Cut back to the moment when a beam of light shot into the sky.
"Where am I? It's so warm... Am I dead? Weird... it feels like something's been added to my mind. Let me take a look…"
Harry struggled to open his eyes and found himself floating in a misty, gray space.
"What is this place? And what's that?" He spotted a line of text suspended in the air.
It wasn't in any language he recognized, but instinct told him it was writing—some form of script not recorded in any known history.
As he stared in amazement, he looked ahead and saw many more of those glowing characters floating in the air, densely packed and cloaked in a heavy fog, making it impossible to read them clearly.
He scanned the area more carefully and noticed a few lines of text that flickered dimly—not like the one that glowed with a faint golden hue.
Harry tried to approach the brightest one, and when he touched it, he felt a strange sensation in his mind, as if something had been inserted.
"This is... Magic Extraction Chapter One. It describes how to use spiritual force to guide natural elements and merge them to form magic power—suitable for beginners... Ha… haha…"
It all seemed ridiculous, yet his instincts told him it was real.
As Harry struggled between intuition and logic, he noticed that the flickering lines of text had begun to clarify.
He floated toward them, reaching out to touch each one.
"This is a Fireball Spell, a Water Sphere Spell, a Level 1 Wind Step Incantation, Level 1 Mighty Strength, Lesser Healing, Detection Spell, Level 1 Protection Charm… These are all spells, and they seem to work as long as some magical energy has been gathered. Looks like this might really be real."
Muttering to himself, Harry drifted deeper into the mist. He tried to touch the fog-covered text again but found that while the mist didn't block his movement, it made the words intangible—he couldn't absorb anything useful from them.
He passed by countless spells until finally, he saw something different.
"Are these… fragments of my life?" In front of him were scattered images of moments that had left deep impressions on him—one of a snowy mountain stood out clearly.
"Wait, that mountain's not the one I jumped from. What's going on? Why do I see a kid carrying me on his back? Who is that? He looks familiar…"
As he tried to get a clearer look, he noticed a beam of light from above. He looked up and saw a four-sided monument radiating a suppressive glow over the entire space, separating memory from magic. Unlike before, it was no longer covered in dense text—just one side still had a few words: Forbidden Magic – Devouring Soul Slate.
"That's… that obelisk that impaled me? So I really did die? Then what is this place?" Just as Harry was trying to figure it out, the Devouring Soul Slate blazed with light, forcing him to squint.
When the light faded, he found himself in a strange new scene, where a man was carving a monument. With every strike, the man visibly aged.
He didn't know how much time passed—maybe a year, maybe ten—but eventually the man finished sculpting the obelisk. He had gone from middle-aged to elderly, his hair white as snow.
The old man sighed in relief and stood up. "My name is Taius the Dawn King. I know my time is short, so I leave behind this slate to preserve my clan. Whoever obtains it will inherit the legacy most suited to them and safeguard the demon race from extinction. Today, I go to meet my fate."
With that, he walked into the distance. With each step, he became younger, and the world around him grew dimmer. In the end, only his back remained, alongside the softly glowing obelisk.
Even as he vanished from sight, he never once looked back at the monument into which he had poured his life.
Once he was gone, darkness enveloped the entire space. The obelisk vanished, and Harry's consciousness began to blur.
He didn't know how long had passed when he heard a voice and slowly began to awaken.
"Is someone there? Who is it?" He struggled to see his surroundings and finally opened his eyes. Warm sunlight hit his face, and his eyes, unused to the light, stung so badly he had to shut them again.
"He's awake! Doctor, doctor! He's awake!" The voice faded into the distance. This time, Harry could clearly tell—it belonged to a young boy.
After a while, Harry's eyes adjusted, and he could finally face the sunlight. But his body felt like it was being torn apart—every movement hurt.
The boy returned with a group of people in white coats. Harry couldn't help but feel the kid looked familiar, like he'd seen him somewhere before.
"Incredible… He was so badly frostbitten, I thought he wouldn't make it. But he pulled through. And even before his body recovers, his mind is already awake. The human mind really can surpass the body to such a degree? Fascinating," one of the doctors muttered while examining him.
After finishing, the doctor let out a breath. "Well, the frostbite isn't too severe. With some rest, you'll be discharged soon. But the brain injury was quite serious. When he was brought in, there was almost no brain activity. Now that he's awake, it shouldn't be a major issue. Kid, do you remember who you are?"
Harry's inner thoughts: How should I know who I am? And who are you calling 'kid'? I'm 23, okay? Whatever, no point arguing. He says I've got brain damage—might as well play along and pretend I've got amnesia. "I… don't remember anything. Where am I? Why am I here?"
The doctor nodded. "As expected, some aftereffects. Not surprising, given his condition. You," he said, turning to the boy, "keep talking with him. Maybe it'll jog his memory." Then he left the room.
The boy in a white shirt and navy shorts watched the doctor leave before turning back to face Harry.
"Hey, do you remember what happened on the snowy mountain?"
Harry tried to recall but couldn't remember a thing about the boy. In fact, he suddenly realized even his own memories were fuzzy—only vague details remained, like that he had bought a defective product and died from a fall.
Guess I don't even need to fake amnesia. I really have it. Wait… the snowy mountain... could that boy carrying me in the vision have been him?
"I think I remember something… Was it you who carried me out of the mountain?"
The boy looked delighted. "Yes, I carried you out. Do you remember anything else? Like who you are?"
But Harry still couldn't recall. He could only shake his head.
"I see. That's a shame." The boy sat down at the edge of the bed, propping his chin up on the mattress like he was deep in thought.
Looking at him, Harry thought the kid was pretty good-looking—probably going to be a handsome guy when he grew up. But now wasn't the time to think about that.
He forced himself to move his hand—and was startled. His hand didn't look like a 23-year-old man's at all. It was the same size as the boy's, and covered in bruises and frostbite scars.
"Hmph, guess that doctor was right to call me a 'kid.' This body really is a kid's now," Harry muttered to himself.
The boy saw him move and gently tucked the blanket back over him. "You shouldn't move yet. You still need rest."
Harry sighed. Now I've even got a kid taking care of me… He obediently put his hand back under the blanket.
Seeing him listen, the boy smiled again, sat upright, and said, "It's okay if you don't remember. Let me introduce myself. I'm Dekisugi Hidetoshi. I'm nine years old. Nice to meet you."
"Dekisugi… Hidetoshi? Do-ra…" Harry echoed the name—and then it hit him. Everything came rushing back at once. The memories slammed into his mind like a tidal wave, causing a blinding headache. He clutched his head and cried out in pain.
His past life—Harry, 23 years old, with a full timeline from childhood to university—flooded back.
This life—Daichi Yayahara, age 9—memories from birth up until a recent ski trip gone wrong, his parents buried under an avalanche, and Dekisugi carrying him out of the mountain—all returned.
Just as Harry was about to faint, a stone monument appeared, suppressing the surge of memory and allowing only manageable fragments to remain.
But even that was enough for Harry to realize: this was the world of Doraemon! And the boy in front of him was none other than the most capable background character in the whole series—straight-A student, master of every subject from astronomy to geography, genius in sports, and Shizuka's most eligible suitor: Dekisugi Hidetoshi!
(End of Chapter)