A week had already gone by but in reality, not more than 4 hours had which translated to 8 hours in IR time. Sadly though, Sato wasn't able to notice this since he was stuck in the illusion and had already accepted his new life as an 11 year old boy in a somewhat isolated village. Sato couldn't be blamed for this as the memory implant was so well done that anyone would have fallen for it on the spot even if they weren't Sato.
With a perfect reality and a harmonious life, there was no reason for Sato to 'wake up or come to the conclusion that this was all too good to be true. He just wanted to enjoy this moment with his family because that had always been what he wanted.
*Chop* *Chop*
At an open space close to the home of the family, a middle aged man was chopping a log of wood to small sizeable pieces with an average sized axe. Beside him was a little kid who stood obediently from the side and watched on silently in admiration.
"Darling, it's time for breakfast. You too, Sato. Come take your share." Izumi's voice sounded from the house.
"Coming!" Little Sato shouted joyfully in response.
"Ah~ I was really hoping to finish up this batch but maybe next time. Come on now champ, let's go." Kenshin dropped his axe and walked towards the building with an arm extended towards the little Sato.
Sato walked over and held his father's hand before the two went into the house.
Stepping into the house once more, Sato saw his mother arranging the plates at the dining table with a little girl of aged 5 or 6, holding onto the helm of her dress.
"Little Hayami, let go of mother or you might get hurt. Can't you see she's busy?" Sato lectured his little sister.
"No." Hayami furiously shook her head as she tightened her grip on her mother's clothes.
"Haha. Let your sister be. She's still a kid so she always likes to stay close to your mother." Kenshin shuffled Sato's hair.
"Enough now. Let's have breakfast. After this, you're following me to the market alright?" Kenshin spoke to Sato. "You need to learn the ins and out of the business."
"Okay, father." Sato nodded with his little head.
15 minutes later, Sato and his father, Kenshin, made their way to the deeper part of the hamlet. Their house wasn't close to the centre of the settlement but it wasn't far off either.
At the centre was located a public market where the villagers could easily go and trade off their goods in exchange for other goods or the settlements local currency; a special mineral that looked similar to jade. The value and buying power of the currency depended on both the weight, shape and quality of the 'jade' piece.
To help stabilize the financial situation, the governing power in the hamlet was in charge of the mining and distribution of the 'jade' stones; doing so in an organized manner. As a result of their efforts, the 'jade' stone used as currency all had a standard weight and shape with differing qualities. The higher the quality, the greater the buying power of the 'jade' stone.
Currently, there were 3 grades; low, mid and high grades. Considering that the hamlet Sato and his family dwelt in was little and so didn't experience much economic transactions, low grade 'jade' stones were the most commonly seen type.
"We should be able to sell these logs for 75 low grade genas." Kenshin spoke as he escorted a donkey that dragged a carriage filled with logs of wood. Walking alongside him was the little Sato, who energetically glanced around as if it were his first time outside.
Due to the fact that he was still young, Kenshin didn't let his son wander around that often. It even got worse after Sato 'returned' to the village. Throughout the past week, Sato only left the house once, and that was when he escorted his mother to a neighbor's place.
"Get your Red Boar meat right here!"
"Armaniko leaves at a cheap price! A bundle at 3 low genas. You can only get such nice price here!"
"Buying medicinal plants at an appropriate price. Don't bring fake or else you will get disgraced."
"Stick close to me, son." Kenshin said to Sato.
"Okay." Sato nodded.
It wasn't long before Kenshin and Sato arrived in front of a store in the public market. Kenshin went into the store to negotiate with the store-keeper whereas Sato was left behind to look after the goods.
With nothing to do and nowhere to go, little Sato glanced around and admired the various groups of people that wandered the market. He watched as buyers bargained with the sellers and as some sellers scammed their customers of their goods. Sato was even 'lucky' enough to witness the event of a novice thief being caught in the market. However, being the adventurous kid he was, Sato wasn't easily satisfied with staying one place for so long. Eventually, he got bored of sightseeing and decided to take a short walk round the store.
'What's taking Dad so long?' Sato thought as he walked a few metres away from the carriage. Sato hadn't gone far when a commotion suddenly arose in front of him.
"Thieves! Thieves! Stop them!"
"Hey! Watch out!"
"Stop them!"
A wagon being pulled by 2 striped 'horses' was running wildly on the road. Coincidentally, Sato's little frame happened to be crossing that very road at that very time. This lead to the scene looking as if he would get hit and trampled upon by the carriage.
*Clamp* *Clamp*
'Is this it?' Sato thought as the rampaging carriage as but 2 metres away. He could feel death approaching but as a kid, the only thing he could do was to stand still, frozen in fear.
"Sato!"
A figure flew past Sato and dragged him along, pulling him away from the path of the carriage.
*Bang*
Two bodies collided on the floor as the spreeing carriage zoomed past them.
"Are you alright, son?" Kenshin lifted his son up from the ground and dusted him. Coincidentally, he happened to have been done with the negotiations and was looking for Sato. Luckily for him, Kenshin had found his son at the right moment. Without thinking, Kenshin had jumped in and pulled his son out of danger otherwise, he might have lost him permanently.
"I'm, I'm okay." Sato said absentmindedly as if he was traumatized by the event.
"*Sighs* Come on now, let's go." Kenshin held him by the hand and walked back home. He had already sold the wood and got the money so there was no reason to remain here, especially as Sato had almost ended up dead.
While they were heading back, Sato's eyes seemed to have lost focus as he was recalling that event.
'It feels so familiar an at the same time, not. Why?' Sato thought.
It didn't take long for the little kid to be able to pinpoint the origin of that deja vu feeling.
"Spectra! Manual control!" A male voice ordered. Despite the rush in his words, the man's voice was identical to Kenshin's.
"Honey, they are close." A lady commented in a worried tone. Just like with the man, her voice was extremely similar to Izumi, Sato's mother.
"Dad, is everything gonna be okay?" A little boy asked the couple. The kid looked awfully similar to the current Sato.
"Everybody get down!" The male's voice yelled.
It was at this point that Sato woke up from his hallucination, returning to the 'real world'. His palms were sweating and his eyes were widened in shock and fear.
"What's wrong?" Kenshin asked as he noticed that his son had suddenly stopped moving and the hand he held was moist.
Sato didn't answer him but turned around and glanced at everything present. From the houses to the stores, the customers to the sellers, the humans to the animals, then finally his father. He couldn't resist his emotions as he eyes began to glisten, with tears slowly dripping down them.
"What's wrong?" Kenshin began to worry for his son as he suddenly squatted down and wiped his tears.
"Don't worry. I won't blame you for not listening to my instructions and wandering around. Daddy won't punish you so stop crying and let's go home." Kenshin hugged his son tightly.
"Mmm, mmm." Sato shook his head.
"It's not that."
"Huh? Then what?" Kenshin pulled away and stared at his son.
"It's you, mom, little Hayami and everything else." Sato's tone began to change slowly from a child's own.
"What about them?" Kenshin raised an eyebrow.
"You're all fake."
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