(from Rebirth '86: I Opened the Gates to a New World Through Gaming)
Early spring, 1986. Kyoto, Japan. The air was crisp—ten degrees Celsius, cool enough to feel it in your bones, but not uncomfortable.
Ethan Cole stood in front of a towering corporate building, his plain jacket and worn jeans making him look completely out of place among the stream of sharply dressed professionals.
Passersby stole glances at him—some out of curiosity, some out of confusion.
It wasn't just his clothes. Ethan had a quiet confidence about him. He looked to be in his early twenties, slim but upright, with a calm energy that made people take a second look. Especially the women.
He had that something—but unfortunately, that something didn't come with money.
And in 1980s Japan, confidence without cash didn't get you very far. The economy was booming. Stocks and real estate were exploding. Everyone was flush with cash. Hailing a cab meant waving bills in the air just to get noticed.
Ethan adjusted his jacket and looked up at the gleaming sign overhead:
NGS Entertainment Inc.
"This is it," he muttered.
He stepped inside.
Almost immediately, a receptionist with a bright smile approached him.
"Hello, sir! How may I help you today?" she asked in heavily accented English—polite, rehearsed, professional.
Noticing his unfamiliar look, she had defaulted to English.
Ethan replied in fluent Japanese, "No need for English. I speak Japanese. My name is Ethan Cole. I'm here for a meeting with Mr. Nakamura from your game development department. We scheduled it yesterday."
"Oh! Please give me a moment," she said, flipping open the appointment log and scanning the entries.
"Mr. Cole, I see your name here. Mr. Nakamura is currently in a meeting, but he'll be free shortly. Would you mind waiting for a bit?"
"Not at all. I just need to speak with him today."
"Wonderful. Please follow me to the lounge. We have refreshments and entertainment available."
She led him to a waiting room where another man—clearly a Westerner—sat flipping through a magazine. Ethan offered a polite nod, then sat down and waited quietly.
The receptionist cast one last look his way before reluctantly returning to her post.
"Hey, who was that guy?" whispered another receptionist. "He's kind of cute… but that outfit? No way he's rich."
"No clue," the first one replied. "He's here to meet with one of the directors in the game division. Foreign, probably here for business or something."
"Business? From overseas? I mean, yeah, more foreigners have been popping up lately, but one meeting with a game company? That's a first for me."
They gossiped on in low voices, unaware that Ethan couldn't hear a word. He was too busy preparing for his pitch—what to say, how to open, how to get this door to crack open just enough to step through.
Ethan Cole wasn't from this world.
Not exactly.
In his former life, he had been a third-year university student in London, majoring in Japanese and international relations. Bright, ambitious—he was selected to accompany a government-backed delegation to Japan, acting as a translator during an equipment procurement visit.
It was a rare and prestigious opportunity. The kind that made résumés sparkle. Just the kind of thing that could land him a job at a multinational, or even a government posting, after graduation.
Any normal person would've been thrilled.
But Ethan wasn't normal. Or rather—he didn't belong to this timeline.
Back home—in a world eerily similar to this one—Ethan had just wrapped up a degree in game design. He and a few close friends were ready to launch their own indie studio. They had plans, talent, and even secured a $700,000 seed investment.
Everything was going perfectly.
Then his flight went down somewhere over the Pacific.
When he woke up, he was in this world, in this body, with the same name—but none of the progress he'd made.
At first, he was furious. Depressed. Disoriented.
Why now? Why him? His life had been on the edge of something big. He didn't need a do-over—he was doing fine! If the universe wanted to hit reset, couldn't it have waited until he'd failed?
But reality was cruel. Or maybe, oddly merciful.
Because if he hadn't "reset," he would've died in that crash.
And so, slowly, he came to accept it.
Still, what bugged him most was the timing.
This world was stuck in the 1980s. His original timeline was decades ahead. He grew up with smartphones, internet, 3D engines, open-world RPGs. Here? Floppy disks and cathode-ray monitors.
If he'd studied this era, maybe he could've capitalized on it. But he hadn't. He didn't know the trends. Didn't memorize product release dates or stock shifts. No secret cheat codes for how to become the next Steve Jobs.
If only he'd known. If only he'd prepared.
"Mr. Cole?"
The receptionist had returned.
"Mr. Nakamura is ready for you now. You can head up to the 27th floor—Office 01."
Ethan opened his eyes and stood. "Thanks. Appreciate it."
"Of course! It's my pleasure," she said with another sweet smile.
He really did stand out. Sharp features. Quiet poise. His clothes weren't anything special, but they were neat. Clean. Respectable.
She couldn't help but wonder—if this guy asked her to grab a coffee sometime... she'd probably say yes.