This chapter is brought to you by Chimera by aeseaes. 

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The body he possessed was about to turn eight. It had been midsummer when Nine first woke up in this world. A year has almost gone by and he lived through several seasons. 

The seasons here were exactly as seasons were described in the history books. The interstellar era lacked seasonal changes since most civilizations have managed to maintain temperatures across large settlements. 

Summer was hot, but nothing compared to volcanic planets. Autumn felt colder and the woman who was now his mother made sure he wore a jacket when he went out to help the harvest. 

In the winter, Nine saw snow for the first time. 

All the villagers moved into a community hut and waited for spring. Children were occasionally outside to play in the snow, but the warm hearth in the center of the hut made many, including Nine, reluctant to go out. 

The food that was preserved during the harvest was rationed out and everyone had their own share. 

"Would you like to hold her?"

There was a tiny bundle wrapped in a blanket in the arms of a woman who often gave him milk and bread on his way to work. 

The creature made a noise and Nine flinched. 

The woman giggled and Nine looked at her with wide eyes. 

"Come on, now, Toby. Hold out your arms." 

Nine held out his arms and the creature was plopped into them. 

There was a face that looked a lot like a human, but small and wiggly like a worm. The creature opened its mouth and all he saw were pink gums. 

"... No teeth?" Nine asked, confused. 

The woman giggled again, and this time, the surrounding people who had been watching, joined her. 

"Not yet," she said with a smile. 

Nine was holding a baby. 

He had never seen a baby before. It was different, seeing children through the lenses of an adult. He grew up with friends and comrades, but never were they allowed to mingle with younger or older children. 

The baby felt fragile in his arms. Nine could snap it in two easily. How could a creature like this survive outside an incubation room? 

It suddenly made a shrieking noise and Nine nearly dropped it. 

His head snapped to the woman, the mother of the baby, in panic. 

The baby shrieked again, and Nine didn't know what to do. 

Instinctively, he made a rumbling noise in his chest, similar to the cats he saw wandering the farms. He found the sound particularly soothing when they approached him for food. 

Why there were cats in this village and not being utilized to their full potential for pest control, Nine didn't know. 

It did allow the job market to open up for children like him, though, and he was thinking of buying a gift for this body's mother.

 Perhaps a hairpin of some kind? He noticed she wore the same hair stick every day. 

The baby stopped shrieking when Nine made the noise. It blinked at him. Nine blinked back.

He did it again. 

The surrounding people made noises akin to screaming, but it wasn't in alarm or anything. Nine couldn't be bothered by it. The baby in his arms felt more like a bomb and was therefore the first thing he needed to take care of. 

Everything else could wait until later. 

---

Fiamma's son was a strange boy. 

After his head injury, the child was quieter than he should be. 

It was concerning, at first, to see a boy who was once so rambunctious and loud turn quiet and reserved. 

But Toby was a good boy. While he spoke so little now, he made it up with his hard work and his kindness. 

Ula smiled as she watched the way the boy held her daughter. 

The children have been gravitating toward him since midsummer. They liked the way he listened and the way he engaged with them. He allowed them to drag him around, and he was patient. Whatever the children wanted, be that a game, a treat, or companionship, he generously gave them their heart desires. 

No child was like Toby. He was like a little adult, and while Ula found that sad, especially after his father's disappearance, Fiamma might have appreciated his maturity. 

Several of the mothers squealed at the sight of Toby holding her daughter. 

He was every bit like a kitten as he made rumbling noises to settle down her baby. 

But then the other children noticed and they wanted Toby's attention as well.

There was a hint of unwillingness in the boy's eyes as he handed her daughter back to her.

Ula made a mental note to talk to Fiamma about babysitting duties. 

---

The frost melted and spring had come. 

Gradually, the villagers started to leave the community hut.

Nine and his new mother moved back to theirs. 

"Toby."

A gentle voice called beside him. 

It was dark out and Nine was watching the sky in a daze. 

The moon was so bright. He had not seen the bright moon in months. 

"Are you watching the stars?" The woman asked with a smile. 

Nine shook his head.

He was watching the moon. 

The woman sighed. It wasn't a sad sigh, rather, she sounded wistful. "Those are ancient lights, Toby. Even when you're old and grey, they will still be there." 

Nine peered into the darkness, at the stars. 

Stars were... irrelevant in the interstellar age. 

Space travel had made them insignificant. Their beauty, their light, it didn't matter in the face of war and technological advancement. 

But from where he stood, the stars shined brighter than anything Nine had ever seen. 

---

Summer was drawing close and Nine was once again working as a mouser. 

He stared at the group of children without a word, then turned to Eru with a look of betrayal.

Eru laughed. 

"Come on, Toby. They're your apprentices now." 

The children were staring at him in awe. 

There were four of them. Two were twins, sons of the baker. One was the son of a herdsman, and another belonged to a family of seamstresses. 

Eru gave him a pat on the back and some words of encouragement before he left. 

"... How old?" 

The children cocked their heads in unison. 

Nine pursed his lips. 

"Age." 

They all simultaneously looked at their fingers and started to count. 

Nine closed his eyes. 

---

Aur watched with amusement as Toby walked through the market with his extra... tails.

The recently turned eight-year-old looked like an exhaustive mother of four. 

The actual mothers of the children stood around her fruit stand chatting with each other. 

Occasionally, they would look at their sons following after Toby and then burst out laughing. 

It was cute. 

The kid was awfully cute despite being so reserved and quiet, and he was very gentle and patient with the babies. 

The children looked up to Toby. 

Many of the adults in the village boasted about how fast it took him to catch mice and praised him for his work, so the other children idolized him. 

Toby used to be the youngest of the mousers. Many of the children close to his age were already growing too big for the job, so he had been working by himself for the last three summers. Now there were plenty more little mousers looking to catch mice after all the stories about him. 

"Aur." 

Toby brought the children in front of their mothers and greeted her. 

Aur smiled and gave them some apples. 

---

Nine shoved the mice into a bag. 

He had managed to catch several who had snuck into Eru's barn last night. 

"Toby, Toby! Look! I found three!"

Up on a beam, Otto, the herdsman's son, was holding three mice by their tails and swinging them around. 

He was on all fours, crawling on the beams to look for mice on the upper parts of the wall. 

Nine nodded and opened the bag, gesturing for him to drop them in. 

Otto giggled and did so. 

"Catch, Toby--"

Nine's eyes widened as he watched Otto's hand slip. 

The boy started to fall--

"Ahhh!" 

Instinct took hold and he dropped the bag of mice.

It didn't matter if any of them escaped.

Otto was falling.

He was falling...!

"Oomph!"

A child half his size slammed into him. 

Nine's head smacked against a stack of hay. 

"Ah..."

Otto stared at him. 

Nine stared back. 

"Mmmmghh... Wahhhh..."

He sighed. 

Wrapping his arms around the boy, he quietly shushed him and ignored the pain he felt all over his body. 

Everything hurt. 

This body was not made to be a cushion. 

The noises attracted Quin, Juno, and Sept into the barn. The three of them were working outside to check for any damage the mice had made in the walls. 

When they found their friend crying on top of Toby, who was on the ground, they thought he was dead.

"Eruuuuu!!!!" 

The three of them ran screaming for a responsible adult. 

Not for the first time since Nine met these boys, he closed his eyes and sighed. 

---

The village was preparing for the midsummer festival. 

Nine had missed it last year due to his head injury. It was his first time seeing so much chaos happening all at once. 

There was a man on a horse who rode through town. He was dressed in all black and had a message to deliver to the village chief. 

---

"Toby," Fiamma approached her son carefully. 

"Mama?"

She hugged her son and laid a kiss on his forehead. 

"Listen to me, love. Whatever happens, always know Mama loves you." 

Her son nodded. 

He spoke so little but he listened so well. Her precious baby. 

She wanted to cry. 

"Take the children to the river tonight. It is tradition for children to go there until sunrise. As the oldest, you must take care of them, alright?" 

Toby had memory problems ever since the head injury, and Fiamma felt cruel for taking advantage of that.

Her son nodded again, and she hugged him even tighter. 

---

There were people on horseback approaching the village. 

Nine could see them on the horizon as he made his way to the river.

He was holding a baby in his arms. Ula's daughter. 

Around him, there were eight other children--including his fellow mousers. 

In total, he was responsible for six little boys, two little girls, and a baby. 

This should be fun. 

He was still reeling at the fact that he was suddenly being entrusted with even more children and taking them on a trip to a river--

Nine paused. 

He saw smoke rising into the sky.

The village was on fire. 

---

[....... In the fifty-ninth year of the Interstellar Calendar of ZEFRE-2B9, Day 22, there has been a disturbance in Soldier 9A1420H5 -ZT4's consciousness. Extraction of his consciousness from <<redacted>> will be pending .......]

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The author has something to say:

A little late, but according to my timezone, it's still November 3. Anyway, I have never speedrun time skips before, but I'm starting to understand why some writers like it. I feel very empowered. 

Anyway, oh no, whatever shall happen to our characters???