Rebirth From Ordinary Person To The Strongest

A house was built.

The rainy season had ended, July had arrived, and the heat of summer was starting to settle in. Though, honestly, it was already pretty hot. As I was musing about that, I noticed the house had finally been built.

After Raikou Douji had completely destroyed our home, leaving it in ruins, we had to clear away the rubble, re-lay the foundation, and rebuild everything from scratch. It was a complete overhaul. I'm honestly surprised it was finished in just over half a year, but apparently, these days, regular houses can be built in just two to three months.

Since I've only ever lived in apartments, both in this life and my previous one, I had no idea how long it took to build a house. When I remarked, "Houses get built pretty quickly, don't they?" my mom kindly explained it to me.

That said, our house is bigger than most, and its traditional Japanese architecture is quite rare nowadays. Maybe that's why it took a bit longer to finish. By the way, the move itself took less than a week.

As I pondered all this, I found myself sitting in the living room of our new home... or rather, the Japanese-style room that functions as our living space. It's the room next to the kitchen where we gather to eat as a family.

In that living room sits a newly bought low table—a chabudai, though calling it something fancy like a "low table" feels a bit embarrassing.

On top of the chabudai is a white cake, some chicken, salad, and other dishes.

To an outsider, it might look like we were having a Christmas party at the wrong time of year, but that's not the case at all.

What's different, first of all, is that the air conditioner is running in cooling mode. And there aren't any decorations in the room.

The reason for this setup? The Shimotsuki family came over to celebrate the completion of our house. They brought the cake and chicken.

Maybe they felt bad about the Christmas that was ruined and wanted to make it up to us. Or maybe I'm reading too much into it.

As I was thinking about all that, I noticed the adults in front of us pointing a camera our way.

"Okay, Itsuki-kun, smile!" said Momoka-san, Renji-san's wife, encouraging me to give a stiff, awkward smile. Next to me was Aya-chan, and Hina was sitting on my lap.

"Say cheese!"

After Momoka-san took the picture, she shared it with my mom.

The reason both the cake and chicken were on the table at the same time was purely for the photo. As soon as the photo session was over, I quickly put the cake back in the box.

I'm still not used to getting my picture taken at these kinds of family events, even though it happens every time.

As I wondered why that was, the answer came to me immediately.

In my previous life, I hardly ever had my photo taken.

Thinking back, the last time someone took a picture of me in my past life was when I joined the printing company, for my employee ID. Before that, it was for my high school graduation album. During university, I wasn't in any clubs, and I didn't have a part-time job due to my scholarship, so I had no connection to photos at all.

When you think about it, maybe the number of photos you appear in reflects how eventful your life is. In my previous life, I probably appeared in fewer than twenty photos.

As I pondered that unsettling thought, I took a deep breath and forced myself to stop thinking about it.

Just as I cleared my mind, Renji-san smiled and struck up a conversation.

"Good for you, Itsuki-kun. Your house is all finished."

"Yeah. Apartments were nice too, though."

"Really? Didn't it bother you not having your own room?"

If you asked me whether it was tough or not, I'd say it was at first.

I couldn't practice my magic before bed, and I had fewer chances to sneak off and look up spell names in the dictionary without my parents noticing. But you get used to anything, and after a month, I didn't mind so much.

Still, I couldn't exactly tell him all that, so I was about to say, "It wasn't a problem," when Hina tugged on my clothes and spoke up.

"Big brother wasn't sad at all! Because I was with him!"

"Oh? So you shared a room with Hina-chan?"

"Yup! Since I was with him, he wasn't sad at all."

"So now you have your own room, Hina-chan?"

"Yup! But sometimes I still go to his room."

"I see. Is your big brother nice to you?"

"Yes! He's really nice!"

When we moved into the new house, Hina started sleeping on her own.

Though, she still hasn't gotten completely used to it, so sometimes she sneaks into my room to sleep with me.

Satisfied after talking to Renji-san, Hina wandered over to Aya-chan. I guess they get along well, being girls and all.

As I thought about that, Renji-san sat down next to me.

"I heard, Itsuki-kun. You exorcised two Fifth Rank spirits in one day? You're becoming quite the exorcist."

"That wasn't just me... I had Irena-san's help too..."

Renji-san was referring to the time Nina-chan and I got trapped at school.

That was the day I first succeeded in summoning Raikou Douji and the day I used the 'Douji Silveit' overlay technique for the first time.
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Has it already been over a month since then? Time really flies. If I don't cherish each day, the years will slip away before I know it.

"Hmm? If you say so, we'll leave it at that," Renji-san said with a laugh.

"Have you been hurt, Renji-san?"

"Not yet," he replied, still smiling.

I poured some orange juice into his glass. "Thanks," he said as I filled my own cup.

It's an exorcist thing—we don't drink alcohol.

It's not that we can't drink, we just don't.

It's partly because you never know when a job might come up. And even though I've only been part of this world for six years, if you asked me if I'd want to drink when I'm older, I'd probably shake my head.

You never know when or where a monster might appear.

The last thing I want is to die because I was drunk. But even in my previous life, I didn't drink or smoke, so nothing's really changed. It's just business as usual for me.

"Are you practicing your magic, Itsuki-kun?"

"Y-yes! Right now, I'm practicing 'Recollection Condense'... Oh, it's a British spell."

"Did Irena-san teach you that?"

"No, I'm learning it from Nina-chan, Irena-san's daughter."

"Ah, her..."

Renji-san's gaze grew distant for a moment.

Now that I think about it, even my former father had the same look when Nina-chan came up. Does everyone know something about her past? Is it really that well-known?

I mean, I've heard a little from Irena-san, but it seemed like a sensitive topic, so I haven't pressed for more details.

"Anyway, as long as you're practicing, that's what matters. Actually, Itsuki-kun, I came to invite you and Hina-chan to something."

"Invite us? To what?"

I tilted my head in curiosity.

"Summer break is starting soon, right?"

"Yeah, that's right."

"And what comes with summer break? A summer training camp, of course!"