1 01. It Was Kaedehara Ryūhei, Now Is Niwa Ryūhei

A distant yet close, lover's point, where water meets the sun. And earth meets the sky. Where the horizon finds its true meaning and beauty. A planet within a planet, is a place on whose shores, introspections are drawn and strength is gathered. A breathtaking place called the oceans.

As the moon hung bright among the sea of stars above, hums of sea waves slowly began to crash over something. Well, not exactly something, but a ship.

In that ship, in the middle of the ocean, a young boy around 15 years old was seen asleep in the cabin. His cheeks and brows twitched one after another as if he was about to wake up.

As he regained consciousness, his eyes were working on focusing, trying to make sense of the visual stimulus as his eyelids fluttered open.

He has long light brown hair with a single orange-red streak on his left and a pair of silver eyes. His outfit consists of a white short-sleeved kimono, a light blue haori coat, and hakama pants with rippling waves designs. It's just that, the outfit looks a little burnt.

The boy looked confused after opening his eyes because he saw an unfamiliar room. Especially…

"How did I get on this ship? What's more, it's like a sailing ship."

Glazing at the vast sea and hearing the calming sound of the waves crashing through the wooden window, he wondered how he got on the ship as he didn't remember what happened before. Then, he tried to recollect what happened previously.

All of a sudden, he felt a headache. No. It should be the pain that almost killed him as if it wanted to split his head. A lot of information filled his brain nonstop. It was his memories throughout his 15 years prior, memories before he reincarnated.

That's right. The boy is not the person of his current world. He was once a person who lived on Earth. Thanks to how filial he was to his mother, he was given the opportunity to be reborn into another world. And it's been 15 years since he has lived in the world called Teyvat.

However, when the so-called goddess wanted to reincarnate him, she told him that she needed to seal his memories from Earth because the baby's brain couldn't handle the memories from another life. In turn, he was given something to improve his talent in almost everything, so his brain could handle the memories when unsealed due to the improvement of his brain.

Yet, it wasn't as easy as it seemed. His hands held his head to endure the pain while groaning. 

The boy was writhing in bed in pain. Also, with a never-ending flood of information pouring into his brain, a female crew member looked at his situation because she heard groans inside the cabin. She is Yin Xing, a doctor of the ship. She has long straight black hair, and black eyes, wearing glasses, and a dark blue cheongsam outfit. And she was also the one who looked after the boy while he was unconscious.

"Hey, kid! What happened?" Yin Xing to know why the boy could be in such pain. But unfortunately, the boy did not pay attention to her at all.

Not getting an answer, the woman tried to give the boy a painkiller. Too bad, the boy clenched his teeth, so there was no way to feed him the painkiller, even with force.

Patiently enduring the pain even though it took about an hour, finally the pain had faded. The boy was relieved, while sweat soaked his outfit. But it seemed he looked exhausted from enduring the pain. His body even went limp and lay back down on the bed.

The woman checked the boy's body. But, she didn't find anything wrong with him except his exhaustion.

"What happened to you earlier?"

"Ugh, sorry. I just remembered unpleasant things. I would appreciate it if you don't ask." The boy can't find any excuse other than that. The good thing is, she didn't try to uncover his past.

The boy remembered everything. Ever since his life on Earth. He was an only child who only lived with his mother because his father divorced her. And his mother has been sickly since the divorce.

As a result, he dropped out of school because his mother could not pay for his studies. Fortunately, he was gifted in the arts. He made a living by becoming an illustrator and drew a lot of fan art because his drawings were so good and elegant. Other than drawing, he excels in band instruments. Thanks to those skills, he was able to pay for his mother's medical treatment.

Too bad, his mother passed away three years after. And losing his mother caused him to lose his spirit as well. Yet, he still tried to live as a normal person.

It was unfortunate that his life on Earth wasn't that long. At the age of 21, he died in a traffic accident when a truck had a brake failure and slammed him.

A goddess happened to find a wisp of his soul and saw his past. From there he was given a second chance to live again, but in another world.

He was born in the Kaedehara clan. However, he was actually a descendant of the Niwa clan. He was given Kaedehara Ryūhei as his name. By the time he was born, there was a struggle in the clan due to internal affairs. And the Kaedehara clan was on the verge of collapse.

The cause was of course his great-grandfather, the boy adopted by the clan head at that time, who refused to pass down the Isshin Art to the Kaedehara clan. Ryūhei was sensitive enough to understand that there was a reason why his great-grandfather had refused to allow a descendant of the Kaedehara clan to revive the Isshin Art. But, Ryūhei was still a kid at that time. Even if he said something, no one would believe in him except his father.

At the age of 10, he was sent to the Kamisato clan to avoid more conflict in the Kaedehara clan, and he has lived in the Kamisato clan ever since. And changed his name to Niwa Ryūhei Until, Raiden Shogun, the Electro Archon, initiated the Vision Hunt Decree a half year ago, which created chaos throughout Inazuma, an archipelago region that worships her.

A Vision, it is a gift bestowed upon those who dwell in Teyvat and are recognized by the gods. It grants the user elemental abilities based on the element of their given Vision. These elements include wind, fire, water, lightning, earth, ice, and wood, and these are called Anemo, Pyro, Hydro, Electro, Geo, Cryo, and Dendro based on the order.

After the Vision Hunt Decree was declared by the Electro Archon, a lot of Vision holders tried to fight back. And some of them tried to flee from Inazuma.

Ryūhei didn't know how to be bestowed with a Vision since he didn't have one. In any case, he was also one of the people who tried to get out of the chaotic country. He was allowed to leave Inazuma because he doesn't have a Vision. But still, the sea around Inazuma seems to have been put up with a barrier in which lightning will strike upon the trespassers who try to escape to other regions.

In fact, his intention to go to another region by boat is to look for business in a place where there is no chaos like Inazuma. He didn't want to continue to trouble the Kamisato clan who had been taking care of him for 5 years.

But, bad luck descended upon him as the lightning strike almost killed him. Still, after the bad luck, came fortune. It seemed a lightning strike that almost killed him unsealed his memories. And with the knowledge of the modern world, there might be a lot of things that could help him to start his business.

But then, he remembered something important. He looked around the cabin, but didn't find anything else besides his sword which was still on its sheath.

"Ugh, doctor Yin Xing, do you know where my bag is?"

"Huh? We happened to notice you floating on the wreckage of a boat, and I believe there was nothing else we saw apart from your sword on your waist at that time."

Ryūhei was dumbstruck. His eyes fell down, and his face was downcast.

"My savings, 200k Mora!"