Alric heard the shrill, chaotic beeping of alarms by his bedside, hurried footsteps rushing closer, voices overlapping into a blur he could no longer make out.
Before he could react to any of it, the heavy pressure in his chest suddenly loosened, and then he sank into a deeper sleep…
"…"
"Alric!"
A broad adult figure blocked the light. The man crouched halfway down, gently shaking a silver bell in front of his eyes. What caught Alric's attention even more, though, were the long black-green ears atop the man's head, glossy and smooth, swaying back and forth with the motion of the bell.
They looked very soft.
The man noticed his gaze and laughed under his breath.
"So even now, Dad's ears are still more interesting to you?" he said with a smile. "Yours will grow just as long someday too, Alric."
Alric opened his mouth, trying to respond, but his tongue refused to cooperate. All that came out was a vague, breathy "ah."
"When will you finally call me 'Dad'?" The man wiped away the drool that had pooled from Alric's open mouth, gently pinching his cheek. His eyes were tender. "It's still too early, I know, but I'm really looking forward to that day."
Alric wanted to say something, but saliva just bubbled uselessly in his mouth. He made a gurgling sound instead.
"Ha!" A clear laugh rang out from outside. The curtain was abruptly lifted, and a slim young boy stepped in against the light.
He had the same long ears, even greener than their father's. His hair was a deep forest green with lighter green streaks, soft and tousled, brushing his jaw. His eyes were a bright green, lively and full of vitality.
Dressed in light, practical clothes, he moved quickly, closing the distance in just a few steps.
Alric met the boy's eyes and tried to respond again, only to choke on the saliva he had swallowed too fast. He broke into a sudden coughing fit.
His father panicked. "Oh no! Tighnari, quick, get a clean drool cloth for Dad!"
The newcomer, Tighnari, immediately turned to the cabinet and pulled one out with practiced ease. While their father fumbled to pat Alric's back, Tighnari gently replaced the soaked cloth.
And of course, things went wrong at the busiest moment.
Urgent knocking sounded from outside. "Tikam, it's important!"
"That's Uncle Oka," Tighnari said.
"At a time like this…" Tikam frowned, still patting Alric's back as he thought. "Could it be that reptile I asked him to keep an eye on…" He hesitated, glancing toward the door, but his hands never stopped moving.
Tighnari noticed immediately and spoke up. "You should go. I don't have anything this afternoon."
"Thank you so much, my little Tighnari." Tikam looked visibly relieved as he carefully laid Alric back into the cradle. "I promise I'll be back by dinner. Sorry to leave this to you. Alric, listen to your brother, okay?"
He changed out of his wrinkled, milk-scented shirt and put on a muted long robe patterned with intricate designs. After tidying the hair Alric had unknowingly grabbed and messed up, he once again looked like a refined scholar.
Just one with unusually long ears.
"I'm heading out!" Tikam grabbed his briefcase, then suddenly remembered something and turned back. "If Alric shows any allergic reaction at all, contact me immediately. And if you go outside, don't wander far. Stay well away from The Withering!"
"Don't worry, Dad." Tighnari nodded easily.
Tikam hurried off.
Alric couldn't even manage steady sounds, much less join the conversation. All he could do was quietly observe his surroundings, occasionally blowing a bubble.
He was barely a month old.
He couldn't roll over, couldn't speak, and spent most of his short waking hours drinking milk and drooling uncontrollably. The only thing he could freely control was his eyes.
He saw his tiny, underdeveloped hands, the pale green ceiling decorated in rainforest patterns, and the familiar figures who were always nearby.
Gradually, he pieced together his family. A perfectly ordinary household of four. A loving couple, an older brother around seven years old, and himself, newly born.
They were well off. Not extravagantly wealthy, but comfortably upper-middle class. Both parents were scholars. His father was an insect researcher, while his mother was a busy paleontologist. They were both deeply devoted to their academic work. Selina had barely finished her postpartum recovery before spending long hours out working again.
Part of that was because paleontology was especially in demand in this world. Even while bedridden, his mother constantly browsed a device similar to the internet, which she called the Akasha Terminal. Through it, she followed the latest fossil discoveries, murmuring about them nonstop.
Growing up immersed in that environment, his brother Tighnari was already familiar with countless ancient creatures, plants, and animals at a very young age, and showed genuine enthusiasm for them.
"Let's read A Survey of Newly Excavated Desert Flora and Fauna today, Alric."
Pulled from his thoughts, Alric saw Tighnari sitting upright by the bed, excitedly pulling a book from the shelf. "Mom's getting this ready to upload to the Akasha Terminal. It's really well written. I want to write a book like this someday."
Was he really planning to read that to a baby?
Unfortunately, babies had no right to refuse. Tighnari clearly found it fascinating. As he put it, "Once you can talk, I'll read you fairy tales or something. Right now, can you even remember any of this?"
He might have been treating Alric like an animal.
Alric stared at the long ears atop his brother's head. That wasn't entirely wrong. None of them really seemed human.
Not in the literal sense.
His father, mother, and Tighnari all had long, fluffy fox ears, springy-looking and probably nice to touch. When his father once held him, Alric tried grabbing them, just once. But babies had poor grip control, and Tikam later complained to Selina that he felt like he was about to be plucked bald.
"You have to be gentle with your dad, okay, Alric?" Selina whispered softly to him. "Otherwise you'll grow up with a bald-eared fox dad. How embarrassing would that be?"
"I heard that, Selina," Tikam protested dully.
Selina ignored him and smiled down at Alric. "Our Alric will grow up to be the most beautiful Valuka Shuna, the cutest fox of all. Of course, Tighnari ties for first place too. Our two precious boys."
"So you have to grow up strong," she said, pressing a kiss to his forehead.
Because of that, Alric didn't even need to reach up to check his own head. He knew he had long ears too. That explained why his hearing felt unusually sharp in this life.
They were big ears, after all.
Speaking of this life and the last one…
Alric's memories were hazy.
At birth, he'd only felt a vague confusion about his own existence. Like any newborn, everything else had been a blur. Over time, though, fragments of his previous life surfaced. He remembered being sick for a long time in another world, failing to hold on, and then waking up here instead.
Now, he was simply a little more aware than a normal infant, with a few more memories tucked away.
Eventually, the sound of reading faded.
Alric's eyes slowly drifted shut, leaving only a narrow slit.
"Get some good rest, little brother," Tighnari's clear voice said softly. "Grow up healthy and come play with me. I'll show you so many plants."
"…"
But then—
When Alric woke again, the world was spinning.
His entire body felt like it had been thrown into a furnace. His throat felt clogged by a heavy stone, swallowing nearly impossible, breathing barely manageable.
He began to sob uncontrollably.
Hurried footsteps surrounded him. Voices overlapped, urgent and anxious. He could only catch fragments, slowly figuring out who was speaking.
"…Did he eat anything unusual today?" Selina asked.
"Same diet as last time," his father replied.
"Then this looks sudden… We'll need a new prescription to control it…" said a familiar doctor.
"Alric… little brother… please get better." That had to be Tighnari, whispering desperately.
It seemed that even in a new world, his broken body had followed him. From birth until now, his illness had flared countless times. Emergency rooms had become familiar. He had nearly failed to wake up more times than he could count.
Alric sank into heavy unconsciousness.
Strangely, in this world, he didn't truly sleep.
Whenever illness dragged him under, he found himself alone in a vast, endless darkness. It didn't feel like a dream, but there was nowhere else to go.
Then one day, the darkness changed.
First came a few blades of grass. Then flowers. Then sprawling bushes, trees, and a gently swaying swing. Sunlight slowly filtered down. The grass and trees never scratched or hurt him. They were soft, like cotton.
And finally, there was a small green dressed girl.
Her features were delicate. The colors of her eyes and hair felt sacred, yet she didn't seem distant at all. Instead, she radiated warmth. Though she looked like a child, there was something complex about her, something maternal and deeply compassionate.
In this place, Alric still couldn't move. He could only watch as the girl held him and softly hummed while sitting on the swing.
Strangely enough, her humming made him feel a little better.
Alric was curious about who she was, but this place felt too real to be a simple dream. Unable to speak, he just listened, letting her voice ease his pain.
Sometimes, after she finished humming, she would carry him around the garden to bask in the false sunlight.
Perhaps because she thought Alric was just an infant who understood nothing, she sometimes spoke freely in front of him.
"I really wish I could help you. Help all of them," the girl said quietly. "But I can't compare to her. I can't earn everyone's recognition… Even so, I still want to do what I can."
She fell silent.
"Please, Alric, you have to hold on," she murmured, gazing at him with gentle eyes. "One day, I'll have more power. I'll be able to help you, help my people, all of you sweet, pitiful children… Every time this happens, I have to admit that maybe they're right. Maybe I truly failed."
When Alric started to feel better, the girl would leave, taking those green miracles with her, as if heading toward the next "dream."
"By the Greater Lord Rukkhadevata, you're awake again, Alric!" When he opened his eyes, Selina hugged him tightly, her green eyes brimming with tears. "I was so afraid of losing you. But miracles always seem to find us."
Tikam and Tighnari stood nearby. Tikam wrapped an arm around Tighnari, who was visibly relieved, and looked at his family with overwhelming tenderness.
Alric forced his eyes open and smiled at them.
"You're feeling better now, right?" Selina said gently. She tucked the blanket around him and kissed his forehead. "Thank goodness Tighnari was here. He performed first aid for you. You should thank your brother."
Tighnari stepped forward and carefully held one of Alric's fingers.
It was so small. It felt like touching a newly sprouted branch, or the soft pad of a kitten's paw. The weight of that moment settled heavily in Tighnari's chest.
"You don't need to thank me, Mom," he said firmly, tightening his grip just a little. "I'll protect Alric. No matter what."
Tikam rushed over too, tears in his eyes. His clothes were rumpled from earlier, his hair slightly tangled, but he didn't care. He pulled all three of them into his arms, murmuring over and over how glad he was.
…
Even though this life was still filled with illness, Alric knew one thing for certain.
He was happy.
---
This story is kinda similar to my other fic Tragedy Life Simulation. Both fall under the sad genre, and this one will also have multiple life simulations. I really hope you'll like it. Overall, the story is really good, and the MC will live through multiple simulations from the very beginning. As far as I know, there's no system and no major harem like in the Tragedy Sim fanfic.