In this Second Chance at Life, where I can see skills as clear as day, everything feels like a breeze. And to make it even better, I’m spending my days joyfully with my First Love. - Chapter 20

“Exactly! I should’ve confessed in our previous life too!”

When Ichika said that, my first feeling was overwhelming agreement.

I mean, think about it. Even if we ended up rewinding to age six like this, if we’d already been a couple in our first life, we could’ve just fallen in love again. Plus, we would’ve had so many more shared memories to cherish by now.

And honestly, in this life, I can’t even count how many times I’ve swallowed my feelings and held back the words “I like you.”

But all of that regret feels insignificant now.

Because Ichika and I are together, and we have all the time in the world to make up for what we lost.

At this point, we’re still only 12 years old. The future stretches endlessly ahead of us.

That doesn’t mean I’m not anxious, though.

I’ve never had a girlfriend before. I have no idea what to do or how to make Ichika happy.

And then there’s the whole issue with the dungeon that appeared two years ago—it still weighs on my mind.

Not to mention, I’m the one who invited Ichika to take the entrance exams with me. If I fail after all that, I’ll never live it down.

So, sixth grade wasn’t about my usual routine of strength training. Instead, I spent most of my time preparing for the exams and helping Ichika get stronger.

For studying, I focused on avoiding silly mistakes—like accidentally solving tsurukame problems (crane-and-turtle math) using simultaneous equations or messing up kanji stroke order.

This is my second time through life, and I’ve already passed this exam once before, so I’m fairly confident.

Ichika, being in her second life as well, seemed even more at ease than me.

But then there was the matter of her safety.

If another dungeon appears and monsters show up, I want to make absolutely sure Ichika never dies.

Of course, as her boyfriend, I’ll protect her with my life. But dungeons are unpredictable—there’s no guarantee I’ll always be there.

And honestly… I was curious to test out my new [Skill Transfer] ability.

I won’t deny that transferring skills involved a fair amount of physical contact—and sometimes more than was strictly necessary. My motives weren’t entirely pure… but hey, we’re dating now, so it’s not like it’s harassment, right?

The first skill I transferred to her was [Skill Duplication], followed by [Boost] and [Enhance] skills for all her stats. Then came recovery skills like [Auto-Heal], [Super Regeneration], and [Ultra Regeneration], as well as resistance skills like [Complete Mental Resistance], [Complete Physical Resistance], and [Complete Magic Resistance].

I finished off with [Damage Reduction] and [Experience Gain Increase].

Thanks to [Skill Transfer] and Ichika’s [Keen Insight], she picked up everything quickly. By the end, she had 3–4 instances of almost every transferable skill—excluding the non-stackable ones like [Complete Resistances].

Alongside our studies and training, we also made time to enjoy ourselves.

We’d go shopping together or join our families—who’d grown closer since that gymnastics incident—on outings. Sometimes we’d even sneak off to the beach or go see the autumn leaves.

One particularly memorable moment was when Ichika said she wanted to try farm work and came along to visit my grandparents’ house. My heart was racing the entire time.

My grandparents and parents were ridiculously welcoming.

“Oh, so he’s finally brought home a girlfriend instead of just working out all the time,” Grandpa said.
“Looks like we might actually see great-grandkids,” Grandma chimed in.

My dad, on the other hand, got drunk and literally dropped to his knees.

“Thank you for putting up with my idiot son,” he said, sobbing.

…What kind of image does my family have of me, exactly?

My grades aren’t bad, I’m incredibly athletic… Where’s the problem?

That said, having Ichika treated like my future wife wasn’t a bad feeling.

Actually, it made me really happy.

Winter came, and with it, the entrance exams.

The test questions felt familiar.

I recalled reviewing them in my first life during post-exam sessions at cram school. For instance, in the third question of the Japanese section—a reading comprehension problem—I’d misinterpreted the author’s intention back then.

This time, I used past answer patterns and test trends to figure it out.

Before we knew it, February arrived, and it was time for the results.

Even though I was confident after self-scoring, my heart pounded as I opened the letter.

When Ichika and I both saw that we’d passed, we hugged each other in excitement.

To be honest, I mostly just wanted an excuse to hug her. But hey, we’re officially a couple now, so it’s allowed!

With that, elementary school came to an end.

Looking back, these six years have been amazing.

Between strength training, spending time with Ichika, leveling up in dungeons, and finally becoming her boyfriend, it’s been a fulfilling life.

In my first life, I dealt with bullying, some of it teacher-led, and all the annoyance that came with it.

This time around? A little [Magic Pressure] or [Muscle Pressure] was all it took to keep anyone from messing with me.

Now, as Ichika approaches middle school, here’s what her stats look like:

Name: Ichika Kobayashi
Health: 2,025 / 2,025
Strength: 1,080
Magic: 43,200
Agility: 675 ▲
Level: 1
Job: None
Skills:

• • [Flexibility Lv. 14], [Health Boost Lv. 4], [Strength Boost Lv. 8], [Magic Boost Lv. 36]

• • [Calculation Lv. 7], [Appraisal Lv. 75], [Item Box Lv. 4], [Super Regeneration Lv. 2]

• • Various [Boost] and [Enhance] skills.

Special Skills:

• • [Perfect Mental Resistance], [Perfect Physical Resistance], [Perfect Magic Resistance], [Damage Reduction], [Skill Duplication]

Unique Skill:

• • [Keen Insight]

With stats like those, Ichika’s ready for whatever comes next.

And now, as middle schoolers, our adventure continues.

Enhancement-type skills, being upper-tier, are still as difficult to level up as ever. Even now, they remain stuck at Lv. 1.

That said, thanks to my title, “Overwhelming Stats,” Ichika’s stats aren’t low by any means.

If she had the unique skill “Iterative Trial,” leveling up might be easier, but unfortunately, unique skills can’t be transferred.

As for “Magic Eye,” it seems to be a skill Ichika obtained upon reaching Appraisal Lv. 75.

It supposedly allows her to perceive and manipulate magic through her vision, but since I don’t possess it myself, I can’t say for sure how it works.

And so, we entered middle school.

If my memories and predictions are correct, this summer, another disaster will strike in Niigata—just like the one two years ago.