Self-Introduction 229 - Thank You -

I suppose it was around the middle of the Heisei era?

The Showa-era ideal of 'a middle-class society for all' is completely a thing of the past. Before I knew it, it became a world where it's taken for granted that you'll be saddled with debt just by going to university, and if you fail the 'parent lottery,' it's a miserable Japan where they say your life is 'doomed from birth.'

Well, I didn't go to university, so I have no connection to that 'alternative debt' known as student loans.

Even so, it's not just about student loans. It's difficult just to make a living, and marriage, childbirth, and raising children have now become like the privileges of winners, achievable only by a tiny elite.

This is clearly the fault of politics and the fault of the world.

That aside, in such a difficult world, I still have a man who shares my life. He is an incredibly reckless spendthrift, but we still manage to balance our income and expenses enough that our lives don't fall apart.

And then?? ---Yes!

I completely forget about it in my daily life, but I originally started my life from a state where I wasn't even a woman, and I went through so much. After overcoming many terrible hardships, I am finally, at last, enjoying married life with my husband.

Looking back on this, what wells up inside me is not a feeling of 'I'm so amazing,' but gratitude for having been blessed with good fortune.

It was an incredibly high-difficulty, impossible game, but it wasn't built to be impossible to clear.

Just as the saying goes, 'Do your best and wait for destiny,' if you give up on the game yourself, the moment you do, your defeat is certain, and salvation will not come.

Even if it looks reckless, as long as you keep moving forward without fear, you will properly reach the 'other side.'

Having overcome numerous hardships, I am now—according to the values of the late Heisei era—among the tiny handful of 'winners,' and I have a husband who lives with me.

When it comes to this, somehow, it's almost funny, but I can only feel gratitude.

Thank you, I am grateful to you.

To the fate that gave me difficulties. To the husband who loves me. To the 'dearest woman' I loved.

And so, I have already completely forgotten about my parents and religion.