Chapter 1 - Wait, How Old Am I Again?!

Hi there. This is Wren speaking, and I’m the main character of this fic.

Now, I have a little problem that I’m kind of unsure how it came about.

You see, I was just reading some manga online when I got a text message from a number I didn’t recognize. The ding of the notification came right as I finished a chapter, so having nothing better to do, I began to read it.

I thought it was a prank message at first. The message was a simple but weird question, asking: [If you could, would you like to redo your life over again?]

Now obviously, I thought that this was a weird bot or prank or something else and not a legitimate question. But since I was awake at 2 AM and quite sleepy after binging a series, I groggily replied a ‘no’ to the question.

Somebody was waiting for my response because right after I sent that message, I got a reply immediately back.

Unknown - [Why not?]

Bemused, I ignored the fact that I was texting a stranger and answered.

Me - [Because my life sucked. Elementary school was full of brats, middle school was awkward as heck, and high school was just the worst. Why would I ever want to redo any of that when I can just leave it behind me and forget about it?]

The mini-essay of a message of mine seemed to make the other person contemplate something. A few seconds later, I got a reply.

Unknown - [That's an interesting point. But what if you took your memories of your first life and managed to avoid making the same mistakes you did in your first life?]

I thought about it. Sure, that might make it sound nice. However...

Me - [But what if I accidentally make another mistake? Just because I'm older, doesn't mean I'm better than the me from the past. There’s just no point in redoing something I’ve put behind me. I’d rather look to the future and concentrate on the present.]

Hm, at that point I was getting into the conversation. The random stranger seemed like an interesting person to talk to.

For some reason though, that was the point where the stranger seemed to decide that the conversation was over. Shrugging to myself, I turned off my phone and went to bed...

---

...and woke up early the next morning to the sound of snoring. Which was weird since I was supposed to be alone in the room.

Jumping out of my bed, I saw the source of the snoring and found myself looking at my brother sleeping in a bed next to mine. Funny, since my room didn’t have two beds. And my brother wasn’t supposed to be in my dorm room.

Feeling very confused at that point, I tried to look for my phone to check what time it was. Only to find something that should’ve been impossible.

On the dresser next to my bed was not the new smartphone that I saved up for, but rather the first phone that I ever got. It was a hand-me-down from my parents that I lost in my first year of high school, to my eternal regret.

So seeing that on my dresser kinda clued me in on something.

And what truly clued me in was the large post-it note saying 'Get ready for the first day of school' next to it.

Recalling the text conversation from ‘last’ night, I realized at that moment what happened.

I was in the past.

---

To be specific, I was five years into the past.

The date staring back at me from the screen of my phone shocked me at first. This was something that I only read about in light novels or watched on TV. Not that I was excited at the prospect.

Sure, others might have dreamed once or twice about what if they got the chance to repeat their lives. Even I sometimes had that thought, but I always figured that if I ever got the chance, then I wouldn’t necessarily have been able to change things for the better. In fact, I was pretty sure I was likely to make it worse.

So this time leap of mine was not a good thing. Even worse, I was sent right back to the first day of high school.

Gah, I’m back to being a freshman again!

I could barely remember what I had for breakfast yesterday, let alone what happened almost five years ago. While I was freaking out to myself, my brother finally woke up for the day and saw what I was doing.

“Wren, what’s up?” My brother paused to yawn for a second. “Why does your face look constipated?”

Ah, even at a young age, my brother always had a bit of a mouth. Speaking of which, how old was he again?

Since he was almost eighteen just yesterday, that would make him around… wow, twelve years old. He’s right in the middle of puberty!

I patted my brother on the shoulder, to the confusion on his face. The look of pure pity I gave him might have been the reason for that.

“I am so sorry that you have to go through this,” I told him solemnly. “If it’s any consolation, puberty will be kind on you.”

And it was true. My brother definitely got the better genes between us, growing up to be quite the looker later. Speaking of which, I should probably introduce him.

Clovis is my younger brother by about two years. While he mellowed out as the years passed, right now he was my snarky and annoying little brother.

My brother merely blinked before narrowing his eyes.

“If puberty means becoming like you, I think I’ll skip puberty.”

“You can’t run forever. Puberty eventually gets us all.”

We bickered with each other for a bit before going to freshen up for the morning. Man, that was fun. It’s been a while since I’ve been able to talk with my brother like that.

Years later, he’ll be this moody teenager that mostly talks with his friends online and play video games in his room all day. And for the next few years afterward, before I move out to college, our interactions will mostly be limited to talking on the weekends only. Even though our rooms are literally right next to each other.

But that’s not the case now. For one, Clovis hasn’t asked to get his own room yet. We’re still roommates at the moment, and I for one am absolutely glad to re-experience this part of my life again.

“Hey, hurry up in the bathroom.” Clovis pounded on the bathroom door, with me inside the room. “Dad has to drop you off early so I can go to school on time.”

Ah, yes. And that’s the reminder of why this experience isn’t all sunshine and rainbows.

“Five more minutes,” I shouted.

“I’ll give you one,” he replied back.

The cheeky kid actually picked the lock open with his fingernail right as a full minute passed, too impatient to wait for me. The locks in our house weren’t that complicated for a lot of the rooms, so it wasn’t hard for him.

Luckily I was already done for the most part. Still, I flicked his cheek on the way out and received a glare from him.

Hehe, why is my brother so adorable compared to the future? I swear I never thought that pouting face of his was cute before. Must be the gap moe.

Entering the kitchen, I found my dad busy making breakfast for the two of us.

“Morning,” he called once he noticed me.

“Hi, Dad.” Moving close to him, I smelt the air and grimaced.

Ugh, spam. That was going to be my breakfast for the next three years, give or take every other week. Senior year was the time my brother and I finally decided to switch to cereal. Maybe we can speed up that transition sooner this time.

“Hurry up and finish your breakfast. You still have to pick up your schedule before school starts.”

Did I? Honestly, my memory sucked at times like this. Well, not in the sense of me recalling things because I time traveled, but just recalling things that happened long ago in general.

I wolfed down my bowl of rice and canned meat and watched as my brother quickly join me in the same.

My brother was still in middle school, and his school started half an hour after mine did. So when the three of us got into the car with Dad driving in front (another thing I missed now), I was the first one to be dropped off.

“Bye Wren!”

“Have a good day at school!”

I waved the two off as they left with a smile on my face, which dropped right as their car left my sight.

Ugh, now I finally have time to think about this situation.

So apparently, I’m approximately five years in the past while keeping my memories of the next five years intact. I’ve been sent to the day I first started high school with no idea why I was sent to this specific time.

The only clue of mine is that strange text conversation I had last night five years in the future. Which I can’t access anymore due to having a completely different phone.

Curse my sleep-deprived state. The details from last night were already fading from my mind.

While this wasn’t exactly anything horrible, this situation was kind of annoying. I won’t say that I’ll spend my immediate future doing everything I can to return to my own time, but I’ll keep an eye out to see how and why I was sent back to the past.

Right as I thought that, the bell in the distance began to ring.

My face paled as I began to pick up my pace. I didn’t want to be late on the first day of my high school repeat.