a few who wanted to be my friends but I easily understood their intentions. Either they just wanted to be friends with someone popular or their parents set them up.

Initially, I even tried to drop Asami as my friend but she didn't let me do it. She was like a parasite that refused to go away. Soon after, I started liking her presence and so she became my friend.

There were Hiashi and Saya, but they were younger and quite immature. Moreover, they were acquaintances at best.

I was so lost in thought that I didn't even listen to our sergeant saying to stop. I was jolted out of my thoughts when a candidate bumped into me.

After apologizing to him for it, I went to my barracks when the instructor dismissed everyone. Every candidate has to live in there. Every room had 10 beds. The beds were double storied. Thankfully I got the lower one. I didn't have any energy left to climb up. Without even taking off my shoes, I fell on the bed. My body hurt everywhere. My legs felt like jelly.

Sleeping on the hard bed for the first time was uncomfortable, to say the least, but I preserved…. Yeah who am I kidding, I was sleeping like log the next day from the exhaustion. On the third day, I was regretting my overconfidence. I thought I could compete with boys 4-6 years older than me, but I was clearly mistaken.

We were cut off from the rest of the world for 1 month as the training camp was located on the outskirts of the city.

On the seventh day, our group was already half in size. 180 candidates quit at the end of the week. It seems I was not the only overconfident guy in the group. From 400 candidates, only 105 remained at the end of the month, but those who remained were definitely qualified for selection.

Every Sunday 4 military officers go to the city to purchase food and some supplies while candidates are free from training. We were only allowed to leave the camp on Sundays so the candidates have to wait till Sunday to quit.

Even then they had to train with us till the weekend. It was quite amusing to see them complaining about it.

The sergeant was not happy about the bitching so he had them do double work. It worked like a charm. Nobody complained the next day; some even changed their minds about quitting.

Getting praise from the sergeant in front of all the candidates yesterday was quite embarrassing. Thankfully he was not a man of words so I didn't have to stand out more than necessary.

After sometime when the pain subsided, I was on the bed thinking how to broach the subject of Guns training or Sword training with my parents, seeing as I was quite proficient in martial arts.

For Sword training, I can ask Uncle Takagi for recommending me to his own sword master - ''Yamamoto Busujima''.

Trust me I was also surprised to learn his name, I instantly had a flashback of Bleach when I learned his name. While his name was not shown on anime or manga, he was referred to as 'Master Busujima' one time when Souichiro talked with Saeko.

While he is mostly busy and out of the country for some international match or conference, he still teaches Kendo in his Dojo but I had a little different training in my mind.

As for Guns training, if I am correct Kohta went to America for it, there he was taught by an instructor from Blackwater and that guy used to be captain of Delta squad. He was trained for a month, only then he became so much good in it.

While I can also go there, I didn't want to miss this training camp in the future. Moreover, I will be busy with the training with Master Busujima. I wouldn't be able to give my all to Gun training and it's not like my parents will agree quickly. Well, my mom will agree as she is from the USA but dad won't agree on this easily. In Japan, there is a reservation around Guns while learning kendo is normal. While in the USA having guns and knowing how to use them is normal and learning ways of the sword is not.

Sometimes having my parents from different countries is a drag. Their thought process and culture sometimes create problems for me. Still, they were mostly at least on the same page about me.

At this rate, if I ask my mom for more training, I am sure she will get a heart attack. Already, I have a reputation for being a training freak. My dad, on the other hand, will be all for it.

When my parents asked me why I wanted to train so much I was totally unprepared for the question. Thinking quickly I explained that I wanted to accomplish my dream of becoming Army General of Japan. You gotta be a little ambitious. I could see they didn't believe it to be full truth but thankfully they didn't press much on the issue.

While they weren't happy with my decision, they still supported me and I was very grateful for that. I didn't have any other excuse for my training.

My luggage was already packed and I was ready to depart tomorrow. Truthfully there was not much, to begin with. It was made clear that only useful items are to be brought. Still, I longed for my comfortable bed, warm water and especially my mom's cooking. Initially, it was a little uncomfortable when my diet was totally changed from Indian to Japanese. Still with time I have grown to love those dishes.

Speaking of cooking, there was not a single Indian food restaurant in my city. Trust me, I tried very hard to find out. In the end, I had to make it by myself whenever I craved Indian food. Thankfully I knew how to cook. Actually it was a hobby of mine in a previous life. Some of the recipes I knew but some I had to see from the internet. It was not good like my previous mother's cooking but it was still something.

Cooking also helped me calm down in this chaotic world. I also learned Japanese food recipes from the servants as mom didn't know them. But she knew some of her American food recipes. Her pizzas were work of art. All in all, we ate different types of food every other day. Sometimes I cooked sometimes mom and sometimes servants. With the happy thoughts of food, I drifted to sleep.

….

The next morning, I was ready to depart. Some candidates were running frantically and trying to shove their things in the trunk.

'Seriously why didn't they pack before instead of packing at last moment? And why the hell did they bring so many things when it was already mentioned to bring only useful items' I couldn't help but roll my eyes at their stupidity and laziness.

Shaking my head at their stupidity, I exited the room and walked to the bus with my trunk in my hand. The sergeant was already standing next to an officer with his notebook doing the roll calls.

Seeing me he shoved the register to the officer and start walking towards me at a brisk pace.

"Candidate Sakazuki" He greeted me in a crisp voice after stopping in front of me.

"Sir" I replied in customary greeting.

"Walk with me," He said and turns away fully expecting me to follow his command.

'Ok, what the hell' were my thoughts while I obeyed the command though I dropped my trunk there.

"I will be frank with you, candidate Sakazuki. When my superior informed me that there will be a 14-year-old boy training with older boys, I was skeptical. I thought you would quit in a week but your resilience and determination was a sight to behold" He told me, there was some pride in his voice.

"Thank you, sir," I said with some satisfaction. I didn't know what else to say.

"Tell me, candidate, why are you training so much? What is your dream? What drives you forward so much?" He asked with some curiosity in his voice.

"I want to become Army General, that's all Sir" I replied with full conviction in my voice.

He stared at me for a couple of seconds and then said "That was good. Now tell me the real reason candidate Sakazuki"

I was clearly astonished and it must have shown on my face as he nodded seeing my expression. I immediately schooled my face but the damage was done

"Just like I expected," He said with a little smug tone but I remained silent. In this situation remaining silent was only an answer, I can give him. He wouldn't believe me. Nobody would believe me. Hell, I wouldn't have believed me if not for my otherworldly knowledge.

"If you would allow it, I would like to come again next year Sir," I asked him after some time blatantly changing the subject. If he was surprised by my request he didn't show it but just nodded and walked away.

I don't know how he caught my lie but hopefully, he will not disclose it to someone else.

'I need to work on my lies if a man whom I barely knew for a month could catch it' I resolved while walking to the bus.

...

It irritates me when writers mix Japanese with English. Suffix like '- chan', '- san', '- sama' I can understand but some even write full sentences and then write their translation.

So you will not read that in this fic.

I was first thinking of his sensei be someone who is no longer teaching etc like in Karate kid. But, in the end, I decided to write this one.

I was also going to add a new chapter with all the incidents with his sensei, but, I scrapped the idea as it would have taken a long time. Maybe, I will do it when I go hiatus next time or when I get some free time.

Here are the ages of MC and other characters so that the timeline doesn't confuse you. It confused me so I wrote it down.

Saito Sakazuki:

8 years 3 months+: MC got reincarnated and woke up from the coma.

9 years+: MC meets Saya.

9 years 1 months+: Joined MMA Dojo.

11 years 3 months+: Went camping for 1st time and learned swimming there.

11 years 9 months+: MC meets Hisashi for 1st time.

12 years 3 months+: All that drama with his sensei.

14 years 4 months+: Ended his 1st Military Training Camp.

Saya Takagi:

6 years: Celebrates her birthday and met Saito for the first time.

11 years 3.5 months+: At the end of the chapter.

Hisashi Igou:

10 years 2 months+: Met Saito for the first time.

12 years 9 months+: At the end of the chapter.

Asami Nakaoka:

15 years 1 month+: At the end of the chapter.