Chapter 4- Yearning
For the better part of his past life, Rein had been nothing but a cold-hearted, cruel man with a sole focus on completing missions he was given. He never cared about anyone or anything. Everything for him was merely a tool, a target, or someone he should ignore completely.
He never had a family, never had friends, or even people he would call true companions. Just a bunch of peers he would work with sometimes to finish missions. That was how he lived for almost 30 years of his life.
Then, he met her. His wife, Sherry Redfield. She was beautiful beyond comprehension, with an aura that completely captivated him at first glance. From that moment on, his life changed forever.
Sherry taught him how to be a human being, how to feel, how to love, and how to hate. She taught him how to enjoy things, how to live for himself in times. With her, he found himself becoming a person he never thought he could be.
The two fell deeply in love with each other, and they got married not that long after. But, due to the nature of his job, Rein could never leave it. Yet, his wife understood, and she supported him, even knowing that his job was shady.
She saw in him what everyone else didn't. She loved him for who he is, not for what he gives. She cherished him, and as a result, he cherished her even more. She became his whole world.
His sole thought every waking moment of his life, and even in his dreams. He was obsessed with her, and he wanted to eventually retire so he could live with her forever and grow old with her.
Sadly, life had cursed Rein from the very moment he was born. He was never meant to be happy, and he certainly realized that in the harshest way possible. That day will be etched into his very soul; that feeling shattered everything about him, leaving nothing intact.
He didn't just lose himself or his soul; he lost his existence. He became a hollow shell, moving simply because he can move.
He lived longer than that moment simply because he had to pay the person who did that to his Sherry heavily. He had to find them and make them regret it for eternity, and he did. After that, there was nothing left to live for.
He simply opted for what he yearned for… To join his wife in the afterlife. He didn't want anything else beyond that.
Yet, fate laughed at him again, and here he was, alive in a whole different world. But this was perhaps fate's most ironic twist.
A twist even Rein couldn't expect.
In that screen, there was a picture of his wife, Sherry. It wasn't someone similar; it wasn't a mistake on his side. He knew every single millimeter of his wife's face, so he would never make such a mistake.
"Sherry…" He muttered, his voice wavering as his face flashed with a thousand emotions. The bag fell from his hands as he stared at the screen, not knowing how to feel. His world started spinning around.
'That's Sherry… Why is she here? Is that her? What was the name the news anchor said? Fiona Zerath? No, that's… That's Sherry.'
"Sir? Which cut do you want?"
"..."
"Sir? Are you listening?"
"..."
"Sir!"
"Huh?" Rein finally snapped out of his daze as he looked at the butcher. It took him a second to even gather the energy to speak a sentence.
"Y-Yeah, just… just put it in the bag."
"... Sure…" The man replied suspiciously before he picked the bag up and gave it to Rein. The boy took it immediately and then looked at the TV again and stormed away.
His heart was racing so fast that he couldn't even breathe. He couldn't even see ahead of him as he stumbled into several people.
"Hey! Watch where you're going!"
Rein didn't even reply as he walked to the cashier, paid for the groceries, and left running.
'Sherry! My Sherry is alive! Did she get reincarnated, too? Did she come here before me? It would make sense since I have also reincarnated after death.'
Just the thought alone filled Rein with so much happiness that he couldn't even contain it.
Hurrying back home, Rein rushed inside, threw the bags in the kitchen, and then rushed to the computer, his heart racing so fast that he felt like it could explode at any given second. Even when faced with death, he never felt his heart race this much.
Opening the web browser, he searched the name… Fiona Zerath. The computer took a few seconds to load the page.
"Come on, hurry." He muttered, unable to wait another second. Eventually, the page loaded and pictures of the girl appeared before his eyes. Rein's breath halted for a second. There was no mistake; if that first picture made him realize, then these ones confirmed it for him.
That was his Sherry, the face, the eyes, the hair, even the smile. That was his beloved wife, a younger version of her, to be more precise.
"..." Rein's hand let go of the mouse for a second as he stared at the screen, wide-eyed. "Haha… Hahahahahaha… HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!"
Then, he started laughing loudly. His face was a mix of confusion, happiness, and relief. "Sherry… Sherry, are you here? Were you here this entire time? Did you get reincarnated before me?"
If that was the case, then this was the best news he had ever received in his entire life. His dead wife, the person he yearned for the most, was alive and well this entire time.
"... It has to be, there is no other explanation. She had been reincarnated. Possibly with a new identity?" He asked himself as he looked more into this Fiona Zerath person.
She was the first daughter of the Zerath clan, one of the strongest clans in the world. She seemed to be a genius with immense talent and potential. She is also incredibly popular amongst people, with countless fans across the world who admire her.
Reading through her life story, Rein could only admire the achievements.
"As expected of my Sherry." He smiled. "She has always been perfect."
In fact, Sherry was the smartest, funniest, and most interesting person Rein had ever met. Her ability to analyze situations and come up with solutions was second to none. She even solved some cases for him.
"In any case, as much as I'm certain this is Sherry, there is still a small chance that I'm wrong." Just saying that squeezed his heart with pain, but he couldn't deny the possibility of avoiding generational disappointment.
It could simply be an extremely identical person to his Sherry.
'But that look in her eyes…'
Faces can be identical, looks can't. The way someone's eyes look at things, it is different from one person to another. That was why he believed deep down in his heart that it was his wife.
"I need to meet her. I must meet her. But…" He muttered. "How am I going to reach her is the question."
Purely from reading her biography, Rein was certain that a person of her caliber wouldn't meet a random person just because he wanted to see her. She was one of the most important people in the world, and possibly thousands of men would want to meet her.
"Sending her a message that I'm her husband would be dumb. It possibly won't reach her and gets filtered out quickly, too, or plainly ignored." He rubbed his head. "I need to see her in person."
But, to do that, he had to get into a position where meeting her was even possible in the first place. That was certainly not possible as an average human.
"I guess that leaves one single option…"
Rein luckily knew what to do, and it coincidentally turned out to be the dream this dead teenager had before passing away.
Putting his fingers on the keyboard, he typed a certain name.
"The Awakened Annual Test." He muttered. "A test conducted annually for all Awakened individuals. Passing it grants them an official Awakened ID along with the possibility of joining an organization or a clan to further train and get stronger. Hm, so it is basically like a driving license; you need a license to be an Awakened. Interesting…"
For Rein to meet his wife, he had to become an awakened. One who could simply meet her due to his position.
The test begins on New Year's Eve of every year since all Awakened happen to awaken when they hit 18 years of age. Beyond that, nobody awakens.
"Hm, let's see… New Year is in… two weeks?" He raised an eyebrow. "Shit, that's far from enough to get this body into any decent shape. Or…"
With his new system, perhaps things might be different. Either way, Rein had to get into a proper shape before this test. It is said that this test is extremely difficult and often deadly. He cannot go there as a flabby, weak boy.
That could very much spill his end before he could even meet his wife.