September 8, 1999. A Wednesday.
I woke up on a comfortable bed and then took a look around, slightly disoriented.
This wasn't the house I'd saved up and paid for. And it ALSO wasn't my childhood bedroom that I'd been getting used to waking up in.
But after a brief moment, I remembered.
Right. This was Aunt Yue's house... or actually, condo.
I sat up in bed and stretched, brushing the sleep out of my eyes. Then I took a look around.
I didn't have a chance to really take it in yesterday, but Aunt Yue was pretty loaded. Or if not, she knew how to spend money properly.
In one corner, there were sleek chrome furnishings and marbled countertops. Racks of VHS cassettes and a CRT with a VHS player. A camcorder on a stand nearby.
In another corner, there were a lot of wushu and martial arts related gear for training. The swords, a staff, her rewards, and a proper wing chun wooden dummy.
...Huh. I must have missed that last night.
In another corner, there was a bunch of stuff related to her acting career. Magazines, interview articles, scripts, and more...
Altogether, a very put together place.
Much more organized than my house had been in the future, at least. And Aunt Yue was only 19 too compared to my 30 plus years in the future.
I shook my head, deciding there wasn't any point making comparisons about being put together at all. Instead, I looked around the room for my aunt.
The red LED alarm clock showed that it was 4:45 AM. The darkness outside confirmed that.
As for my aunt, she had fallen asleep at the kitchen table, a few scripts in hand.
I frowned and walked over to drape a blanket around her, as well as stick a pillow under her cheek.
Yue grumbled a bit, but then she settled in and let out a relaxed sigh.
"Cute." I couldn't resist it and poked her cheek.
Yue pursed her lips and then waved her hand, covering her face.
I let out a soft chuckle and watched her for a bit. As I did, one fact slowly sank in.
'She's just a kid still.'
It was ironic, considering my current state of, well, being a five year old.
But Yue really looked young.
She was bigger than me right now since I was a shorty. But I remembered that she didn't get much taller in the future at all. Right now she was probably... Five foot something? Not much taller than that at least.
I stared at her for a bit and murmured, "You really are just like my big sister, huh?"
I never thought about it that way in the future.
Aunt Yue was only 14 years older than me.
That was the same age gap between me and my youngest brother. At least, what HAD been the same age gap.
Again, highly doubted we'd meet again. And they'd be different people even if they were born again since nurture was more important than nature and all that...
But tangent aside.
I never treated Aunt Yue like an older sister or anything like that growing up, now that I think about it. I was too focused on being 'the best' that I only looked at my parents' reactions and expectations.
But in hindsight, Aunt Yue was probably always trying to reach out to me when I was younger. Especially since she probably- No, DEFINITELY saw me like a baby brother.
I stared at Yue's sleeping expression. I noticed again how young she was, how carefree. And I recalled how bitter and worn-out she'd been in the future.
"...Don't worry, Auntie." I gently patted her head. "I'll make sure you're safe."
Yue paused. Then she visibly relaxed, a soft smile on her face.
I smiled as well. Then I walked over to the wooden wing chun dummy.
Mm... I would have preferred to have a punching bag. But this was fine.
In the last life, I wasn't able to be a proper little brother for my Aunt Yue. I didn't even notice her struggles until it was far too late.
But in this life...
Well, the older sibling had to take care of the younger one, right?
And while I was physically younger, I was definitely the older sibling.
"First... gotta be able to take out any creeps." I murmured and then started to gently hit the training dummy.
Carefully controlled strikes that were more like light taps.
It looked like playing on the surface. That was the point. But the truth was that I was focusing on the act itself.
Not technique, but the action of 'striking' something hard. Memorizing the sensation of flesh meeting resistance that didn't yield. Slowly but steadily.
A punch high. A kick low. A backhand. A finger jab. What appeared to be chaotic play, but was actually organized diversity.
The principle was simple: by deliberately refusing to repeat a strike, the body would learn to simply adjust to the optimal mode of striking as long as a target was selected.
It was something that went against the grain of common training methodologies. Most places taught you to fight by drilling the exact same movement again and again, teaching the 'form' first before the application.
I was scrapping that. Instead of trying to learn any form, I was learning the application first.
The normal way was like chiseling a cup, then filling it up.
I was pouring water onto the ground until a hollow was formed from the pressure.
Both could hold water.
But my method would hold more.
...In theory.
It could just be delusion. But it DEFINITELY wasn't worthless.
I didn't know the mechanics behind it or the theory, but I knew it worked. That was how I managed to go from not being able to fight to throwing strikes so fast they skipped frames on phone recordings in the future.
As I kept striking the dummy with light blows, I let my mind mull over the current situation.
Mom and Dad... well, at this time they were so busy they didn't have the time to properly care for me. This was different though.
I vaguely recalled having random people supervise me at our house when I was younger. Either some of Dad's unemployed friends would hang out with me, some of my older cousins, or occassionally Auntie Yue.
But this time, it seemed like since I got along with Auntie Yue from the start, she decided to actively step in and let me live with her for a while.
That was fine by me.
If I had to be honest... it was a bit weird being around my mom and dad when they were young like this.
I just couldn't help but think that they fucked up by having me so young.
I mean, I didn't BLAME them. But objectively they were not prepared. And that fucked me up for a very, very long time in the future. Especially after they kept having kids and I had to be 'the example.'
I'd long gotten over and accepted that fact.
But seeing evidence of it play out in realtime in front of my eyes... kind of made me a bit irritated.
I mean, that was the reason why I didn't have any kids despite being in my 30s. I knew for a fact I wasn't in the proper state of mind to be bringing kids into the picture, so I didn't.
I frowned and then shifted my focus back on striking the wooden dummy.