RIVALS INCARNATE

Chapter One: Waking Up In Modern Reality

PRESENT 2020

"Maybe in another life...You and I, we could finally be..."

SPLAT. FIZZ.

"TRAITOR!!"

BEEEEEEEEEEEEP. BEEEEEEEEEEEEP. BEEEEEEEEEEEEP.

She woke up, disoriented, the blaring sound of her alarm ringing on top of her bedside table continued to grow louder as she grunted in response and felt her body ache all over. Drenched in sweat, heart-pounding, and in total shock, Yuko Amazawa found herself brought back to the present after being drowned in the woes of her nightmare. On top of her bed in her upscale apartment somewhere in the middle of Tokyo, she woke up. Once again, this was her usual morning routine. 

It will always start somewhere in the middle of the night. She would always begin to have that kind of dream about the past in her sleep and when she will finally have her eyes opened, staring up to her ceiling, completely awake, listening to the annoying clamor of the alarm clock filling in the silence of her room, she would find herself like this: completely shaken, quite confused, and jarred. She struggled to catch her breathing this time, her chest felt so tight and heavy as she panted. She had been waking up to this same state for the nth time now in the past six months.

The same dream every morning... The same nightmare she kept seeing. Though this had not always been the case. Ever since she was born, she always had those kinds of dreams. But it was not as dark and terrifying as this one. Most of it was simply light glimpses of pretty memories of a man who grew up in nobility. Some of it included people he met during his childhood, moments he spent with his loved ones, and the battles he had gone to and won.

But lately, Yuko started getting these kinds of ugly memories in her dreams. It was all severely twisted and distorted that it had begun to make her feel anxious and bothered before she would sleep at night. Like the previous episodes she had with it, she still felt that agonizing pain inside her as if a heavy sword had been stabbed deeply through her chest this morning... It was the scene that had happened a few minutes before she had died in the body of the late historical Emperor Shin. 

Yes, she was the late Emperor Shin from eleven hundred and seventy years ago. Inside her was the person who was now the famous historical figure who had marked a sensational milestone in the cultural reset of his country. And now, eleven hundred years and so later, he found himself reborn in the body of this woman.

Bearing the name Yuko Amazawa.

Since he was reborn, he already knew who he was. Though his learning abilities took over sometime after he reached the age of four, Yuko already saw her soul and identity ever since she was a child. She still could not understand why she had retained her memories. Years of research and looking for the cause of it got her to nothing. She even once thought she had gone crazy and developed this kind of delusion that made her believe she was the Emperor from the past. But all her memories proved her wrong and it felt like gods were trying to test her out. And now that she had been given the chance to relive her life... since she begged for it, she must work it out.

Yes, she can still remember that. 

"I beg of you... All the gods and spirits of this world... I don't want to die... Please... Let me live again."

Yuko unknowingly smirked to herself, thinking about that last few seconds before darkness had swallowed him in the body of her previous life. She got out of her bed and turned off her alarm. She groaned and yawned loudly, dreading the new day of her life once again. She stood and walked into her bathroom... Stopping by the mirror on the wall, she stared at herself. She looked so much different from the one she had used to be.

Her eyes were normal brown, not the same hazel ones he got before. Her hair is so long and black, the same one as he had then but it was not as healthy as it should be. She got boobs, obviously, he did not have those before. And her body was petite... Something that he would not have liked if he was going out to battle. However, unlike before, her skin was really flawless and smooth, same as the women he had taken with him to bed looked like, unlike his... His body was marked by scars back then. She was not really the same as he was anymore.

Don't you like this? She mentally asked herself. She really had no idea to whom she was trying to direct the question. Does she like that she was reborn like this? She really does not know what to say. All that she ever did since she was reborn was to find more about the history of the part after he had died for more than eleven hundred years ago. She never really cared much that she had been reborn as a woman... For him, this was a blessing from the gods.

Even though it was not the exact thing he had begged during those last few moments of his death, he was still glad that he had been given the chance to live his life again... Even if it was in a different lifetime.

Well, he can not really complain. In fact, he was totally amazed by how time had made the entire world so much different than it used to. There were a lot of things that had become very much accessible and easier to obtain now. The things that people used to struggle for and fight for during his old-time became things that were ever so casually just taken in vain. It felt fleeting, that for some reason, as Yuko thought about those sacrifices people did in the past to achieve such convenience, these all seemed like they did not really hold that much significance.

But then again, this world has continuously evolved in those years that had passed... Nothing had stayed permanent. Like him... He still died. And even though he was reborn again, he no longer has the same luxury, the same people, and the same life that he had back then. He now must live like this woman in this era. 

And with that, Yuko got back to her present troubles. She really should move now. Cause if there was one thing that she had learned since she started working in modern reality, that was the fact that things work faster now in this era. 

Time was always ticking in this city... And if you are too lazy, you would be inconveniently left behind.

You can't ever really waste any second that casually.

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Traffic.

This was one of those few things that she really hated about this era. When you thought you could have still spent a few minutes of sleep, you have to wake up way much earlier than usual just to be able to get to work on time. Such a convenience for inconvenience even when you already bought a car for yourself because you thought it would help a lot in making your transportation faster... Which was not. It was a vain luxury as it turned out to be.

Though not every day, really. However today, Yuko felt a bit crampy. But not because she was about to be late for work, but because of the news she saw online just this morning after she had gone out of the bath. 

NATION'S FAVE KUROSAKI EASY TO JOIN THE PROTEST AGAINST ECONOMY RESET?

How many times did she have to do this damage control? It seemed like every week she would always face the same thing in the morning, using up all of her energy to fix troubles that her oh-so-very-important client, Kurosaki Kyohei would cause for her and his reputation.

Though this was so much like him, protesting against the economic change that the government was trying to do in the midst of the global conflicts in trade and industries? For Yuko, who used to be the Emperor who had looked and gone through such responsibility, that would be a total risk in terms of social balance. The economy was not something to take lightly, however, despite knowing that... These people were really trying to push for it?

Anyways, not that she would have wanted to go further into that, what she needed to do right now was to fix this new problem again. If Kurosaki continues to work his way up in the controversial section of the news and not on the editorial or even just on the business pages, she would really have to give him a big slap on his face. What the hell was he doing? She already gave him a rundown of their social media plan. This will never help him at all. Even if the negativities and provocative articles gave him a rise to fame due to people easily seeing him there in the tabloids, this might still affect his credibility by the start of the electoral promotions.

Yuko got to do something... She can't really believe she would even do this for him.

And what else? Even with this deep hatred against this son of a b***h, Yuko was still so eager to work out this publicity with him. He must win... Even if she wanted to kill him, honestly. Kurosaki must take over this country, once and for all. Because if she can't do it on her own, then she will make him do it her way, like a puppet.

Why was she doing this? Well, she was not really going to be in this line of work if she had not met him in college. She already gave up murdering him for the sake of pride and ego, but for Emperor Shin who had no other choice but to live his life as a woman this time, he would do anything for this bastard Kurosaki to pay for his sins...

He will become the prime minister and marry himself to the royal household of Japan. For being the reincarnation of General Rei, this son of a b***h must live the way Emperor Shin wants him to... As revenge.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------next chapter: Chapter Two