About a month ago.
I—Eiji Kanzaki—suddenly regained the memories of my past life.
Or rather, it would be more accurate to say that my consciousness and that of my past life suddenly fused together… In any case, it was such a strange sensation, unlike anything I’d ever felt before, and at first, I had no idea what was happening.
“Eiji!”
“Huh!”
My mother tapped me on the shoulder.
She looked concerned, as if she wanted to scold me but couldn’t raise her voice.
As I shifted my focus from the memories of my past life back to reality, I saw two familiar photographs surrounded by flowers, both smiling.
(That’s right… I’m here right now… but why now, of all times!?)
At this moment, I was standing beside my mother, in the middle of offering incense at a funeral.
Remembering my past life in the middle of a ceremony… For all my past life’s wisdom, it sure couldn’t read the room!
I felt as if I heard a complaint from my past self, yet I followed my mother’s cue and turned around.
Ahead of me, my father, who was officiating the ceremony, sat with a young girl beside him.
I quickly bowed and returned to my seat.
Today was the funeral. For my aunt and uncle. I heard it was an unfortunate traffic accident.
…Wait, then, that girl just now…
(Suzuna… yes, that’s my cousin Suzuna.)
We had met a few times at family gatherings.
Because of the thirty-year gap my past life had wedged in, it felt like it was from ages ago.
But what caught my attention were her eyes. They were so vacant, like a doll’s—
(…Well, of course. She just lost her parents.)
Her parents were the ones who passed away. Imagining myself in her place, I couldn’t fathom the depth of her sadness.
Losing my uncle and aunt was hard on me too, but—
(For some reason, this is just so… exhausting…)
Honestly, I felt like I could collapse at any moment, my head screaming with fatigue.
I didn’t understand the mechanics behind it.
But suddenly, thirty years’ worth of memories had resurfaced. And I, a fourteen-year-old middle schooler, had more than double my life’s worth of memories suddenly crammed into my mind.
My mind was a chaotic mess, so much that even my original memories as Eiji Kanzaki felt like they were fading away.
The only reason I managed to stay on my feet was because this was a funeral, a place where being disrespectful was not an option. It wouldn’t do to shame my father, who was officiating in place of my hospitalized grandfather after suddenly losing his own brother.
Strangely, my thoughts sounded quite adult-like. It seemed I was already influenced by my past-life memories.
Normally, I would want to sort out my thoughts, but I decided to stop thinking altogether just to stay conscious.
The ordeal dragged on for a long time. We not only had the funeral but also went to the crematorium.
Honestly, I was barely standing and remember almost none of it. I felt sorry for my uncle and aunt, but I blamed my rude past-life memories for reviving at such an inopportune time.
I swore to pay my respects properly at their graves later.
◇◇◇
A few days passed, but my life hadn’t changed much.
Fortunately, even though I remembered my past life, my fourteen years as Eiji Kanzaki hadn’t been erased.
I’d say it felt like my past-life memories, from nearly thirty years of life, had been layered on top of my existing memories.
There might be slight changes in my thinking and personality from all that experience and knowledge, but my reality was unchanged. I was still Eiji Kanzaki, a third-year middle schooler, just entering the high school entrance exam season.
The feeling of having two sets of parents was strange, and having had adult experience while wearing a middle school uniform was a bit rough.
But there was a more pressing issue.
“I’m heading out. …Oh.”
“Oh…”
Just as I was leaving the house to go to school, I ran into the top source of my current troubles.
“Uh, hey, Wakana.”
“…!”
She turned her face away in obvious annoyance and rushed off, leaving me staring after her.
Her name was Wakana Amamiya.
She was my childhood friend, who lived next door and had known me even before I was born.
She was like a sister; we’d been practically inseparable since we were kids… but now, for some reason, she seemed to be avoiding me.
The reason… I couldn’t quite remember.
No, I was sure there was a reason. Wakana was mild-mannered, caring, the “big sister” type admired by our classmates.
As my childhood friend, she was more casual with me… but she wasn’t the type to dislike people for no reason.
But the cause of our falling out eluded me. Thirty years of past-life memories had been wedged in, pushing aside small, everyday memories… to put it simply, I’d completely blanked out.
(I’d really like to make up with her…)
It was awkward to be at odds when our families lived next door, and she was someone you could rely on, regardless of gender.
Until recently, I’d had a bit of a “whatever” stance about drifting apart from her… but now, with my past-life memories, I felt differently.
As an adult, friendships tended to narrow. Different paths, work, marriage, and other things could easily turn friends into strangers.
This year is high school entrance exams. If we end up at different schools, I could easily imagine losing Wakana as well.
And above all!
(Losing a cute childhood friend would be a waste!)
…my past-life memories chimed in.
Come to think of it, I hadn’t been aware of it before, but Wakana was cute. A real beauty.
She might be the most attractive in our class, maybe even our grade, or the entire middle school. She was extraordinarily pretty.
Thanks to knowing her so well, and probably due to my past-life memories, I didn’t feel any romantic undertones toward her, though.
In any case, it would be a shame to stay at odds with her. So I really wanted to do something about it…
(But, somehow, I feel like I’ve seen this before somewhere…?)
A faint sense of unease tugged at the back of my mind.
I felt like I knew her. Not the Wakana of now, but a slightly older version of her.
“No, no, that can’t be. It’s probably just some actress who looks like her or something like that.”
“…Eiji.”
“Whoa! M-Mom?”
“Why are you still standing here? You’re going to be late!”
“Oh, crap!”
“And don’t make any stops today. Come straight home.”
“Huh?”
“I have something to talk to you about.”
“O-okay. Got it.”
I was curious about what she had to say, but if I kept thinking about it, I’d really be late.
For now, I pushed down my doubts and hurried to school.
