Kenji
Kenji sat on the bench, blowing air at his bagel for it to cool down.
"Haah…" He sighed contentedly.
'Being reincarnated into a new world wasn't how I thought it would go.'
It was the usual isekai setup, but without the superpowers or the hero-summoning part.
Just him and a job at Blue Dragon Couriers.
He would've thought that being isekaid with his knowledge would land him a better job, but this world was wack. He wasn't special after all.
Back home, wherever that may be, he'd been the most average person ever.
And somehow, that hadn't changed even in another world.
A man walked past with a coffee in one hand, scrolling through his phone with the other. Then a woman in a coat carried a shopping bag down the street.
'People are people, I guess. No matter the world.'
He wondered if any of them ever stopped to think about what was really out there. Or if, like him back home, they just... didn't.
His eyes drifted to the glass panel beside him. An ad for Schicksal's next charity drive.
It was a picture of a young woman in a battlesuit, smiling next to a grateful-looking family. [Your safety, our mission] stamped across the bottom in bold lettering.
'Yeah, I'm sure the Honkai are shaking in their boots.'
That was the major difference between this world and his old one. This one was a super advanced society fighting monsters called Honkai.
But even after the countless amounts of news and media, he still didn't really understand what the Honkai was. Only that he should run the moment he sees one if he doesn't want to become a statistic.
His phone buzzed, it was from his boss.
[On your way, pick up groceries for Mrs. Yamamoto. Usual order. Thanks!]
Kenji sighed and finished the last bite of his bagel, balled up the wrapper, and tossed it into the trash.
He walked over to his electric scooter, something that was very mundane but surprisingly advanced. The number of features on the thing would have cost a fortune back in his old world.
The city blurred past as he rode through the sea of people. He had already gotten used to this routine. It helped cope with having no family at all. Being an orphan was a challenge.
It was easy to get lost in this routine. A part of him could just pretend that this was no different from his old life.
But then a Schicksal van would roll by. Or a billboard reading Honkai Awareness Initiative would flash past. Or he'd catch a glimpse of military-grade equipment through a storefront window.
And it would break the illusion that this was anything like his home.
Once, he asked Mr. Ito about it. The old man had gazed at him as if he had asked the stupidest question in the world.
"Kid." Ito had a scratch on the back of his head. "If you want to live long in this city, you just worry about your deliveries. Not Honkai business." He'd jabbed a finger at him. "Rule of thumb. If you hear a siren, you run like hell to the bunkers. Got it?"
Kenji had taken his words at face value.
But the sensation never went away. As if he were a puzzle piece and had been forced into the wrong picture.
He could never relate to this world as he wanted.
At a red light, he idled his bike, drumming his fingers on the handlebars. In the next lane, a car idled, its window cracked just enough for the radio to bleed through.
"...Honkai spike reported near Arc Street, authorities are investigating. Please avoid the—"
The light was green before he caught up with the rest.
Kenji looked at Arc Street, past the shopping area, and shook his head, and drove on.
/ — /
As Kenji rode toward Mrs. Yamamoto's part of town, the streets became emptier. He placed the grocery bags on the scooter's basket, being careful not to move the eggs around too much.
Not long later, he arrived at her building. He quickly hurried up the steps and knocked at the door.
After a while, nobody answered, so Kenji was about to knock again when the door suddenly opened. Revealing an old lady with a kind smile.
Mrs. Yamamoto held a phone to her ear, seemingly in the middle of calling someone. She gave him an apologetic look, and Kenji just brought her things and placed it on her kitchen counter.
He made sure not to stare at her house too much, it was rude.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll be careful. Mm-hm. Love you too, dear." Yamamoto sighed into the phone and then hung up.
"Kenji! I'm so sorry, my daughter has just been so worried after the increase in Honkai incidents."
"It's fine, Mrs. Yamamoto," He reassured her.
It seemed like the old lady wasn't going to let that go, grabbed her purse, and shoved a few bills into his hands.
"Oh, I couldn't—"
"I insist."
Unwilling to argue further, Kenji just took the money with a smile.
Mrs. Yamamoto then looked at the grocery bags, checking out their contents. "Eggs and sauce alright?"
"Of course. It's the Kenji guarantee."
She let out a soft laugh, and Kenji felt his chest go lighter at the sound.
Just as he was about to leave, Mrs. Yamamoto told him to wait and hurried towards the kitchen, where she grabbed a small wrapped package from the counter.
"Have this, it's still warm." She handed the package to him. "I just made it this morning."
Kenji could immediately tell it was some kind of bread just from the smell. And it did smell absolutely delicious.
"Thank you. I'll be sure to enjoy it."
She nodded in satisfaction, "Alright then, scurry on. I won't hold you for much longer. Take care, Kenji."
He gave her a wave as he walked out her door, "Have a good one, Mrs. Yamamoto!"
/ — /
The rest of the day was just the usual routine. Some pickups here, some drop-offs there, and so on.
But there was something that kept nagging at him.
Wherever he went, there was always some talk of Honkai, Valkyries, or Schicksal.
He never did like thinking about those things much. It just emphasised how alien he was in this place.
Around midday, his route took him past the ME Corp building. He'd gone past this area plenty of times, but this time there was something odd.
There were a lot of guards standing at the entrance and around the area. They purposefully looked around with intensity to make people around uncomfortable with staring.
Kenji slowed his scooter, curiosity getting the better of him. He was able to hear parts of a conversation as he went past two men in suits.
"...Honkai energy again. More intense than before…"
"...no telling when it might…"
The rest got lost as they walked off. Kenji sat there for a second, his mind latching onto that word.
Honkai energy.
He glanced back at the building one last time. It felt like something important was going to happen in that building.
In another life, maybe he'd have wanted to find out.
But he had deliveries and, most importantly, rent. Curiosity wasn't really in the budget.
By the time the sun started dipping below the skyline, his shift was done, and Kenji found himself near the river.
He parked the scooter and sat on the old bench by the water. Call him an old soul, but he really preferred sitting alone on a bench after a long day.
Lights were starting to flicker on across Nagazora, scattering gold and white reflections across the river's surface.
He looked down at his hands. They were rough from gripping handlebars all day, calloused from years of the same motions. Not exactly hands built for anything dramatic.
'Funny how things turned out.' He mused. 'Pretty sure delivery boy wasn't on my list of things to be if I get reincarnated.'
Not that he'd ever made that list. He was pretty sure nobody did.
"Guess this is just... me now." He said it out loud, mostly to the river. "Delivery guy. Nothing fancy."
It wasn't a… bad life.
It was stable, and there were people like Mrs. Yamamoto and like the vendor who always gave him extra food.
But there was a part of him that kept asking if this was all there was going to be.
He shook his head, standing up and brushing off his pants.
'Yeah, well. Worry about that later, I guess.'
He climbed back onto the scooter, the engine rattling to life beneath him.
He can have an existential crisis later. He just wants to sleep now.
One last glance at the river, and he turned toward home, letting the hum of the engine drown out everything else.