I was not expecting to ever pick up this story again, but recently, I stumbled upon the outline I made way back in 2016, and it felt like a shame to leave it unwritten when I'd already had it planned out. For all the people who left comments asking me to continue, this is for you.

…

That night, long after Emi and Chiho had dropped Urushihara off at the apartment, Urushihara was sitting on the floor and playing on his PASTA when the door flew open, revealing a flushed and panting Ashiya.

"Urushihara!" Ashiya cried, pointing a finger at him.

Urushihara scrambled to pause his video game, clutching at it protectively. "It's not like there would be anything better to do," he protested, but strangely, Ashiya didn't so much as cast a glance towards the game.

Instead, Ashiya strode forward with purpose, dropping to the floor beside Urushihara and withdrawing a huge tome from his bookbag. "I've made a breakthrough in my research about your condition!"

Urushihara raised an eyebrow, trying not to get his hopes up as he looked over at the book. "What is it?" he asked. "It's not more nonsense about air again, is it?"

Ashiya frowned, narrowing his eyes at Urushihara. "Perhaps I should wait until Sire gets off of work, and explain it to him instead."

"Just tell me!" Urushihara exclaimed, and after a moment, Ashiya sighed, relenting.

"If you'll remember, I discovered that it's very likely your condition came as a result of absorbing the chemical that counteracts aging," Ashiya began. "But the issue with this is that despite breathing oxygen, you haven't been reverting to your real age. Instead, you've been aging as a normal human in this world would. And none of the books I've read have offered a solution."

Urushihara tried to brush off the sharp sting of disappointment, crossing his arms and starting his PASTA up again. "Whatever," he snapped. "I knew you wouldn't find anything."

"That's where you're wrong!" Ashiya exclaimed triumphantly. "Because for once, the answer isn't in books!" He snapped the huge book shut, setting it aside. "The solution here is common sense! I believe I've figured it out. Given your condition, you simply need to counteract the chemical you absorbed, at a more efficient rate than breathing. It's simple, really."

Urushihara didn't bother to pause his game, keeping his focus locked on the screen. "So? What is it?"

Ashiya smiled widely. "All you need to do is employ strategies to age faster."

…

By the time Maou finished his shift and returned home, it was late at night. Though he expected everyone to already be asleep, he was surprised to find that Urushihara was still awake, sitting at his computer and watching a movie, the huge bowl of popcorn in his lap dwarfing his tiny frame.

"It's way past your bedtime," Maou said as he set down his keys, speaking quietly so as not to wake Ashiya. "Or anyone's bedtime. I can't believe Ashiya didn't crack down on this! I expected better from you, Urushihara!"

Surprisingly, instead of reacting in irritation or anger like he normally would have, Urushihara snickered. "He's the one who told me to do this."

Maou blinked. "Huh? You know I'm not that gullible, right?"

"I'm not lying!" Urushihara set down the bowl of popcorn. "It was his idea for me to do stuff to age faster. Look!"

Maou crouched, taking the slip of paper Urushihara handed to him. Though he still found himself doubting the story, he couldn't deny that the list was written in Ashiya's spidery cursive, and at the very top, it read, "Sleep deprivation," "Bad diet," and "Too much sitting."

"What in the world?" Maou murmured, continuing to read the list. A few other things stood out to him, such as "Stress," "Screen time," "Alcohol," and "Smoking." "You can't be serious."

"It's great," Urushihara smirked. "No more lecturing me about pocky sticks or taking away my PASTA. I'm just doing what I'm supposed to."

"Ashiya and I are going to have some serious words in the morning," Maou grumbled.

…

Though it would have been funny to listen to Ashiya and Maou fight, and to hear Ashiya arguing in favor of Urushihara staying up late and eating junk food, because of his late night, Urushihara ended up sleeping through the whole thing, getting frantically jostled awake by Maou just minutes before he had to be at preschool.

"Why do I even still have to go?" Urushihara groaned when they'd reached the school, glaring up at Maou as he was dragged along towards the classroom. "We figured it out! I'm going to get back to myself!"

"Until that happens, I'm not going to risk ending up in jail," Maou muttered, sending a pained smile at a few parents who were visibly judging the way he was pulling on Urushihara's arm. He shoved Urushihara through the door. "You better stay put. If Ashiya doesn't find you here this afternoon when he comes to pick you up, I will personally kill you."

Urushihara rolled his eyes, pulling his arm out of Maou's grasp and heading over to join the students who were already gathered on the carpet. He noticed that Mr. Kato's gaze was firmly fixed on Maou's retreating figure, and the teacher looked so disturbed that Urushihara had to force himself not to laugh.

Clearly, Mr. Kato must really care about students arriving on time.

…

The rest of the school day passed pretty uneventfully. Urushihara was so tired from staying up late the night before that he found himself nodding off during the morning activities, hardly paying attention as Mr. Kato explained the crafts they were going to be doing.

By lunchtime, Urushihara was feeling slightly more alert, and he grinned as he pulled out the package of pocky Ashiya had begrudgingly handed him on the way out of the door. "If this will age you, I suppose I have no choice but to allow it," Ashiya had huffed. "But for the record, I still disapprove!"

If this was what it would get him, Urushihara thought he might not mind being young as much as he'd thought.

However, Urushihara's happiness was immediately shattered as Mr. Kato walked over, sitting at the table across from him and frowning at his lunch.

"Is that the only thing your parents packed you today?" Mr. Kato asked tentatively.

Urushihara bit his lip, his mind racing as he tried to find a way to get the teacher off his back. The last time, Mr. Kato had backed down when he said his parents were okay with him eating dessert as lunch, so that was a place to start—and this time, it was even technically true. "They told me I could eat this," Urushihara said, pulling out another pocky stick.

Unfortunately, Mr. Kato didn't back down. "I'm not sure if you've ever learned this, but pocky sticks are very unhealthy," Mr. Kato said slowly, his tone infuriatingly pretentious. "They're okay to eat sometimes, but if you want to grow strong and healthy, other foods are much better."

Urushihara shot Mr. Kato a flat, unimpressed look as the teacher held up a sandwich in a plastic bag, sliding it across the table to him.

"How about you eat this instead, and then have the pocky sticks for dessert?" Mr. Kato offered.

Urushihara was slightly pleased that Mr. Kato had swallowed the bait and wasn't taking away the pocky sticks, but he still wasn't about to force down a disgusting sandwich just to please the man. "I'm not supposed to eat that," he snapped.

Mr. Kato's face whitened. "Not…supposed to…is this a family rule?"

Since the teacher genuinely looked like he was going to start panicking, Urushihara quickly thought around for a reply. "I'm allergic."

"That's information that we definitely should have been given," Mr. Kato murmured to himself, looking haunted. He ran a hand through his hair, looking intently at Urushihara. "Thank you for telling me, Hanzo. What are you allergic to?"

Urushihara looked down at the sandwich. "Peanut butter and jelly. And bread." He was glad that no one would ever suspect a preschooler of such a random lie, because otherwise, there was no way this story would hold up.

Sure enough, Mr. Kato bought it, quickly taking the sandwich back. "Well, in that case, we'll need to revisit healthier lunch options another time," he said. "And it looks like I'm going to need to have another talk with your parents."

Urushihara's stomach dropped.

He was so dead.