arc1 · 002-ch2

Episode 2: Hello, Past

"Suzuka—! Wake up already!! You're going to be late!!"

From within my drowsiness, a loud voice reached my ears and my consciousness awakened.

What a nostalgic feeling. I'm dreaming about being woken up by Mom. Guess that shows just how stressed out I was.

My parents are still alive, and I do go back to my hometown during holidays, but getting woken up by my mother doesn't happen anymore. Once you hit your late twenties, sleeping in late becomes difficult too, and even on holidays you wake up by 8:00 at the latest. How many years has it been since I was woken up by my mother's loud voice? Waking up while remembering something like that from so long ago made me realize once again just how pushed to the edge I was.

So, what time is it? It's not evening, is it? If it's too late, I won't be able to sleep next time.

Thinking this, I slowly opened my eyes.

"...Huh?"

That blank, stunned voice wasn't because it was already dark around me—far from evening. The scenery I saw when I opened my eyes was completely different from what I saw before falling asleep.

"Huh? What's going on? This is scary."

The bed I was sleeping in wasn't the one I'd collapsed onto earlier. It wasn't the 1LDK room I started living in after becoming a working adult, cramped though it was.

This wasn't a first-time-seen landscape upon waking. Quite the opposite. It was a familiar view. This was my old room from back when I lived with my parents. Probably.

I say "probably" because I think it's my room, but it's changed quite a bit from how it is now. Nostalgic... yeah, nostalgic. I still have the study desk in my room now, but there shouldn't have been anything on top of it. Sitting up and looking around, even the bed seems like the one I used as a kid.

As I stared blankly at the messy room, I heard someone coming up the stairs.

"Suzuka! Oh, you're awake? Then hurry up and wash your face and get ready! You've got only 30 minutes left!"

The person who opened the door and poked her head in was Mom.

Huh? Is she wearing makeup already this early? Has she gotten younger?

I tried to say something to that mother of mine, but she seemed busy and immediately went back downstairs.

"Huh? What is this? Am I still dreaming?"

I pinched my cheek, but I could feel the touch and the pain. Having lived thirty years, I've never had a dream this realistic.

My head was filled with confusion, but for now, I figured I should do as Mom said and go wash my face.

Thinking that, I got out of bed and could see the whole room. Doing so turned the feeling of unease I'd had until now into certainty.

A room that felt lived-in, like it was used regularly, just like during my school days. Textbooks were sticking out from the school bag I should've thrown away long ago. On the study desk was a "Shonen Champ" magazine featuring a series that should have ended long ago.

While having a sense of certainty about what was happening, yet still confused about how and why, I hurried to the bathroom.

"Haha... Young, huh?"

The face reflected in the mirror wasn't that of a thirty-year-old guy, nor the drained face of someone who'd lost everything in FX, nor a face covered in unshaved stubble. Reflected there was me from my teens—full of youthful vigor.

◇

"Ha-ha-ha-ha!!"

I won!! I won!!! I completely won!!!

I didn't know what I'd won against, but Suzuka walked along laughing loudly.

Today was the last day of first-term final exams. I was on my way home from middle school after finishing up in the morning.

"I don't understand why, and I don't know what exactly happened! But I time leaped. That fact alone is everything!!"

That's right. When Suzuka woke up, he had time leaped. This wasn't a continuation from that time when he was thirty and lost everything in FX. He had gone back to his past self. Late June 2009. To being a 15-year-old middle school third-grader.

At first, I thought it was a dream. Obviously. Who's asking for a time-traveling old man anyway?

But when I pinched my cheek, it hurt normally. I finished the test quickly and spent the remaining time sleeping, but even when I woke up, I was still in the school classroom. I couldn't accept it, but I understood one thing: I had time leaped.

That meant I could start over. My life. I could New Game+ from the beginning. And starting from middle school age, no less.

"I don't have any regrets strong enough to make me desperately wish to go back to the past and redo things... Well, I do regret losing everything in FX though."

My friendships, the schools I attended, my workplace—I felt okay with walking the same path again for a new life. Sure, I'd think things like "I wish I'd enjoyed my youth a bit more during my school days," but when it comes down to it, that's about it. I had minor regrets here and there, but nothing that weighed on me enough to drag into my thirties.

But precisely because I became an adult... No, precisely because I lost everything in FX, I was genuinely thankful from the bottom of my heart for this time leap.

Are you thinking I'm thankful because the money I lost could be undone?

No way. No matter how many times I repeated life, I'd just say "Next time for sure I'll be fine" and lose it all again. I've repeated it countless times, so I know well enough that starting over wouldn't mean anything.

So then what am I thankful for? It's because I can get rich.

I don't remember lottery winning numbers. Which horse won which race—I wasn't interested, so I don't know that either.

But I do remember the points where stock prices made major moves over these past 15 years. Especially cryptocurrency.

The peak years for cryptocurrency. I also roughly remember how the market shifted after that. Since cryptocurrency prices are volatile, that alone should let me earn hundreds of millions of yen. After all, it's a future that's guaranteed to come. Even if I challenge the market with significantly higher leverage, a guaranteed victory awaits.

That's not all. I also kind of remember when the Nikkei average made major moves. Cabinet inaugurations, Tokyo Olympics decision, U.S. presidential election winners, and especially the Nikkei price movements due to the coronavirus panic and yen depreciation/appreciation. With just this information, I'm set. I can become a billionaire without even working.

And the ultimate: dollar-yen exchange rates. In this era when 1 dollar is below 100 yen, who could have imagined it going over 160 yen? I vividly remember the recent market movements. If I jot them down before I forget, then worst-case scenario, by the time I'm thirty, a future free from labor awaits.

A life with absolutely no financial anxiety about the future, rather, a life guaranteed to have money to spend like water. And right now, I'm 15 years old—smack in the middle of youth.

There's no middle-school me around who's like a monkey dominated by sexual desire, wanting a girlfriend, wanting to do lewd things. Now I have the composure of an adult. I can't exactly claim to have rich romantic experience, but I won't act desperate around girls, and if I behave like a gentleman, I should be able to get a girlfriend! And if that happens, going on dates in school uniforms shouldn't be impossible either!!

"I won. That's right, I won at life."

Wearing a grin, I took my house key from my bag and went home.

"I'm hoo~me!"

Had I regressed to middle schooler vibes too? Saying "I'm home" in English while taking off my shoes. No one was home. My brother, three years older, was at high school; Dad was at work; Mom was at her part-time job. As a latchkey kid, saying "I'm home" when entering the house, even when no one's there, was ingrained in me.

While looking at the note Mom left about lunch, I took some yakisoba from the fridge and heated it up. Wondering what daytime shows were airing in this era, I turned on the TV, and the midday news started playing.

"Now, for the next news. The special-grade explorer guild 'Mōko Fukusō' active in Osaka Dungeon has successfully defeated the area boss of Floor 7, Section 1."

After turning on the TV and putting down the remote to wait for the yakisoba to heat up in the microwave, I couldn't move due to the unfamiliar news content and could only stare intently at the screen.

"The area boss that Mōko Fukusō successfully defeated is——"

It wasn't my mishearing, nor was it talk about anime or movies. What was displayed on TV was footage of fighting a monster-like creature as big as a kaiju. A scene like a live-action version of a monster-hunting game. But the monster carried a realism that couldn't be achieved with CG—genuine intensity.

In the following scene, members of the guild called Mōko Fukusō were shown being interviewed surrounded by fans and reporters, wearing armor that looked like equipment from a game.

"Huh? This is for real? What's going on?"