Volume 3 Chapter 24 Master of the Sandbox
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
A brief window of clear skies had opened up in the middle of the rainy season. It had been a while since the kids could play outside-specifically in the sandbox-so their energy was through the roof.
Suu-chan was especially fired up. She already had her hat on and was raring to go, grabbing my hand and rushing me along. (I could swear I saw sparkles in her eyes. You guys really do love the sandbox, don’t you?)
The facilities at this kindergarten were actually pretty top-notch, and the sandbox was no exception. It reigned supreme at the top of the popularity rankings-at least according to my own research. First of all, it was huge. There were twenty-three kids in Rose Class, and while it got a bit crowded, there was enough space for every single one of them to play at once. It was honestly bigger than the apartment I lived in during my previous life. (Well, that was just a place to sleep and do the work I brought home from the office. I’m not bitter. Not at all.)
The frame surrounding the pit wasn’t raw concrete; it was made of a slightly bouncy, rubberized material. If a kid tripped and hit it, it would still hurt, but it was a hell of a lot better than stone. Plus, it was wide enough to double as a bench. Even the sand was high quality, with no stones or pebbles to be found. Apparently, the teachers and the older kids did a sweep every week under the guise of “cleaning.” I had to salute their dedication. Finally, they had installed a roof for heatstroke prevention-a wooden lattice entwined with bitter melon vines. The buds were already showing, so harvest time was close. (I’m not a fan of bitter melon, though. Too bitter.)
Because this sandbox was several leagues above the one at the local park, the kids’ satisfaction levels were off the charts. And so, within the Rose Class, I had become the Master of the Sandbox.
(It’s not like I’m ruling over it with an iron fist or monopolizing it, okay? I’d never do something that immature. I’m an adult on the inside. And it’s not like I wanted to be the Master. I had zero desire for that.) However, there were perks. I got priority on the best spots in the pit, and Suu-chan seemed happy about it, too. So, I guess being the “Master” wasn’t all bad.
As for how I earned the title… it started with an incident about two weeks ago. I was in my usual spot, flanked by Suu-chan and Shiho-chan. We used to have fun building mountains and digging tunnels until our hands met in the middle, but lately, they’d learned how to make mud dumplings¹ in class. Since then, it’s been nothing but scooping up wet dirt and molding it.
I’d gotten pretty good at it myself. I fashioned a rounded rectangular prism; honestly, if you slapped a thin slice of raw fish on top of this thing, it’d look like a piece of gourmet sushi. (If I use both hands, I can crank them out at double speed.)
”Maa-kun, look! It’s perfectly round!” Suu-chan said.
”Wow, you made that so well,” I replied.
”Hehe!”
Sitting on her mud-caked palm was a tiny dumpling, maybe an inch wide. She’d struggled to get the dirt to hold its shape at first, but she’d mastered the knack for it in the blink of an eye.
”Nn… I can’t do it…” Shiho-chan muttered.
”Keep trying, Shiho!” Suu-chan said.
With Suu-chan cheering her on, Shiho-chan kept squeezing her clump of dirt with all her might. (No need to rush; just grow at your own pace.) Making mud dumplings was fun enough, but it’s a man’s nature to want to take things to the next level. (I’m not “playing house,” okay? Though, if Suu-chan told me to say “ahhh,” I might actually eat the mud. Luckily, she’s not that much of a sadist.)
What I came up with was a mud-ball slide. I built a slope using the edge of the sandbox as the peak and dug a groove into it. Since that felt a bit plain, I added a hairpin turn and made it so the course looped back toward the start. (Don’t get your hopes up. It was a total rush job. I only had a plastic toy shovel and the labor force of a four-year-old. I have limits.)
Once I finished the prototype, I got permission from Suu-chan to borrow one of her dumplings. Testing was vital. The mud ball rolled down the slope and made a beautiful jump at the turn. I extended the landing ramp and tried again. This time, it moved exactly as intended. Ready for release.
”Suu-chan, Shiho-chan, want to try?” I asked.
”Yeah! I wanna!” Suu-chan shouted.
”Shiho too!” Shiho added.
Seeing my construction and test run, the two of them jumped at the chance. Suu-chan went first. The dumpling rolled down briskly, hitting the goal just like the test run. Perfect. Next up was Shiho-chan. Her start was smooth, but the dumpling stalled at the turn and crumbled. She looked totally dejected.
”Shiho, let’s try again and make an even stronger one, okay?” I said.
”Okay!”
I handed back the pieces of the broken dumpling, and she went back to work. Suu-chan’s dumpling hit its limit after about three rolls, so she went back to production, too. To make sure they could play on it repeatedly, I had to beef up the slide’s durability. I got to work on reinforcements.
I tried my best to ignore it, but I’d been feeling several sets of eyes on me for a while. Looking out of the corner of my eye, I saw Yuma, Kotaro, and a few others holding their mud dumplings. They looked like a party of low-level characters hoping to join a hero’s quest. (A wild toddler appears! Will you let them join the party?)
And just like that, it became the latest craze in the Rose Class. People were building massive mountains with spiraling tracks or digging puddles for a splashdown finish. I really put in the work. I “borrowed” ideas from books and TV-mostly TV. I’d design a new course, and the other kids would mass-produce mud dumplings to roll down it. Eventually, they even started building their own.
But it was rare for a dumpling to make it all the way to the end. The physics are tricky-the structural integrity of the mud, the angle of the slope, the smoothness of the track… it’s surprisingly difficult. Sometimes they’d come to me crying because they couldn’t get it right. I wanted to say, “Go ask the teacher,” but even the teacher couldn’t make a working one. (Better luck next time, Sensei.)
I felt like this was an incredibly high-level game for a bunch of toddlers, but whatever. Everyone was having fun. I was just psyching myself up to build a slide for the group when a brawl erupted.
”Hiro-kun took my bucket!”
”I did not! It’s my bucket!”
”Miki saw him! Hiro-kun took it!”
”I’m not… waaah… a bad boy…”
”Ahhh! Hiro-kun is crying! Takuya-kun made him cry!”
Since it was their first time in the sandbox in ages, everyone had scrambled to grab the buckets first. Teacher Rico stepped in to calm them down, but since her policy is to respect their autonomy, the chaos wasn’t subsiding. Then the girls started chiming in on the boys’ fight, sparking a secondary conflict. (The fact that only the boys are crying-is that emotional maturity or are girls just tougher? Well, I’ll leave that mess to the adults.)
”Maa-kun, are you gonna make the slide?” Suu-chan asked.
”Hmm. Maybe once the fighting stops…” I replied.
The whole vibe of the sandbox was ruined. I didn’t want to get involved, but they’re my classmates. I felt like if I just played the bystander, it might negatively impact their social development. Suu-chan and Shiho-chan took my words to heart and marched right over to the brawling kids.
”Everyone, stop fighting!” Suu-chan commanded.
”Let’s be nice!” Shiho added.
(Whoa. Suu-chan is playing peacekeeper. Are you seeing this, Mio-san and Mitsuhisa-san? She’s grown up so much…)
”But Miki-chan said Hiro-kun was being mean!” one boy argued.
”Maa-kun can’t build the slide if you’re fighting,” Suu-chan countered. “So you have to be nice.”
Suddenly, all eyes were on me. (But Suu-chan… that’s not mediation. You’re just using me as a threat. If things were that easy to settle, there wouldn’t be wars.)
The combatants started shuffling their feet and looking down. (Wait, are you for real? Didn’t you guys have hills to die on? Is it really okay to drop your guard that easily?)
”Okay, how about you both say ‘I’m sorry’?” Teacher Rico suggested.
”Okay.”
”I will.”
”I’m sorry.”
”I’m sorry.”
”Good! That’s that!” Suu-chan declared. “Now let’s all play! If we keep this up, our precious sandbox time will be all gone!”
Teacher Rico managed to get the girls to make up first, and the boys followed suit immediately. (Unbelievable. The crisis was averted. I swear, girls are just on another level mentally.)
”Maa-kun, the fighting is over. Build the slide,” Suu-chan said.
”Aye aye, ma’am… You were pretty cool back there, Suu-chan,” I said.
”Hmph!”
Today, in honor of their hard work, I decided to build the biggest slide yet. (Thinking about it, the real Master of the Sandbox might actually be Suu-chan.)
—
Summary:
A break in the rainy season allows the Rose Class to return to the sandbox. Makoto, utilizing his adult intellect, becomes the ‘Master of the Sandbox’ by engineering complex mud-ball rollercoasters. A playground fight breaks out, which is surprisingly resolved by Suu-chan using Makoto’s construction services as leverage.
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Trivia:
- The sandbox frame is rubberized for safety.
- The ‘roof’ of the sandbox is actually a plant trellis for bitter melons.
- Makoto research indicates the sandbox is the #1 ranked equipment.
- Teacher Riko intentionally steps back to let kids resolve their own problems
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Character Insight:
Suu-chan shows a level of social manipulation by using access to Makoto’s ‘slides’ to force a truce. Makoto realizes he might be the engineer, but she is the one in charge.
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Behind the Scenes:
The author uses ‘Youngsters’ (in English) in the raw Japanese text to refer to the students.
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TL Notes:
Notes:
• Shiho – Three‑year‑old Rose‑Class girl with shoulder‑length hair in a side‑up ponytail, easily thrilled by decorations and food, uses training chopsticks and a white kitten‑themed placemat, often sleepy and leans on Makoto’s “secret” advice. She’s a friend of Makoto and Suu‑chan, slightly less coordinated but diligent at mud dumplings, neighbor and friend of Yuma, older sister in the senior group, and shares a quiet, competitive bond with Suu over Makoto’s attention.
• Kotaro – A quiet, slender male student in the Rose Class, friend of Makoto and member of the group that joins his sandbox projects.
• Kota – Makoto’s biological father. Met Akari while working as a cram school tutor during their second year of university. He disappeared suddenly after six years of dating upon learning of the pregnancy.
• Yuma – Frail, sickly boy with low attendance; neighbor of Shiho‑chan. Member of the Rose Class and Rose Group, skilled at folding paper airplanes taught by his father. He joins Makoto’s sandbox projects.
• Hiro – A boy in the Rose Class who gets bored easily and runs around the classroom, accidentally breaking Suu’s paper.
• Mitsuhisa – Tall (184 cm), 71 kg 33‑year‑old IT specialist with slick‑back hair, deep voice and meticulous grooming, often scowling. Breadwinner of the Totsuka family, doting husband of Mio and father of Su‑chan (Suzuka); reserved with Akari and family photographer with a pricey DSLR and tripod. Close to former college‑athlete Makoto, whose playful‑sometimes‑sinister humor matches his gaming habit where he lags in motion‑control accuracy. Desk‑working salaryman with a surprisingly toned physique, enjoys physical skinship with his family, and feels protective yet occasionally lonely as the children grow independent.
• Mio – 28‑year‑old pregnant mother of Suu‑chan, visibly round belly, wife of Mitsuhisa (164 cm, 57 kg, baby‑faced, G‑cup curves, elegant in a gray suit). Former relay runner and badminton star, now teacher, cook, photographer who bakes strawberry shortcake and chirashi‑zushi, adores babysitting Ma‑kun, subtly pushes his marriage to Suu‑chan, avoids crowds, captures family chaos, dresses the protagonist’s mother, devotes herself to her daughter’s education, and is playful and mischievous as a Totsuka family guest.
• Makoto – 93 cm, 13 kg three‑year‑old boy in a neat shirt and cap, gentle‑looking but actually a 30‑year‑old reincarnated salaryman. Lives with the Totsuka family, mother works, protects Suzuka‑chan. In Hinomori Kindergarten’s Rose Group he uses a booster seat, short hair, backpack, and wields adult memories, analytical skill, high dexterity, stock tricks and magic. Calm, clever, caring, stoic, known as Maa‑kun, leader of the Rose Class.
• Riko – Lead teacher of Rose Class at Hinomori Kindergarten. Young woman in a rash guard and athletic shorts for pool duties, also school nurse. Appears stiff at intro but becomes cheerful in lessons. Practices autonomy‑based supervision, lets kids resolve conflicts, tends flowerbeds, leads excursions, and practices magic tricks. Slightly cynical about being single.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
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