Chapter 4 - Red

"Excuse me nurse?" The Red Sovereign, or simply Red for the time being, after adapting the name of the original owner of the body he took over, calls the attention of a nurse who is about to pass by his bed.

"Oh. You're awake, Red? What can I help you with?" The nurse asks with a smile.

"…" Red is taken aback by the hospitality from a stranger.

He still cannot get over how much these nurses care for their patients to the point that they are this happy just because they thought he regained his ability to speak.

It has been two days since Red woke up in this world. With a few spiritual sense scans on the people around him, he was able to learn how to listen, speak, write, and read the common language quickly.

"Good morning. Hey. May I borrow a tablet PC again? I hope it helps me regain some memories." He asks.

"Sure thing!" The nurse responds and she quickly leaves the room.

"… Ah. Internet. Too bad my body cannot handle to scan it with my spiritual sense." Despite being disappointed at the inconvenience, he is still impressed with the internet.

He has not seen a low-level mortal civilization that has this extent of freedom in exchanging information. Another impressive thing he found is that this civilization progressed using technologies that almost entirely rely in the material laws of the void.

"Here you go." Soon, the nurse is back, handing Red a tablet PC, but soon leaves again to resume her duties.

"Hmm. Whoever figured out these things would definitely have been treasured in Okuba." He laments.

An hour later, Red is interrupted from browsing the internet when a young man who looks to be 20 years old opens the curtains surrounding Red's bed.

Noticing the recognition in the young man's eyes, Red carefully turns off the tablet PC and lays it next to his pillow. He then sits up on the bed, and wait for the young man to speak.

"Red!" The young man calls out worriedly, telling Red that the young man is not just a simple acquaintance of the original owner of his body.

"Yes?" Red asks.

"Red! How are you feeling?" The young man asks.

"I feel fine. But who are you?" Red asks, to find out more about the original owner of his body.

"I-it's me… Junichi." Junichi is stunned by the question.

"You really don't remember anything, huh?" He asks, Red seeing heavy guilt in his eyes.

"No. I don't." Red shakes his head, continuing his act as an amnesiac.

"That does not change things. I know my father said it was your responsibility, but I still want to thank you for saving my life. And, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought you along in that mission." Junichi says.

"…" Red nods, finding that talking to Junichi might be informative.

"I cannot remember what happened. But it is strange that you are sorry. From what I assume, had I not been there, you would have been dead, correct?" Red asks.

"R-red. W-why are you speaking like this?" Junichi ignores the question, taken aback by the cold question.

"How did I speak before?" Red asks.

"…" Junichi sighs to recover. "Different. It's just.. .different." He struggles to explain.

"Ah… Can you tell me more about myself? You must have been my friend?" I ask. "Sure! So… We've known each other since we were five…"

Red Darra, aged 19, is the young man whose body the Red Sovereign took over. He was amused when he first found out Red's name and its meaning, it being coincidentally alike to the sovereign's title previously.

Apparently, Red was a butler for a wealthy Japanese Superioris Family, the Sunadas.

Nothing is known about him prior to being adapted by the Sunada family. At age 5, he was a lost child with no family to call his own. All he knew about himself is that he had parents who were on the run and abandoned him and that his name is Red Darra.

Thankfully for the young Red, the similarly aged young scion of the Sunada family, Junichi, just happened to pass him by on some random street and took pity on him. This led to the Sunada Family, with Junichi's insistence, adopting Red as Junichi's personal caretaker and assistant. Thus, Red's life with the Sunada Family began.

Red was not a smart kid and also not a superioris. Despite the desire of Junichi to have Red educated and be involved more in Sunada Family's businesses as his, Red simply does not have the capacity for such a big responsibility.

This made Red only becoming Junichi's butler and assistant. While he had been sneered and scorned by the other kids of the Sunada family, he remained loyal to Junichi and his immediate family.

Just a few days before the Red Sovereign woke up in his body, Red was accompanying Junichi in Junichi's first ever professional hero mission. Some sort of a coming of age tradition in old families like the Sunada.

Things did not end well however and Junichi's team was wiped out by criminal Superioris. Junichi, who only had light injuries, and is too powerful to hold, was able to start his escape.

His enemies however are still superioris with superpowers. An enemy was able to let loose an arrow of hers to Junichi and by the time Junichi realized it, it was too late for him to react.

Before he was hit however, Red, who is not a superioris and was overlooked by the enemies as a powerless civilian, came out of nowhere and tackled Junichi out of the arrow's way and took the hit in Junichi's place.

The arrow hits him and while the arrow was deflected with the help of his armored butler's suit, the impact had too much a force to throw Red easily and he smashes into a side of a building.

Even though Red's butler suit is armored thanks to Junichi, and it helped him survive the fatal arrow for a few moments.

Ultimately, the injury would have killed even a class E superioris, and Red not even being a superioris, he had no chance of surviving.

'That must have been when I arrived. A soul of a sovereign is enough to also heal the body's injuries instantly. I also remember a doctor saying that I was extremely lucky and came out of the incident unharmed. But no, Red was not lucky. The child was fragile.' Red puts some pieces together.

"So… that's the gist of what I know about you. I hope they made you remember things?" Junichi asks.

"Hm. It does not seem to be me." Red says, almost breaking Junichi's heart.

"A-anyway… You've just lost your memory. You'll eventually be back to your real self soon." Junichi says.

"Let's hope so." Red nods. He however, does not want to act like the late butler.

*zmmm* Red spreads his spiritual sense to Junichi's head, to scan for Junichi's strongest surface memory.

~~~~~~~~

The memory starts in some kind of an office, with the 13 year-old Junichi and Red standing in front of a man who looks to be in his 30s.

"Beating up weak superioris? Have you lost your mind?! You're a disgrace to this family!" The man yells at Junichi.

"A disgrace? Yes I am! You raised me, asshole!" The young Junichi answers.

"What did you say?" The man took offense at Junichi's retort.

"I'm an asshole because I was raised by an asshole of a father!" Junichi doubles down.

"Really?..." *SLAP* Junichi's father suddenly slaps Red's cheek, to the shock of the two pre-teens.

"Why did you hit Red?!" Junichi, in anger, gets to his father's face.

Red, meanwhile simply stares emptily at the floor, still in shock.

"Starting from now on, if you make trouble, Red here will suffer the consequences." Junichi's father declares.

"B-but he didn't do anything wrong!" Junichi argues.

"He didn't. But he's yours. Am I wrong?" His father says.

"W-what?" Junichi is angry and confused.

"Stop making trouble, son. And I will not touch even a hair on Red's body." With that, the older Sunada leaves the office.

"Red! Are you alright?" Junichi turns his attention to Red, and asks in worry.

"Y-yes… Yes. I'm alright, Junichi." Red replies with a smile.

"Are you sure?" Junichi is not consoled and he holds the part of Red's face that was red.

"Yes. I'm fine. But this proves what I've been telling you. Nothing good comes out of making trouble."

~~~~~~~~

'A tough but needed lesson for the child. But this young man is very biased towards his father even in his memory. His father seemed like a very powerful superioris and had he been serious, he could have killed Red two times over with one slap. His father must have found it difficult to control his strength with that slap....

Anyway, it seemed that the event changed Junichi for good.

'Ah… I'm sorry for your loss, child. I hope I can help you to forget your friend soon. Too bad my body cannot handle performing erasing him from your memories.' Red looks at Junichi in sympathy.

"What are you thinking? Did you… just like in the movies … recover some of your memories?" Junichi, noticing Red in thought, asks in excitement.

"No. It's not that. I just realized we must have been really close to risk my life like that." Red says.

"I see." Junichi is disappointed.

"Oh. By the way. Were the people who killed your team caught? It's been three days." Red asks.

"Not yet. But thanks to a superioris detective, they have been identified. I promise you I'll find those evil bastards whichever hole they hide." Junichi says in barely suppressed anger.

"Hm. So, who are they?"

"They're a team of criminals active for a while now.

"Isao Miyashiro, a strength type Class D superioris and an excellent fighter. Koga Dai, a Class D metal manipulator superioris. The two seemed to have been the assault members.

"Finally, Hayashi Ayako, the person who almost killed you. She's a Class D physical type superioris and an excellent archer." Junichi reports.

"Hm. They seem to have been a great team. How did we even get away?" Red asks.

"Oh. Thankfully, you were the one who reserved some men from the family. They arrived just in time to pick up the both of us." Junichi explains.

"Oh. I'm also a Class C Superioris." Junichi adds as he transforms his arm to steel, then further transforming it to a convex plate like a shield.

"That archer let loose more arrows but because I was ready after you were hit, we were safe." Junichi concludes.

"Hm. Well, they seem to be great at hiding." Red nods, already starting to plan on how to take revenge for the original Red, feeling obligated to do so, on his honor as a sovereign.

"Are we sure of the three's identities? Can we trust that detective?" Red asks.

"Yes. The detective has great reliability. He has the ability to replay the last moments of a dead person by touching the body's head. The three criminals also had three prior records matching perfectly what was found at the scene." Junichi explains.

"I see." Red nods. He is about to dig more information when someone interrupts their chat.

"Oh… Mr. Sunada, you're still here?" Another nurse, different than the one Red borrowed the tablet PC from, comes by to check on Red.

"Yes. What is it, miss?" Junichi asks.

"Well, the doctor ordered visitors of Mr. Darra here has a time limit. We should also let Mr. Darra rest. He needs it very much." The nurse says.

"Oh. I see. Well then. Red, I'll come again tomorrow. By any chance, is there something I can help you with to make you more comfortable here?" Junichi asks.

"N-.. Yes." Red then grabs something under the cushion of my bed and hand it to him.

"Is there any way you can have my phone unlocked? I forgot my password and it seemed like I did not set up the finger print and face recognition functions in it." Red asks.

"Oh! That might actually help you remember! … Oh. The screen's broken… You know what? I'll get you a new one, copy the data in here to it, and send it to you in a few hours." Junichi says.

"That would be great."

"Uhm. I might come again tomorrow or the day after, so I hope you remember more by then." Junichi finally bids his farewell.

"I hope so as well. Thank you for the visit, Junichi. And I'm sorry that I still can't remember you." Red says.

"It's understandable. I'll get going then.." With that, Red is left alone with the nurse, Maeko.