Dream Life Chapter 2: “Awakening”

　I woke up in a strange bed.

　It was dimly lit, and there was only a faint light shining through a crack in the window as if the shutters were closed.

(Where am I……?) (Yataro)

　If this was like in Light Novels, I would have muttered, “I don’t know this ceiling,” but I didn’t have that luxury.

　I usually don’t have a bad night’s sleep, but today I felt inexplicably sleepy. Maybe that’s why I can’t think straight.

　As I shook my head to wake up, I saw the face of a large young Caucasian woman right next to me.

(Oh, my God! A big woman. Also, she’s blonde and incredibly beautiful…) (Yataro)

　For a moment, I was surprised to see a giant’s face, which was about twice as big as mine, but I couldn’t help but admire the beauty of her face.

(This is not the time for gawking. Try to remember just what it was I was doing last night… No, I need to do something about this situation… I’m sharing a bed with a woman I don’t know… and I’m drunk and in bed with her? No, I don’t have the guts to do that…) (Yataro)

　I’m completely freaked out and can’t think at all.

　Anyway, I put my hand on the quilt to get out of bed.

　I looked at my hands and almost screamed.

(They’re small… a child’s hands…) (Yataro)

　I stare at my hands.

　They are small, smooth, and hairless, faintly pink and pudgy, like the hands of a toddler.

　I looked around again.

(It’s not a big room. I became smaller. I’m in a child’s body…) (Yataro)

　As I was rummaging around, the woman who was sleeping next to me seemed to wake up.

“Zack, what’s wrong? XX 00…” (Woman)

　I could catch the first words, but after that, I could barely understand what they meant.

(It’s almost like English, but I don’t know a lot of the words. Wait, now I’m hearing a foreign language I don’t know, but the words I do know have turned into Japanese on their own. What is happening…?) (Yataro)

　I almost panic and want to ask this woman what is going on, but I am speechless.

　I froze and her big arms held me in place.

“Did… you have… scary dream…?” (Woman)

　When I connected the words I could understand, it sounded like she was asking me if I had had a scary dream.

　She pressed my face against her well-endowed bosom.

　I could smell the woman’s distinctive scent and feel her heart beating, and my panic naturally subsided.

(Apparently, I had become a child. Is this a realistic dream… no, it’s too realistic for that. No way, was I reincarnated?) (Yataro)

　I desperately tried to remember, but all I could recall was that I had gone home and read an online novel and that I had created a TRPG character in a dream.

(Come to think of it, something unnatural happened. Why did I dream about making a character? Maybe… Let’s see…) (Yataro)

　I thought it was impossible, but I tried to use the “Reference” skill I had added when I was setting up my character.

　Reference is a skill that allows you to see in your mind the name of the thing you touch and a brief description of it.

(Let’s look at myself first… my name is Zacharias Lockhart. He is three years old and a human male. That’s all I can tell from the reference. If this is the Tunnel & Dragons (T&D) world, we might be able to see his status. I should be careful…) (Yataro)

I try to think of the word “Status” but nothing happens. Nothing happened, no parameters, menus, etc.

(No? …wait. I thought of Reference in Japanese. Maybe it’s Information…) (Yataro)

　I tried to recall the word “Information,” but the display showed “Zacharias Lockhart” in front of me, with the Status and Skills lined up below.

　Strength: 2/50

　Reflexes: 4/90

　Body Control: 4/90

　Endurance: 5/120 (80 x 1.5)

　Magic: 4/10

　Mental Endurance: 120 (80 x 1.5)

　Intelligence: 100

　Craftsmanship: 2/50

　Appearance: 87

　Charisma: 82

　HP: 48

　MP: 40

　Skills: None

(I recognize the number after the slash. This body is definitely a character from that time. Maybe the numbers are still small because I’m still a child… yeah? My Intelligence and Appearance are at their maximum value. Appearance is a number that can be expressed at this age, but why are Intelligence, Mental Endurance, and Charisma at the maximum value?) (Yataro)

　When I thought that far, I suddenly wondered why I could think so calmly.

(I’m not a panicky person by nature, but I never had the nerve to stay calm in a situation this unusual. Is the status Mental Endurance working on me? Still, it wouldn’t be surprising if I become upset…) (Yataro)

　Since I was not moving, the woman holding me was just beginning to fall asleep.

(She smells nice and feels good, but I’m not getting aroused. Maybe it’s because I’m in the body of a three-year-old, ‘m not sure… I’ll use Reference on this woman.) (Yataro)

　I gently put my hand on her arm and think “Reference”.

(Her name is Tanya Lockhart. She is twenty-three years old, a human woman. She must be my mother since we share the same last name and sleep together. I wonder what I called her…Something popped into my head… “Mother”… The memory came back to me bit by bit…) (Yataro)

　My mind is slowly coming back to the memory of a toddler named Zacharias Lockhart.

　Until now, the memories of me = Yataro Kawasaki must have been shoved into a corner as they were stored in this little brain. I was thinking that my consciousness might have awakened now that my memories had been sorted out.

(I wonder what I will do now. Assuming this isn’t a dream, I need to find out if I really was reincarnated and if it was ‘that’ character. If I was reincarnated, then… my wish came true.) (Yataro => Zack)

　There had been no explanation and doubt that I had truly reincarnated.

(… but why I was reincarnated? It could have been God, the administrator, or the ferryman on the Sanzu River, but there was no explanation. Did I die in the first place?　I do feel like I was suffering from chest pains in front of the computer, though. I don’t know if I had a myocardial infarction or a heart attack or something like that… But usually, it’s because someone helped me reincarnate under some conditions, or God did something wrong. Hmm… No. My head is completely filled by Web Novels. Anyway, there doesn’t seem to be any answers even if I think about it now, so I’ll just go with the flow…) (Yataro)

　Thus began my second life.

　When my mother, Tanya, woke up, I decided to get up with her.

　When I got out of bed, the room was colder than I expected and I couldn’t stop shivering.

　My mother sees me and immediately takes out her clothes and says something to me. But at first, it sounded like just another foreign language, and I could only pick up a few words.

　As my mother took out her clothes and I listened to the words she spoke to me, little by little I began to understand the words.

(It’s like remembering. Words I had learned before I came to my senses naturally popped into my head. My vocabulary is limited. Well, I’m three years old, so I guess this is how it is…) (Zack)

　The clothes my mother dressed me in were light brown linen, rumpled, round-necked shirt with a string around the lumpy waist. The pants were also made of the same material, with long hems that were folded, and force-fitted. The shoes were of poor-quality leather and were also ill-fitting, so I had to put wool socks on top of them to keep them on.

“Zack, I haven’t said hello yet. Good morning.” (Tanya)

　My mother’s face dazzles me as she smiles gently at me, and I splutter. I could only mumble, “Mother… Good morning.”

　She must have thought I was smiling at her because she smiled at me and took me in her arms.

　She lifts me up to a height about three times my height, which frightens me a little, but I feel surprisingly secure in this position because it is the same height as the level of my previous gazes.

　As I look around the room, another person rises from the bed.

　He is a blond, bearded man, but he is still young and quite good-looking.

　As my memory cleared up, I already knew who this man was.

(He was my father. His name is… Huh? I remember my mother calling him Matt. Matt Lockhart, I think.) (Zack)

“You’re up already, Zack?” (Matt)

“Good morning. Father.” (Zack)

　I greet my father back and my mother puts me down.

　Then they hugged and kissed each other, perhaps as a morning greeting.

(It’s embarrassing to have someone kiss so openly in front of me, isn’t it? But it seems normal…) (Zack)

　Because of the mixing of the two memories, my thoughts are not very stable.

(I’ll sort it out slowly from now on. I don’t know anything about this world, and until then, I have to make sure I don’t get accused of “demonic possession” …) (Zack)

　Father and mother both get dressed and open the window.

　There was no glass in the window, just a wooden window, it seemed, and all at once the bright morning light came into the room.

　Both my father and mother were dressed in the same plain linen clothes as I was, and they did not appear to be of the knightly class by any means.

(They are a young couple of farmers, no matter how you look at it. It would have been knightlier if they had at least put a fine sword…) (Zack)

　Regardless of my thoughts, my father stretches as he looks out the window.

“It’s another beautiful day. The cows must be in a good mood.” (Matt)

　I was surprised by his words and watched my father’s back in stunned amazement.

(Cows? Aren’t I in a knight’s household? Or do they fight using cows in this world? I really need to get my information together properly or I’m going to get in trouble…) (Zack)

　I braced myself to focus on making it through day one in one piece.