When MC was reborn to the past, he woke up in the hospital because he went back to when he was 10 and one of his cousins pushed him into a lake in November and he couldn't swim. His mother saved him and he had to be hospitalized for over a week. Their family is poor because only his mother works and his father gambles away all of the money the mother earns. The father almost even took away the money the mother was going to use to pay the hospital for MC's treatment, but the mom ran away before he could take it. Not surprisingly, the father regularly beats the mom. MC wants to grow up quickly and be strong to protect his mother.

With that in mind, when the MC finally goes back to school, during lunch his friend asks him for the meat in his lunchbox and the MC just gives it to him! ALL OF IT! He didn't even just give him a piece or half of it. The MC just out right gave him the whole thing. Yes, I understand MC really loves his friends, but come on! MC's family can't afford good food. I'm pretty sure the mother gave away her portion or made other sacrifices in order to be able to afford a small amount of meat to give to MC to eat, but not only did MC not think about that, he didn't even think that he should eat properly in order to grow stronger. He was still weak from his trip to the hospital. On top of that, the friend's family are comfortable enough to eat as much meat as they want, except the friend once overate and got the runs, so the friend's mother became more strict about the amount of meat the friend eats. Why is MC giving away his food to someone who doesn't need it??? It's understandable that the friend doesn't know any better because he's a 10yo kid and he just wants to eat what he wants to eat, but the MC is a 30+yo soul! He should know better than to give away the food his mother worked so hard to prepare for him!

The MC states that he lost contact with his childhood friends because he prioritized his relationship with his boyfriend, but a few chapters later, MC is on a hike with one of those friends a month before he dies and is reborn.

Then, there was the issue of a 30-year-old man admitting he had feelings for a 12-year-old boy. The author tries to ease the wrongness in the reader's mind by tacking on a sentence that the MC will wait until they are in college to start a relationship if the ML still has feelings for him. No. Just no. Why would a grown man have feelings for a boy? Just on the basis that he treats him well? That’s it?

Said 12-year-old, the ML, is ten when he decides to pursue the MC faithfully. For unknown reason, just whoops, you appeared in front of me and were better looking and more special than anyone else, so it's me and you until the end of time. The odd references to the ML’s grandfather's advice to chase his wife come across as creepy, not cute. The author's excuse of the ML being a mature genius was flimsy at best.

The MC also displays one of my biggest pet peeves in rebirth stories. He acts like a child, but to make it worse, he has moments of maturity that make those childish moments stand out, making it clear it’s only for plot purposes why he’s behaving immaturely in that moment.

I stopped as the story entered the middle school arc because I couldn't be bothered to sit through the obligatory misunderstanding and face-slapping as the story went nowhere in particular.