The Day I Woke Up as a Second Year High Schooler
If you told someone you returned to being a second-year high schooler after waking up one day, I wonder who would believe you. However, the scene that was currently in front of my eyes, was the familiar scene of my high school cla.s.sroom. I thought I might have still been sleeping, but it looks pretty real.
… This is weird. I was supposed to go to work tomorrow, but I didn"t want to go, or so I thought when I went to bed.
"Sanada, can you lend me a bit of lead?"
Someone pulled on my uniform from the seat next to me. Uwah, so nostalgic! It"s Fujimoto! It"s the Fujimoto that I haven"t met even once after graduating.
"Yo, Fujimoto. Really, long time no see."
"Yeah, long time no see. Since you started sleeping until you woke up just now, it"s been about 20 minutes."
This type of playing along, it really is the real Fujimoto.
"Sitting in the seat next to you like this in cla.s.s… it"s been about 2 years now, right?"
While I said that, I pulled out my cell phone from my pockets and check the date. It was April 24th, 10 years ago.
This, is real. I mean, look, this is the old cellphone that I used until graduation. I can flip it around a bunch… I can really feel the times. My conscious, still intact returned to my second year of high school… I"ve time leaped.
"Hey, Sanada. What are you staring at on your cell phone? Hiiragi-chan is looking this way. Don"t bring out your cell phone right now, alright?"
"Hiiragi-chan? Uwa, so nostalgic. It"s the Hiiragi-chan who taught world history."
In front of the blackboard, there was a young female teacher writing on the board with chalk. It was Hiiragi Haruka, Hiiragi Haruksensei. Or Hiiragi-chan for short. She had on a grey cardigan, a blouse, with jeans underneath, and her black hair was tied into a ponytail.
Actually, I liked Hiiragi-chan during my three years of high school. I didn"t just admire her, I was seriously in love. I never told anyone about it, and I didn"t have the courage to confess even until graduation. But, the love of a poor high school student is just such a thing. Probably. Moreover, the other person was a teacher. There"s no way that could be allowed.
She looked back towards us over her shoulder.
I hurriedly put my cell phone back into the pocket of my uniform.
W-what should I do? Our eyes met. Why, why am I at such a loss? Am I a virgin… Ah, I am, actually…
What was currently conscious was the me that was a young man in society, but it could still easily be said that Sanada Seiji from before the time leap was still the high school boy that liked Hiiragi-chan. The mind of an adult man. The body of a child in p.u.b.erty. It seems that the reaction from the body is stronger than that of what"s on the inside. That"s why my heart was currently pounding. My face was also probably red. Because of that, I remembered the feelings of love that I had forgotten.
"Alright, hand over some lead", Fujimoto said as if he was a delinquent, as he took my pen and took some lead.
After that, as I dazed off without taking notes until the chime rang to signify the end of cla.s.s.
"Sanadsan, please come to the staff room later." Hiiragi-chan said in a slightly bad mood and left the cla.s.sroom.
"Ah~ ah~, your cell phone is going to be confiscated." Fujimoto gave me a light pat on the shoulder as he said that happily.
I quickly chased after Hiiragi-chan and called out. "Sensei, is there is something you need?"
"It isn"t, do you need something, is it? Now. Bring it out."
"Bring it out? What?"
"Cellphone. You were using it, right? You can bring it, but touching it during cla.s.s against the rules. It will be confiscated until after school. Now, come back to me to pick up after school."
I ignored what she was saying and stared at her. Light makeup, as I thought, she"s cute.
"What? Why are you staring?"
"Ah, nothing…"
Come on, hurry, Hiiragi-chan urged me.
Being unable to confess, I ended up regretting it. It was so clear after graduating, I don"t even know what I"m doing right now. She might even be married, and she may even have children.
The second time going through my second year of high school.
—Currently, that person was in front of me.
I won"t regret it like last time again. If I wake up tomorrow, I might return to working day after day again after all. If that"s the case, it might also be possible that I might be in bed the next moment.
Right now. I can only do this now. I already don"t care if it"s a dream.
I put my cellphone into Hiiragi-chan"s hand and held on.
"S-sensei! Umm! I like you———"
I-I ended up saying iiiittttt. Uuuaaaaahhhhhh! I-it"s so embarra.s.sing I could die! My face is completely red, even I know that…
"… Sorry, what did you just say…?"
It"s the pattern where she didn"t hear it!? T-t-take two. You can do it. There was no turning back. If I pull back here, I"ll don"t think I"ll ever be able to bring up the courage again!
Hiiragi-chan waited for my words as she continued to look straight at me.
Ah, dammit. So cute.
"I said! Sensei… Ummm… no, it"s… nothing…"
"Really…?"
I wanted to bow down and apologize, and just melt right there in the hallway…
"Sorry, my hand, will you let go of it?"
"Ah. I"m really sorry…"
It"s over. My second youth ended so quickly. I already don"t have anything left here, so please return me to my original self.
It seems I can"t return so easily. I dropped my shoulders. Looking at me weirdly, Hiiragi-chan said, see you after school, and walked down the stairs. I don"t even remember how to return to the cla.s.sroom.
"Sanada? Is it really such a shock to have your cell phone taken away?"
I was just able to manage as Fujimoto came over and shook my shoulders.
After school, I have to go to the staff room to see Hiiragi-chan again. What face should I make when I see her? Since she didn"t hear, is it alright if I acted like it didn"t happen…? I continued to s.p.a.ce out and think as I welcomed the end of school. It all pa.s.sed by in a blink of an eye as I sat through cla.s.s without even listening to a single part of it.
See you later, Fujimoto said as he went to his club. Not knowing what att.i.tude was the correct att.i.tude I should have, I held my bag in my hand and headed towards the staff room.
There were a few people inside the staff room, but it was generally pretty quiet. When I looked and found Hiiragi-chan, she gave a small wave from her seat.
Cute.
Although she didn"t hear my confession that I had brought out with the most courage I had ever had.
Cute.
I gave a slight bow and walk over to her. She pulls out a seat next to her and motions.
"Sit down."
"Yes."
I wonder if I"ll be scolded.
"Here, these are some manjuus that Sakai-sensei had brought as souvenirs, but since there"s extra… you can have it."
Sakai-sensei is my homeroom teacher.
Hiiragi-chan held out a manjuu to me. I wonder why. It"s just this but I"m already really happy. It"s just one manjuu. I"m really such an easy man.
While I was deeply impressed by the manjuu, Hiiragi-chan pulled out my cellphone and returned it to me.
"You know, I don"t do this because I like it alright? I don"t really like being strict after all. Although if a teacher hears this they"ll probably get mad at me. …But, rules are rules. From now on, be careful. You hear?" She tilted her head a little bit as she peeked at me. There was a nice clean smell of shampoo. After that, she looked around once and then whispered into my ear. "I didn"t tell Sakai-sensei, so it"s alright."
"S-sensei. Is it alright if I come again after school?" Leaving it up to the heat of the moment, this was my last bit of struggling. I hope she"ll forgive this much.
Hiiragi-chan made a blank face and then gave a teasing laugh. "It"ll probably be alright if you don"t come I think."
"What?"
"Now, there"s nothing else that I need to say. Go home go home. I"m very busy after all."
Hiiragi-chan suddenly started acting like a teacher. (Well, even if I say that, she is a teacher.)
But, I was happy nonetheless.
Did something good happen? Without understanding Hiiragi-chan"s true intentions, I left the staff room.
After leaving school, I returned home. As expected, it was still the same road to my parent"s house and the same old room that I lived in at the time. I flipped open my phone and saw that it displayed the notification of [1 new message]. Everything related to this cell phone is so nostalgic. I wondered who it was as I went to the messages screen. At the top was the unread mail.
[Hiiragi Haruka]
What!? Why!? I don"t know her mail address or her phone number. But, there was [Hiiragi Haruka] in my address book. The phone number and mail address were both properly recorded as well.
… Did she do this while it was confiscated?
Hiiragi-chan recorded her own mail address and phone number into my cell phone. As my heart pounded, I opened the mail.
[Thank you for your confession to me!]
She did hear it!
So when she asked "What did you just say…?", she was just confirming…? She didn"t mean it as, I didn"t hear it so please say it one more time? Really? Does that mean… When I said it was nothing, she was a little bit disappointed?
Hiiragi-chan"s message had a few emojis in it and it was somewhat cute.
[I thought about it a little bit, but I thought I would send it through mail. It"s okay.]
Oh?
It"s fine through mail?
Okay??
Okaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyy!?
… For now, I made a guts pose.