"COPY BOY" My Clone is an Elementary Schooler 18 [I've Decided!]

<Summer, Episode 18>

I make a certain decision.
About what I should do with the little time I have left in my life.

The deciding factor was that the little guy came home bullied again.

He says there is one person in his class who still persistently bothers him.
The little guy is my alter ego. I felt as if I were being bullied myself, and I became uncontrollably angry. I can't just let him be beaten. I have to do something.

To the little guy, I said,
"You should just say it if you don't like it."
As I started to say that, I was startled.
I'm an adult now and I'm saying high-and-mighty things, but even when I was a child, I didn't have the courage to stand up for myself.

If I had been able to stand up for myself back then, maybe the bullies would have respected me. I would have had confidence in myself. Maybe the school caste would have looked a little different. Maybe I wouldn't have ended up with such a pathetic life, still shy even as an adult and unable to fully pursue what I want to do.
If only I could go back to being an elementary schooler with my current mind. I'm sure I could handle it well with adult knowledge.

Then, a scene flashed back in my mind.
That question from the interviewer during my job hunt.

"You traveled to the past in a time machine.
There, you met yourself as a child.
What would you, having come from the future, tell them?"

What would I tell them...?

Tell them...

I was startled.
I see... that's it, this is it!

I might have found the answer.
It took time, but I feel like I finally understand now.

My life is almost over.
I don't know when death will come, tomorrow or the day after.
What should I, in this state, do now?
How can I make the most effective use of the time I have left in my own way?

I realized it.
And, I decided.

"I'll install it."

I will pass on my life to this 'little me'. I will install it.
It might be plain and worthless, but I will install my life into this little guy and entrust my life to him.

I'll teach him everything I know, everything that might be useful. So that even when I'm gone, the little guy won't be in trouble.
The little guy is a clone. There is a high possibility that he will lead a life similar to mine. He will surely encounter similar troubles and worries from now on. When that happens, I want him to overcome them with his own strength.

If the time I have left is short, entrusting everything to the little guy must be the most meaningful thing I can do. I will tell him everything and close out my life without regrets.
If the little guy lives on carrying my will, even if my body perishes, that will might be passed on to the next generation.

No, if anything, my own feelings don't matter.

If this little guy can just live on safely, that's enough.
Just by that, even though my future is cut short, I feel like I can feel the future.
Just, I feel like I can feel the future.

Until then, I myself will live a life I'm not ashamed of.
I want him to learn how to live by watching me, a man who has turned over a new leaf.

"Why is the sky blue?"
"Why are pandas black and white?"

From now on, I won't be lazy, I'll teach him.

I'll face him properly.
With the little guy. In other words, with myself.

(To be continued)

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