I (30), Who Works for a Black Company and Died While Regretting My Gloomy Life, Started Over From High School!

Chapter 139: Awakening in the Nostalgic Hell

The first sensation my dawning consciousness registered was a blinding light.

Ugh mmm

As I shifted, I felt the worn fabric of my clothes and the wrinkled sheets beneath me. A peculiar discomfort prickled under my chin, and scratching at it, I encountered something sharp against my fingertips.

Slowly, I awakened and brought the world into focus.

Above, a single light fixture blazed, its cover encrusted with dust, creating a speckled pattern from the garbage inside.

It was a strangely familiar, yet conversely, an experience that felt foreign for a long time. With this odd sensation, I slowly raised myself from the futon.

And thenI came to realize where I was.

(.Ah.)

I gazed at this scene, akin to a nightmare, with a surprising calmness even to my own senses.

First and foremost, it was dirty.

Trash of all sorts overflowed around my sleeping area.

Notifications from credit card companies and insurance firms, receipts, plastic bags, wrappers from sweets, delivery cardboard and wrapping paperthere was no room to even step.

In the kitchen, several grimy cups lay untouched, and empty containers from convenience store lunches were piled high.

Furthermore, empty PET bottles and energy drink cans were scattered about, and there were many empty beer and highball cans.

Surveying this free-for-all space, I found a grooming mirror on the low table right beside my sleeping spot.

With sluggish movements, I picked it up and peered in.

Definite fear and faint hesitation.

Ignoring them, I confirmed what was reflected there.

Hey, its been a while.

What was reflected there wasnt the youthful high school me.

Deep shadows etched into a severely fatigued face, and the source of the prickling sensation on my fingertips from earlier was a scruffy stubble.

Both mind and body were profoundly exhaustedthe face of a man weathered by the rough seas of society was there.

A second time leap, huh.

In the extreme solitude of this garbage dump where no one else existed but me, I murmured as if delivering the final blow to my own recognition.

Ha looking at it again, this room is in terrible shape.

I surveyed the apartment, which looked like it hadnt been cleaned in ages, and muttered with a touch of self-deprecation. This line also emerged as an attempt to mask what was swirling in my chest.

Ive come back to this hellish future

This was no longer a dream. As a result of this second time leap, just like in those terminal days, Ive been banished from the ideal second life and now find myself here.

I might never be able to return there again

Just thinking about it made tears well up, and a shiver ran through my entire body. It felt as if Id been tossed alone into the freezing night sky, with bottomless fear and despair welling up inside me.

But even so

This is fine this is exactly what I wished for

I closed my mouth, which was about to let out a sob, and turned my attention to the smartphone lying by my pillow.

It felt nostalgic, as if it had been decades since I last held one a smartphone. While feeling its smooth texture, I opened the calendar app.

Please if this is different, then everything is meaningless

With a feeling akin to a prayer, I peered at the screen, and todays date leaped out at me.

The displayed year and month were from five years before I would die at the age of thirty.

Now is the era when Im twenty-five, I had declared.

Alright!

With the most crucial point clarified, I let out a small cheer.

Haruka had attempted suicide and ended up like a living corpse at the age of twenty-seven. Meaning, now was two years before Harukas downfall.

No, calm down While the era may be right, its not confirmed if this is really the future I know. Well, considering Im living this corporate drone lifestyle, its almost certain.

However, how could I confirm this I pondered, and a solution immediately came to mind.

I searched for contacts on my smartphone and pressed the call button for the person I could talk to most casually in this era. It was Thursday night at ten oclock Well, Im sure itll be fine if its him.

Hey hey Whats up at this hour, Niihama?

I heard his voice from the phone, and I was filled with strange relief and nostalgia.

To you, who stayed my friend no matter the era, I had nothing but gratitude.

Its been a while, Ginji.

Huh? What are you talking about, you? We were just badmouthing the workplace together the other day while drinking.

Oh, right, we did that? Well, never mind. Theres something I want to ask you.

Now, what should I ask Yeah, thats right.

If its about the event, he should have it in his memory.

Hey, what did our class do for the second-year high school cultural festival?

What kind of question is that to ask at ten in the evening!? We couldnt decide on anything back then, so our exhibition was half-baked!

While complaining, Ginji answered me firmly, and his kindness was quite comforting. Im really glad we managed to maintain our connection even after graduating high school

I see. So, it wasnt in my second year of high school that I suddenly became active and became friends with Shijouin-san? And we didnt go to the beach with you and three girls?

You spent your entire time until graduation quietly in the corner of the class with me, and there were no gal-game-like events happening! What on earth is going on with you!? Theres a limit to being half-asleep!

At the word half-asleep, I couldnt help but smile wryly.

Thats right, Ginji. If I think about it normally, me reliving my second year of high school through time leaps is nothing more than a wishful dream of a lonely guy.

But even so Im convinced that what I touched and felt there was not a lie.

Haha, my bad, my bad. It seems I had a bit too much to drink and got a bit foolish. Ill sober up and go to bed early.

Niihama Are you really okay? Hey, I can only listen to your complaints about work, but if things get tough, you can tell me anytime, okay?

Thanks, Ginji. Sorry for calling so late. Yeah, well, see you again sometime.

After ending the call, I gazed up at the less-than-tidy ceiling of my not-so-clean home.

It seems Ive needlessly worried adult Ginji.

Perhaps this is the original flow of time, untouched by my interference through time leaps The first-round world leading to my death from overwork.

After that wildly fantastical dream, the possibility briefly crossed my mind that this might be the future of a second round world derived from time leaps. However, that notion was shattered by Ginjis testimony earlier.

Then, all the conditions are in place. In this era of this world, I can still save Haruka from her downfall!

The seventeen-year-old Haruka, who had become a vegetable due to mental collapse. The only countermeasure I could think of to return her to normal was this.

To counter supernatural phenomena with another supernatural phenomenon in other words, altering time through time leaps.

However, in theory, it wasnt that complicated. The fact that the high school Haruka in the second round world had become like a doll clearly reflected the state of the adult Haruka who suffered a mental breakdown in the first round world.

Therefore

If the adult Haruka in the first round world never reaches the point of ruin the second round worlds Haruka wont be influenced by it either!

This was only a possibility, and there was no certainty. It was a series of assumptions built on top of each other, almost a mere hopeful speculation.

Furthermore, there were too many uncertainties with this plan.

First and foremost, even if the time leap occurred in response to my plea and prevented the mental breakdown of the adult Haruka, it didnt necessarily mean I could time leap conveniently to a time before that.

At this point, it was a gamble.

Moreover, even if preventing the mental collapse of the adult Haruka in this era did lead to a branched future, it might not necessarily save that high school Haruka.

Finally, even if everything went well, there was no guarantee I could return to that second round world.

In short, since I didnt understand any of the rules regarding altering time, this was nothing more than a reckless gamble with no map in a pitch-black sea.

But, there was no other choice. I couldnt think of any other way to save Haruka, like some protagonist in a sci-fi story

So, I called out to the source of the time leap, not even knowing if it existed, and arrived in an era before Harukas mental collapse.

Even so Ill do it

I didnt know what would happen as a result of this second round of time leaps.

But I declared my vow, even if it meant clinging to a rock and fulfilling it.

To save the existence of Shijouin Haruka thats why Im here.

Since waking up in this place, my organs have been constantly tormented by anxiety and fear. But at the same time, Im sure of the determination and fervor swirling in my chest.

To save Haruka, Ill push forward no matter how far!

In this room akin to a garbage dump, I shouted towards the fate I had to break through from now on.

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