「エテルニテ」との出会い

Do you know about "natural selection?"
This is the core view of the theory of biological evolution, which stipulates that each organism will have a certain genetic variation when it reproduces, and that the environment will screen all organisms to ensure that the stronger organisms survive.
When Sora looked at the "0" written in the sports column of his report card, he thought of the theory of evolution he had read about in a book, and his emotions hit rock bottom. He packed his schoolbag indifferently, walked out through the school gates, and headed home.
Unlike primary school, the sports grade is also included in the overall grade in middle school. No matter how high his grades were in all the academic subjects, his absence from the physical examination meant that Sora's overall ranking would fall to the middle or lower. Unlike his classmates who could improve their grades just by studying hard, there was nothing Sora could do about the situation.
It wasn't like Sora hadn't tried to do anything, but even what others consider light exercise could wreck his body. His situation would be even worse if it wasn't for the rapid development of modern medicine. The long list of disease names on his medical records seemed like evidence that he was a child nature wanted to weed out.
He kicked a stone on the side of the road irritably to vent the feeling of powerlessness from his heart.
*Bang!*
Sora was knocked down to the ground by an oncoming cardboard box, and his eyes started to moisten.
"I'm sorry, my line of sight was blocked by these things. Are you okay?" The apologetic face of a middle-aged man appeared from behind the moving cardboard boxes. "If you don't mind, why don't you come inside and have a rest in my café? I'll make you a cup of hot chocolate as an apology for bumping into you."
"You don't have to... I'm okay..."
"...We always keep some band-aids in the café just in case, and the scrape on your palm needs to be treated." The man put down the cardboard boxes and reached out to Sora. At the man's insistence, Sora eventually followed him to the café.
"Manager Nanami! An elderly man insisted on placing an order with his mobile phone and ordered 100 cappuccinos by mistake and didn't realize until it was too late to cancel it! We need your approval to cancel the order." A waitress with lavender hair greeted them as soon as they walked into the cafe.
"Alright, I'm on it." The man who the waitress called manager took Sora to an empty seat. "Wait for me here. I'll be back soon."
As his eyes followed the back of the manager who was walking off, Sora saw the old man who had asked for help. He obviously had no clue about the complex electronic operations, and the way he rubbed his hand subconsciously revealed his helplessness.
Sora then looked at the young girl in the booth next to him. It was a little rude to stare at her like this, but she ignored his staring because she was fully focused on the conversation she was having on her phone.
"I'm sorry, president! It's my fault... I'm really sorry for miscalculating such important data..."
The young girl kept apologizing, but even so, Sora could hear the sound of scolding from the other side of the phone.
Everyone in the café seemed to have their own troubles, and the negative emotions mixed together, making his mood worse.
"What's on your mind?" A cup of hot chocolate appeared in front of Sora. The manager had returned with some band-aids.
The steam rising up from the hot chocolate made Sora teary. He suddenly wanted to talk to someone about the things on his mind: "I was thinking... it feels so terrible to feel helpless. I always get a zero for my sports grades, so I'm always ranked in the middle or lower. I must be very disappointing..."
The manager looked around and seemed to realize something. Suddenly, he reached out and touches his head.
"There are many aspects of life, and it'll be very painful if you only focus on the negative ones." The elegant manager applied the band-aids to the scrape on his palm. "Although the old man is not good at using electronic devices, he is an excellent painter who creates paintings that attract collectors. As for the lady, well... she is not good at math and often gets the amount wrong when paying, but she is a great writer who has a large fan base on Catchat, and she found a writing-related job not long ago and is preparing to tender her resignation to her current boss."
"Every person has things they are good and bad at. Even deities are the same. People who are good at everything only exist in legends, Sora Ichinose."
"*Coughs* Mr. Nanami, you... know me?"
"Haha, I'm Reina Nanami's uncle. She's your classmate. Do you remember her? I've seen you before when I picked her up after school.
The manager pushed the hot chocolate in front of him. "Reina tells me that you seem unhappy whenever the grades are announced. It looks like your sports grade distresses you quite a lot."
"But this isn't something I can just solve by trying harder..." Sora lowers his head and mumbles.
"Like I just said, everyone is good at different things. There are so many students in One Han City, but you're the only one who has won the elementary school Rubik's Cube competition and Math Olympiad consecutively." The manager's voice gave him a sense of security and soothed his restless emotions. "To be honest with you, I'm looking forward to seeing you win the middle school championships too."
Sora sat there, listening to the middle-aged man's gentle encouragement. Although they barely knew each other, sometimes the encouragement from strangers is exactly what people need to untie the knot in their hearts.
As he sat there with melodious music filling his ears, sipping hot chocolate that sweetened his heart while immersed in the mellow fragrance of coffee, Sora's heart relaxed, and he started to feel better.
"I'll keep doing my best." He said with a smile on his face.
From that day on, Sora was no longer obsessed with his sports grades. Instead, he put even more effort into mathematics. Meanwhile, Éternité now had a new regular who likes to play with Rubik's Cubes.