1 Prologue
I've always thought that I was someone special.
"Woah, Ren! You're so talented at this!"
"Keep up the good work!"
That I was destined for greatness.
"He already knows how to do division and solve fractions!"
"What a smart boy! He has a lot of potential."
That I was a cut above everyone else.
"Ren is so smart, you should look up to him!"
"I want to be as good as Ren! He's the best!"
That I was what people strived to be.
"Why don't you try joining this competition, Ren?"
"You'll be the pride of our school if you win!"
I've always thought of myself as the absolute best, the one standing on top, the one who emerges victorious.
"This might be the first time our school's gonna make a name for itself!"
"Do your best, Ren! We're all counting on you!"
But the truth was...
I wasn't.
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*2013*
"Reena and her partner Joe are the champions for this year's MMC!"
*2014*
"The child prodigy bags the top score yet again this year!"
Why?
*2015*
"Amazing! She scored a perfect 50/50! She truly is a genius!"
*2016*
"For four years straight since she started, Reena Zahlen has been crowned the top scorer every single time!"
Why can't I do anything?
"Now that they're in sixth grade, Reena and Joe have qualified to participate in the Nationals Stage! They really are the pride of this city when it comes to Math!"
"Unbelievable! Absolutely brilliant! She has successfully claimed the crown! Reena Zahlen has officially won first place in the Nationals Stage's Individual Category AND second place in the Team! Indeed, a child prodigy! The pride of this country!"
Why can I never seem to measure up to them?
"That's the girl you lost to, isn't it, Ren?"
"She's really amazing, you know."
Why am I so weak?
"I thought maybe this time, our school would have its time in the spotlight too... Too bad our representatives didn't even make it to the Finals."
"Shhh! He can hear you, you know?"
Why can't I reach the heights I was seemingly born to reach?
"What a disappointment. It's a shame, really. He showed a lot of promise too."
"We can't help it. Maybe we just got carried away with his potential that we failed to nurture him properly."
Why are they disappointed in me now? Weren't they the ones who told me I was gonna be the best?
"Failure."
"Disappointment."
Was everything they all said... a lie?
"For this class, the Best in Mathematics award goes to... Marianne!"
"What? No way!"
"Ren didn't get it?"
"Suits him. He didn't deserve it."
"The teachers were all biased towards him, serves him right."
Oh... so it really was... all a lie.
.
Maybe I really wasn't cut out for this sort of thing.
Maybe I really wasn't destined for greatness.
Maybe math... really wasn't for me.
And maybe I'm... really not the one for math.
I'm a failure after all.
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GO TO HECK WITH THAT!
I loved doing maths! Even if I wasn't the best or even if I wasn't good at it, I still loved it!
Fate, you're stupid if you think you can just crush my hopes just like that!
I'll become better, better, and even better until you finally acknowledge me as the best!
And I'll work harder than anyone else to make that come true!
That's why, don't underestimate me!
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But damn, fate sure is cruel.
It was easy to say those things without having to think about how I would make them come true.
When everything else around me didn't go the way I wanted it to, I started to lose hope.
I began to think I really was the disappointment everyone thought of me as.
I felt like everything was finally over...
Until I met someone.
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"Yo, Ren! Guess we're classmates this year, eh?"
A person I never would've expected to be so important to me.
"You're really good at this! Wanna try out for the MMC with me?"
A person who acknowledged me.
"If that's your goal, I don't think it's impossible. With me, we can make it come true!"
A person who didn't doubt me one bit.
"Let's do our best during tomorrow's contest, okay?"
A person who believed in and put their full trust in me.
"We got this! As long as I'm here, you're invincible!"
A person who always pushed for me to strive for the best, just like how everyone else did back then.
"You're not alone! There's two of us on the board!"
A person who was always by my side.
"Let's go to Nationals!"
And a person... who didn't laugh at my silly dreams.
"Thank you."
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"They've done the unimaginable! For the 2020 MMC- National Stage, our champions are...!"
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Re:View- to look once more at what could've been
