Having Reincarnated a Million Times I Won’t Let My Guard Down Even in a Peaceful World

31 Graduation

After the cultural festival ended and all the major events of this academic year were finally over, and we took a brief moment to breathe a sigh of relief, Karina’s entrance exams were approaching.

In an escalator-style school, there was a culture of not prying into the circumstances of those who specifically chose to go outside.

There were often unavoidable “family circumstances” that stood in the way, and sometimes the conversation even delved into the financial situation of the family.

So when the season of snowflakes began to fall and we entered the final push of exams, I still didn’t know why Karina chose to take the exams outside.

“I couldn’t fit in with the class.”

That was suddenly spoken in the corner of the library where no one was around.

“I entered the school from the middle school level, but about half of the class is from the elementary school escalator system, you know? So, well… there were already various groups, and I couldn’t even enter the group of external students. I thought it would continue until the high school level, so it’s a bit…”

If I were experiencing life for the first time in this life, I might have innocently replied, “Is that all?”

But I know. The importance of human relationships. The difficulty of pretending.

If you stumble at the start, it’s difficult to recover.

Intervening in a solidified relationship that has formed in your absence requires a great deal of effort. In an escalator-style school, those “solidified relationships” continue even after graduating from the middle school level.

So starting from scratch in an unfamiliar place didn’t seem like a bad choice.

“Rex, you weren’t like me.”

I recall our meeting on the rooftop where the spring breeze blew.