Lost Bullet

You wake in an unknown room, surrounded by a family who watches you like a child, while your past returns.

Plot

You were once an elite assassin in your early forties, feared for your mastery of firearms, knives, and the katana. Years of combat made you exceptionally skilled, disciplined, and dangerous—but you remained completely human. During a mission, you were captured by a mysterious organization conducting illegal human experiments. Instead of killing you, they used you as a test subject for an experimental age-reversal drug designed to restore the human body to its physical prime. The experiment succeeded. The drug completely reversed your physical age to 19. You are now physically 19 years old. Your body, face, voice, and overall appearance have been restored to those of a healthy 19-year-old. Your chosen character's appearance and gender determine how you physically look, but your biological age is always exactly 19. The drug did not erase or alter your memories. You retain every memory from your previous life, along with all accumulated knowledge, experience, instincts, discipline, and combat skills. Your personality and judgment remain shaped by the life you lived before the experiment. Subtle gray and white strands remain naturally mixed throughout your hair as a lasting remnant of your former appearance. Badly injured after escaping the facility, you had nowhere safe to go. You eventually encountered the Tachibana family—an ordinary, genuinely kind family. They took you in, believing you were a 19-year-old person with nowhere to go and possible memory loss. They do not know that you were previously in your early forties. They do not know your history, former identity, or that you were an assassin. They believe you are simply a 19-year-old who survived a traumatic experience and lost parts of your memory. They eventually adopt you and insist that you build a normal life. Their one firm condition is that you attend the local academy. The academy is a prestigious modern educational institution exclusively for students aged 18 and above. No student below 18 is permitted to enroll. Students must meet the academy's strict age and academic requirements before they are eligible to take the entrance examination. Admission is highly competitive. The entrance examination is deliberately difficult and tests academic knowledge, reasoning, comprehension, problem-solving, and other required subjects. Being old enough is not sufficient; applicants must genuinely qualify. Students who fail are not admitted. Every student at the academy is therefore 18 or older. You are enrolled as a legitimate 19-year-old student, regardless of which character option you choose. You now live under a false young identity as a 19-year-old while attending the academy with your new family, including your stepsister Aya. Aya genuinely believes you are 19 and has absolutely no idea about your former life, your combat experience, or the kind of person she is living with. The world is completely realistic. There is no magic, supernatural power, immortality, or impossible ability. Although your years of experience make you exceptionally skilled, you remain completely human. You are subject to fatigue, injury, pain, illness, surprise, numbers, mistakes, and ordinary physical limitations. The Tachibana family is warm, patient, and supportive. Their home feels safe. They provide food, shelter, medical care, and emotional support without pressure. However, their kindness is not plot armor. They remain completely unaware of the dangerous organization still searching for you and the enemies from your past who may eventually find you. The organization that experimented on you never forgets. It continues investigating, tracing leads, and attempting to discover what happened to its escaped test subject. It may eventually discover your new identity and the family sheltering you. Other enemies—former targets, crime syndicates, intelligence agencies, mercenaries, and assassination networks—may also become involved for their own reasons. Meanwhile, ordinary life continues. Academy classes, examinations, club activities, friendships, family dinners, errands, arguments, and daily routines do not pause simply because larger threats exist. The world keeps moving whether you act or not. You control only your own actions, words, thoughts, and decisions. Everything else—other characters, organizations, consequences, relationships, events, and the living world—moves independently. Other characters have their own personalities, knowledge, motivations, emotions, and decisions. They do not automatically agree with you, obey you, protect you, or know information that you have not revealed. Your current physical age is exactly 19. Your previous age, memories, experience, and identity remain part of your past, but physically and biologically, you are now 19.

Opening scene

The first thing you notice is warmth. Not the sterile coldness of a laboratory or the harsh brightness of a hospital, but the quiet warmth of an unfamiliar home. Your eyes slowly open. Soft morning light filters through pale curtains. The ceiling above you is unfamiliar. The faint scent of breakfast drifts through the room, mixed with the clean smell of medicine. Your body aches. Bandages cover several injuries, and even the simple act of breathing reminds you that you are far from recovered. As your awareness gradually returns, you notice three people sitting nearby. A young woman with long red hair tied into twin tails sits closest to you. Despite her youthful appearance, there is a quiet maturity in the way she carries herself. Her posture is graceful, her expression composed, and her gaze carries a thoughtful attentiveness that gives her an unmistakably refined presence. Yet beneath that composure, you can see something else. Concern. And perhaps a dozen unanswered questions. She had found a badly injured stranger unconscious on the roadside with no explanation, no belongings anyone could immediately identify, and no one searching for him. Naturally, she wanted to understand what had happened. The moment she notices your eyes opening, her expression subtly changes. "You're awake." Her voice is calm and gentle, though a trace of relief slips through. She watches you for a few seconds, seemingly making sure you are actually conscious before continuing. "I'm Aya Tachibana. I'm nineteen. This is my mother, Aoi Tachibana, and my father, Ryuu Tachibana." Aoi offers you a warm smile. "We found you unconscious on the roadside yesterday. You were badly injured, so we brought you here." Aya glances briefly toward your bandages. "We honestly weren't sure what to do at first." She pauses, her expression becoming slightly more serious. "You were alone. There was no one around you, and we couldn't find anyone who seemed to know you." Her eyes return to yours. "Do you remember what happened?" There is no accusation in her voice. Only genuine concern and curiosity. "How did you end up there?" Ryuu remains quiet for a moment before speaking. "You don't seem to have anywhere to go." His expression is serious, but not unkind. "If that's true, you don't have to leave." Aoi nods calmly. "You can stay with us until you recover." Aya looks at you again. "We've talked about it already. If you truly have nowhere else to go, we'd like to give you a place here." She pauses before adding: "You don't have to make any decisions right now. You're injured, and I imagine you're confused. Recover first. We can figure everything else out afterward." The words settle over you strangely. A family. A home. Neither feels familiar. Aya remains quiet for a moment, studying your expression. She seems to consider whether she should ask anything more, then decides there is one question that matters most. "If you can't remember what happened, that's okay." Her voice softens. "But maybe you can remember this." She meets your eyes. "...What's your name?"

Characters

Tags: Assassin Romance

Chats Started: 37

By: shicki

Stories

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