I’m Back in the First Grade of Elementary School, so I’m Going to Live Well

I heard footsteps.

They weren’t mine or Rinta’s.

They were footsteps coming from the hallway in front of me.

It wasn’t just footsteps. There was also a shadow.

The school was dimly lit, and I could only vaguely make out the silhouette of a person who was probably about ten meters ahead of me.

Even so, I could tell that it was not an adult male.

I can only see in a blurry way, but that doesn’t mean I can’t see at all.

I can vaguely make out the body lines of the person at the end of the corridor. The lines of his body are not that of a man.

And it’s not a child.

It’s not the high-pitched footsteps of a child walking on the ground lightly.

Then it was an adult woman.

But how could she be in an elementary school at this time of night?

Who the hell was she?

That’s when I squinted my eyes.

“L-Let’s get out of here!”

With Rinta’s shout, I was pulled backward with tremendous force.

He grabbed my arm and ran away at once.

His body, which should have been cowering in fear, exerted a tremendous amount of strength like a fool in a fireplace due to the emergency.

As I was pulled along, I ascended to the second and third floors and entered a classroom.

“Hah…… hah……”

He pulled one person with him and ran up the stairs and down the hallway as fast as he could. As evidence of his physical exhaustion, Rinta was out of breath.

I didn’t feel particularly tired because I was just letting the force take me. I felt like a kite flying.

“O-O-Oh, my God, K-K-Kakeru! It’s a ghost!”

“A ghost?”

Even though he was trembling with fear, Rinta desperately tried to tell me that.

It seems that Rinta mistook the person he just saw for a ghost and tried to flee the scene.

“Calm down a bit, Rinta. It can’t be a ghost.”

“B-But! I-It’s was a woman!”

“By that logic, half the world’s population would be ghosts.”

Are you saying that all women are ghosts? Any occult enthusiast would not advocate such a ridiculous theory.

“N-N-No, that’s not it! Strangely, a woman would be here at this hour!”

“That’s…… certainly true.”

Even if it’s not a ghost, it could be a pervert.

Maybe a thief who broke into the school?

Or a perverted woman who is an extreme shotacon.

That’s not good. If that’s the case, we’re easy prey for her.

After all, Rinta and I are both first grade boys with genuine shota attributes.

If this happens, then Rinta and I are in danger in many ways…!

If this happens, I’ll have to somehow escape from the night school without the perverted woman finding me!

“WAAAAAAAAA!!!!!”

“What? What’s wrong?”

Suddenly, Rinta screamed.

“S-S-S-S-Shoulder! T-T-There’s a mark on Kakeru’s shoulder!!”

“No, this is a mark where you grabbed me.”

The one who had just been grab on my right shoulder was, after all, Rinta.

“!? T-Then, being pulled by the arm…”

“That’s you, too.”

Did you forget how we got here? Oh, man.

I was taken aback by the fact that he was saying such a crazy thing in this emergency.

But it made me feel a little less tense.

It was an emergency, and I needed to keep my cool.

My first priority was to get out of the school without being seen by the woman on the first floor.

There was no way I could escape through a window like in the movies.

Falling from the third floor would be dangerous. Not my body, but my life.

After all, the only way to get to the front door is to go downstairs.

In that case, too, it would be dangerous. Not my life, but my body.

If that’s the case, we’ll take a detour and go out the back door instead of the front.

“L-Let’s get the hell out of here!”

“Yeah, we should.”

Rinta’s mind was starting to wander.

We have to move quickly.

“Tap.”

““――!?””

Footsteps.

The woman who was supposed to be on the first floor earlier was now on the third floor.

I hadn’t even heard the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs before, but suddenly, I was near the classroom where I was hiding.

It couldn’t be really a ghost――

No, no! It can’t be!

I just told you that I don’t believe in such unscientific stuff!

If I’m convinced that it’s a ghost, then I’m a flake who can’t take responsibility for my words!

No, technically, I just thought it in my mind, but I didn’t say it out loud.

It was human, no matter what I thought.

The woman on the first floor must have come up without making a sound. That’s right. That must be it.

Phew, that’s a relief…

I patted my chest for a moment――

No, I’m not relieved at all!

It doesn’t mean that they are harmless perverts. If it’s harmless, it’s not a pervert, and if it’s trespassing on an elementary school, it’s harmful, not harmless.

It’s even more dangerous than a ghost!

“K-Kakeru…”

“Quiet. Just shut up and let it go.”

“Tap…… Tap…………”

The footsteps stop in front of the classroom.

I’ve been exposed.

I felt goosebumps all over my body the moment I realized this.

What else could I do but run for my life?

But even though I work on my physical strength every day, I’m still just a kid.

An adult woman could easily catch me.

And even if I had the leg strength to escape, what would Rinta do?

I can’t just abandon my friends and run away…!

I tried to hide somewhere, but there was no way I could make a sound.

Everything is not well.

I don’t believe in spiritual things, but for now, I’ll pray to God! I’ll pray with all my might!

I chanted Buddhist prayers, cut crosses with my hands, and prayed with a mixture of different religions, but in vain, the door of the classroom slowly opened.

“K-K-Kakeru…!”

“!”

That’s when I made up my mind.

“Itosaki-kun and Sunagawa-kun? What the hell are you doing here?”

The person who opened the door called out to me.

It’s the same voice I hear almost every day at school.

“Sa-Misato-sensei…?”

There was Misato-sensei, who was in the middle of her rounds.

◆

“You can’t break into the school in the middle of the night just because you forgot your homework…”

““Yes, I’m sorry.””

Rinta and I were made to sit on the floor in the hallway and were lectured by Misato-sensei.

We deserved it.

“It’s your first offense, so I won’t report you to your parents this time, but there won’t be a second time.”

“Yes, I understand.”

I shrugged my back and took sensei words to heart.

――When I found out that the woman’s identity was Misato-sensei, it finally made sense.

The front door was open.

It wasn’t that she forgot to close the front door due to her inattentiveness, or that she was trying to prevent some sort of intruder. It was simply that she was still on her rounds and the front door, which should have been the last one to close, was open.

… But there is one thing that concerns me.

“My Lady, will you allow me, a fool, to ask just one question?”

I humbly ask as I am being preached to.

“Yes, I permit.”

Sensei nodded as if she were an ojou-sama.

She is a good teacher, after all.

With her permission, I open my mouth.

“Um….. why didn’t you say hello to us when we met on the first floor?”

I encountered her on the first floor.

The woman I saw at that time was probably Misato-sensei, given the circumstances.

We didn’t know that it was Misato-sensei, but we knew that there was someone there.

It must have been the same for Jisato-sensei, who was standing across from us at that time.

If so, why didn’t she call out to us then?

It was an unnatural act not to speak to her there.

It may be that Misato-sensei, or rather Deputy Misato, has an agenda that I, a foolish person like me, can’t even imagine.

I asked sensei about it, but just as I tilted my head, she also tilted her head.

“What is the first floor?”

Again, she tilted her head in response to the question.

“No, I mean, we met once on the first floor.”

“……?”

I couldn’t get my story straight.

I tilted my head again, I wondered what the hell was going on.

I had an unpleasant premonition.

I didn’t want to think about it if I could help it. Just the thought of it gave me chills all over my body, it was the kind of premonition that terrified me.

It couldn’t be. It can’t be true.

I denied it, almost pleading.

But then, cruelly, Misato-sensei said the following.

“This is the first time I’ve seen you two together.”