Volume 4 - CH 3

“Sorry Shinobu ! Tell them I might be late for my part-time job !”

“What !? Kouki kun !?:

I jumped out of the alleyway without even having time to look at Shinobu’s face. No, but still …….

“Agent ! Take care of Shinobu !”

“Leave it to me !”

Leave the most important existence in my life right now to the most reliable person. I’m going into battle alone. I don’t even know where the battlefield is. It’s not too much to say this whole thing is a battlefield. Even so, it would be safer to have A protect her than to stay with me. Even if Daiki’s target was Shinobu.

“Where are you…!”

I walked out of the alleyway without looking back, but I still couldn’t see Daiki. But this disgusting atmosphere. I was so frustrated that something unreal was happening. The alone pierce through my skin. Whatever. If that’s what you want….

“I will attack first.”

However, what I do depends on others. I’m going to summon the agent. A surface that can hold both of her legs and an origami ax. With these two things, I can summon the strongest cheat. I can just run to the nearest bathroom and be done with it.

You might say it’s not fair. Still, I can’t even get up to the foundation without an agent. An important condition for fighting that guy equally…..

“…Do you want to win that badly?”

That’s. That wasn’t the word that came out of my agent.

“Obviously. It’s 50 years worth of grudges.”

The same time I felt a sense of discomfort in my body, Daiki appeared. He was the same from 10 years ago, he is the same now, and he will be the same 50 years from now. He has no doubt at all that he’s the center of this world.

“You have idea how frustrated I have been for half a century. How miserable I was. But now I can finally prove it. I’m better than you.”

I had thought that Daiki and I were similar. But we’re not. Of course.. Because we’re different people. No matter how much time passes. The human nature that has been nurtured since childhood will never change. Igarashi Daiki is this kind of person for the rest of his life.

“I don’t have the ability to control everything in the world like an agent. At best, I can only prevent your actions.”

A strange thing happened to my body. It was a gradual and progressive loss of consciousness. I don’t know. I don’t know, but I am certain. My consciousness from this past. He was trying to go back in time.

“I’d like you to compliment me, you know? It took me a week to master the power of the agent.”

“So……you’re happy to win then……!”

“You don’t think I’m playing dirty, do you?　You’re from the future. And my hands will return you to the way you were in this time period. You couldn’t stop it. In other words, future you has lost.”

“Oh,…..I see. If it makes you satisfied, so be it.”

It’s always been a clash of stubbornness anyway. There’s no logic to it. If it were me, I would’ve puked at such a victory, but if Daiki can say he won, then that would be a victory for him.

I really misunderstood. No, I approved him without knowing. Daiki had seriously decided that I was his enemy. But I was wrong. I was inferior to him. It would have been enough if I could have reaffirmed that. Even so.

“I haven’t lost yet.”

I won’t accept this kind of settlement. I can’t accept that I can’t resist anything so easily and without context. I’m not convinced that I am gradually losing. My heart is not broken yet.

“Remember. I will come back to this era. And I will beat you.”

“Well, I guess you will. You have an agent, anyway. You can do that in no time. But this is your one loss.”

One loss? What are you talking about?

“You don’t know. You don’t know the trump card I have left.”

“I don’t know? Don’t be stupid, I’m from 50 years later. There’s nothing you know that I don’t know !”

“If that’s what you think, fine. You’ll regret it soon anyway. Because this action of yours is going to lead to my total victory.”

This is neither sore loser nor acting tough. By going back to the future once. I will be able to do certain things. Something that neither Daiki nor the adult shinobu knew.

“……My body is no longer able to move. I’m at the end of my rope.”

My vision becomes blurry. I can no longer stand. But this is not defeat. It’s a process that leads to victory.

“Then, you can compete with my teenage self at best.  I’ll be back soon.”

And my consciousness returned to the future.

“……Oh no, I’m going to be late for my part-time job……!”

The past me started to move.

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