I Won’t Choose You

If you could redo a failed life, would you love the same person again? I am Masahito Arisugawa, a pianist and violinist. My wife, Miyako, is a world-renowned violinist—a figure who, to me, was always beyond reach. As a musician, I’m second-rate at best. Yet, I believed I had found my own version of happiness. At least, I thought so—until that day. On the day I turned 41, my wife Miyako left, taking our only daughter with her. There had always been someone Miyako admired from her student days—Sousuke Mikami. When she found out that he had divorced, she couldn’t sit still. She took our daughter, Saki, and left to chase after him. Realizing Miyako’s true feelings, I drowned myself in alcohol, despite not being able to handle strong drinks. Lost in despair, I succumbed to acute alcohol poisoning and blacked out. I thought I had died, but when I awoke, I found myself as a 15-year-old again. No, that’s not quite accurate—I hadn’t just returned to my younger self; I had time-slipped 25 years into the past. In other words, I had time-leaped. Before me stretched the world of my first year in high school. At my newly entered school, there were familiar faces from long ago—and a youthful, fresh Miyako. But in this world, I resolved not to get involved with her. (I won’t let myself end up with Miyako. That’s the only thing I’ll change. Nothing else.) I only wished to lead a peaceful life. However, when I unconsciously saved the life of Sachiko Kazami, the flow of time around me—what should have been the same as 25 years ago—began to shift into something entirely different…