Chapter 1
"Mm?"
When I woke up in the morning, I felt something was off.
This wasn't my usual futon. But there was a familiar scent in the air.
"Huh... is this a hotel? That’s strange. I wasn’t supposed to be on a business trip yesterday..."
I forced my groggy mind to work. As I looked around, I realized the room was one I recognized.
"This is... my room...?"
I was lying on the bed in my childhood room at my parents' house.
Why? I only come home during Obon and New Year's.
"Hurry up or your breakfast will get cold!"
With the sound of footsteps quickly climbing the stairs, I heard my mother’s voice.
Yeah. It really feels like my parents’ house.
"Mom, why am I back at the family home?"
"The family home? Stop being sleepy and go wash your face."
From the other side of the door, I could hear my mother’s footsteps as she confirmed I was awake and then went back down the stairs.
"Huh? My body feels light."
The fatigue from work had completely disappeared. Even the severe shoulder pain was gone.
And I was really hungry. Normally, I couldn’t eat much for breakfast due to indigestion, but now I could probably devour a steak without a problem.
It was strange, but there was something odd about this.
With a puzzled tilt of my head, I headed to the bathroom on the first floor.
After washing my face, I wiped it with a towel, and as I tried to fix my bedhead, I looked into the mirror.
"Huh?"
The mirror reflected my childlike self.
My height, which had been nearly 180 cm, was now only about 160 cm, and my face looked youthful.
My chin was smooth, without even a trace of stubble.
The muscles I had worked hard to build at the gym to avoid gaining weight had disappeared.
This is... me from high school... no, from middle school...?
"No, no, no... no, no, no, no..."
What is this?! Is this a dream?!
But it felt too real. The coldness of the water when I washed my face, the texture of the towel—there's no way this could be a dream.
"Ma-kun, what are you doing? Hurry up or you'll be late for school!"
As I was pinching my cheek, my mother, holding a ladle, came into the room.
"!?"
My mother had also become younger.
She had always looked about ten years younger than her actual age, but now there were no wrinkles, and not a single strand of white hair.
"Y-young again, Mom?"
"Oh, you noticed? I changed my toner. I can't believe you noticed before Dad did."
"D-Dad!?"
No way... I hurried toward the living room where the dining table was. And I gasped.
"Ah... I don't want to go to work..."
My father, who was supposed to have died, was eating breakfast. He was silently munching on his food like a squirrel, exuding a negative aura.
My father had passed away from an illness five years ago. And now, here he was, alive and well.
"I wonder if I should take the day off... I think I have a fever. Maybe I should just take the day off..."
"You can't skip work. You're the president, so you have to set a good example for everyone."
It was a scene I had seen countless times when I was a child. My negative father and my positive mother.
"Come on, Ma-kun, eat your breakfast! Your body is your foundation as a student preparing for exams!"
"Ex-exam student? Me?"
"Are you still sleepy? Oh, that's right. You got your career preference survey, didn't you? Don’t forget to turn it in."
"...................."
My head felt like it was going to explode. With unsteady steps, I returned to my room and grabbed my cell phone, which was lying next to my bed.
My phone wasn’t a smartphone anymore; it had reverted to an old black flip phone.
The date displayed on the screen of the flip phone was November 25th, 2008.
That meant I was now in my third year of middle school.
Desperately forcing down the rising bile, I whispered with trembling lips.
"I've gone back in time..."
＊ ＊ ＊
"Sorry, teacher. It seems like I've caught a cold."
I couldn’t fully grasp this bizarre situation right away, so I decided to take the day off from school for now.
I never thought I’d be skipping school at this age. After finishing the call with my middle school homeroom teacher on my flip phone, I took a slow, deep breath.
"Alright. I’ve calmed down a bit."
Well, not exactly calm. My hands were still shaking, and my heart was racing with cold sweat pouring down. But I had to tell myself that, or I felt like I was going to lose it.
First, I needed to organize the situation.
It was November 25th, 2008.
In my room, I saw a PSP with Monster Hunter in it on my bed. A CRT TV that didn’t support digital broadcasting. Beneath the TV, there was a VHS player and a slim PS2.
Riiip.
My tacky Velcro wallet contained only 6,000 yen, and for some reason, there was a 2,000 yen bill mixed in.
And there were no signs of a time machine or anything like that. In fact, the fact that I’d become younger meant it wasn’t time travel. It was a time leap.
I then decided to look for a way to return to my original timeline.
I tried going back to sleep.
I tried playing the online game that had been shut down, the one I had unfinished business with.
I even shouted "Time, rewind!" while holding my flip phone.
But none of these things worked, and before I knew it, it was evening.
"Caught a cold? Get better soon."
I received a message from my middle school friend, Tamura, so I replied, "I caught something worse than a cold," and he replied, "Is it the flu?" with concern.
It felt nostalgic and a little lonely. I realized that we hadn’t hung out since we went to different high schools.
"...I guess I'll go for a walk."
Staying in my room wasn’t going to lead to any answers. Besides, I was starting to feel down.
I threw on my coat and went outside.
The landscape of 2008 didn’t look all that different from today, but there were two major differences.
The first was that there were fewer people wearing masks.
That was probably because the novel coronavirus hadn’t spread yet in this era.
And the second difference was that there were no people walking while looking at smartphones. Instead, everyone was holding flip phones.
Smartphones had already been released, but it seemed they wouldn’t start becoming widespread in Japan for a little while longer.
"I really did time leap, huh?"
After walking for about 30 minutes, I stopped at the bridge connecting to the neighboring town.
I leaned my arm on the railing of the bridge and gazed at the river. The winter wind cut through me, making me shiver.
".................."
I might never be able to return to the present. As I stared at my reflection in the surface of the river, I couldn’t help but think that.
"…Come to think of it, I haven’t tried this..."
I climbed up onto the bridge’s railing and looked down at the river. It seemed it had rained yesterday; the water level was a bit high and muddy.
It’s a common trope, right? Time travel happens when you’re faced with death.
If I jumped from here, maybe I’d return to the future?
In stories like The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, characters often leap or dive into water when time traveling.
"…………Just kidding."
That’s ridiculous. What if I really died?
My body was getting cold, so I decided to head back for now and think of another way.
Just as I was about to step down from the railing, I heard a voice from behind.
"What are you doing?"
It was a voice I recognized, but with a slightly more childish tone than I was used to.
Standing there was a middle school girl.
She had semi-long silver hair and a light blue hairpin.
She was small in stature, with a modest chest and a slender body.
Her eyes were a cold, icy blue.
Dressed in a blazer, she had a large schoolbag slung over her back.
She was a girl I had never seen before. But her voice, her expression—everything in my instincts told me it was her.
"Y...Yuki...?"
Standing there was my middle school wife.
"How do you know my name? Have we met somewhere?"
She tilted her head with a puzzled expression.
It really was Yuki. My middle school Yuki!
Tears welled up in my eyes. Maybe it was because I was younger now, but I felt like my tear ducts were more sensitive.
".................."
As I tried to hold back my tears, she walked up to me and peered down at the river below.
"If you're thinking of committing suicide, don’t bother. You probably won’t die from this height. You’ll just break your legs or something."
"Huh? Su... suicide!?"
It seemed she had mistaken me for someone contemplating suicide.
Well, I couldn’t blame her. It was midwinter, with a swollen river below. I was standing on the railing of the bridge. To anyone else, I probably looked like a typical suicide candidate.
"You’re about the same age as me, right? Are you tired from studying for exams? Or did you get bullied?"
"N-No, that’s not it..."
"Hmm. Well, I don’t really care. I’m about to take my exams soon. So, could you not show me anything so ominous?"
Something ominous... an exam student... Ah, she means I’ll fail.
She scratched the back of her hand and sighed as if annoyed.
Her demeanor was blunt, but it seemed like she was actually worried about me on the inside.
She had a habit of scratching the back of her hand when she was anxious. Apparently, that habit had been with her since she was a child.
"Are you sure you’re not going to jump anymore?"
"Ah... yeah."
"Good. Then, hurry up and go home."
She let out a relieved sigh and started walking toward the station.
"Wait, hold on."
"？ What?"
Before I realized it, I had stopped her from leaving.
But I couldn’t find the words. There were so many things I wanted to say.
We had talked every day for years after we got married.
The words that finally came out of my mouth were like something an awkward middle schooler would say when trying to flirt.
"…So, what high school are you applying to?"
"？ Shichibō Academy. I was on my way back from a school tour today."
The school she mentioned was, as I had heard from her in the future, one of the most prestigious schools in the Kanto region.
She would be entering there soon and graduating as the valedictorian.
"Is that all? Then I’ll be going."
Watching her walk away, I stood there for a while, stunned.
I was surprised I had met her. But that wasn’t all.
"Middle school Yuki... she was so cute."
I had seen the adult Yuki many times, but the middle school version of her had a different charm.
She wasn’t beautiful, but the word “cute” felt more fitting.
"I want to meet her again..."
I murmured this without realizing it.
"Thank you for the meal."
After coming home and having dinner, I returned to my room and pulled a sheet of paper from my school bag.
It was the career preference survey form.
The high school I graduated from was Miyakumo High School, a decent school about five stations away. It was a reasonably competitive school.
I didn’t have a girlfriend, but I was able to spend a somewhat enjoyable student life with my male friends.
The first-choice section was blank. What should I write here?
"............................"
This was the turning point.
If I didn’t write Miyakumo High School here, I would undoubtedly walk a completely different path than the one I had in my previous life.
I wasn’t free of fear.
There was a chance I might regret it, thinking my previous life was better.
But──
I gripped the pen tightly.
"If you ever go back to the past, you’ll confess to me over and over again, as many times as it takes. And then, you’ll teach me what youth is like."
The words of future Yuki echoed in my mind.
Could it be that this time leap was meant to fulfill her wish?
Why did I return to the winter of my third year in middle school? On the exact day I was supposed to decide my future.
The reason for this was surely──
"I’ll do it."
By the time I realized it, the fear had disappeared.
What remained in my heart was just one thing. The desire to meet her again.
I scribbled the name of the high school on the career preference survey form.
Masaomi Suzuhara. College-bound.
First choice: Shichibō Academy.
Reason for preference: Because my wife is there.
