**A Second Chance at Normalcy**

Rito Yuuki's eyes fluttered open, and he was met with an unfamiliar ceiling. He sat up, rubbing his temples, trying to remember how he got there. The last thing he remembered was being in his own bed, and now...now he was somewhere else entirely. As he looked around, he realized that he was in his old bedroom, but it was different. The room was smaller, and the bed was a simple single bed, not the large, comfortable bed he was used to. A wave of nostalgia washed over him as he took in the familiar yet foreign surroundings. He threw off the covers and got out of bed, staggering to the mirror that hung on the wall. The reflection staring back at him was unrecognizable. His hair was messy, and his eyes looked...different. He looked like a normal high school student, not the confident, sometimes arrogant, hero that he had become. Rito's mind reeled as he tried to process what was happening. He remembered Lala, his alien fiancée, and the crazy adventures they had been on together. He remembered the laughter, the battles, and the...the feelings he had developed for her. But this...this was different. This was before all of that. As he looked around the room, he saw a calendar on the wall. The date caught his eye: March 15th, 2010. He remembered this day. It was a typical day in his life, before Lala, before the aliens, before the harems. He was just a normal high school student, worried about his classes, his friends, and...his crush. A smile spread across his face as he thought about it. He had a crush on a girl in his class, a sweet and gentle girl named Kanaka. He had been too afraid to talk to her, too afraid to confess his feelings. But now...now he had a second chance. Rito spent the first few hours of the day getting reacquainted with his old life. He went downstairs to the kitchen, where his mother was making breakfast. She smiled at him, and he felt a pang of nostalgia. He had taken her for granted, taken his old life for granted. As he ate breakfast, he couldn't help but think about Lala. He missed her, already. He missed the fun they had, the laughter, the adventures. He even missed Mono's attempts to get him to form a harem. It was crazy, but it was his life now, and he wouldn't trade it for anything. But as the day went on, he began to realize that he had a chance to do things differently. He had a chance to be someone better, someone worthy of Lala. He had a chance to change the past, to make himself a better person before she arrived. He studied the calendar, his mind racing with possibilities. Lala would arrive in his bathroom in a year, on March 15th, 2011. What if he could be better, be someone she would truly love? What if he could take the throne, be the hero she deserved? The thought sent a surge of determination through him. He would do it. He would change, he would grow, and he would be worthy of Lala. The question was, where to start?