CH 2

Chapter 2. [First Time School Commuting]

“Ah, my head hurts.”

I carry my school bag on my back and dizzyingly make my way to and from school.

My head is a mess.

I’m sure I’m dead. My ego is a man.

But I can’t remember my name or where I came from. My memory is also missing many other things.

On the other hand, I can easily recall the memories of my life as a girl.

I can’t remember what it feels like to be a girl, but I can remember what it feels like to be a man.

“I feel like I’ve been dreaming for a long time. No, it’s more like a dream.

I have no idea why I’m in this state.

Did I become a ghost after I died and possess this girl?

“But, well, that’s a minor problem! Yeah!”

I put on my wireless earphones and let the music play.

It’s a VTuber’s song feed.

“Ah, happiness. I can’t believe I get to see a VTuber’s delivery again. I can’t believe I can listen to it. As long as I have this, I don’t care about the crowded trains every morning, late-night overtime work, or the current incomprehensible situation!”

I walk around while operating the smartphone in my hand.

Can you say “Imadoki”?

Even elementary school students seem to have smartphones.

And from what I remember, they are allowed to bring them to school under the guise of contacting their parents.

“As for me, I’m so thankful for it. …… Damn it, damn it, damn it. All the videos I’ve already watched are showing up in my recommendations. It’s hard to organize. Aaaaah! Heeeeyyyy!Advertisement? It’s an ad! It’s not premium!”

I screamed as I navigated through the smartphone application for the video-sharing service “MyTube”.

Because I couldn’t remember the name of the account I used in my previous life, I had to re-register from scratch. It’s a lot of work.

I’ll have to register again as a premium user to get my human rights.

But I don’t have a credit card! I have it in my wallet. I’m in elementary school, right?

I’ll have to ask my mother to withdraw my New Year’s money.

“Oh, shit, if I could remember. That would solve everything.”

Why are my memories of this and that slipping away? I can only vaguely remember when I died.

Is this also called dissociative amnesia?

While spinning these thoughts around and around, I keep moving my fingers at high speed.

I was organizing my MyTube channel subscriptions, favorites, and recommendations (suggestions).

At that moment, a voice called out to me from far away.

“Hello, Iroha-chan, good morning! You can’t do that! It’s dangerous to walk on your phone~!”

An elementary school girl runs up to me, saying.

“Um, ……? Ah. Good morning, Mai-chan.”

“Wait a minute, what’s that pause? Did you forget about Mai just now?

“I remember, I remember. If I remember correctly, you’re Mai-chan, the one who’s good at two backward somersaults and two twists, right?

“No! I can’t do that. I’m your childhood friend, Mai! Don’t forget!”

Fluffy brown hair is reminiscent of a poodle. A girl with an air of pity about her.

Mai clung to me with a pathetic expression on her face.

I was taken aback.

I was worried I might be in trouble because I was an adult male.

Distance between girls is an eternal problem that adult men face.

“Call me Mai as usual~!”

“Oh, sorry, Mai.”

“Let’s go to school early. Everyone is already here.”

After being told, I peer into my back. There are children even smaller than her, Hinofumi.

That is the meeting place for going to and from school.

“Huh? What happened to the crossing flags~? Iroha-chan is on duty today, right?”

“Flags?”

“Why do you have such a blank expression on your face? Mai and the others are already in the sixth grade, right? You’re the oldest, you know?　You have to be firm!”

“Ahh, the flag is that thing…”

I searched my memory, and I’m convinced.

Wow, I miss it. Yeah, there was such a thing. One was where the upperclassmen held a yellow flag and led the underclassmen to school in a group.

“It’s not ‘ah~’!”

“It can’t be helped if I forgot. Okay, let’s go!”

“Huh~! But, Iroha-chan, the teacher will get mad at you if you don’t get out of here!

“It’s okay, it’s okay.”

Mai follows me, looking horrified as if she had committed some terrible crime.

I smile at her.

I understand. When you are a child, even a small mistake becomes a terrible mistake.

I thought the first step to becoming an adult was to draw the line yourself.

And you will eventually realize it.

Surprisingly, there is no such thing as an irreversible mistake in the world.

That’s about the only thing you could undo the life and death of a person.

“……”

“What’s the matter? You seem a little strange today, Iroha. Could it be–”

A curious look.

My heart jumped, this time in a different way. Children are perceptive in strange ways.

An adult would dismiss the idea of a different person with a different mind.

Mai put her mouth to my ear and whispered.

“Could it be–constipation? My sister has that look on her face when she can’t get out of the bathroom.”

“……”

“If you’re having a hard time, you can always tell me. I’ll help you, too.”

No, kids are idiots.

＊　　＊　　＊

As expected, elementary school classes were easy.

P.E. was the hardest, and lunch was the most fun. Isn’t this almost the same impression as ordinary elementary school students?

“What? Aren’t we going home yet?”

“We haven’t had the homecoming party yet, have we? The teacher was late. I wonder what’s going on?”

After a while, the homeroom teacher finally appears.

“We’ve changed to a group dismissal today. Everyone, please line up in the schoolyard for each club group. There was a suspicious person in the area, so please do not go home alone.”

That’s what happened.

The world has become a dangerous place. I don’t like it.

＊　　＊　　＊

I’ll bring both of them tomorrow and return the other one.

With these words, I headed home with the crossed flags in my hands.

“I wonder if it will be all right. No bad people will appear, right?

“You worry too much. If they do it, pull the buzzer and scream, and you’ll be fine. You guys don’t worry. Mai will take care of you if it comes to that.”

“Mai is not that strong!

Well, the chances of actually encountering a prowler are slim.

The police would be patrolling the area, and it would be quicker for them to find me. As I was walking along thinking this, a shadow suddenly fell.

<Ladies, may I have a word? Can I borrow your phone, if you don’t mind?　Um, a phone. Do you know what a cell phone is? >

<?>

I looked up at the person. Wow, big.

So huge that I couldn’t see his face in the backlight. A man with an appearance so squidgy that you could tell just by his outline, was standing right in front of me.

I was unintentionally alarmed but changed my mind when I heard his voice. He seemed to be in real trouble.

I timidly called out to him.

<Well, is something wrong? >

<What’s wrong?　Do you know what’s going on, young lady?　I mean, it’s a phone call! >

<What? Well, it’s a phone call, isn’t it? What’s more, what’s going on? >

<Oh, yeah, I lost my friend and dropped my smartphone. And when I was looking around for it, I almost got caught by a policeman even though I didn’t do anything wrong, and ran away unexpectedly.>

<So you want to contact a friend>

<Oh, that’s right.>

<Okay, I’ll go to the police station with you. Then let’s go to the police station together and ask for the phone. We need to clear up the misunderstanding anyway. Don’t worry. I’ll help you explain.

<Really? Thank you! You’re my angel! >

Even so, when he was about to be caught by the police, I thought it was very easy to mislead people, so I deviated slightly from the school route.

At this distance, it’s faster to go directly to the police box than 110.

As I was about to start walking, I felt a tug on the hem of my dress.

There was Mai, her teeth clattering.

“Iroha-chan, are you okay? Isn’t he suspicious?”

“Huh? He said it, didn’t he? It’s wrong. He seems to be in trouble, so I’ll take him to the police station.”

“Yeah, right? Are you sure he’s not a prowler? Iroha-chan, how do you know what he’s talking about?”

“Heh? No, I know at least the phone.”

Is it possible that today’s children can’t get through unless they say “smartphone”?

Can’t they get the message with a cell phone?

“No, that’s not it. Because this guy – he’s a foreigner, right?”

“Huh?”

Perhaps from the relief of seeing a solution, the man raised his face, which had been downcast.

What was there was an unmistakable Western face.

<Hmm? What’s wrong? >

<It’s nothing.>

It’s nothiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!

Somehow I had come to understand and speak English as if it were Japanese.