Starting Over as a Kindergartener to Fulfill My First Love! - Episode 3.4

Damn it… my ankle hurts like hell…

I can’t show Tsune-chan my good side…

I was anxious because the pain in my leg wouldn’t go away.

And I was also troubled.

No matter how you look at it, I can’t run properly with these legs.

However, in typical dramas or anime, enduring foot pain and participating in the relay is considered “normal,” and it would probably be cooler that way…

With this pain, I think I can make it to the end slowly while limping.

And it’s customary for everyone around me to say, “Even though your legs hurt, you did a great job running until the end without giving up.”

Moreover, unlike the “real world” me, the “now world” me, if I may say so myself, is quite popular in the class, so there shouldn’t be anyone who would say anything nasty.

However…

If he were a “real first grader,” he would push through the pain and run the relay, refusing to give up the spot he worked so hard to earn. Even if he knew his class would lose because of him…

“I don’t want Tsune-chan to see me like this,” I think, but surely Tsune-chan will praise me for pushing through the pain and finishing the race…

But…

“I’m an adult…”

The truth is, everyone definitely doesn’t want to lose the relay.

If the roles were reversed, I would be the same.

Even so, is it okay for me to participate knowing that “we’re definitely going to lose” and “everyone will be disappointed”?

I made the decision while thinking that way.

I asked my homeroom teacher, Mr. Inoue, to let someone else take over because I twisted my ankle.

Mr. Inoue looked surprised, but upon seeing Takashi’s serious eyes, he immediately smiled and, while patting my head, said, “I understand. Thank you for telling me, Isuzu-kun.”

And then, at the last minute, my friend Takayama was chosen to take my place.

Well, I was the one who nominated him…

Takayama shouted, “Eh――――――!?” but when Mr. Inoue told him, “Isuzu-kun said that you’re the only one who can take his place. Please do your best,” Takayama’s eyes suddenly changed, and he said happily, “If Isuzu says so, then I have no choice but to do my best!!” while getting pumped up.

Seriously, that guy is a good person.

I was thinking that while looking at Takayama.

Mr. Inoue told me, “Let’s go to the infirmary together now,” but I asked him to wait because I wanted to watch the relay. Mr. Inoue looked worried, but he reluctantly agreed to my request.

And so I sit in my chair in the class waiting area, staring at the ground, and internally “questioning myself.”

“Phew… I shouldn’t be wrong… probably…”

I kept telling myself that this “choice” wasn’t wrong, but honestly, it was shocking that I couldn’t show Tsune-chan my good side.

As expected, I couldn’t excel in the relay in “this world” either…

But which is better, going out and falling down, or getting injured and not being able to go out?

I hear a gentle voice calling me, even though I’m thinking about such things.

“Takashi-kun…”

I hurriedly turned around, and there stood Tsune-chan with a smile.

“Ts-tsune-chan!? Wh-what happened to you?”

I ask Tsune-chan in a surprised voice.

“Tak-kun, shall we go to the infirmary with the teacher?…”

I was so surprised when Tsune-chan unexpectedly asked me to go to the infirmary together that I almost fell off my chair, but somehow I managed to hold it together.

“Well, but just now with Professor Inoue…”

“It’s okay. I’ve already talked to Dr. Inoue for you. Actually, Dr. Inoue is a senior from the university I attended. But more importantly, let’s get you treated in the infirmary quickly. Sprains need to be treated promptly. So, let’s go!! Right, Tak-kun?”

I nodded slightly, blushing a bit, in response to Tsune-chan, who had a very serious and worried expression.

“Y-yeah… I understand…”

In my mind, as I was about to go to the infirmary with Tsune-chan, parts of the words she casually said were racing through, and I couldn’t hide my surprise.

No way, I can’t believe that Mr. Inoue was Tsune-chan’s senior in college…

Moreover, that Shiho-san is also Tsune-chan’s junior in college, and later she will also be her junior as a kindergarten teacher…

I didn’t know…

And then I was surprised…

I never realized how connected the people around me were…

For the past few months, I thought I knew a lot about the “future” that everyone else didn’t…

However, I now keenly feel that there is far too much ‘past’ in ‘this world’ that I could never have known in the ‘real world,’ and I am also starting to have a strong desire to learn more and more about it from now on.

While thinking about all those various things, I was led by Tsune-chan towards the “nurse’s office.”