“Of course, I have no intention of giving up.”
It did get a little sentimental, Touri continued.
“Tiffy said…”
“Said what?”
“No matter what happens, she’ll keep playing the piano…”
Tiffy said the piano was part of her everyday life, and when she realized it, she’d be playing it. No matter how much fuss happened about quitting or not quitting, she’d keep playing. Just playing, simply playing, continuing to play…that was her everyday, she said.
It’s like that, isn’t it? she smiled at Touri.
“Things like whether she has talent or not don’t seem to matter.”
“…………”
“Because for me too…even as I say this and that…when I listen to her play, I seem to have a disposition where I want to play piano.”
Saying that, Touri stood up from her chair. Straightening her back, she looked back at Zeke, a fellow reincarnator.
“Plus, I have plenty of talent too!”
“Hahah.”
At Touri’s energetic declaration, Zeke laughed.
“That’s right. That’s good. Go at it with all you’ve got.”
“Yes, I’ll come at it with everything I have.”
“Yeah, do your best.”
Waving and laughing.
“Well, I should get going now.”
“Have a good day.”
And so Touri started walking. Her destination was the competition stage. She walked with a smile. She was still just 12 years old. She had a long, long life ahead of her to walk. Right by her side was great talent walking the same path, and many difficulties surely awaited her.
But still, she would keep walking this path with a smile. Because this was a path she wouldn’t quit just because she was told to quit it.
Touri headed for the brightly shining stage of battle.
The competition ended.
The results were Tiffy in first place. Touri was second, close behind Tiffy.
On a certain day of summer vacation, inside a pleasantly air-conditioned room, a girl was groaning.
“Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!”
The one groaning was Tiffy. The competition had finished, and Tiffy had splendidly captured first place, gaining the right from her grandmother to continue piano. And summer vacation had come, so Tiffy should have been able to live a carefree life.
“Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu !
However, right now she had her head in her hands, letting out pained, agonized moans.
“Come on, don’t just complain, let’s move on to the next problem.”
“Guhhhhh!”
Right next to Tiffy stood her friend’s father, Zeke, holding a textbook. And a problem workbook was open in front of her.
It was true Tiffy had won from her grandmother the right to continue piano. But the gradual approach of the middle school entrance exam was an undeniable fact. She couldn’t get out of studying at all. Simply for the uncomplicated reason that her grades weren’t very good, Tiffy was receiving tutoring from Zeke, an elementary school teacher.
“You’re an idiot, huh.”
“Grr…grrr…”
The one letting out that exasperated voice was Touri. Yuki and Kasumi were also together in this room. As fellow examinees for the same middle school, they were studying together.
“Another 100 points! I’m first again!”
“I’d heard about it, but…Yuki really is smart, huh. I’m surprised.”
“Are you subtly making fun of me!? That!?”
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT GADGETIZEDPANDA.COM
Touri went to a different school from Yuki and didn’t go to the same cram school either. Seeing how she acted daily, it was hard for Touri to readily believe Yuki was a genius girl. For reference, Touri scored around 95 on the tests held at these study sessions. Though a reincarnator, she had neglected her studies a bit, putting too much effort into piano.
“Do your best, Tiffy-han.”
“Guh…grrr…”
Kasumi’s academic ability was also safely within the passing range. The only one in a pinch was Tiffy. Yuki’s grades were top class. For Tiffy to get into that school Yuki was going to, she had to desperately study. She was doing nothing but glare at the problem workbook, practically lying on top of it.
“I’ll have Yuki do this science problem. Her level is already good enough, but this knowledge will still be useful once you enter middle school.”
“I won’t do my dad’s bidding! I’ll do language arts!”
“Eh…?”
Yuki’s rebellious phase issue still wasn’t resolved. Zeke drooped his shoulders dejectedly.
“Zeke, sorry as always, huh?”
Seeing her daughter lying face down and groaning, Tiffy’s mother Sophie smiled wryly at Zeke as she came in with juice. Kostas and Sophie often called Zeke to their home and relied on him as a current teacher.
“No, this is fun in its own way.”
“Is that so? Isn’t it hard teaching Tiffy? I say that, but…”
“It’s fun seeing her like the past you.”
“Was I…really like that?”
Sophie had often gotten help studying from her classmate Zeke. Sophie also lacked academic skill and would groan as she studied. But she thought to herself that she was at least better than her own daughter.
“Gah! I can’t memorize these historical eras!” Tiffy shouted.
“Tiffy, Tiffy. It’s good to memorize eras with mnemonics. The Trial of the Witches of Progardia was in ‘the trial of the tricksy witches’ in 319.”
“The middle school exam history scope isn’t wide. It’s limited, with many questions appearing similar to past tests. And questions specifically asking the era will be quite few, so the eras you need to memorize are very limited. I gave you a list before, didn’t I?”
“…Where’d that go.”
“If you can’t find it, say so. I’ll print it out again.”
Zeke couldn’t help but sigh at the hopeless student.
“Tiffy-han’s good at that kinda stuff from around that time.”
“Huh, why Kasumi?”
“Y’see, witches mean occult. Occult means divination. How ’bout I give a nice looong explanation of history full of occult talk? That’ll help memorize it.”
“No, I’m good…”
Tiffy briskly brushed off Kasumi trying to drag her into her hobby world. Moving a bit away from joking around with Kasumi, Zeke approached Touri, who was taking a break sitting on the sofa.
“The Trial of the Witches of Progardia was in 319, right? You good?”
“Y-Yes, I’m good, Teacher!”
The two started talking in low voices, like discussing private business neither wanted anyone else to hear.
For a long time, the Trial of the Witches of Progardia was considered to have occurred in 317. But as historical research progressed, it was found to have happened in 319, and the textbooks were revised over 50 years ago.
But 50 years ago was recent memory for reincarnators. Things memorized in their past lives would slip out. In other words, Touri had previously answered 317 for the era of the Trial of the Witches of Progardia on a school test. It was a mistake Zeke had also made in the past, so as Touri’s homeroom teacher, Zeke had suspected her. And that was how her being a reincarnator was exposed.
“I properly reviewed the textbook, so I’m good!”
“That’s fine if so…But you’re a little negligent towards studying. Don’t let your guard down just because of piano.”
“Y-Yes…Hmph! To think I’d be treated like a child at this age…!”
Touri shook in frustration.
“But…I wonder why the reincarnation phenomenon happens?”
“Beats me…I don’t know either.”
She voiced the simple question.
“For there to be three of us with me, Zeke-sensei, and that Rain child you mentioned I haven’t met…are there others too?”
“I wonder if there’s some reason for it…?”
The reincarnators twisted their necks. But of course, there would be no answer. There was no way to know the reason for reincarnating. No matter how much they thought about it, time simply flowed on.
“Gaaaaah! Crane and turtle arithmetic is so annoying! When does crane and turtle arithmetic ever get used in society!?”
Tiffy’s shouts could be heard again, of course. Going uh-oh, Zeke stood up from the sofa and approached Tiffy.
“What is it? Should we review how to solve it again?”
“That’s not it, Uncle! What’s the point of studying tortoise and hare math? How does it even relate to anything in the real world?”
“You shouldn’t be worrying about complicated stuff like that during your exams. You’ll get stuck in the mud.”
Tiffy received similar advice from her piano teacher.
“If I had to say, school studies have more to do with exercising your mind. It’s not so much about whether the content you study will be directly useful in the real world, but more about training logical thinking through mathematics and learning how to interpret texts through language studies.”
“Why should I care about the total number of legs of cranes and turtles? It’s irrelevant, like seriously, who cares about the total number of legs of cranes and turtles…”
“I agree with that sentiment, but… come on, instead of just complaining, focus on your studies.”
“Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!”
Seeing her pitiful rival groaning, Touri heaved a sigh.
Their long friendship as four would still only just be beginning.
be beginning.
uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!”
Seeing her pitiful rival groaning, Touri heaved a sigh.
Their long friendship as four would still only just be beginning.
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