Chapter 287: Time to go home.

Krista sat in silence as she watched Haru leave through the front door, not daring to stop him out of fear that he would never come back at all. He quite clearly needed time to himself, and she didn't blame him for that. It was her idea that he came back and lived with them.

She even avoided pushing him to go out, so in turn, he decided to stay indoors for nearly a month before Luke asked him to work at the cafe. It was only natural that he felt a little tired of being around them if he was with them twenty-four seven.

She figured that he would probably come back after a couple of hours and therefore left him to do whatever he wanted. But little did she know that Haru had different plans. He felt as though his life was falling apart around him.

Not only did he lose his friends and the woman that he loved, but he felt like his parents were slowly becoming an obstacle for him. At first, it was nice to have them around, but as time went on, he grew tired of their nagging and criticism.

The police trying to arrest him was just the icing on the cake. He needed a getaway. Somewhere where he felt comfortable. A place that he knew better than anyone. He thought back to how Lukes friend at the cafe had said that he should join the army.

His original plan after he reincarnated was to become the best mage that he could and then find out who was responsible for his death, but life just seemed to get in the way. And after his mana pool was destroyed, he figured that he would have to give up on that plan and become a cultivator while putting everything in the past behind him.

But now that he was back in japan and he could use magic without a mana pool, he felt as though his past was starting to haunt him little by little. Mages didn't have the same mentality as Cultivators. They were quick to battle instead of thinking about things strategically, which made him think of the day he died.

He wasn't sure what happened, but he knew that someone had betrayed him. He was in the military base, after all. There weren't any enemies nearby, and the military stated that he died in battle after his death was announced. So that meant someone high up covered it up. Haru smiled as he thought about what to do.

"I guess it's finally time to go home," Haru said to himself while walking down a street that he didn't even know the name of. He then pulled out his phone and searched for an army recruitment office. It was lucky that he was in Tokyo since there were multiple of them within the city.

Haru smiled ear to ear as he felt a sense of familiarity wash over him as he looked at the recruiting office and decided to fly towards it. He held out his phone with the GPS location on it and then flew up into the sky before racing through the city before descending outside the recruitment office and then heading inside.

As he entered, he recognised the smell of sweat that they had tried to mask with cheap perfume. It was very similar to how he remembered the barracks being the same from his previous life, and it seemed like nothing had changed, apart from the fact that there were dozens of people waiting in line to sign their life away.

'What's going on?' Haru thought to himself as he looked at the rows of people lining up and down the recruitment offices. It was as though they were lining for a new smartphone release not to join the military.

He remembered how badly they received the military and how they struggled with gaining manpower when the previous war first started, but now it seemed as though they didn't haven't that problem. But too many people were also a problem, so he felt that seeing this amount of people, they were likely to be selective on who they chose to join even if it wasn't strictly legal.

No recruiter in their right mind would want to pick up a bunch of cannon fodder to add to the casualty list if they ever tasted combat, so he figured there would be a sort of test to determine who was the best pick.

He stood in line and waited for a while before seeing people wearing officer uniforms taking people into a back room. Some of the people that they took inside didn't come out, and the ones that did had defeated expressions on their faces.

'So that's it, huh?' Haru thought before using his spiritual sense to see what was going on behind the wall.

He watched as people were taken inside and then as three soldiers rushed them from all sides before restraining them. Whoever broke free from the restraining were taken through a door at the other side, and those who failed to break free were told to go back the way they came.

'So that is what Mills meant. It seems that they have changed the requirement of joining to a test of physical strength. Mages who couldn't march long distances would slow everyone down and become a burden. And if they ran out of mana on the battlefield, they would be as good as dead.

It seems as though they have become more competent in the last forty years. But that's not too surprising.' Haru thought as he criticised the old ways of the army.

He had seen too many young mages enter the army in the past only to die because they didn't know how to fight without magic. Although Haru was previously in the same boat as them, he never had to worry about that since his mana stores were far more profound than the average persons, so he could continue to fight until he had defeated the last person.

He became an unrivalled force on the battlefield and was known all throughout the world as the great mage. So he found it pretty funny that he was now standing in line at a recruiter's office and waiting for his turn to sign up.

But with his strength now, he couldn't even begin to imagine how far his name would spread if another war broke out. But he didn't hope for that to happen.

He knew better than anyone that war only led to chaos and loss. Civilians would have their homes destroyed, and family would be ruined upon hearing that their loved ones had died in battle.

He not once hoped for war and was simply joining for the purpose of locating the person who betrayed him. Although it had forty-eight years since the day that he died, it was something that he had still yet to find out about.

And he felt as though he would find some closure once he did. So that was the main driving factor behind him leaving home and running to the army. He knew that his mother and father would both be against it. But like they had said. Since he was an adult, he could do whatever he wanted to, even if that did mean deciding to throw his life away for a meaningless cause.

Haru smiled as he knew what they would think once they found out.

'I bet they will worry a lot since they still don't understand that practically nothing can hurt me anymore. I have reached a stage where the only thing I fear is atomic bombs or new technology that I haven't seen before. But I am pretty confident that nothing on earth can hurt me anymore.' Haru boasted to himself while waiting in line and didn't notice as he reached the front of the line.

He was easily noticeable since he towered over the other people in the room, but their eyes were on him for a different reason.

"Don't you hear me? We're on a tight schedule. If you don't want to join, then go ahead and leave. But we really need to process everyone here by the end of the day." The words of a man slowly came into Haru's mind as he focused on the natural world once again.

He looked down to see a young man with a scruffy beard. Since recruiters weren't technically part of the military, they weren't required to shave their face. But to Haru, it looked strange seeing a man with a beard wearing a military uniform.

"Sir, this is your last warning. If you don't go in now, I will have to give your spot to the person behind you." The recruiter said while looking up at Haru.

"Seriously, dude? What's your issue. Don't start regretting your actions now. If you don't want to join, then move out of the way and let me go." The man who was queuing behind Haru said eagerly as he couldn't wait for his chance to join the army.

Haru smiled to himself as he knew where that type of confidence came from. He sensed the Qi flowing through the man behind him and saw that he had a lot for someone who wasn't a cultivator. It seemed like he had been excited to join the army for a while and probably practised hard for many years.

But Haru felt terrible as he sensed the murmur in the man's heart.

'Poor guy. He won't make it past the medical.' Haru thought to himself before walking on without a care in the world. He already knew what was going to happen next, so he didn't feel anxious as he approached the door that was guarded on either side by two men wearing Luxes on their wrists.

'Now that brings back memories.' Haru thought before one of the soldiers stepped aside to open the door for him. Haru stepped forward and walked through into the pitch-black room.