Sora’s POV

Sensei who? Me? This is my first time meeting this youth.

Is this man insane….maybe…

Sora had a devilish idea.

….I should go with the flow? If someone is dumb enough to believe I am their Sensei…why not just make the lie the truth?

After a long awkward silence, Sora spoke first. “Hohohoho….My beloved disciple! How long has it been! I could barely recognize you!”

Crayford’s four disciples were stunned! First, their Master made no sense. Now, the skeleton too! How can the dead be the teacher of the living?

Crayford looked up and nodded; his eyes were watery but there was a big smile across his face. “So typical of you Sensei, going with the flow as usual….Now I am more than sure it is you….”

“Is that…so…” Sora muttered – his only external reaction. *Gulp* Sora panicked within – his brilliant game plan was seen through instantaneously. Who is this guy?? What gave me away?

Crayford continued to smile as he stared at the skeleton.

Crayford continued, “Sensei, how could you possibly recognize me. This is a new body of mine – one which I received after being reborn in this world.”

“Is that so?” Sora spoke with relief. So that was it! I can still turn this around! Sora chuckled mentally. He didn’t always look like this….wait did he say reborn? Is he an adventurer as well?

“Hohoho…but you see it was your profound sense of martial arts which gave you away! Not your looks!” Sora answered.

“Sensei, you really can drop the act. I won’t be angry at you if you don’t remember. Rather, I should say you cannot remember even if you tried.” Crayford replied earnestly.

Sora was stupefied. Who is this guy! How does he know I am trying to trick him! Clearly, my acting isn’t that bad, is it?

“Sensei, your acting is terrible.” Crayford spoke with a disdained look.

The brutal honesty was too much for Sora, it was stab to the heart.

“Is that so…” It was an empty reply. My acting is terrible….wait a minute! Can this guy read my mind! That has to be it!

Looking at the troubled skeleton, Crayford immediately added, “Sensei, I cannot read your mind. It is already superbly guarded!”

He’s lying!

Sora took a step back – he was frightened. How can he read me so well! Seriously, who the f*ck is this guy?

Seeing Sora take a step back, Crayford quickly spoke up, “Don’t panic Sensei! I will explain everything you ask of me”

Finally, a frightened Sora spoke up. “The mind reading trick it. Explain it.”

“It is no mind reading trick. You and I have spent so much time together, that I already know all of your habits and way of thinking. You are after all my role model and when I was young, I worked hard to impersonate you.”

He knows me very well? I never had that many friends….maybe enemies…but that doesn’t explain role model….maybe a rival?

“Role model, you say? Where did we meet? And your name?” Sora asked as he combed through his memories for someone like Crayfrod.

“Our first meeting was in my house; my sister introduced me to you. We went to the same school, however I was your junior by several years. My name in that world was Crayford Du Font.”

Crayford spoke the last sentence in Japanese.

Sora thought hard. However, no matter how hard he searched through his memories, he had no recollection of anyone like Crayford.

But this guy is definitely Japanese like me. So that means, he is a fellow adventurer…I don’t know his intentions and I definitely can’t trust him….but maybe I can be a little more honest with him. He doesn’t seem to want to hurt me.

“I am sorry. I am afraid, I can’t remember who you are.” Sora replied after thinking it through.

“That is understandable, Sensei. After all, the rule of this world is to be forgotten by your former acquaintances, friends, family....everyone. I have come to this world before you, therefore, my existence in the previous world has been forgotten and wiped clean. It is why you can’t remember me.”

Sora was frowned. Enma said something about that….could it be I have been forced to forget? How many more such people have I forgotten. This is really bothersome. Suppose, I meet ten more people in this game and all ten say they know me. Should I just readily accept that? No! What he is saying might be true…but it doesn’t prove he knows me.

Sora voiced his opinion. “What you say might be true….or it might not be. Can you prove you know me? Something that, only someone close to me would know?”

“The Kahinashi” Crayford replied. “There was Marcille, Vladimir, Obento, Oneechan and you, are leader.”

“No way…no way…” Sora conceded in shock. Sora was trembling in shock – I have really forgotten…nobody knows about us….’The Useless’ was the guild I formed in Royal Road…it was an unofficial guild…we operated in the shadows….nobody knows its members…for him to so casually speak out their names….

“You missed one name!” Sora argued back. He was desperately trying to ignore reality here. The reality being, in almost all likelihood Crayford was someone he knew.

Crayford frowned. “No, Sensei. You must be mistaken. There was Marcille Oneechan, Vladimir, Obento, Oneechan and me.”

“No, you are the one mistaken! There was no Oneechan you speak of! Haha! You thought you had me! You are not my disciple!” Sora rejoiced; my memories have not been tampered with after all!

Cayford made a very grave expression. “It cannot be…you do not remember Oneechan? She was the child you saved from bullying! Remember, the hue and cry caused by that incident? She was the one who found that S class quest in Royal Road which got us all killed. Or how about the time she awoke the black dragon from his slumber and nearly got us killed? Remember?” He asked worryingly.

Sora gave a blank silent and confused look. Each of those incidents he spoke of was something…Enma was involved in not some girl…..

***

“Right….I believe you…” I responded with complete sarcasm.

Enma was really hurt. Clearly, I didn’t believe him.

“Sora-san!! It’s true!” Enma looked like he was about to cry.

“This sounds a lot to me like the time, you told me about that S class quest in Royal Road….and remember how we all got killed because it wasn’t a quest but a trap?” I tried to show my reasoning.

‘Ah crap…I was too late.’ Enma had tears in his eyes as I reminded him about the disastrous Royal Road episode.

“Sora-san BAKA!” Enma cried out as he rushed out of the class.

"What is he a girl?" I never get him.

***

….I mean he is rich so its not impossible to imagine a prank of this scale all for the purpose of getting my attention.

My attention…. Yeah, I better explain this bit to you all.

Enma is like this innocent lamb which gets bullied a lot by girls and guys alike. He his super cute and can almost be mistaken for a girl…..

***

“F*ck.” Sora swore as he had a sudden realization. “She entered this game before me?”

Crayford nodded silently.

X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-X

Author's Note:

1. The flashbacks on Enma were taken from Chapter 1.1 & 1.2. So you can refer to those, if you have difficulty believing 'Enma' = Oneechan = Female.

2. This completes twist number #1 of plot. Thank you all for reading this far, hope it has been an enjoyable ride and hope we have many such more.

3. If you are liking the story so far, comment / rate / review / message. Anything goes :)