Chastity Reversed: Part-Time Life by the All-Girls High School

“…I see.”

The arcade corner was noisy, but even so, the silence between us couldn’t be masked.

“…”

Kumagawa remained silent, her head bowed.

“Sorry for bringing this up so suddenly.”

“…Um…”

“It’s about time. Let’s meet up with the others—”

“—I’m scared.”

“!?”

“Of the ‘old’ you… I’m still scared.”

She managed to force the words out.

“The you from before… you were loud, you teased me in ways I hated, you’d take my seat during breaks, and when girls you liked were around, you’d act all sweet and pretend to be a nice guy.”

“I didn’t even want to make eye contact with you because it always led to something bad.”

“You’d mock the things I loved, make me the butt of your jokes, and laugh at me—”

It was as if she were confessing to me.

“—I hated you. I was terrified of you.”

Her voice was strong, loud enough to rival the clamor around us.

“I know that the ‘you’ now is different from the ‘you’ back then. You’re kind, being with you is fun, and I thought I could forget about the old Sato-kun.”

“But I can’t. When I’m with you, there are moments when the ‘him’ I hated flashes through my mind.”

“I don’t want to remember. I know you’re different now, but I can’t help it. I keep seeing ‘his shadow’, and I can’t stop thinking that maybe, just maybe, you’ll revert back to him tomorrow…”

The old Sora Sato.

His existence cast shadows far darker than I’d imagined in Kumagawa’s mind.

I had no memories of it, but I could tell—my past self must have done things far worse to her than I’d realized.

“That’s why… I’m sorry. It’s because I’m weak.”

Her fists tightened as she bowed her head. She must have cursed her fate every day for being seated next to me.

“It’s not your fault, Kumagawa. The blame lies with ‘Sora Sato’. You have nothing to apologize for.”

The irony wasn’t lost on me.

I’d wanted so badly to go back to how things were, to the life I had before.

But if I were to return, “the old me” would only torment her again.

[—Sora, let’s hit the arcade after club activities.]

[—Sora, you were staring at the girl manager the whole time, weren’t you?]

[—Sora, today—]

[—Sora.]

[—Sora!]

“…”

I opened the lid of my memories just a crack.

Ah, I still wanted to go back.

To the world I came from.

To the place where my friends were.

Where everything I cared about existed—

But now, in this world too…

[Thank you, Sato-kun. I’m really looking forward to your game being finished.]

I’d found a glimmer of hope for the future.

[Sato-san, you’re my first…]

I’d made friends.

[How about working here?]

I’d found a place where I belonged.

“I’m not going to revert.”

“!?”

I shut the lid of my memories. I looked straight at her.

I had no memories of who I was before, but I wouldn’t use that as an excuse to run away.

I was going to do what I could, as the person I was now.

“But if, by some one-in-a-million chance, I do revert, I’ll make sure I’m able to protect you, Kumagawa.”

“…Huh?”

“I’m going to make a lot of friends in our class.”

Though, let’s be honest, most of them would probably be girls. But right now, that worked in my favor.

“Then I’ll ask those friends to look out for you. If I ever go back to being the ‘old’ me, I’ll ask them to protect you from me.”

“!”

There was no way that guy would want to go against a majority of girls. Even the old Sora Sato would’ve been too afraid to take on that many enemies, especially Natsuki and the others he tried to impress.

Akari often said as much about who I used to be. What a jerk.

“So you don’t need to fear or suffer because of ‘Sora Sato’ anymore. I promise to make that happen.”

I held her gaze, locking eyes with her tear-filled ones.

“…Why?”

“Huh?”

“Why are you going so far for me?”

It was an honest question.

No matter what, I was still tied to my “past world”.

I hadn’t changed.

And I had no intention of changing.

That’s why my next words came naturally.

“Because… I’m a guy, and you’re a girl.”