NOVEL NEXT chapter 18
18: Advancing to Elementary School, Changes in the Environment
Forced to endure a bitter tie at the sports festival, and challenged to participate in cardboard crafts at the art festival, the senior year passed quickly.
I am finally advancing to elementary school.
Anna said, “I’ll be waiting as a third-year sister!” She can do calculations now.
The curriculum at the elementary school seems to be at a higher level compared to what we have experienced so far. Who would have thought that determining ‘how many years older one is when the other graduates’ would be so easy…
I was measured for a new uniform, given a randoseru, and received a lot of toys as a gift from my grandmother for my enrollment.
The uniform was somewhat uncomfortable, but it must be deliberately uncomfortable to make the elementary school children feel like they are wearing a collar, subjugated by the ‘enemy.’
Yes, in this world, I still haven’t grasped the true identity of the ‘enemy.’
I know that they are vaguely ‘depriving us of our fighting spirit.’ But I don’t understand their scale, purpose, or anything else.
In a million reincarnations, there has never been an ‘enemy’ who has not revealed their true identity. Their presence is almost non-existent.
I continue to be unable to grasp when this malicious world will show its fangs. I am in a state of tension, and my mind is becoming exhausted. The ‘enemy’ must be aiming for this…
However, as I become an elementary school student, my body will grow rapidly, and I will gain strength and wisdom.
If the ‘enemy’ is waiting for my exhaustion and subsequent relaxation, then that means they have ‘time.’ Until the world shows its fangs at me, I will train myself.
Lately, I have been thinking more and more, “Is this world really without an enemy, a peaceful and kind place?”
It’s not a good trend. I’m falling into the ‘enemy’s’ trap— but it’s also a fact that simply living aimlessly leads to believing in temporary peace. Since entering this body, my mind has been fluffy, and maintaining a sense of tension has been difficult.
At times like these, it’s not something that can be overcome with determination alone.
It’s the environment. The environment must be changed… Relying on willpower alone will reach its limit surprisingly quickly. I know well that the mind is greatly influenced by physical condition and nutrition intake.
It was during such a time.
I was invited by Anna to a piano recital.
The piano is probably the most famous musical instrument in this world. It’s a huge box with three legs, striking the black and white keys to pluck the strings inside the box and produce sound.
Anna has been attending piano lessons twice a week since she was three years old, and it seems she has held several recitals since elementary school.
This time, I received an invitation for the first time, apparently because Anna felt she had reached a level where she thought, “I can let Rex hear this.”
Perhaps in Anna’s mind, I have become someone with refined taste.
I don’t intend to share anecdotes that make me feel that way, but Anna often encounters things that defy logic, so this is probably one of those instances.
Anna, playing the piano on stage while bathed in the spotlight, was beautiful.
Her long golden hair sparkled, she earnestly gazed at the score with her blue eyes, and she played fervently in a bright blue dress, captivating my attention without realizing it… I didn’t really understand the music.
An eight-year-old girl really is an adult after all.
In the past, even kindergarteners seemed quite mature, but eight years old is truly different.
Moreover, Anna will turn nine this year… and then it’s ten. Double digits… I swallowed hard. A double-digit age. It seemed so adult in a way that I couldn’t even imagine.
And so, on the way back from the piano recital, when we were having dinner at a nicely dressed restaurant with Mom, she made a suggestion.
“Would Rex like to learn something too?”
A hobby!
It was an unexpected suggestion. But, as expected of Mom… she’s a real adult woman much older than ten.
Indeed, I had been struggling to discipline my own mind. Without some external factor, I would be so mentally exhausted that I might start believing this world is “peaceful.”
The idea of “learning something” as an external factor seemed wonderful. After all, even my classmate Sheila seems to be doing something. I want to try it too. Oh, no, it’s for the sake of my mental well-being. My level of consciousness is different from the others.
And so, with the idea of vaguely learning something in mind, I returned home.
I forgot about it after sleeping soundly.