It"s Exactly What You"re Thinking of
After school, I left from the entrance, alone. Normally, I would wait for Sana, but today, she had some supplementary math lessons, so she told me to go home first.
Just as I left through the school gates, there was an unfamiliar elementary school student in front of me. She was wearing a UFO like yellow safety hat, while wearing a red backpack.
I wonder if she"s waiting for her sibling or something. I felt some sort of gaze on me, but I ignored it and kept walking.
"U-ummm…"
Me? Is she calling out to me? When I turned around, she was looking at me.
"Me?"
"Umm… are you, Senpai?"
"……I don"t think so."
I don"t remember having a small junior like this. The only juniors I remember having are the ones that were at my middle school when I was in my third year there.
While stammering out her words, the small kid spoke.
"Sanada… Seiji-san, right?"
"…That is right."
Huh? How does this elementary schooler know me…?
"That"s a relief…"
The little kid made a sigh of relief.
"Senpai, it"s me. Shibahara Rei." [1]
No——who is this person? She"s giving off a feeling of familiarity, but I don"t have any connections with elementary schoolers.
"I"m currently 20 and—"
"You"re lying. You could only be in 3rd grade, right?"
"Ah, I see. The high schooler senpai wouldn"t know about me."
What is this child saying? Is it just early eighth grade syndrome?
I squat down and spoke to her.
"Where"s your mother? How about your house? It"s not good to randomly talk to some stranger you know?"
"Gosh! Stop treating me like a kid!"
"I"m treating you how your supposed to be treated though."
I should start by pacifying this elementary school girl that is busy hitting me. Doing something like this by the roadside is probably going to lead to a bunch of misunderstandings.
"There"s a park over there, so let"s head over."
"P-park…?"
See. Her eyes are now shining.
What should I do to play around with this kid? I can push her around on the swing all she wants.
"A park date?"
"That"s not it, you precocious child."
As I was starting to walk away, she cautiously stretched out her hand and grabbed onto my pinky. Our steps were completely different, so I decided to walk slower. That"s right, Sana also had a period when she was like this…
"Senpai, why do you have such a faraway look in your eyes?"
"I"m reminiscing on a lost past."
She tilted her head in response. Well, of course she would. She keeps calling me Senpai, but if it"s an elementary schooler from around here, then I guess it could be a child from my alma mater.
Now that I think about it, it isn"t weird for someone to call a graduate Senpai.
"Senpai, you really haven"t changed at all."
"I haven"t changed? What have you been talking about…?"
"Don"t be surprised, please listen to what I have to say."
The tomboy elementary school girl made a serious expression, and so I stopped walking and waited for her words.
"—I, time leaped to now from ten years in the future."
Aaahh. No wonder.
"I see."
"Are you surprised? Even I can"t really believe it right now… Eeeeh, your reaction is pretty dull."
Time leap… Well, I"ve done it as well. I don"t understand how though.
Since I wasn"t surprised at all, Rei-chan became sullen.
"You see, ten years in the future, I became your junior working together with you."
"Hmm? Which means, you"re an employee at the HRG company?"
"Uuuh, not really, technically speaking, I"m just working part time…"
Part time? Working with me…? Shibahara Rei??
"Hmm? Why does the still virgin high school Senpai know about working at the HRG company?"
"Hey, you just nonchalantly dissed me there didn"t you?"
Besides, I"m probably still a virgin ten years later…
"Senpai is a young promising employee of the HRG company, that is a capable man rumored to be with the daughter of the owner. I-it"s just rumors though. Just rumors."
Rei-chan smiled as she taught me about the present. Well, that"s something that I know very well. Before my time leap, I was just an unmotivated useless employee though.
"I know. Don"t think that you"re the only one that time leaped, Rei-chan."
"Eh? No way…!?"
I made a cool expression and said it.
"It"s exactly what you"re thinking of."
"Y-you"re lying!"
"It"s not a lie!"
This isn"t really something we should be talking about in a park. So, I invited Rei-chan, who seemed to be my junior, to my house.
"S-senpai… are you planning on doing that with me…?"
Don"t say something that while blushing.
If she did time leap, then it means that she isn"t an elementary schooler on the inside. I don"t think a real elementary schooler would blush while saying something like that. It"s at the point where this time leap stuff finally feels real.
"It"s too bad. An elementary school girl is out of my range. It"ll probably end with a lot of complications after all."
Pardon the intrusion, Rei-chan said as she took off her shoes and entered.
"Senpai"s house… I"m quite, moved…"
"So you were able to properly place your shoes? Such a good kid."
I patted her on the head and made sure to treat her like a child.
"Eheheheh. Still, having Senpai compliment me like this is really nice."
I-it"s too bright—her smile is too pure.
I walked in front in order to guide her as we went upstairs and entered my room. I then told Rei-chan about myself as she drank the juice that I gave her by sucking on a straw.
The fact that I had time leaped multiple times in order to change the past and future. I explained to her how I was now dating the woman that I looked up to in the past, despite not having much interaction with her previously.
"… So that"s why… That"s why you weren"t surprised. Still, why is it that you don"t know about me then…?"
"Stop making such a sad face."
She mentioned something I expected when we were on the way back.
"While the past was changed, the future was also changed, and the members I worked part-time with have changed somewhat—that would be the most plausible explanation."
If it was someone who was working with me, there is no way that I wouldn"t remember anything after hearing their name. Rei-chan calls me Senpai, but in reality, she was probably more my subordinate.
Now that I think about it, most of the time when my time leap was released, I ended up at home. As such, I don"t know much about my work environment.
"A worker at the HRG company to a promising employee that is also rumored to be with the daughter of the company owner, I guess that"s the type of character I am."
That"s why I don"t end up meeting her in the future very much, and I didn"t meet her before my time leap either…
"Please don"t rate people like you would a rare character in a game."
As if angry, Rei-chan pouted by inflating her cheeks.
"Rumored to be with the daughter of the company owner…" I guess that"s due to Hiiragi Mama—Airi-san, finally recognizing our relationship. The requirement for my marriage and relationship with Hiiragi-chan that Airi-san proposed, was for me to either marry into family or be adopted. There was also a slightly disturbing joke that she mentioned, but let"s exclude that for now.
"Earlier Rei-chan, you called me Sanada Seiji, right?"
"Yes… That"s your full name, right?"
Which means I probably hadn"t become Hiiragi Seiji yet.
"Rei-chan, why did you end up doing a time leap?"
"I wonder that too."
"Do you have any goal or something you want to do? I mean you have the chance now to redo your elementary school years after all."
"That…"
Rei-chan took a glance at me. To try and pa.s.s the awkward gap, she sucked up the remaining juice using her straw.
In my case, I didn"t time leap because I had a goal. It was only after I time leaped that I decided to do what I could at that time. If there isn"t anything too memorable, she might not even know what she wants to do.
"Why did you go out of your way to come to my school?"
"—I-it"s already five now, so I"ll head home. I can"t have Senpai being a lolicon and kidnapper anyways…"
"Eh? Aah, okay?"
As Rei-chan picked up her backpack, she tilted a bit from the weight. Seeing that, I supported her to prevent her from falling.
"Uuu… T-thank you… very much…"
Thinking about it now, the backpack was probably heavy from the weight of textbooks held within. If my elementary school hasn"t changed, it technically shouldn"t be allowed for you to bring your textbooks home.
"It"s already kind of dark, so I"ll send you home. If you"re fine with a bike that is."
"D-doing something like that and being so kind… that"s a bad habit."
Rei-chan fumed from her nose, but didn"t seem like she was heading out.
"Are you not going home?"
"… B-being unable to read the atmosphere is another one of your terrible points, Senpai."
"I got it, I got it, I"ll—"
"Why won"t you do it with me?"
So, you wanted me to do it? Even if she"s 20 on the inside, her body was still a child.
"I told you that you were out of my ranged, didn"t I?"
I patted her on the head, grabbed the keys for my bike, and left the room.
"Come on. Let"s go."
"Uuuu… Alright…"
She just said that she was going home, why is she making such a dissatisfied face?
"Nii-san, who came?"
Sana, who had returned home, came up the stairs.
"Aaah, this child. I"m going to send her home."
"Pardon the intrusion."
"Eeeeeh!?"
Sana froze from an overload of information.
"Elementary schooler…? Girl? In your room? Sending her home?? …Kidnapping??"
Later, I"ll just make up some sort of explanation while leaving out the time leap part.
Leaving out the entrance, I placed the backpack I was given into the basket of my bike.
"Can you get on the back?"
"If it"s just this, I can…"
Rei-chan got onto the cargo rack. Once I straddled the seat, small arms hugged me at the waist.
"Please… don"t look back…"
Rei-chan said that in a quiet voice.
After twenty minutes of riding the bike, I was able to bring the young girl who had time leaped, home.
TN:
She uses the male version of I, “boku”, probably indicating her tomboyish nature. I personally don"t really know how to translate that, so I"m just going to leave this here to let people know.