Chapter 75 - Volume 5 (1/2)

Volume 5, Chapter 4: I became a kindergartener, Part 2

“……Yuzu-chan, what’s this?”

“……Zo-san”

For the [Tsubaki group] in my kindergarten, it was time to play with clay.

Although we all started to clumsily play with the clay when the teacher whose name I still cannot remember said [Let’s make our favorite animal today], I was thinking of a strange looking thing which felt a little off, and, as a result, I ended up trying really hard.

“……… What’s this?”

In front of me were several avant-garde-ish objects which each asserted a strange uniqueness.

Handsome-kun said as much without meaning harm. ……urgk, even if I say his name in my thoughts it makes me receive damage.

Since he’s such a carefree child, I was working on this with light thoughts, however; as a result, the child sitting opposite me began to cry before I’d even spent five minutes making my things.

……… is it that bad?

I certainly didn’t feel like I had dexterous fingers, but to think that I was that bad with handicrafts…

“Haah… oh my… Wha-what did you make?”

“This? It’s a Japanese shorthorn.”

“……………unn??”

Indeed…… it’s the cow that produces my favorite meat. As expected of the scion of a famous meat processing company.

…… the darkness of the food industry runs deep.

It’s recess, now.

All boys ran into the garden. Half the girls also went outside, while the other half went to the corner to play where the building blocks and picture books were.

As Handsome-kun took out a frankfurter from his cooler box, I grasped his hands to stop him.

“Yuzu-chan……?”

“Han, Hyamu-kun, do you want to go outside to play?”

I bit myself on his name. But I kept at it.

“Well~ umm, what about my food…”

“Let’s go now…okay?”

“……Yes, I’ll play with Yuzu-chan.”

I tightly grasped his hands to stop him from grabbing more meat, and he took them with a smile.

Please go on a diet. I’ll have him lose weight to make sure that he can make friends properly and not be teased.

What to do with my friend? Well~…… what other girls in kindergarten play?

In the end, I spent the recess taking a walk while holding his hand. Handsome-kun didn’t have much physical strength, but I don’t have any strength either now.

Why were the teachers looking at us strangely with such warm eyes…

The next period is English. Engurishu… as expected of the kindergarten affiliated to Takamine School; a gifted education even from early childhood.

However, it’s still the English education of kindergarten, after all. Anyway, were they going to line up the blocks on which ABC is written? Or so I thought. An English picture book was placed in front of me.

…… eh? Can you all read this? I looked around, and understood two things.

An ordinary child from a normal family was playing with the child next to him without opening the book at all. Even if the teachers saw it, they didn’t scold them. They’re being completely ignored.

Aah…… I understand now, we’re being sorted. If we were left as we were now, then our education will likely change as we get separated into classes when we advanced to elementary school.

Some of the children were actually opening the English book and reading normally.

“Yuzu-chan, this is interesting.”

“……yes”

What should I do? Did I read these books normally before I lost my memory, or did I give up and just play instead?

Since it couldn’t be helped even if I worried about it, I tried opening the recommended picture book Handsome-kun handed to me.

Yeah, it’s written horizontally…… But, what?

“Is something wrong?”

“No…”

I can read it…… I don’t know how, but I can read it.

I understand English if it was individual words, but I don’t know them when they’re strung into sentences.

However, when I stared at them, I could “see” the meanings of the words and the flow of the sentence that would be expressed in a form that I understood.

To put that into words, English came easily from my mouth.

“You, you’re good at English, huh.”

It wasn’t Handsome-kun who was saying that.

Turning to look at the voice that came from behind me, there was a pretty boy with light brown hair  there smiling with his blue-black eyes.

“Oh, it’s Kouki-kun”

“Yaa, Handsome.”

“……*twitch*”

My cheeks were tightening at hearing someone else call Handsome by his name so casually. …… it’s pretty hard to get used to. Maybe my is soul rejecting it.

Anyway, he’s another  friend of Handsome-kun and he’s quite the good-looking boy.

Several girls that were holding picture books came along behind Kouki-kun…… you’re being shadowed. Heh, he’s not very manly, but it seems like he’s a [Prince-sama]-like existence.

“You must be Togaki-san’s daughter…… are you not?”

“eh…… yes.”

It seems that he knew things about me too. It seems like they aren’t exactly friends, but maybe they knew each other through their fathers’ work?

“……Fuuuh~”

Kouki-kun looked at my face with a strange expression… he moved closer and closer. Hey, pretty boy…… the girls behind you are getting noisy.

“Your impression has changed quite a bit…… I remember being ahead in English in the past……”