Neon lights.
Blue Sky Kindergarten.
Class 2.
The young female teacher was using a gentle tone to teach. "Okay, children—tell me, what's drawn on the blackboard?"
The little ones sitting below answered in unison, "A cat!"
"That's right, excellent!" The teacher's exaggerated praise did wonders for most of the kids; they swelled with pride at answering correctly.
There was only one exception.
Minamoto Senya propped his chin on his hand, bored out of his mind.
Feeling the soft, delicate skin of a child against the palm of his hand made him even more melancholy.
Good news.
In his previous life he'd been struck by a dump truck—his body smashed to bits, a mosaic scattered across the road—but his soul had survived and crossed over.
Bad news.
The soul that crossed over belonged to a five-year-old child with no strength to hold a chicken, someone who, at this stage, couldn't make any real choices about his life.
The way he'd crossed over was the textbook kind of isekai format, so, like other transferees, he'd wound up with his own system.
Only—his system was a little hard to explain.
Thinking this, Minamoto Senya ignored the chorus of children's songs that had started up again in the classroom.
When he activated it, a light screen appeared before his eyes—visible only to him.
A map was displayed on that screen.
Minamoto Senya focused on a particular point on the map.
The map shifted rapidly, slicing through overlapping clouds, zooming fast toward the ground!
In a blink, the scene before him changed.
An aerial view from ten thousand meters above became the bird's-eye view of the very kindergarten he was in.
All the facilities inside the kindergarten were visible with crystal clarity.
He freely zoomed in, passing through roofs and walls of buildings.
He saw himself there, chin in hand, staring blankly in boredom.
He saw teachers in the office idly holding teacups and chatting.
He saw the headmistress looking at her phone, an unnatural flush creeping across her face.
Minamoto Senya grew curious.
He adjusted the perspective and peered at the content on the principal's phone.
She was browsing a forum dedicated to healthy, beautiful curves—frequently saving images where the camera focused on buttocks, and occasionally leaving flippant comments on posts.
Minamoto Senya: "…"
Humans are interesting because they're full of complications and contradictions.
He watched for a little while, feeling mildly fascinated.
After a moment the novelty wore off; he felt no worldly desire.
He reset the map to its original perspective.
It had been three days since he'd transmigrated.
He'd mostly adapted to his current situation.
But his understanding of his system remained half-formed.
In practice, the system let him ignore the laws of physics and observe people or objects in full 360 degrees without blind spots.
If he'd wanted, he wouldn't have stopped at peeking at the principal's phone.
He could have lowered his viewpoint to the principal's nostrils, inspect the moisture of the nasal lining, check whether her nasal hair was healthy and dark, and whether the trimming was neat and aesthetically pleasing.
From that, he could deduce whether she kept good personal habits.
That all sounded pretty awesome.
And it truly was impressive when used.
But the premise was that there weren't so many restrictions.
Put simply:
There was a condition for Minamoto Senya to perform the above operations.
It was limited to the areas he had actually visited in reality.
It was a bit like opening a map in a game.
Only zones he had physically been to could be "unlocked," allowing him to carry out subsequent operations.
Look closely.
Most areas on the map were shrouded in a thin white fog, making details hard to see.
The area around the kindergarten was crystal clear.
Beyond that, the only other clearly visible thing was a long, thin road leading to a residential house in the distance.
That was Minamoto Senya's home.
Over the past three days, he had poured most of his energy into getting used to his situation and learning about this world.
So only that much of the map had been unlocked.
The music signaling the end of class played.
The noise of the children brought Minamoto Senya back to the present.
Lunchtime—time to eat.
————
For lunch they had chicken curry, fruit salad, fragrant white rice, and boxed milk.
After the meal, each child was given an extra caramel pudding.
Soft and springy, full of milky aroma—quite delicious.
He had to admit, the food at this kindergarten was really good.
After eating and drinking, there was half an hour of free time.
The other kids all ran off to the playground or the sandbox, the place buzzing with running feet and laughter.
Minamoto Senya just thought the lot of them were noisy little brats.
He found a bench in the garden, wiped it down with a tissue, and sat.
While lazily soaking up the sun, he considered his future in light of his current situation.
His thoughts hadn't gotten very far when a sleek black car parked in front of the kindergarten gate caught his attention.
A delicate, doll-like little girl stepped out of the car.
She walked into the kindergarten carrying a backpack.
A few little boys rushed over, eager and attentive.
One held a ball in hand, clearly inviting her to play.
She seemed to refuse with a shake of her head.
"…That's Yukino, right? She's so young, and she's enrolled in so many extracurriculars—sometimes she even has to go to competitions. That must be exhausting."
Two teachers nearby were commenting, sympathizing.
Minamoto Senya kept a poker face.
But when he heard that familiar name, he unexpectedly pricked up his ears.
"Isn't it true? Kids nowadays are getting more and more driven. It seems she took leave this time because she wasn't feeling well."
"How sad. If you ask me, at kindergarten children should be allowed to grow up happily—no need to pile pressure on them. The Yukinoshita family is well off; there's no reason to be so anxious."
"Everyone's got their own ideas. Maybe that's how wealthy families raise their kids…"
A prettily featured little girl drew closer.
The two teachers stopped talking and greeted her with warm smiles.
The girl returned the greeting politely, clutching her backpack straps with both hands, and walked toward her classroom.
Minamoto Senya watched the direction she'd gone, his small hand on his chin.
Something in him suddenly found this interesting.
Not only because the heroine who had only existed in two-dimensional fiction in his previous life had appeared before him in the flesh.
But also because his system, which had been aloof and unhelpful since his crossing, finally seemed to be showing signs of life.
At this moment he felt as excited as a pervert on a train who's just spotted an insanely shy young woman!
A blinding golden exclamation mark popped up above the little Yukinoshita Yukino's head and kept bouncing and shaking.
Minamoto Senya now had reason to suspect that perhaps his system really was a derivative of some game.
Before, the map was one thing—but this, no doubt, had to be a quest prompt, right?
......