Reshaping Your Worldview

Shuya thought it over and decided it sounded fine. "I should be okay with that. Just let me know a day in advance once you've settled on a date, and I'll adjust my schedule."

"Okay, then it's a deal."

Aoki Shin replied.

Shuya could hear the excitement he was trying to suppress in his voice. This was clearly a very unusual opportunity for him.

Curious, Shuya asked, "Who did you choose, anyway? You sound so happy."

"Hahaha, you want to know? Well, I suppose I'll tell you, even if it is a bit of a bother!"

Aoki Shin pretended to be reluctant. From his tone, Shuya could tell he'd been dying to share the news, and he wasn't even trying to hide it.

A moment later, Aoki Shin announced proudly:

"He's a world-famous action star from Great Hua—Jackie Chan!"

Shuya was stunned. "Holy crap, you really went all out!"

"What's going on?"

Mai hadn't heard what the person on the other end of the call had said, so she asked curiously.

But Shuya had no time to answer her. He was still reeling from the news.

Even someone like him, who barely followed movies, had heard of Jackie Chan.

Every action movie Jackie Chan made was a hit across the Earth Federation.

Shuya never would have imagined they could get a legend like him to appear in a TV series.

Aoki Shin hadn't been exaggerating when he told Shuya the network was taking the show seriously.

The production really was lavish beyond belief.

After showing off, Aoki Shin didn't stay on the phone long. He hung up to get back to work.

Once Shuya had collected himself, he told Mai the news too.

"They actually got Mr. Jackie Chan to appear? That's amazing!"

Mai-chan's eyes went wide with shock. She looked adorable.

A passing coach overheard them and exclaimed in surprise:

"Shu-chan, Mai-chan, is that true? TV dramas these days are something else!"

"Speaking of Brother Jackie Chan, you kids are probably too young to know, but those of us who came up through martial arts schools remember him. When we heard he'd cultivated 'qi' at the age of twelve, we were so shocked... Sigh, I guess there's no point denying it."

He shook his head with a sigh and walked away.

Shuya, however, was left completely bewildered.

Wait, what did you say?

What the heck?

"???"

Shuya felt as if his entire worldview were under attack.

Rebuilding My Worldview

To be fair, Shuya had long had a vague feeling that something was off about this world.

Whether it was the unusually large number of martial arts schools on the streets, the almost mythical Great Hua Special Forces, or the Great Hua kung fu action movies people loved to talk about.

And lately, there was something else that had seemed terribly off to him.

Himself.

Ever since he'd started working out, his body had developed at a frankly ridiculous rate. He was already nearly 1.4 meters tall.

He looked like a nine- or ten-year-old kid.

There was no way that was normal.

He'd tested himself before, and he was already as strong as a twelve- or thirteen-year-old boy.

Shuya had always comforted himself with the idea that it was because he was a transmigrator and therefore different.

But after hearing the coach's casual remark, Shuya began to wonder if all this...

Was different from what he'd imagined.

The one thing he could be grateful for was that he'd gotten stronger, but his hair was still as thick as ever.

He wasn't going bald.

Ever since he'd heard about "qi" at the gym, Shuya had been having one horrifying thought after another.

If qigong really existed, could there be monsters and ghosts in this world too?

He'd thought this was a lighthearted slice-of-life story, but now he was being told the setting had to change?!

...No, wait. The setting hadn't changed.

The hints had always been there. Shuya had just been caught in the fog of Earth's conventional wisdom and never bothered to look into the matter.

"Shuya-kun?"

Shuya's mind was a complete mess. He'd imagined all sorts of possibilities.

"Shuya-kun."

Someone nudged him, and he finally emerged from the depths of his thoughts.

"Huh?"

He looked around, still dazed.

"Shuya-kun, let's call it a day. You look a little tired."

Senior Sister Seisen gazed at him with concern.

Shuya looked into her clear eyes and felt himself being soothed.

"Sorry, something came up today."

"..."

Senior Sister Seisen hesitated for a moment, then said, "If you want, why not talk about it? You might feel better afterward."

"Oh..." Shuya glanced at her, then cautiously asked, "Senior Sister, have you heard of 'qi'?"

Senior Sister Seisen tilted her head in confusion.

"Of course. Isn't that common knowledge?"

She really had heard of it!

Shuya hadn't expected to get an answer the very first time he asked.

Senior Sister Seisen smiled at him. "Shuya-kun, you're at that age now, aren't you? Starting to admire heroes?"

"What do you mean?"

This time, it was Shuya's turn to ask.

"Huh? Sorry, I thought you'd watched some tokusatsu shows, so I assumed that was why you suddenly asked about it."

Senior Sister Seisen smiled sheepishly. That little bashful smile of hers was incredibly pretty.

At her reminder, Shuya thought of the Kamen Rider shows he'd occasionally seen in this world.

He'd always assumed the spectacular fights, with people leaping all over the place, were just like the Kamen Rider shows from his previous life: special effects, all fake.

...Could all of it actually be real?

Seeing that he looked on the verge of a breakdown, Senior Sister Seisen reassured him. "Shuya-kun, try to stay calm."

"Senior Sister Seisen, are there really that many experts in the world? How come I've never seen any?"

"Not really," Senior Sister Seisen replied. "True qigong masters are very rare these days. Most people just know a little martial arts, and among those who claim to understand qigong, most are scammers."

"Why?"

"I don't know. I can only say that I've never seen anyone like the experts in movies in real life."

That was a relief...

At least he didn't have to worry about public safety.

Shuya had never heard of experts causing trouble, anyway. Of course, perhaps the authorities were suppressing such incidents behind the scenes.

Still, the fact that everything remained peaceful was proof enough that martial arts experts couldn't beat firearms.

Times had changed, old man.jpg.

After that, Shuya chatted with Junior Sister Seisen for a while, listened to her play the piano and sing a few songs, then went home with a head full of worries.

He brought it up with his parents.

Inoue Hikoo blurted out, "What? Shu-chan, why didn't you ask me earlier? You really had no idea it was all true?"

"Hehe, even Shu-chan doesn't know everything."

Hanazawa Sakura covered her mouth and laughed.

"Right..."

Shuya gave a crooked smile.

So the whole world knew, and I was the only one who didn't.

Shuya had been influenced by what he'd considered common sense in his previous life. Even after being reborn, he'd treated the information about martial arts experts that kept appearing right in front of him as obvious frauds. He'd never even considered that any of it might be real.

Other kids would ask their parents when they saw things like that, and naturally learn the truth. But Shuya had never asked. He'd simply assumed he saw through it all: it was fake, all special effects.

"How about this, Shu-chan? Come to the office with me tomorrow. I'll show you something good."

"?"

Inoue Hikoo said mysteriously.

So early the next morning, Shuya went to the office with Inoue Hikoo. Hanazawa Sakura had other work and didn't come along.

Inoue Hikoo rummaged through the company's archive room with Shuya and dug out a pile of videotapes.

As he got one ready to play, he told Shuya, "Actually, my dad—your grandpa—made an animated film about kendo masters. It was the last one he made before he passed away. He consulted with a lot of old martial arts schools back then, so he left behind a great deal of valuable material."

Before long, Shuya was looking at a whole new world.

The picture quality wasn't great, but he could still clearly see the abilities of the various experts.

One man sliced a huge boulder in half with a single blow. Another stopped a waterfall with one sword strike. Some leaped several meters into the air, while others split steel and stone with their bare hands.

Their extraordinary strength left Shuya staring in amazement.

Some even formed balls of qi and blasted apart wooden posts from a meter or two away.

Still, this was all within the realm of what he could accept.

At least no one could fly, and no one could wield a flying sword.

When all was said and done, they still couldn't beat guns and artillery.

Shuya soon managed to rebuild his worldview. After all, he'd even accepted transmigration and rebirth. There was no reason he couldn't accept the existence of martial arts.

"Dad, do you know any experts like these?"

"No."

Inoue Hikoo replied without hesitation. "These people are pretty mysterious and rare. My dad went to a lot of trouble to record this little bit of footage back then. Well, the animated film ended up bombing, though. Hahaha."

"What about all those martial arts schools out there? Are they all full of experts like these?"

"How could that be? Anyone with those kinds of skills would be boxing or making big money as a star."

Inoue Hikoo explained, "From what I've heard, the people who stay behind to run martial arts schools are mostly nobodies. Only a few actually have any real ability."