Chapter 1

* * *“I’ll be back.”“Be careful of cars!”Mom’s goodbyes never really changed. Be careful of cars. She started saying it after Maru’s grandfather passed from a car accident.Maru opened the door and stepped out. The cold air of the morning whipped across his face. It was march. Getting a little warmer, but still closer to winter than spring. Maru walked down to the first floor and unlocked his bike from the stand.“Haven’t seen this baby in a while.”A casual bike armed with a simple shift. Maru hopped onto the bike and started pedalling. The air between his fingers felt frigid. But even this made him want to shout in joy.“I’m… really back.” he muttered. An image of Mrs. Yu flashed over his vision for a split second.‘Thank you for giving me this chance.’ he prayed in thanks.Maru stopped at a crossing for a second to take out his MP3. It’s been a long while since he’s seen one. He plugged the earphones into the jack and started listening. Most were songs from singers in the early 2000s.“This is good stuff.” he found himself muttering. At least, it was far better than those so-called k-pop songs with english mixed all over the place. He much rather preferred listening to songs he could actually understand. Maru stepped on the pedal as he sang along to some of the lyrics.“The love I have for you~”After around 30 minutes of pedalling… He could see the school coming into view.‘That still looks the same. Then again, it would be strange if it didn’t, huh?’A rectangular complex made with brownish bricks. Right in front of the building was a small podium meant for the principal. The field in front of the podium was a little larger than your average school’s. There was even a basketball court in the right corner of the school. And for whatever reason they even had a little pavilion next to it as well. Around there was also a small water fountain. Maru would often get water from there during a game.Maru walked over to the main entrance. He found more and more students around him in their personal clothes. He, too, was in casual wear as well. There was a time back when he would be jealous of all the uniforms the other kids would wear. He quickly realized how much better casual wear was as he grew up though.As he neared the entrance, he started feeling a strange sense of nostalgia and fear creep up from inside him. He could see a familiar face standing in front of him.‘The disciplinary teacher.’ The bald terror was standing in front of the door with a scissor in hand. Maru found himself clicking his tongue in disapproval. He had bad memories of getting his hair cut by those scissors.The horrible thing about them was the fact that they were dull, so your hair wouldn’t get cut off, they’d just get pulled off.“Come on, faster! Hey, you! What’s that on your hair?” One of the boys got caught by the teacher. The boy didn’t seem like a first year. He waddled over nervously in front of the teacher.“Hah, wax? Trying to look cool on your first day?” the teacher glared.“I’m sorry.” the kid mumbled.“Three laps around the field and come back to me. Got it?”“Yessir.”“I’m going light on you since it’s the first day, alright? Go.”“Yessir.”The boy threw down his bag and started running. Maru passed by the teacher as he observed the scene.‘Our mental age is similar but I still feel weirdly intimidated by the dude.’ he found. He really did feel like a freshman.

* * *After locking up his bike, Maru walked up to the second floor where his class was. He walked into class 2 for electrical engineering with a sense of nostalgia. The real him had never come here in the past, but Maru was fairly familiar with this classroom. The quiet atmosphere with the cold air… The other kids in the classroom were looking around nervously with their hands in their pockets. Right now, there were a total of 7 kids in the class.Maru scanned the room quickly before going back to his own thing. Though… that ‘thing’ only really consisted of reading manga and listening to music, really. He decided to sit in the middle of the class. He’s always sat around here in high school. It was a spot the teachers always missed, and he could get to the store during lunch faster.‘Come to think of it, I never studied during school.’Woosung Engineering High School. This was the school Maru decided to go back in the past.‘Middle school was spent lazily as well.’Study a bit, play a bit. One of those students that never really made big mistakes.