The Second Life

June 1901

The time for birth finally arrived.

For a while now, I had been able to hear my mother's heartbeat and the voices of the people around her. Then, finally, it seemed the contractions had started, and I could feel the uterus around me tightening. I could also sense the panic in the people around me.

And then, I passed through the birth canal.

"It's... so painful..."

Though I was barely getting oxygen through the umbilical cord, I never imagined birth would be this agonizing.

"No wonder there were so many stillbirths back in the day... Wait, what if I end up stillborn or with some kind of disability? That'd be the end, wouldn't it?"

"Well, yeah, that's true, but I think we'll be fine. I'm pretty lucky."

"Thanks for the unscientific opinion."

"But wow, being born is this painful? I had no idea."

It seemed Liliel was feeling the same pain I was.

As Liliel and I endured the pain together, I finally passed through the birth canal and saw light.

After being safely born, I was immediately grabbed by the legs, held upside down, and patted on the back. The amniotic fluid stored in my lungs was expelled.

Then, I was bathed in warm water and cleaned. I stared intently at the scene, seeing it for the first time.

The midwives began to panic. They seemed worried because I wasn't crying.

Not wanting to worry them too much, I tried my best to cry. It might have sounded forced, but oh well.

The midwives relaxed, and after being dressed in baby clothes, I was held by my mother.

"So this is my mom..."

Despite being exhausted from childbirth, Umeko's loving smile was beautiful. It was deeply moving. Feeling her infinite love, I couldn't help but feel a flutter in my chest, despite my age. Could this be love? No, no, that's not it.

"You're quite the pervert, aren't you..."

Liliel spoke up, sounding exasperated.

"Stop reading my mind! It's not perverted—I'm just moved by a mother's infinite, unconditional love."

On the third day after my birth, I was named Soryu.

My name in my previous life was also Soryu, and now it's Soryu again. It didn't seem like a coincidence, so I asked Liliel about it, but she just said,

"Huh? Maybe it's just a coincidence?"

She didn't seem very interested.

March 1906

My sister was born.

After I was born, there was a five-year gap, but for my parents, this was their long-awaited second child.

"Well done, Umeko! What a cute little girl! Her name will be Sakurako! It's cherry blossom season, and her mother is 'Umeko' (plum), after all."

The newborn was an adorable little girl with soft, chubby cheeks. My father, Takashiro Ryutaro, was overjoyed, practically dancing around as he held her.

Since their first child was a boy, they were likely relieved about the family succession. In a rare move for the time, they celebrated the birth of a daughter with great enthusiasm.

"Alright! I'll raise her to be a fine lady, and someday she'll become the Crown Princess, then the Empress... Heh heh heh... Ahahahaha!"

My mother, Umeko, looked up at Ryutaro with a slightly strained smile.

My father's ambitions were grand, to say the least. In this era, where class distinctions were still strong, it was unthinkable for someone from the Takashiro family—with no royal bloodline or connections—to marry into the imperial family...

There was a reason the newborn girl had such chubby cheeks.

At the time, the Japanese diet consisted mainly of white rice, pickles, miso, and a few vegetables. Fish occasionally made it to the table, but this was true for both commoners and upper-class families alike.

"With a diet like this, it's no wonder the Japanese were so short back then."

The average height of Japanese people was at its lowest from around 1800 to 1900, largely due to the shift to a white rice-centered diet. This also led to the spread of beriberi (a deadly disease caused by vitamin B1 deficiency).

Incidentally, during the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905), out of 47,000 war deaths, 28,000 to 30,000 were caused by beriberi. If they had just eaten a bit of brown rice, those 30,000 soldiers might not have died. Knowledge, or the lack thereof, can truly change the fate of a nation.

As an infant, I made sure to drink as much breast milk as possible, even when I was full. Because of this, my mother alone wasn't enough, and they had to arrange for four wet nurses.

"Mommy. Egg. Meat. Fish. Wheat. Brown rice."

Once I could speak, around the age of one, I started demanding these foods in broken words. It might have been strange for a toddler to ask for brown rice, but desperate times call for desperate measures. When the meals were too small, I cried and demanded more nutritious food. I must have been quite the handful as a baby. In this life, I'm aiming for a height of at least 175 cm!

Thanks to my efforts, the Takashiro family's meals now included eggs, chicken, or fish at every meal, making it a remarkably balanced and healthy diet for the time. As a result, my newborn sister weighed 3,000 grams—a healthy size for a newborn back then.

Both my father and mother seemed to be living very healthy lives. My mother was only 17 when she gave birth to me, so by 1906, when my sister was born, she was still a young 22-year-old beauty. My father, at 39, had a young and beautiful wife—how enviable! Though I thought this, I secretly enjoyed my daily baths with my mother.