My name is Asagiri Erika, and this is my second run through life. To achieve my goal of not being human in my next life, I'm working hard to lower my karmic merit.
In my first run, I was a police officer. I died a heroic death saving a colleague who was about to be hit by a car.
After I died, I never expected the reincarnation guide to tell me that I'd done so many good deeds that I'd earned the reward of being human again in my next life.
I felt like the sky had fallen. "But I don't want to be human!"
Who would want to be a wage slave again in their next life? Wouldn't it be better to be an anteater in southeastern Guatemala? Or a bigeye scad in the Indian Ocean? Whatever it is, surely anything is better than being human!
Thankfully, the reincarnation guide gave me another choice: restart my life, do bad deeds to lower my karmic merit, and maybe I wouldn't have to be human in my next life!
And so I began my second run through life.
Taking the lessons of my first run to heart, I decided not to become a police officer. The pay and benefits were good, but it was too easy to rack up karmic merit. So I decided to become a corrupt cop. Given the reputation of the police in our country, I'd be lucky just to avoid going to hell.
Unexpectedly, by a twist of fate, I saved several undercover colleagues, and now I had even more karmic merit than in my last life...
In my third run, I learned my lesson and gave up on applying to the police academy. I joined a criminal organization instead.
This time, I was sure I'd nailed it!
But I was just too good at what I did. I not only took out the previous second-in-command and inherited his position, but my colleagues from my second run even became my subordinates...
After several more runs, gazing at my glittering karmic merit, which looked like enough to let me attain Buddhahood on the spot, I couldn't help but tear up.
Theme: Today's hard work will not let your future self down
