Volume 1 - CH 1

Volume 1, Chapter 1: A Body That Often Experiences Déjà Vu

Leave together with them

→ Go out with your friends

"Sorry, I promised to go out with my friends today."

When I, Jimichi Ikuto, heard this behind me, it felt as if I had woken up from a dream.

―― This happened again. But you're gonna think it's something like a dream again, won't you?

I didn't know why I thought that. I didn't know what started it.

It was a strange sensation. It was similar to déjà vu, like as if I had already gone through the same thing over and over again.

"I see. Can't be helped, then."

"I won't bother with you if you regret it."

Two lovely voices came right after.

They seemed to be trying their best to shrug it off as though it wasn’t a big deal, but I immediately noticed that there was a hint of disappointment in their voices.

"Sorry! See you next time, then."

The guy who quickly spat out this response and rushed out of the classroom was Tendou Susumu.

For some reason, this guy was popular. He wasn't someone particularly handsome, nor was he good at sports, but rather, he was just an ordinary schoolboy.

He must have a good personality, then. Or so you would think, but taking a look at the expressions on the faces of these two girls he left behind, I wouldn't be so sure about that.

With a somewhat melancholic expression on her face, fellow classmate Hareyama Hanae stared at the door through which Tendo had left.

She had a medium-length hair that was slightly pigmented, and if I remembered correctly, she was a childhood friend of Tendou.

Next to her was Azumi Reika from next class, who was looking disinterested and irritated.

Her flax, shoulder-length hair was very beautiful and well-maintained.

These two were famous enough that even I, who didn't really pay attention to other people, knew.

Simply put, they were beautiful. I would say that they were probably one of the best-looking girls at their classes, and if not our whole grade, or maybe even the whole school.

Which was why I was amazed that the two of them were always together with Tendou.

"Well, I'm heading home, then."

"Yeah. See you later, Reika-chan."

The two of them seemed to have planned to return separately. Hareyama returned to her desk and Azumi went out of the classroom.

Soon after she finished tidying up, Hareyama left. With her gone, I was the only remaining.

I stared at Hareyama as she was leaving, but she went away without saying anything, seemingly oblivious to my presence.

Well, that wasn't surprising. Although we were classmates, we never spoke to each other. Even if we were the only ones left in the classroom, we weren't even close enough to say hello.

Besides, I wasn't interested in her. I wasn't interested in either Hareyama, Azumi, or even Tendou.

It wasn't that I disliked women or didn't want to fall in love. It was normal to think about which girl was cute, and whether or not would I want to go out with that girl, or something like that.

Well, even if did think about it, I wasn't about to do anything because I had other things to do.

But even then, I just wasn't all that interested about the girls surrounding Tendou.

"―― Oh? Ikuto-kun, you're still here?"

"Who...ah, Riku."

All of sudden, the door opened and a familiar face called out to me.

Nakajima Riku. One of my few friends, and he entered the classroom wearing the uniform of the basketball club.

"Don't have plans to go home yet?"

"No, I was about to leave."

Riku started rummaging through his desk, looking for something. As I was watching him, Riku opened his mouth to speak again.

"Reminds me, Ikuto, are you free after this? Do you wanna play a game with me?"

"You're still not done with club activities?"

"I have a test coming up, so I'm short on time. You're smart and aren't in any club, so you're free, right?"

"Well, I don't have anything today... Ah, wait no, today's not good."

"I see. How about tomorrow? It's a day off."

"Not sure yet. I'll message you later."

Riku, after confirming with me, walked out of the classroom after finding what he was looking for.

I turned down Riku's invitation, but I actually had nothing in particular to do. Or there shouldn't have been.

Usually, I would just go home and study. I rarely turned down a request from a friend, and I would usually have accepted earlier.

But it suddenly came to me. Something similar to a revelation, it was as if I was told to do so, and so I had to follow.

Just like that, I was interested in them.

By them, I mean Hareyama and Azumi.

It wasn't so much that I became infatuated, but rather that I decided to change myself.

I didn't know why I thought this way out of the blue. But for some reason, I felt like I had thought of the same thing before.

"...Is this déjà vu?"

An experience similar to déjà vu. A sensation that made you feel like you had gone through this event before.

Well, there was no point in racking my brains over something inexplicable. I might as well start planning on how I would change myself instead.

"I should begin with my appearance..."

Shoddy hair with bangs that could even hide my eyes if not kept. Eyewear wasn’t too bad, but glasses were still worn as if I had the intention of hiding behind them.

I was done with thinking that those things were okay. Getting a fresh start, a change of pace...it was different from that.

"Ah, mom? I have a little request―"

I took out my phone and called my mother on this empty classroom at dusk.

Around this time, it was difficult to get my hair done without an appointment. I didn't even have the money to go and change my glasses.

However, there was no time like the present. I wanted to start today, no matter what happened.

Which was why I decided to make the most out of my parents’ connections, something I hadn’t really taken advantage of that much.