Until Deciding on a Target School (Junior High School Entrance Exam)

This article is a continuation of the previous one.
You can find the previous article here🍀

When I reached the fifth grade, I transferred to the main branch classroom.

The number of classes increased, and I couldn't achieve the grades I wanted,

so I ended up stabilizing in an upper-middle class.

I still liked math as much as before, but

I was still bad at Japanese.

I never liked reading to begin with,

and I especially couldn't bring myself to like narrative passages.

I had no interest in romance either,

and I would just think, "It's nothing but a made-up story,"

so I couldn't even finish reading them within the time limit.

Because of that, my Japanese scores were always enough to make me sigh.

When I became a sixth grader, I went to visit schools recommended by my parents, but

nothing in particular caught my interest.

It was in that situation that I learned about the existence of school-specific courses.

To enter that course, I needed to meet a specific grade requirement.

I didn't have a strong desire for the entrance exam itself, but

A small, game-like feeling of wanting to get into the top course for the time being welled up inside me,

and when I tried my best,

I was just barely able to get into that course.

When autumn came, I went to visit the school everyone was aiming for.

The moment I felt the atmosphere of the school building and the air that flowed through it,

my heart was deeply moved.

I thought, 'This is the only school for me.'

At that moment, I finally decided on my target school.

Although I had decided on my target school,

my mock exam results were always a D grade.

My mother tried to take me to an information session for a school where I had an A grade,

but I stopped her, saying, 'You don't need to go.'

Thinking back to the atmosphere of the target school I felt that day,

my heart could not turn toward any other school.

At that time, very few people at my elementary school were taking junior high entrance exams,

I couldn't relate to those around me,

and school had become just a place I went to.

On the other hand, the cram school was a comfortable place for me.

There was the clarity that my grades would reflect the effort I put in, but

more than that, unlike elementary school,

there was a sense of ease in not being forced to speak up during class.

I didn't have to pretend not to know things I actually knew,

and everyone around me was calmly working toward their own goals—

that atmosphere felt comfortable to me.

Of course, there was Japanese, which I didn't want to do, but

compared to being looked at strangely for taking entrance exams at elementary school,

or having to spend my time constantly worrying about this and that,

it felt far easier.

That is precisely why I didn't want to go to the local middle school,

and my desire to move on to a different environment grew stronger little by little.