A Familiar Beginning

[In realms unseen, a potent force did stir, Its gaze alighted on a soul, unsure.

With gentle touch, it wove a dream so pure, Imagining a life, a fate to secure.

In this new vision, plainness turned to gold, Each step, each breath, with wonder to behold.

No sighs of sorrow, only joy untold, A path of love and laughter to unfold.

With whispered hopes, sincerity did gleam, As echoes of the heart embraced the dream.

To seek a lover in life's flowing stream, Forever blessed, in passion's never dying beam.]

Shinji POV

Where am I? Is this the afterlife? It felt like I was drowning in water, and suddenly, a light shone in the darkness.

The light was fluctuating, as if it was talking or maybe it was rhythm. It may be the pathway to heaven, but alas, I couldn't move. It was as if I had lost control of my body.

Suddenly, the light stopped fluctuating, and this time, a few words appeared as if written with white ink on black paper in the darkness.

[Good Luck]

After reading those words, which felt sincere to Shinji, his consciousness again faded, and the laws of time and fate had been altered.

I saw a face against the mirror of a plain boy who looked like a teenager just starting his high school life with a messy hairstyle and a bright smile. It was me, Shinji Yasuda, back in high school.

Unlike the me close to my demise, who had an Ivy League haircut and a trimmed anchor beard, looking refined and expressionless.

A pain ran through my heart as I saw a familiar face alongside the young boy, a young girl who had a bright smile. She had small black hair that went a little below the shoulders and a near-perfect face. Anyone seeing such a cute girl would smile, but for some reason, my eyes got moist.

I tried to call out to her, but I couldn't remember her name. With desperation on my mind, suddenly, my sight got hazy, and I heard a faint voice.

"Wake up, Shinji."

"Wake up, Shinji!"

The voice got louder.

"Ayumi is waiting for you. Wake up and get ready."

Ayumi?

Ayumi!

"AH.......yes, Ayumi Sato, that was her name. How could I forget? (Tap!)"

"What are you talking about? Look at the time, get ready and head to school right now."

Mom left the room with quite the temper. WAIT!? School? And Mom is alive, looking much younger than I last saw her.

What is going on? What is happening? Was it a dream? No, I am sure that I died. Then maybe this is a dream.

But it didn't make sense; it cannot be a dream with such details, and I clearly felt pain when Mom hit me, making me sure this is reality.

Shinji was in deep thought while getting ready for school and slowly began to understand his situation. Being as smart as he was, it was no wonder that he realized his situation by the time he got ready.

This house, my room, my face, and my family—everything convinced me of the fact that I had regressed.

Shit, how did this happen? Is this the work of God?

Despite the contemplation, no answer came to my mind. Feeling defeated, I headed downstairs and saw my father reading the newspaper on the dining table and Mom preparing breakfast.

"Good morning, Shinji. How are you feeling? Today is your first day of high school; you should get going or you may get late on the first day."

It felt as though I was experiencing a deja vu, because I clearly remembered Dad saying that. I couldn't be any happy cause i had missed my parents but all of this felt strange.

As I left for school, I saw Ayumi waiting for me at the door.

"Shinji, do you have any idea how long I've been waiting for you? Be grateful that such a beautiful girl is going to walk with you to school."

Seeing her made my heart feel weird, but I knew the moment I saw her that I couldn't let the tragedy she faced repeat.

"Sorry for the wait, Ayumi. And you don't need to worry—though I may not show it, I'm happy to be lucky enough to walk with a girl as cute as you... Hey, Ayumi, are you well? You look a little red."

Her face suddenly got red. Is she well? Maybe she caught a cold.

"I...a...m fine. (Mouh) Let's go already."

We started to walk toward school after this exchange. I had to align my goals and work on them effectively. As a regressor and a future analyst, I had a good idea of how stocks work, so I can get into investing in the stock market. High school education would be quite easy for me, so I need not worry about it. That will summarize my academic and financial situation currently.

My father dies of cancer at a later stage, so I can worry about it then. Right now, the one I need to save is Ayumi. In my first life, we were together throughout the first year of high school. However, by the second year, we slowly started growing distant for some reason, and by graduation, we had little to no contact. Sometime after graduation, she was murdered at night. There are many unknowns to this, like when it happened, what caused it, why she left her house at night.

Thinking upon these felt pointless as I had no way to know. So what can I do to prevent it? Is there a way?

Well, there is. More specifically, it's a risky move, and it's something that may lead to other dangerous possibilities I may not be able to account for and may be out of my hands.

"Ayumi, do you know about the butterfly effect?"

"What's that? Hey, are you studying behind my back to get a head start in academics or something?"

"No, nothing. Forget I asked."

The butterfly effect is a phenomenon where a small change in the past can lead to much bigger changes in the future. In the past, my relationship with Ayumi did not go well, so this time, let's get close to her and maintain our friendship through high school. This way, I would cause a change in this timeline and keep close tabs on Ayumi.

"Ayumi, let's be friends forever, okay?"

"Eh?..... What's with you suddenly saying that?"

I truly missed these cute reactions. I cannot let this chance go to waste.

Ayumi's POV

What's with Shinji today? He is behaving strangely. Maybe... has he fallen in love with me?

No, there's no way that's possible. I have been with this dense idiot for a long time, and never once has he seen me in that way. He didn't even notice the rumors in middle school about us dating. I used to be so embarrassed when I was questioned about our relationship.

"Huh? There's no way. We are just childhood friends," is what he used to say when his friends asked.

But what if he had developed feelings for me? After all this time, I had given up on us being any more than childhood friends.

I looked at him, and my heart started to race, and my face got red.

"Idiot."

"Did you say something?"

"Nothing. We are going to get late at this pace. Hurry up."

Trying to hide my face, I hurried up and thought to myself.

'Yeah, there's no way it's that. But if it is, I wouldn't mind it. But I will have to punish him quite a bit.'

With a satisfied look, we entered the gates, marking the start of our high school life.

"Shinji my class is that way so i will be heading out lets meet after school by the gate"

"Ok, see you then"