Cote: Retelling

Chapter 2.1: Three Years of Research and Experimentation

I'm now sitting on the bed of room 401, my "home" for the next three years. No restrictions on electrical or gas usage, a mini fridge, a compact kitchen, a bathroom, living room with a tv separate from the bedroom. For students, this is simply too luxurious. However, the real luxury for me here was freedom. For me, freedom is harder to obtain than astatine, the rarest of all naturally-occurring elements on Earth with a half-life of about 8 hours. Similarly, my time in this school will be brief as well. Three years out of around 84 years, the average lifespan of Japanese men. Less than 4% of my time on this Earth will be spent here, though that could certainty be seen as long.

I have precisely 3 goals I wish to achieve in coming to this school:

1) To try living the youthful life of a high school student, entailing:

a. Socializing

b. Friends

c. Social events, such as a birthday party and "Hanging out"

d. Romance, if possible

2) To observe common people, something that was completely lacking in the white room. The qualities that will be assessed and evaluated are:

a. Behaviour

b. Personality (including personal philosophy)

c. Growth

d. Worth

3) To try experiencing "Freedom" and the experiences that come with it, such as:

a. Food

b. Literature

c. Entertainment

This is probably the only place in Japan that can provide me all these things at once. However, after this little moment of brazen defiance born of curiosity and an opportunistic mindset, I will return to the white room. In essence, these three years are a detour. I am nearing adulthood, meaning after this, "youth" will be a foreign experience for me. That, alongside Matsuo's advice and the existence of this school, was perhaps the spark that lit my curiosity and led to this.

These three years will be a data-collecting experiment. These three years will be an experience, one I chose to have because I could not have it again. A small taste, a momentary flash of 'freedom', the thing I never had. Of course, that man will try and retrieve me, and just for these three years, I will resist. Though, with all the 'normal' things I will experience, perhaps a semblance of personality will form within me, which would no doubt frustrate that man. Upon my return, the white room may double their efforts to make up for missing time. This is no doubt a risk and one that, logically, may be fruitless and detrimental in the long run. Rash, defiant and genetic human behaviour that even the white room couldn't remove... I suppose this is 'puberty'.

These three years - will they... change anything?

I doubt it will, but I am unsure if I want it to, or if I am apathetic as expected.

I will have the answer in three years.