Volume 2 - CH 8

When you’re a working adult, age is meaningless unless you’re about 10 years apart from each other, but this is not the case when you’re a student. You rarely have a chance to compete on the same stage if you’re different in age, even if you’re one of them.

Among such rare opportunities, a sports festival is a great chance. It’s a major event in which the entire school participates. The damage will be great if I lose, but their reputation will raise if I make a comeback.

“Do your best, Kouki kun !”

“Yeah. I’ll do my best, Nobu Nobu.”

I nodded my head to the adult Shinobu san’s support, who looks like someone’s older sister. Apparently, in the future, I would call Shinobu san by this nickname. I hope she don’t mind, but it’s a good thing that I can call her Shinobu san in high school.

“I’m going to check again, but when Shinobu san was attacked by Wakabayashi san, I covered her and she stabbed me. While in the middle of it, Daiki seized Wakabayashi san. Am I right?”

“Yeah ! You were so cool~!”

The future may have changed because of my current actions, but there’s no way for me to determine the future. The only way is to check with Nobu Nobu each time, but there’s no end to my worry since people’s lives and deaths are at stake.

I can be somewhat relieved because the agent has the cheat ability to bring people back to life, but there’s no guarantee that the agent will completely listen to what I said. Besides, if both Shinobu san and I were killed, there would be no future for that goddess robot to come to this era. I wish I could’ve controlled Wakabayashi san, but I couldn’t do that either because of her original bad character. Worst case scenario, even if I died, I would have no choice but to protect Shinobu-san.

“Don’t worry, Kouki kun.”

As I was preparing to die, Nobu Nobu hugged me with a gentle face like a holy mother.

“You don’t have to protect me out of self-sacrifice. My agent will surely bring me back to life, and no matter what the past has become, I believe that I will love Kouki kun in the future. I want you to enjoy your life. Being able to return to high school is a unique opportunity. I want you to enjoy your youth to the fullest.”

……I see. That’s right.

“Thank you, Shinobu san. I’ll do my best.”

“Yeah, do your best !”

This is my life. And Shinobu san has her own life. I’m not going to let anything happen to her, but it would be selfish of me to try to protect her every time something happens. As far as I concerned about she’s being stabbed, I’ll make an exception this time, I’m going to live my life.

Beat Daiki. If I don’t change the inferiority complex that I have for so long, my youth will never come. To redo my wasted 10 years. I have to win against Daiki.

“Are you sure it’s all right, you interrupting the first grade’s order?”

“There’s no grade order in the inter-class relay.”

The stage for me to fight Daiki is the class relay. The only place for me, a student of the 2nd grade B class, and Daiki, a student of the 1st grade A class, to compete is in the interclass relay. Basically, the competition continues through the first, second, and third years, but I was given the position of anchor for the first year.

In the original timeline, I was just barely in the top 3. Although we’re one year apart in age, I probably have the edge on him in terms of running ability. However, I had been training hard until today. I have been running after school, running after my part-time job, getting up early in the morning to run, and learning how to run. I have learned the art of running, and I have put in the right amount of effort.

There’s no reason to lose. There’s no way I can lose. If the world is made equal.

“Kouki kun, fight !”

“Senpai ! If you win, I’ll buy you dinner !”

Shinobu san and Hikari, who were not in the cheerleading club but dressed as cheerleaders, shouted out from the cheering seats……. A little further away from them, I could see Wakabayashi san who’s also dressed up as a cheerleader; I wonder if this was popular 10 years ago.

“Daiki kun ! Do your best !”

And then there was Saki, who’s in the same class as me. She was cheering for Daiki. Not for me, but for Daiki.

“…..I’ll win even if I die.”

“Try it, you son of a bitch.”

The interclass relay started and the baton was passed to me and Daiki almost at the same time, both of us taking the baton at the same time and started running. Then I noticed.

“Shit……!”

I was faster than Daiki.