“Yuu, can I come over today too?”
As I was getting ready to go home from kindergarten, Haru came up to me with his bag on his back.
Ever since I’d finished Pettan Forest, I’d been asked this almost every day. He came yesterday, and the day before yesterday. Still, he didn’t seem to get tired of it.
“If your mother says it’s okay.”
“Okay. Then I’ll tell everyone!”
“Everyone?”
“Yesterday, they said they wanted to play!”
As soon as Haru said that, he ran to the back of the classroom without waiting for my reply.
Everyone. When I heard that word, I thought it would be two or three people at most.
◇
“Excuse me!”
“Hello!”
“Is this Yuu-kun’s house?”
The entrance suddenly became noisy.
Haru wasn’t the only one who came. There were two girls from the group next to mine, a boy I’d seen in the sandbox, and a boy whose face I knew but whom I’d barely spoken to yet.
Five people in total.
“…You really brought everyone.”
“I told you so.”
“I didn’t even ask how many people there were.”
Haru began to take off his shoes without showing any sign of remorse.
Just as small shoes began to line up all over the entrance, my mother peeked out from inside.
“Oh, it’s quite lively today, isn’t it?”
“Mom, there are five of them.”
“I can see that.”
“Is it okay?”
“It’s okay, because everyone’s moms contacted me today. I’ve also heard what time they’re being picked up.”
“When did that happen…?”
“While you were at kindergarten, the adults were talking to each other.”
I see.
It seemed my mother and the others had connections I didn’t know about.
“However, please line up your shoes neatly. Wash your hands before eating sweets. When it’s time to go home, leave properly. Can you do that?”
“Yes!”
The responses were all perfect.
Mother nodded with satisfaction and began setting out cups for each person. There were even a few sweets ready.
“You’re well prepared.”
“Since you started kindergarten, I thought something like this might happen someday.”
I hadn’t thought so at all.
◇
I found the problem as soon as we moved to the living room.
There were five children who wanted to play Pettan Forest.
I only had one laptop with the game on it.
Of course, only one person could play at a time.
“I’m first!”
“Haru played yesterday!”
“Then it’s me!”
“We haven’t decided yet!”
A small fight started right in front of the computer.
“Why don’t we play rock, paper, scissors?”
When I suggested it, everyone agreed.
The first person was chosen, and the remaining four peered at the screen from behind.
“Is this Mochi?”
“Yes! I gave it the name.”
Haru answered proudly, as if it were his own.
It seemed the main character, whom I hadn’t given a name for a week, had already become completely established as “Mochi.”
“So cute!”
“If you jump, it squishes.”
“What is this bug?”
“Fluffy bug. If you stick to it, you fly away–“
“Haru.”
“Ah.”
He seemed to remember his earlier decision not to tell the answer right away, and hurriedly covered his mouth.
The child playing curiously approached the fluffy bug, circled it several times, and then pressed the button.
Peta. Mochi stuck to it and floated up into the sky.
“It flew!”
“I want to do it too!”
“Next time, it’s me!”
“It’s not over yet!”
The player leaned toward the screen holding the controller, and the four people waiting gradually closed the distance from behind him.
For the first few minutes, everyone seemed to be having fun.
They laughed when someone fell, and cheered when a Goron crashed into a rock.
However, by the time five minutes had passed…
“Isn’t it time to switch?”
“Not yet!”
“You’re taking too long!”
“You just said five minutes!”
And this time, they started squabbling over whose turn it was.
“…”
I watched the situation from a little distance away.
The game itself was being enjoyed.
That made me happy.
However, when a lot of people play the same game, there’s always waiting.
Although I’d felt satisfied with Pettan Forest itself, it seemed a new problem had arisen outside of the game.
◇
“You were having a lot of trouble today.”
At dinner that day, my mother said this as she put down the miso soup.
“You heard?”
“Of course I did, with all that ‘I’m next!’ and ‘It hasn’t even been five minutes!'”
Dad also laughed and picked up his chopsticks.
“That’s the fate of popular games. It’s like brothers fighting over the only game console.”
“If I had another computer, two people could play together.”
“I won’t buy it.”
“I haven’t said anything yet.”
“In your case, I thought you’d say with a straight face, ‘The problem will be solved with six units,’ so I stopped you first.”
It was hard to deny.
However, I myself didn’t think that increasing the number of machines was the answer.
“Even if we had two computers, if five people came like today, three people would wait, and if six people came, four people would wait. Isn’t it strange to add more computers every time the number of people increases?”
“Oh, you understand it perfectly, don’t you?”
“Dad, what do you think I am?”
“A five-year-old who could build a game center at home if he had to.”
“I won’t make one.”
“Really?”
“Maybe.”
“There you go.”
My mother burst out laughing.
“But the children waiting looked at the screen and seemed to be having fun at first.”
“At first. It seems like the longer it goes on, the more bored they get.”
“Then I wish there was something fun to do while they wait.”
I think my mother just said it casually.
But those words stuck with me a little.
Rather than increasing the number of computers.
Make the waiting time itself not feel like waiting.
“…In that case, maybe I can do something.”
“Did you come up with something?”
“Not yet. But I’ll try.”
◇
The next day.
“Six people today?”
“Mina talked to me yesterday and said she wanted to play too.”
“It’s increasing…”
Dad’s joke was already starting to become reality.
Thanks to the mothers keeping in touch with each other, my mother didn’t suddenly have to look after a child she didn’t know. Still, when the six of them gathered in the living room, it was even livelier than yesterday.
We decided who would go first with rock, paper, scissors.
However, even before it was the second person’s turn,
“I’m tired of waiting.”
“Already?”
“I was last yesterday too.”
A voice called out.
I looked at the computer and the children, then moved the plate of sweets on the table to the edge.
“Then, if you’re waiting, come here.”
“What are we going to do?”
“Are you bored?”
“Bored.”
“Then let’s study a little.”
That moment.
The five who had been making a fuss just a moment ago all had the same disgusted look on their faces.
“Eh…”
“Studying?”
“Even though kindergarten’s over?”
“Are we going to do it until we go home?”
“We’re not in elementary school yet, are we?”
It was extremely unpopular.
“Do you hate it that much?”
“It’s fine if it’s about the game.”
Haru immediately came up with a condition.
“Then let’s talk about the game.”
“Then I’ll do it!”
He switched quickly too.
I brought paper and crayons and spread them out in front of everyone.
“For example. When you first saw the fluffy bug, why did you think, ‘If I stick to it, maybe I can fly’?”
“Because it was flying.”
One of them answered immediately.
“Its wings were moving too.”
“It was round and like a balloon.”
“It’s funny how it sinks once when you stick to it.”
“I see.”
I wrote the words they gave me down on paper.
What I’d been thinking was, “Since it flies, it’s easy to associate it with the ability to fly.”
However, the children had watched the movement of the wings, the facial expression, and even the sinking feeling the moment they stuck to it.
“Then, what if the fluffy bug didn’t move its wings at all and stayed in the air with the same face all the time?”
“It’d look like it’s dead.”
“Scary.”
“I wouldn’t want to stick to that.”
“That much?”
“Because even though you’re looking at it, it doesn’t move.”
Now that they mentioned it, it might indeed be creepy.
I’d only been thinking about “telling people what it can do,” but before that, the children were looking at “do they want to touch it?”
“Then, if you could add one creature to Pettan Forest, what would it be?”
As soon as they heard this, the faces of the children, who had hated studying a moment ago, changed.
“Can I draw it!?”
“Draw whatever you like.”
As soon as the papers were handed out, the crayons began to move all at once.
Dogs with wings, creatures with more than half their bodies turned into horns, fish with strangely long limbs, and even things with wheels attached to square bodies that made it hard to tell whether they were living creatures or vehicles were born one after another.
“What is this?”
The child next to him looked at the picture.
“Bouncing dog!”
“Dogs jump normally.”
“It bounces way more than normal! If you stick to it, it’ll go all the way to the clouds!”
“Then you don’t need wings?”
“It needs them! It’s even cooler with wings!”
“I see.”
I couldn’t help but nod.
If you think only about function, wings certainly aren’t necessary.
However, the reason “it has them because they’re cool” is perfectly valid in a game.
On another paper, two of them sat around a fish, discussing it.
“What will this fish do when it comes on land?”
“Walk.”
“That’s not enough.”
“Then draw legs.”
“Two?”
“The more there are, the faster it’ll be!”
Nearly ten legs grew out of the fish’s belly.
“This definitely wouldn’t be easy to run with.”
When I said that, he immediately replied, “But it’s interesting.”
“…Is that so?”
There’s no need to create a correct creature.
If you can laugh while playing, that’s fine.
I was being taught such an obvious thing by five-year-olds.
Before I knew it, none of the children were huddled in front of the computer demanding a quick switch anymore.
One person was playing Pettan Forest, and the rest were thinking up a new Pettan Forest.
There was still only one computer, but no one was waiting.
“…This is more interesting.”
“What?”
“This conversation.”
“Yuu, you say that a lot.”
Haru told me.
◇
From that day on, it became a tradition for everyone to talk while waiting their turn.
At first, all we talked about was Pettan Forest.
“Why do fluffy bugs float?”
“Partly because they use their wings to fly, but the inside of their body is also lighter than the air around it.”
“What does lighter than air mean?”
“Some balloons can float depending on what you put inside them.”
“So, if I attach a balloon, can I fly too?”
“If you’re going to lift a human, you’ll need a pretty big one.”
“How big?”
I made a circle that could be held with both hands.
“Bigger.”
“Then how about this?”
This time, I spread my arms as far as they would go.
“I think it’s still not enough.”
“Then one hundred!”
“I guess it depends on the size.”
“A thousand!”
“Like I said, it depends on the size.”
“A hundred million!”
“I’m sure there’d be some left over then.”
Everyone laughed.
I also drew a human and a balloon on paper and explained using as few difficult words as possible.
On another day, we talked about fish.
“Why can fish swim so fast?”
“It’s partly the shape of their bodies, and they use their tail fin to push the water backward, which moves them forward.”
“So, if it had lots of tails, would it be faster?”
“Just increasing the number isn’t a good idea. In fact, they might get in the way.”
“What about the fish with all the legs from yesterday?”
“It’d probably have a hard time walking too.”
“Eh!”
“But in a game, isn’t it okay if it runs fast?”
“Then make it fast!”
The settings were decided on the spot.
One day, a child who saw the big rainbow-colored tree asked me, “Why does a rainbow have so many colors?”
I briefly drew how light travels on paper and explained that even light that looks white contains various colors.
“Then can you touch a rainbow?”
“You can’t touch a real rainbow.”
“Can’t you ride it?”
“You can’t ride it.”
“Can’t we use it as a slide?”
“You can’t do that.”
The child looked deeply disappointed.
“Not even in a game?”
When I heard that, my hands stopped.
“…If it’s a game, you can do it.”
“Then let’s make a rainbow slide!”
“Mochi slides down it!”
“It changes color midway through!”
“When you get to the bottom, you fly!”
In the blink of an eye, the conversation moved in a different direction.
I should have been explaining rainbows correctly from a physics perspective, but it seemed Mochi was already sliding down a rainbow in the children’s heads.
“Yuu, can you make it?”
“I can make it, but…”
“Then let’s make it!”
“I can’t promise it’ll be in the next game right away.”
“Why?”
“There might be other fun things too.”
“Then remember it!”
“Got it.”
At the edge of my notebook, I wrote “Rainbow Slide.”
We were supposed to be talking about science, but by the end we had one more idea for a game.
Not bad.
On the contrary, it was quite interesting.
◇
“Isn’t this studying?”
One day, one of them looked into my notebook and said that.
“I told you it was studying from the beginning.”
“But it’s fun.”
“Isn’t that fine then?”
“It’s like school.”
“We’re still in kindergarten, though.”
Then Haru pointed at me.
“Then Yuu is our teacher.”
“Why me?”
“Because you teach us.”
“I’m just answering questions.”
“Teachers answer questions too.”
Another child joined in from the side.
“Mr. Yuu!”
“Teacher, tell me this next time!”
“Sensei, can you really make my fish fast?”
“I’m not a teacher.”
“Then let’s play teacher!”
“Isn’t there a different name for it?”
“No!”
Everyone laughed.
It seemed there was no need for a majority vote.
From that day on, the time spent waiting in line became known as “playing teacher.”
For me, I was just talking about the game, but the kids didn’t care about that difference.
◇
“Lately, it seems lively around Yuu every day.”
My mother said this at the dinner table.
“There were seven people today.”
“It’s increased again?”
Dad’s chopsticks stopped.
“Our house isn’t going to become a branch of the kindergarten, is it?”
“No way. And it’s not like all the same kids come every day.”
“In that case, it’s still… no, seven people is more than enough.”
Mother laughed.
“It’s okay, because the mothers have decided on pick-up times. I’ve also told them we can’t do it every day.”
“You’ve got that handled properly, haven’t you?”
“Obviously. It’d be trouble if we let a gathering of only five-year-olds run itself.”
Then my father spoke, as if he’d just remembered.
“By the way, a mother I met in the neighborhood asked me about it the other day.”
“What?”
“‘Lately, my child has been saying things like buoyancy and light. What are you doing at Yuu-kun’s house?'”
“It’s just about the game.”
“Dad said so too.”
“That’s correct.”
“Then she looked at me like she didn’t understand.”
My mother burst out laughing.
“I peeked in a little the other day, and it really looked like a class. Everyone was sitting on the floor, staring intently into Yuu’s notebook.”
“It’s not a class. I’m just answering what I’m asked.”
“That’s just the kind of excuse a teacher would make.”
“Don’t you start too, Dad.”
Both of them were smiling with amusement.
I didn’t particularly want to be a teacher.
However, I didn’t mind being asked questions.
When someone asks me about something they don’t know, I want to answer, and when a child hears my explanation and their face lights up and they say, “I get it,” it makes me feel better than I’d expected.
And above all.
I wasn’t the only one teaching.
◇
“Yuu, do you know this?”
One day, Haru held out the smartphone he’d borrowed from his mother to show me.
On the screen was a character that seemed to be quite popular right now.
“I don’t know it.”
“Eh!?”
Not only Haru but also the children around him were surprised.
“Yuu, you don’t know this!?”
“Is it really that famous?”
“Everyone knows it!”
“A new one came out yesterday!”
“This one’s stronger!”
“There are songs too!”
They all talked at me at once.
In terms of knowledge from my previous life, I know more than anyone here.
I can answer most questions about physics, information processing, space navigation, and weapons if asked.
However, the five-year-olds in front of me knew many times more than I did about the characters that had started getting popular in this world last week.
“Wait a minute. Tell me one at a time.”
“Yuu doesn’t know.”
“I’m asking because I don’t know.”
“Then I’m your teacher!”
Haru puffed out his chest happily.
“That’s how it’ll be today.”
“Okay!”
From there, we started talking about the anime and games that were popular these days.
Things I didn’t know came up one after another, such as a strange dance someone had found in a video, a song everyone was imitating, and even the irregular rules of the game of tag that was popular at kindergarten.
“Tell me about that game of tag again.”
“This?”
Haru took a piece of paper and drew some circles.
“The demon is here, and you run away over here, but if you step in this circle, you become invincible.”
“If that’s the case, won’t everyone just stay in there?”
“You can’t stay there forever.”
“How many seconds?”
“Five seconds!”
Then from the side――
“In my group it’s three seconds.”
A voice called out.
“Oh, it’s different?”
“Ours is three seconds. Also, two people can’t be in it together.”
“In ours, up to two can!”
Even though it was a game with the same name, different groups had different rules.
It seemed that if someone made an interesting change and everyone accepted it, it would become established as a new way of playing.
“…It’s the same as 《Pettan Forest》.”
“What?”
“It’s not just about playing the game the way I came up with it.”
Even in Pettan Forest, Haru took Pom to Mugumugu himself instead of using the strategy I’d prepared.
The same went for children’s games of tag.
There are rules someone came up with first, and as you play, new things are added, and before you know it, it’s changed into a different game.
“This is really helpful.”
“What?”
“Knowing what people find fun.”
“You don’t understand that, Yuu?”
“I don’t know everything. What I find fun is different from what Haru finds fun.”
“Then I’ll tell you lots.”
“Please do.”
“Because I’m your teacher today.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Ehehe.”
When I saw Haru laughing, I laughed a little too.
The name “playing teacher” might not have been a mistake.
No one ever decided there could only be one teacher.
◇
Those days continued for a while.
At first, it was just something I’d started to deal with the wait for my one computer.
Now, we spent as much time on “What are we going to talk about today?” as we did playing games.
Some days I would explain how fish swim, and other days the children would demonstrate popular games from the playground.
When someone drew a new creature, another child would think up its abilities.
“Yuu, when are you going to make the next game?”
“I haven’t decided yet. I just made Pettan Forest.”
“But you’re going to make one, right?”
“Maybe.”
“Then put this in!”
The paper I was handed had a drawing of a huge cat with six wings.
“What does this do?”
“Fly!”
“Then isn’t it the same as the fluffy bug?”
“No, it’s super fast!”
“Fast enough that Haru can control it?”
“…It might be difficult.”
After he’d thought about it for a while, someone next to me spoke up.
“Wouldn’t it be easier just to ride on its back?”
A voice called out.
“Ah, that’s good!”
“So does the cat decide where to turn on its own?”
“But I want to choose where to go.”
“Then you point the way?”
The two of them started thinking about what to do next.
Next to them, I made a small note at the edge of my notebook.
I didn’t know if I’d use it or not.
But it was interesting.
At least, it was an idea I wouldn’t have come up with just by sitting at my desk.
◇
“Well, you’ve boarded the ship now, I guess.”
One day, after the children had gone home, my mother said this to me as she was washing the dishes in the kitchen.
“What do you mean?”
“Now that you’ve started, you don’t have any intention of quitting, right?”
“I didn’t start it with any particular intention.”
“At first, I just wanted to do something about the waiting.”
“Yes. I think it’s better than adding more computers.”
“Now I’m playing teacher.”
“I still can’t get used to being called teacher.”
Mother laughed happily.
“Isn’t it hard?”
When I heard that, I thought about it for a while.
Someone came to my house almost every day.
The questions never stopped, and sometimes we jumped to a completely different topic in the middle of an explanation. Sometimes I was asked again the next day about something I’d already explained once.
It wouldn’t have been strange to find it troublesome under normal circumstances.
But, strangely, I didn’t.
“It’s not that hard.”
After answering, even I was a little surprised.
“When someone asks about something they want to know, I want to tell them. I’m happy when they say they understand, and they also tell me things I don’t know.”
“Like the current trends?”
“That’s one thing, but even when we see the same thing, it’s interesting how differently they see it from me. I was explaining about rainbows, but halfway through it turned into a rainbow slide.”
“That’s kids for you.”
“But that made a more interesting game.”
“Then you really have boarded the ship.”
“Didn’t you say that before?”
“You can say nice words as many times as you want.”
“Is that how it works?”
“Something like that.”
Mother laughed.
At that moment, a loud voice came from the living room.
“Yuuu! Come here!”
“What’s wrong?”
“Goron went into a weird place!”
“Coming now!”
When I returned to the living room, one person was playing Pettan Forest in front of the computer, and several people were sitting around papers behind him.
“Teacher, look at this!”
“I’m not a teacher.”
“I’m your teacher today!”
Haru held up the paper.
“So, Teacher, what are you teaching me today?”
“A new game!”
“Then I’m listening.”
I sat down among the children.
At first, everyone had to wait their turn to play the game.
It was different now.
When someone said something, someone else came up with a way to play based on it. Sometimes I taught what I knew, and sometimes I was taught what I didn’t know.
The role of teacher changed hands each time.
“So, how do you play this new game?”
When I asked that, Haru unfolded the paper as if he’d been waiting for it.
“First of all–“
I leaned forward a little to hear what he was saying.
This time, it was my turn to be taught.
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