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Near a large field of colorful flower strips in the city of Biei, a city with a population slightly over 11,000 people and located in the Kamikawa subprefecture of Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan, one could see a child who was probably in early adolescence wearing sunglasses, feeling the ground with a long white cane, walking through the grass until approaching the flowers.

The boy, Ohno Doumu, crouched down and sat on the grass slowly, placing the cane on the ground to his left.

Sitting in the lotus position, Doumu began to breathe deeply through his nose before exhaling through his mouth after 5 seconds, and repeated the same process for the next few minutes.

Gradually, he could feel a fluid with a viscous and comfortable consistency enveloping his body, while a gentle breeze tousled his messy hair.

"Ten." The teenager said in a low voice with his high-pitched tone, his facial expression showing seriousness and concentration, but with a discreet smile.

After approximately 2 minutes, he felt that warm and comfortable sensation gradually dissipate. Then, with the same concentrated expression and a line of sweat running down his forehead, the boy gradually suppressed his vital energy after some effort.

"Zetsu." He said in a murmur, smiling triumphantly when he managed to suppress the flow of his life energy, before lying down on the grass, with his legs and arms outstretched.

Slowly, after almost 5 minutes, he felt his fatigue ease.

He sat on the grass before feeling the grass with his fingers and slowly getting up.

He positioned his feet on the ground, parallel and shoulder-width apart, pointing forward.

Then, he arched and slightly contracted his legs and relaxed his torso, shoulders, and arms.

"Ren." And then, with a single word, his energy manifested in a considerable amount around him, expanding and intensifying to the maximum possible, before dissipating after about 1 minute.

Feeling considerable fatigue, Doumu gradually suppressed his aura again and, after another 4 minutes, he manifested his entire aura once more.

He repeated the same processes for the next hour, at which point he sat on the floor, physically and mentally exhausted.

Breathing with a shallow breath, he smiled with a broad smile, raising his arm up, fist clenched, in the direction he imagined the sun's rays were coming from.

"What my eyes cannot see, my heart can feel." Doumu murmured, a little disheartened, as he got up from the grass and felt around on the ground until he found his cane.

Feeling the grass with his cane, he extended his perception to a radius of 50 meters. With his enhanced perception, he notices the movement, presence, and shapes of everything and everyone he can "see" within this circle.

"That is if anyone were around here at this time of the morning." He said, laughing a short laugh, before walking in a specific direction, guided by his perception. "The feeling of using the En concept continues to impress me, no matter how many times I use this concept."

About 2 minutes later, he stepped on the ground once again, at which point his perception of territory dissipated.

Doumu sighed and decided to rely on his hearing and touch for the rest of his journey.

A few minutes later, the teenager was feeling his way up the steps of a small staircase with his cane before slowly moving forward. The staircase, which had only five steps, was in front of a door to a house with white-painted wooden walls and a blue roof, not far from a wheat field.

After moving his hands over the door until his fingers reached the doorknob, he turned the knob and gently pushed the door inward before entering.

"Hey, I'm home!" Doumu shouted as he entered, before lowering his head, a bit disheartened.

Even though he had some reluctance to do it, he took off his shoes and left them somewhere on the floor, in the middle of a short hallway, and smiled a small smile.

Walking slowly, he turned, heading to the left. Arriving in a room, he stopped near a dark green armchair, where he sat down.

Moving his hands inside the armchair, his fingers reached a remote control, which he pulled out from inside the armchair before pressing one of the buttons, a large red button in the upper right corner of the remote control, with his thumb.

With his hearing, Doumu heard the sound of a television turning on, before hearing the voice of a woman, probably a news anchor.

"... The Formula 1 World Championship at the Suzuka circuit was won by the German driver Michael Schumacher of Ferrari, who became the first six-time Formula 1 world champion."

A little restless, he turned off the television, which made the same noise as before.

The teenager leaned back in the armchair, his shoulders slumped and his head down, sighing.

"Michael, huh?" He said, smiling uncomfortably. "I will never be called by that name again. In this incarnation, I am Doumu."

Ohno Doumu, a 12-year-old Japanese boy, who became permanently blind after suffering an injury that affected not only his eyes but also the higher nerve centers and the optic pathways.

The moment that child went directly to a hospital, Michael, a person who had lived much longer than Doumu, took possession of his dead body as if he were a parasitic entity.

Michael, the person who is now living in the body of this person who lived until the beginning of adolescence, really doesn't know what happened for his consciousness to be transferred to a different body that was born and lived in a nation located in another part of the world.

Even though he has no memory of his very likely death, Michael, now Doumu, is completely certain that he was not killed in a hit-and-run, was not struck by lightning, and did not step on a banana peel before hitting his head on the ground and suffering a cranial trauma.

"A rather confusing isekai situation, honestly." He murmurs.

Moreover, Doumu is not only impressed because he is living in a different country, with a different culture and people different from what he was used to. He is also impressed that the current year is 2003.

He is living in the past. Worse, in a time when he wasn't even born yet.

Doumu doesn't know if some version of himself will be born in a few years, and he isn't interested in finding out.

In the past few weeks, Doumu had been gradually trying to adapt to the daily life of the blind child he now is.

He hesitates to be called Doumu, even though that name is in the documents of this incarnation.

However, there is a density of 14 people per kilometer in this city, so few people really know the teenager named Ohno Doumu, but many have seen him wandering around.

He doesn't talk much with the people who live near his house, but he doesn't fail to greet them with a polite nod and a quick, short "good morning" when he notices the presence of his neighbors during his early morning walk, and his walk is purely therapeutic. And even though sometimes he has done this in the direction where his neighbors are not, accidentally.

However, Doumu quickly realized that people are really nice around here, in this city, whether according to his new set of memories or the conversations he ended up having with some of the people in his neighborhood. And his neighbors often laugh at him briefly before saying he is talking to the air, and Doumu feels briefly embarrassed by this and responds with a "sorry."

Doumu doesn't live alone in this house, however. Here, he has an older sister.

Doumu thinks this is something new, actually. He, in his past incarnation, was an only child, but since he was literally raised alongside his many cousins, who treated him like some kind of "cool older brother," he gradually learned the responsibilities of an older brother.

Being suddenly treated like a younger brother who needs special and very specific care is something he is really not used to.

Apparently, since he became blind, his sister decided that she wouldn't change the position of things in this house so that he could move around better.

To move around, blind people use a combination of landmarks, mental maps, echolocation, and, of course, a cane.

Doumu's cane is white because he is completely blind. If he had only low vision, the color of his cane would be green. And if he were both deaf and blind, it would be a red cane with a white center.

Doumu possesses all the memories that the original Doumu experienced and, for this reason, is able to move around the house and the neighborhood with a bit of ease, using reference points and the mental map that was gradually forming in his consciousness.

Your sister also put some kind of carpet all over the house floor. It is a carpet with prominent directional reliefs in certain corners, indicating which directions he should follow to reach a specific room.

"That was thoughtful, I admit." Says Doumu, smiling a small smile.

Your sister, a 29-year-old woman named Ohno Suzume, is not home during the early hours of the morning because she works as an animal caretaker at the Asahiyama Zoo, a zoo located in the city of Asahikawa.

Doumu now knows why he often smells fresh fish when his sister comes home. Apparently, her sister regularly feeds penguins.

Moreover, Doumu thinks that he is not living in an ordinary world, or even in his previous Earth.

Moments after his consciousness arrived in the body where Doumu had been present, he went into a panic attack because he couldn't see anything, and this really terrified him.

Seeking to calm his body, mind, and spirit, Doumu took advantage of the capabilities of meditation. This was enough for him to calm down a bit, however, he is still not fully resigned to the situation he finds himself in.

However, after a few days of meditating for 10 minutes daily, he noticed the presence of something in his body.

No, it wasn't just in her body; it also had a strong presence in her mind and spirit.

He was unconsciously manipulating his own life energy, gradually opening and closing his aura knots, even though he didn't realize it.

It was three weeks ago that Doumu discovered he was a Nen user, no matter how absurd he thinks that realization is, and it was also the moment he began to get used to the technique of opening and closing aura nodes. As in any martial art, a beginner in the practice of Nen must gradually learn this crucial technique.

After two weeks of doing this, Doumu began to train some of the fundamental principles and, when he felt ready, also trained some of the advanced applications of Nen.

"Ten" is where the user controls their aura, and it is the principle used to diminish or even prevent the gradual loss of aura from the body that every living being undergoes, as well as drastically reducing the effects caused by aging, keeping them fit even at an advanced age.

"Zetsu" is the principle used to suppress aura, hiding its presence from other Nen users and alleviating fatigue, but it leaves the user vulnerable to Nen attacks.

"Ren" is the principle characterized by the manifestation of large quantities of aura, a concept that focuses on expanding and intensifying the aura as much as possible, increasing the user's body strength and durability.

"En" is known as the technique of the circle or territory, an advanced application of the basic principles of Ten and Ren, which is based on the expansion and manipulation of the user's aura shape, usually a circle. Inside the circle, the user can sense the presence, movements, and shapes of everything and everyone, allowing for omniscience of their surroundings based on their location. This technique consumes a large amount of energy, which increases with the size of the user's territory. Doumu uses this technique to move around better.

"Shu" is a technique known as the principle of covering, an advanced application of Ren. This technique allows a Nen user to increase the strength and durability of objects using their aura. Seeking to get accustomed to this concept, Doumu began to apply this principle to his cane.

"Gyo" is an advanced application of Ren, where the user concentrates their aura on a specific part of the body. This technique can dramatically increase the skill and strength of the chosen body part, but it leaves the rest of the body unprotected against Nen attacks. The technique is generally used on the eyes, and this allows a Nen user to observe the aura of other people and see hidden objects using Nen. However, since Doumu is blind, he uses this technique on his ears, aiming to enhance his auditory abilities while moving.

There are other principles besides these, but Doumu is not interested in training them now. He acknowledges that he is a beginner in Nen, and he also thinks that he probably won't fight against other people.

When his thoughts begin to wander, Doumu starts to analyze the memories experienced by the individual named Ohno Doumu, his predecessor.

The early years of Doumu's childhood, according to what the current Doumu saw in those memories, paint in his inner thoughts the image of a child with some characteristics found in people with associability, and who is also a child with fragile health.

Contrary to what some people think about this subject, being an antisocial person is not the same as being an asocial person. Antisocial behavior is a set of conduct patterns that oppose healthy social interaction. It is characterized by a disregard for the consequences and rights of others, and can manifest in various ways. Some characteristics that antisocial individuals possess are physical or relational aggression, disrespect for rules and norms, lack of empathy and remorse, excessive manipulation of people for personal gain, constant lying, aggressiveness and impulsivity, feelings of superiority, and violence. An antisocial person has difficulties relating to others and fitting into social norms.

On the other hand, asocial is a term that refers to a person who has difficulties socializing or who is not interested in social relationships, but may not have problems interacting when necessary, even though they prefer activities done alone. People with associability simply lack the motivation to engage in these interactions.

Moreover, a degree of associability is routinely observed in introversion.

Introversion is simply a state in which an individual is primarily interested in their own mental self. Introverted people are typically perceived as calmer, more communicative, thoughtful, perfectionistic, and organized individuals, and they are also characterized as people whose energy tends to expand during reflection and diminish during interaction.

Introverts do not interact with many people, as they prefer a small social circle of friends. Many people think that being a shy person is synonymous with introversion, but it is a misconception. In fact, shyness is a state of discomfort and inadequacy in contact with other people. However, both extroverted and introverted people can feel shyness.

This boy named Doumu was also shy at times, when talking to strangers or some of his classmates at school.

Biei has 5 elementary schools, and Doumu studies in one of them. The school year in Japan starts in April and ends in March of the following year. Primary school is mandatory, lasts 6 years, and the standard academic curriculum includes Japanese language, social studies, arithmetic, and science, supplemented with other subjects such as moral education, arts, crafts, music, domestic work, physical education, and English language.

Doumu is in the sixth grade of primary school, his last year at this school, before attending a junior high school for the next 3 years. And in his first year in primary school, Doumu had briefly decided to voluntarily exclude himself from the social interactions of the class.

However, knowing that he would have to live with this group for the next few years, Doumu imagined that it wouldn't be so bad to participate in the things that the other students do.

Thus, Doumu ended up forming a small circle of friends, and the feeling of discomfort he felt when talking to his other classmates gradually dissipated as he got to know them better.

Analyzing some older memories, the current Doumu experienced, through the eyes of his predecessor, the first months of his life. He admits that Doumu had a somewhat dark childhood, actually.

His parents died when he was just under 2 months old, victims of an epidemic outbreak that occurred in the region over a decade ago.

Doumu was born with a lower weight than other premature children, and he also fell ill during this epidemic outbreak, showing severe symptoms of flu and fever. Things like this are often fatal in such small children. However, he seemed to persevere.

As he grew, Doumu gradually exhibited a height and weight slightly below those of other 12-year-olds. However, he did not become more tiny and frail than he already was just because, in the first two years of his life and even before the death of his parents, he started being fed with an infant formula that his mother bought, as she ended up deciding to follow a pediatrician's recommendation.

Infant formula is an artificial food that serves to complement or replace breast milk when the mother cannot feed the child or when the milk is insufficient. It is a thing enriched with certain types of vitamins and nutrients that are important for the growth of babies.

And in the moments after her parents death, Suzume was gradually trying to figure out how she should look for a job and, most importantly, how she would take care of the main needs of a small child.

Thus, according to what he was observing, Doumu saw that the early years of Doumu's childhood were shared with a person who basically knew nothing about how to take care of children. For this reason, some scenes emerged that Doumu admits were funny.

In one of these incidents, a 4-year-old Doumu took his sister's lipstick when she wasn't paying attention and, imagining himself as a great artist, began painting the walls with a carmine red lipstick before drawing mustaches on his sister's face while she slept.

In Japan, the salary is calculated per hour worked and varies according to several factors, such as the region, the province, the shift, the worker's gender, and age. Since Biei is a city where most of the work is agricultural and is a place widely visited by tourists, Suzume has already found work in some parts of this city, working in different places at different times. But, currently, she no longer works in Biei. At the beginning of the year, she somehow managed to get a job at a zoo.

Moreover, the overtime hours worked are paid with an additional amount on top of the normal hourly wage, and this additional amount depends on the excess period of work. The additional value for up to 60 overtime hours per month is 25%, more than 60 hours worked per month is 50%, night work between 10:00 P.M. and 5:00 A.M. has an additional value of 25%, work during holidays has an extra value of 35%, and, in addition, working both overtime and night shifts has an additional value that varies from 50% to 75%.

Japanese legislation also stipulates that workers must have a 30-minute rest period after 6 hours of continuous work and a one-hour break per day. The standard work week in Japan is 40 hours, with a maximum of 8 hours per day. However, unofficial overtime is very common around here, and companies often expect employees to work beyond the standard hours.

Doumu's older sister has worked overtime several times, and there have been moments when she left her younger brother home alone.

And Doumu admits that he is a bit terrified by the behavior that the child's sister has decided to take. He remembers reading somewhere that small children can die if they don't have human contact for a long time, but he really doesn't know if it's true.

Since the moment his consciousness entered the body of this unsocial blind teenager, Doumu, who is now trying to adapt to living someone else's life, has not been to school for exactly three weeks. However, today is October 13, 2003, a Monday, and Doumu will return to school today, and he decided to go before 8:00 A.M.

Using the principle En, Doumu moved his head back, focusing on the circular plastic clock that was located on one of the kitchen walls. With his omniscience, he noticed the movement of the clock's hands. According to what he perceived before his En dissipated, the current time was 07:12 A.M.

Doumu got up, grabbing his cane and feeling the carpet, as he stepped on the directional-shaped reliefs, heading towards the bathroom. Slowly, he climbed the steps of a staircase and walked down a corridor before turning left, where his feet stepped on a synthetic fiber carpet. Moving his fingers along the door, his fingers touched a plaque that had the word "bathroom" written in Tenji.

Tenji is a tactile writing system that transcribes Japanese in a way similar to hiragana or katakana. It is based on the original braille, but with some differences. This tactile writing does not have a contracted form, like European Braille. Each word and clause is separated by a blank cell, which makes reading and comprehension easier. The vowels are written in the upper right corners and can be used alone, while the consonants are written in the lower right corner and cannot occur alone.

Moving his arm in front of him until his hand reached the doorknob, Doumu turned the knob and pushed the door open, entering the bathroom. His bare feet touched a ceramic floor, which was a bit cold to the touch.

Going to a sliding door, he slid the door open horizontally before entering and taking off his glasses, shirt, coat, pants, and underwear, placing all these things in a plastic basket. Raising his arm with his cane in hand, he moved his arm until he felt where the shower faucet was, before placing his cane in the basket with the clothes and turning on the shower.

Feeling the cold water on his body, Doumu felt a momentary shiver before turning off the shower about a minute later. Then, he rubbed soap over his body before washing himself again.

A few minutes later, Doumu stepped out of the shower with his body and hair covered in towels. Going to his room, he picked up some clothes that were on a hanger.

When he left the room, Doumu was dressed in a gakuran, which are basically the pieces of clothing that make up a male school uniform used in elementary school and the first phase of high school in Japan. It was a long-sleeved black shirt with a high collar, with cufflinks on the shirt cuffs and five golden buttons that fastened the shirt. Inside his shirt, he wore a white dress shirt, and he had a black belt hidden under the shirt, which held up his pants. Doumu was wearing a pair of yellow sneakers, with white sports socks that went up to his ankles. On his back, he had a randoseru, a traditional Japanese school backpack - and his backpack looked a bit worn, however. And on his face, in front of his eyes with closed eyelids and over his short nose, remained a pair of sunglasses with half-moon-shaped lenses.

With half a sandwich bitten in his mouth and a cane guiding him, Doumu left his house, heading towards his school, and activated En halfway. As he walked through the streets of Biei, Doumu kept walking on the sidewalk and stopped immediately when cars started passing through the streets.

When the next cars stopped passing through the street, Doumu walked across the crosswalk until he reached the sidewalk on the opposite side of the street. Turning right, he walked for the next few minutes until he reached the walls of a building, the primary school he attends.

With his hearing, Doumu heard some brief whispers as he continued walking, but he stopped and grumbled, a bit uncomfortable, when an arm wrapped around his neck. Doumu pushed the glasses with his index finger before they fell to the ground, bringing them closer to his face.

"Fukuda, for the love of everything sacred in this world crafted by the unparalleled wisdom and the inexhaustible love of God, stay away from me before I kick you."

"Oh, but do you think you could make that kick, Ohno?" The voice of Fukuda Manabu, a boy of medium height with neatly trimmed and styled hair, a student who wore the same male school uniform as Doumu, said in an ironic tone, smiling conspiratorially.

"I always believed that genius was present in your blood, my friend. However, that genius does not circulate." Doumu said in response, in a mocking tone.

"You... are you saying I'm stupid?" Asked Manabu, confused.

"If you managed to understand that, it might be because your neurons took more than a decade to start exercising and running through the extensive marathon of knowledge. Finally, your hamster brain inside there learned how to run on a wheel. Therefore, I give you my sincerest congratulations."

"Ah, thank you! I started reading the dictionary, so now I found out what some of the things you told me mean." Said Manabu, smiling a triumphant smile.

Doumu remained silent but smiled a small smile and walked with Manabu through the hallways of their school while they talked.

"... But you are really okay, right, Ohno?" Manabu asked, probably looking at him with concern, given what his tone of voice indicated.

"I'm fine, Fukuda, don't worry." Doumu replied calmly, even though he still felt some discomfort being called by that name. "Now, I am visually impaired. However, my daily life hasn't changed as much as I imagined it would. I'm still trying to live the same way as before, but there will always be differences, of course. I won't be able to read manga, unfortunately."

"Is this something really serious, then?" Manabu said, thoughtful, before shouting, excited. "Ah, could I read the manga to you? Like, I could tell you everything that happens on each page! So, you could imagine what happens a little more... Uh, what's the word? Ah, a little more easily."

"Not a bad idea, honestly." Doumu said, smiling. "That is a benign gesture."

In the classroom, Manabu sat in his respective place, which was practically next to Doumu's chair and desk. After guiding Doumu to the chair, when he ended up going in the opposite direction, Manabu took something from his bag and placed it on Doumu's desk. Hearing the sound of an object hitting his desk, Doumu raised his right arm and ran his fingers over the object, and upon touching it, he quickly realized that this book was a manga.

"Is this a new one?" Doumu asked, his voice brimming with curiosity.

"Yes, it's a new one. Actually, I bought this one here two weeks ago, but I haven't read it completely yet." Explained Manabu.

"But which manga is that, Fukuda? Is it one of the ones I know?" Doumu asked, with a bit of interest..

"Well, this... That one is volume 18 of Hunter x Hunter."