Chapter 3: La Passion

In a alleyway hidden beneath the bustling of metropolis civilization, a boy walked into a building you could find anywhere. A completly normal three story building.

The first floor was a maid cafe. It was a place for nerds and otakus to satisfy their desire to be served by maid girls, who catered to their every whim with countless custom orders. Everytime the boy passed the cafe, he could savor the aroma of food being prepared. Once, he decided for a meal and regreted it deeply.

It was simply not suited for him.

The only drawback the restaurant had were the normies. So many normies and otakus. Every time the boy focused on the  meal, a customer would do something unhinged, and the waitresses—the maids—would allow it and even participate.

Below were the conservation:

Rubi-chan! Nani ga suki?

Choko minto yori mo a-na-ta

My fork clattered onto my plate. I swore an oath right then and there to never return.

The second floor housed a detective agency, a place where people hired investigators, mostly for infidelity cases. Seeing how many divorces and cheating scandals happened across the country, this agency should have been full of customers, but for some reason, the maid cafe seemed to have more business.

At last, the third floor was the residency of Nano Dextuh. A reincarnator who wanted a peaceful life while satisfying his dark passanger.

And that reincarnator was the boy. And the boy is me. Nano Dextuh. 

Another day had passed. After a long day at school, I finally had some free time. Although a few people in class had decided to welcome a new student with a karaoke party, I declined. My reason was simple: I had found a new target.

A delinquent who had been bullying others. From the short investigation I had conducted, three facts were clear. His name was Tanaka, his favorite person to bully was Shinji, and he was connected to local gangs. He was, in fact, just a delinquent who pressured others for his own pleasure. When our eyes briefly met, I felt a curious glance from him, which then shifted into a suspicious one.

"Look like it will be harder than I thought."

Sitting in my room, a thought suddenly came to me. Why not use the bullied person? He would gain something from this, while I could slack off more. Many scenarios played out in my head, all of them ending in the delinquent’s demise. But one scenario stood out from the rest. I snatched a pen and a notepad.

I snatched a pen and a note, "This will be a magnum opu-Hatchu!!!"

The bullied person would be trained by me. The result of the training would make him more powerful than a mere delinquent. But the process shouldn't be abrupt; I wanted to savor a good show. I would even name this operation: The Revenge Story of a Bullied Kid Turning Into the Most Powerful Fighter: I Was Bullied by Others, But Being Trained by Nano Dextuh Changed My Life.

"Kekekkekeke!" I cackled, a villainous laugh worthy of a your everyday morning cartoon. I jumped up to tape the note to the door, but it seemed… higher.

Oh no.

Not again.

My "dark passenger" had decided to show up at the worst possible time. My carefully laid plans were on hold because my body had decided to shrink. A surge of rage, pure and unadulterated, washed over me. I wanted to scream, to cry, to go buy that specific ice cream I had been thinking about all day. In a fit of impotent fury, I punched the door.

“Uwaaah, it hurts!”

My knuckles turned red, so red they looked like tomatoes. Even blowing on them didn't ease the pain. I didn’t cry, but a single tear fell.

It wasn't from the pain, but from the tear of missing something important. The delinquent would need to wait a few days more, but the ice cream couldn't be delayed.

Luckily, I had a secret weapon. I’d ordered an Adiodas kid’s tracksuit online just for situations like this. Because Adiodas is love, Adiodas is life. I put on my Adiodas tracksuit and a pair of kid-sized sneakers. The world was still in my palm, just a slightly bigger, and harder to manage.

"Ice cream here I come."