When I woke up, I was still in the past. I really hadn’t been dreaming, and I felt less nauseous too.
That night, my mom cooked up an extravagant dinner in celebration of my graduation. She’d probably done the same thing the first time around, but I didn’t remember everything that happened back then. She asked me how the graduation ceremony had gone, so I recounted what I could from my vague recollections before I returned to my room.
I stood before my mirror once more. The embodiment of gloom and doom stared back at me. Yes, this dismal boy was who I’d been before entering high school.
There’s no point trying to come up with reasons why this happened, I thought. I wouldn’t know what’s true, after all. I should just focus on the outcome. I’m currently seven years in the past, which means I have the chance to redo my life. I messed up the first time I went through high school, but now I can fix things! I asked god to give me a chance to redo my youth, so let’s just say my wish was granted.
I didn’t want the regrets of my teen years to haunt me any longer. This time, I would live out my youth to the fullest! I stared at myself in the mirror and swore to myself: I will have a successful high school debut and overwrite my drab old high school memories with ones full of vibrant colors!
✦ ✦ ✦
Let’s see. Today was my middle school graduation ceremony, so it’s the tenth of March. My high school entrance ceremony is the eighth of April, meaning I have about a month of spring vacation. That’s not very long, but it’s time for a transformation!
Although I had been eager to make my high school debut the first time, my attempt to change my appearance had been half-assed. All I’d done was lose a bit of weight and drop my glasses for contacts. Then, I didn’t look particularly good or bad, just average.
However, this time around, maybe something would change if I really improved my looks. At any rate, I thought it couldn’t possibly make things worse. They say appearances make up ninety percent of a person, or something like that.
It was a good thing this time leap hadn’t landed me right before the entrance ceremony. A few days were plenty if all I needed was minimal grooming, but I needed at least a month to slim down.
I began going on daily jogs in the neighborhood. My sedentary body would get fatigued almost instantly, but I couldn’t afford to take it easy. Every day, I pushed myself to the brink of collapsing then returned home dripping in sweat. I slept like a log at night, so the time flew by.
I told my mom that I wanted to lose weight, and she helped me out by managing my diet. In the morning, I would run until I was about to collapse, rest up, and then run some more. In the afternoon, I focused on building muscle. I did multiple sets of push-ups, sit-ups, back exercises, and squats, with breaks and stretching in between. With every passing day, I upped the number of sets as well.
I had nothing else to do, so I spent every waking moment exercising.
✦ ✦ ✦
My exercise routine continued for three weeks, and before I knew it, I had lost fifteen kilograms. At one point, I was down twenty kilograms, but then my muscle mass started to increase and I found myself gaining weight instead.
When I looked at my reflection, I was pleased to see that I had achieved my objective with flying colors. Three weeks ago, I had been just a big fatty, but now I was tall and slim. My height was pretty much always the only thing I had going for me.
My mom, delighted by my transformation, encouraged me to join a gym, so I did. It had various machines and even gave me access to a pool. Now I was able to exercise even more efficiently.
Of course, I wouldn’t go as far as calling myself a macho man, but my pecs were thicker, my abs more defined, and my arms and legs were firming up. Maybe even enough to classify me as a lean kinda guy!
It was tough in the beginning, but somewhere along the way I started enjoying exercising. I feel like I deviated from my original goal of losing weight. In fact, I’m pretty sure I cleared that bar a while ago. W-Well, that can’t be bad. It might be a different story if I become too brawny, though.
Gains aside, time flies when you’re having fun lifting weights. It was now two days before the entrance ceremony. Bodybuilding had gone well, but what I needed was some proper grooming. Which was why I was currently scrambling to get ready.
First, I took out money that I’d stashed in the depths of my drawer to buy contacts. Replacing your glasses with contacts is a must for a high school debut. They’d be fine if I wanted to go for the intellectual look, but I don’t really look good in glasses.
When I swapped out my glasses for contacts, I immediately started giving off athlete vibes. Not too shabby, I thought. My hair’s too long and shaggy, but my build makes up for it. All right, time to visit the hairdresser.
I knew from experience that I had terrible fashion sense, so I decided to leave my hair in the hands of a fairly pricey stylist. And so, I headed for a well-known salon by the station.
Ten thousand yen was a lot for a high school student, but the results made it worth the cost.
“Whoa.” I looked like a put-together athlete. Dare I say people might even consider me a hunk?
To be honest, I doubted my eyes at first. Who would’ve thought that the gloomy, overweight otaku I used to be could transform into a whole new guy? For once, I could actually believe my hairdresser’s compliments.
The trade-off was that I wouldn’t look this good if I didn’t style my hair with wax every day. To tell the truth, doing that every morning was a pain in the butt, but I had already decided I would work hard to have the best high school life ever.
My clothes are still lame, but I’m a high schooler. We’ve got uniforms. I’ll think about my wardrobe if the need arises.
When I got home, Namika was watching TV in the living room. Her eyes popped out of her head when she saw me.
“Onii-chan...is that really you?”
“Who else would it be? How do I look?”
Namika was silent for a moment. “Pretty decent. Not that I would know.” She’d looked away when I asked her for her opinion, but I knew this was her way of giving her stamp of approval. Namika had trouble expressing her honest feelings and tended to play disinterested when complimenting someone.
“Oh my, Natsuki! You look great now!” my mom exclaimed as soon as she came home from work. With her additional praise, I couldn’t deny the truth any longer. After seeing both of their reactions, I knew it wasn’t just my imagination; I really had turned into a good-looking guy.
Confidence restored, I gave myself a big grin in the mirror. I was going for a refreshing smile to match my new look, but it turned out more like a creepy smirk.
Yeah, I should practice smiling.