I'm a bit stuck on how to understand 生まれ変わることがあるなら in the line below. The
speaker's girlfriend has passed away.

> もし届くなら、
>
> この星のどこかにいる、アイツに届くなら、
>
> **生まれ変わることがあるなら** 、
>
> 言いたいことがあった。
>
> 遅刻すんなよ、って

At first I read it as him saying if he was reborn but then that didn't make
any sense to me in context as it is his girlfriend that has passed away.

In this case then, what is the correct way of understanding this phrase in
context? Is it "if she is reborn". or something more like "if reincarnation
exists".
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2021-05-03T17:43:48.207
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meaning
Understanding 生まれ変わることがあるなら
I have a feeling 生まれ変わる is referring to reincarnation. If there is such a
thing as her being reincarnated and coming back into this world, he wants to
tell her, don't be late (come back soon).
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2021-05-03T21:27:39.373
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生まれ変わることがあるなら doesn’t itself say who’s the one to be reborn. It could be
either (1) him, (2) her, (3) a third person, or (4) a person in general. The
context seems to rule out the first and third options.

If he had said 生まれ変わるなら, instead, we could safely rule out the fourth option,
too, because we would expect a subject to be specified in that case, as in
人が生まれ変わるなら.

Supposing it's her, compared to 生まれ変わるなら, 生まれ変わることがあるなら carries a sense of
“ever”. It’s like saying “if such a thing (her rebirth) is ever possible.”
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2021-05-04T02:18:15.153
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