NOVEL NEXT chapter 44
44 A New Life
Yellow leaves are stuck to the ground from yesterday’s rain.
Before I knew it, the fresh green leaves had withered, and the surroundings were covered with fallen leaves.
Especially near the foot of the slope leading to the senior high school building, at this time of year, many leaves fall from the roadside trees, and the sight of the cleaning staff exchanging greetings with the elementary school students had become a seasonal tradition.
The overly hot summer has passed like this, and we are getting closer to the next grade.
After successfully finishing the cultural festival, the student council elections (and becoming the student council president again), and many events of this academic year, the fever of romance that had spread within the grade seemed to have passed, and with the temperature becoming pleasantly cool, the atmosphere in the class also seemed to have improved.
I no longer felt the need to excessively “show off my studying,” and I was chatting between classes, ignoring the message from Karina on my mobile device asking, “What about the winter?” with a response, “What about your exams?” and getting left on read.
Yes, we will be taking the exams next year.
It can be said that there is still one year, and it can also be said that there is only one year left.
About a third of the people around me have started to feel anxious, about a third are leisurely saying “It’s still okay” without any basis, and the remaining third are preparing for next year’s exams in a proper manner. There were a few who aimed for employment.
Employment.
It would be a lie to say that I hadn’t considered that path of earning with my own abilities.
I had thought about whether the current situation, where everything in my life is controlled by others (parents), could be called “stability.”
Stability. That was something I desperately sought.
For a long life, stability is crucial, without stress, without hardship, having time for oneself, and yet being able to live independently. That was what I aimed for.
As a result of consideration, I had decided to continue as a student.
Because employment is nothing but “changing employers”—well, isn’t it a bit like speaking as if we students already have employers? Some might think that.
We do.
From the moment we were born, we have been employed by our “parents.”
This is the answer to the question I have long doubted: “Why do adults give VIP treatment to babies?” Parents know from their own experience that babies will grow up and bring benefits.
So, I take care of the baby, show gratitude, and in return for that, I raise the baby until they become capable and receive a share of the profits the baby will generate.
In other words, in exchange for receiving the care of food, clothing, and shelter and some financial freedom, I pay my parents with something called “future potential.”
After years of questioning, my doubts were finally resolved, and I felt a sense of relief—I started a new life in this world seventeen years ago.
Crying, eating, and defecating, I was born as a fragile life that couldn’t even stand on its own feet.
What benefit is there in taking care of such a creature?
I couldn’t fathom the intention behind my mother and father’s excessively generous treatment, so I even came up with a hypothesis that “babies are the strongest.”
But babies were… weak.
Their small and feeble lives were completely under the control of their parents.
Based on my experience of being reincarnated a million times, there is no value in taking care of such a creature. Yet, I was taken care of. As a baby who couldn’t provide anything, I have been kept alive until the age of seventeen—paying with this thing called “future potential”!
Indeed, it was an advance investment in a life form that is unable to do anything in a “baby state” and whose abilities decline with age. When the parents grow old, the life form that was once a baby becomes a powerful “adult.”
This was a grand plan to prevent rebellion from younger individuals and to ensure care for the parents in their old age.
Since realizing this, I have started to show gratitude to the young children.
Specifically, during student council activities, I occasionally visit the nursery, elementary school, and middle school. I take care of the children, show them respect, and care for them.
You may be growing up without any doubts right now…
But eventually, you will remember. The curse called “love.” The shackles called “gratitude” are already attached to you.
Hehehe… grow up… grow up…
By the way, towards the end of my second year in high school, I received this message from Milim.
“A baby was born.”
I didn’t quite understand what she was saying.
I was greatly confused. “Inconspicuous” “Inconspicuous” “Inconspicuous” … I chanted it three times and took a breath. I chanted it three times and exhaled.
I had a habit of chanting “inconspicuous” to maintain peace of mind. I don’t know how many times I have chanted “inconspicuous” in my life, but the word “inconspicuous” has lost its meaning within me and has become like a spell.
I had to desperately stop my mind from imagining various things.
Milim gave birth to a baby—
First of all, who is Milim?
Yes, she is my cute little sister.
She is a girl from the “Beastman” species, which is said to live in the far eastern island country. She is currently a first-year student in high school and recently joined the student council.
Once every two weeks, she comes to my room and we have something like a study session or just casual conversation.
I also feel a slight sense of guilt for taking away a significant portion of a high school girl’s schedule once every two weeks, and I have told her that she doesn’t have to come over so often, even though it has been a habit since the nursery school days. But Milim stubbornly refuses to give up, and our interaction continues.
However, there are many things about Milim’s high school life that I don’t know.
The barrier of year levels. If you are in a different year, it becomes a completely different world. Of course, we spend time together at school through student council activities, but there are certainly aspects of Milim’s life that I am unaware of, and as long as I don’t know, I don’t know what Milim does with whom.
I was unsure whether I should offer my congratulations or do something else.
Come to think of it, Milim is already sixteen years old. Physiologically, it might not be unnatural to have a baby, but in society, having a baby while still a student would undoubtedly attract scorn and criticism.
What can I do for Milim, who is exposed to the coldness of the world?
It’s probably… a blessing.
And in some cases, I might have to reincarnate Milim’s partner in another world…
“Rex, listen to me.”
Yes?
“It’s not my baby. It’s my relative’s baby.”
Yes.
…Right!
That’s what I thought!
That’s how it should be. There was no other possibility. Why would you think it’s Milim’s baby? I don’t understand. There’s no need to even consider such a thing.
“Rex, you have no idea, right?”
No, I don’t.
And when we met at home two days ago, I didn’t sense any “baby vibes.”
I told Milim it was a joke and decided to join her in admiring the baby.
Apparently, a baby was born on Milim’s father’s side of the family. That’s why they came to Milim’s house, and for some reason, Milim called me there.
If I think about it calmly, it’s unclear why I’m the one who was shown her relative’s baby, and there are many unclear causal relationships. But I’m the type who doesn’t want to miss an opportunity to be indebted to a baby. I see potential in that. I’ll invest in it.
And so, the baby I saw at Milim’s house was small and cute.
The theory I had been concocting in my mind until now, the theory that “parents take care of the baby as compensation for future potential,” was shattered.
Because I can’t help but take care of such a cute creature.
Yes… The people who took care of me, including my parents, did not do it for the potential. It was because of the cuteness… Because it brought healing. As I changed the diaper of a baby I barely knew, I finally came to understand.
I also learned that diapers are evolving day by day…