Chapter 181: Old Soul
The roar of the ocean greeted Kir’s ears as he awoke to the sight of black sands and a gentle tide.
He pushed himself to sit up, looking around. In the distance, he saw a house, built into a cliff and jutting over the waters, the grass along the roaded slope swaying in the breeze. Above, the skies were blue and partially clouded.
Suddenly from his left, a voice spoke in Japanese.
"Welcome to the afterlife, Kid."
Kir looked up to find a human crouching there. He was wearing a lab coat and a one-piece skinsuit underneath but was barefoot. Glasses framed his face, which was gaunt and sleepless. His black hair was winged with grey and white, and in one hand he held a long, silvery pipe inset with cherry-stained wood - a kiseru - which was lit.
The smell of tobacco wafted over Kir, which pulled from him an odd sense of nostalgia as he spoke.
"You’re the voice in my head... Who are you?" Kir answered back in Japanese.
"Hmph," the man said, "Guess I’ll be starting from square one." He put the pipe in his mouth and suddenly a camera appeared in his hands, one that Kir couldn’t help but think of as ancient. He snapped a picture before Kir could react, and a short moment later there was a mechanical whirr as the camera ejected a small photo, which the man took and shook. "This ought to be illuminating." Stand up.
He handed the photo to Kir. On it was an exact copy of the man, but without the glasses, and Kir took a step backward, feeling the lab coat he was wearing brush around him.
"What is-"
"I’m you, idiot. Or, well, you’re me without the hangups and only half of what I knew. Though I can see you’re well on your way to making your own. Hangups that is."