"Lord God, we have a problem!"
In a void of pure white, an elderly man with a long, snowy beard-the one addressed as God-turned toward the direction of the voice.
"It's another reincarnated person from Earth, sir! And this time, they've dropped directly into the world under your personal jurisdiction. What are your orders?"
"Another one?" God sighed, flicking his fingers through the air as if scrolling through invisible screens. "Let's see here..."
He paused, squinting at the data.
"Hmph. Earth again, alright. It's the same origin point as that young man from last week. Looks like this one triggered the transport by bumbling through the incantation at just the right-or wrong-moment. A freak accident, but we can't have this. I'll be sending a formal complaint to the God of Earth."
The female assistant leaned in, her voice urgent. "And the soul, sir? What do we do with the reincarnated?"
"It's rare for a soul to bypass the Divine Realm and slip straight into the lower world, but there's precedent," God replied with a casual wave of his hand. "We'll overlook it this time. Looking at his stats, he doesn't possess any world-breaking 'Cheat' skills. He's harmless enough."
"Understood, sir. I'll file the paperwork accordingly."
And so, the yakuza¹ known as Yokohama Ryusei was successfully reborn into another world.
* * *
The setting was a manor house in the Landmark Domain-a rugged frontier located three weeks by horse southeast of the capital of the Kingdom of Crestoria². Inside, a newborn boy let out his first, piercing cry.
"His name..." the father mused. He was a tall, powerfully built man with a shock of red hair and sharp brown eyes. He lifted the infant into the air with a grin. "Yes. He shall be Ryu. Ryu Landmark!"
The mother, a blonde woman with deep blue eyes, smiled weakly from the bed. "A strong name," she whispered.
In that moment, the third son of the Landmark family was officially welcomed into the world.
But the soul within-the man once known as Yokohama Ryusei-was in a state of total panic. He tried to move, but his limbs were heavy and unresponsive. His vision was a blurred mess of light and shadow.
He felt himself being held by a giant. This man's hands were so large that Ryu felt like he could fit entirely within a single palm. He tried to demand an explanation, but his voice betrayed him. Instead of words, all that came out was a series of "Goo" and "Gaa" sounds.
Overwhelmed by a sudden, inexplicable rush of hormones and helplessness, he burst into tears.
The man panicked, gently laying the baby back down beside the woman.
"Ryu's certainly got some spirit, doesn't he?" the father laughed.
As Ryu's vision began to clear, a terrifying thought finally took root.
Wait... No way. Am I a literal infant?
Was this the cycle of rebirth the Buddhists talked about? Regardless of the mechanics, it was clear he had been born again. He couldn't quite remember the moment of his death, but then-it hit him. The Magic Circle. That Tensei Mahoujin³!
Ryu Landmark closed his eyes as the final memories of his previous life flashed before him. It was a shock, certainly, but Ryusei was a man of action. If he was dead, he was dead. There was no sense crying over spilled milk-or a spilled life. He had to adapt.
Fortunately, his new parents seemed like decent people.
The man who had been Yokohama Ryusei had never known the warmth of a family. Abandoned at birth, he had been raised in the cold, clinical environment of a state orphanage. Compared to that, this new life already felt like a winning hand.
Ryu grew quickly, cherished by his new family. He inherited his father's red hair and his mother's blue eyes, a combination that marked him as a handsome child. The early years were difficult; the mental gap between a seasoned yakuza and a toddler often left him frustrated. However, by the time he reached his fourth birthday, he had managed to reconcile his old memories with his new reality.
The Landmarks were good people. In fact, they were almost too good. They were kind, merciful, and deeply loved by their tenants. They gave to the poor and helped the sick, often to the point of neglecting their own finances. Despite being the lords of the land, they lived a life of startling poverty and simplicity.
Ryu loved them for it. To help out, the four-year-old began sneaking into the nearby woods. He set traps to catch small game, adding a much-needed protein source to the Landmark's meager dinner table. He gathered edible plants and fruits, bringing back whatever he could find to support the household.
There was one thing, however, that had bothered Ryu since infancy. Whenever he looked at an object, a name would hover over it in his mind's eye. It was incredibly useful for identifying things he'd never seen before, but it didn't tell him how things worked. To solve that, he began sneaking into his father's study.
He had taught himself to read by matching the floating labels in his vision to the words his family spoke. When his father eventually caught him sitting on the floor, buried in a thick tome, the man's doting nature went into overdrive.
"A child prodigy!" his father had shouted, practically beaming with pride.
It was hard to argue. A four-year-old who could read and write without a single lesson was unheard of. Soon, the family began to have serious discussions about Ryu's future-and whether they could ever afford to send their "Wonder Child" to the Royal Academy⁴.
Trivia:
- The reincarnation was an accident caused by Ryu 'stumbling over words' during an incantation.
- God decides to overlook the soul's bypass of the Divine Realm because Ryu lacks 'world-breaking' skills.
- Ryu was an orphan in his past life, which makes him appreciate his new parents more.
- The Landmark family is poor because they are overly generous to their tenants.
- Ryu's literacy comes from matching spoken words to the floating 'UI' names he sees over objects
Character Insight:
Ryu shows rapid adaptation, shifting from yakuza confusion to familial devotion. His drive to help his parents suggests a deeply ingrained protective instinct from his previous life.
Behind the Scenes:
The author uses the 'clerical error' trope to explain the lack of a formal meeting with God, a common subversion of the standard Isekai 'goddess' meeting.
TL Notes:
1 ↩ Yakuza: A member of a Japanese organized crime syndicate.
2 ↩ Crestoria Kingdom: The fantasy setting where the story takes place.
3 ↩ Tensei Mahoujin: Literally 'Reincarnation Magic Circle.'
4 ↩ Royal Academy: A prestigious educational institution mentioned as a future goal for Ryu.
Notes:
• Yokohama Ryusei - A 32-year-old yakuza operative whose public front is a programmer. He specializes in debt collection and skip-tracing. He is cynical and meticulous, noted for having a name nearly identical to a famous celebrity.
• Ryu - Formerly Yokohama Ryusei, a yakuza. Reincarnated as the third son of the Landmark family. Has red hair and blue eyes. Possesses memories of his previous life and the ability to see names of objects.