Den of Monsters

Y1 Vol4: Kageguchi Exam 4

(Ayano tateyama's POV)

"Let's continue shall we?" johan-sensei announced and we followed his command and sat back down in our seats.

"mmm i am kind of nervous about this kiyo..." i murmered to kiyotaka seated next to me.

"don't worry, we're most likely to win this exam, let's hope there isn't any hurdles coming our way" he replied as he patted me on the back.

i felt a bit fuzzy and warm at his touch, i guess even someone as unexpressive as kiyo knows how to comfort people.

johan-sensei pulled a paper out of the box, as he opened it and read it to himself his expression grew slightly more amused, he spoke up and said.

"Ayanokoji kiyotaka is a whiteroom student."

eh...what's a whiteroom? is it some sort of cram school?

i turned my head to see what kiyotaka's reaction to this was and it was the same blank look.

he doesn't look surprised or embarrassed or afraid or anything, he is just calmly staring at johan-sensei.

i followed his line of sight and johan-sensei was just staring at kiyotaka in the eye, the room was quite silent, nobody had anything to say about this, it seems like an odd thing to hear of but we can't put our finger on what it is.

"hmm ayanokoji-kun, what is exactly the whiteroom?" johan-sensei asked as he leaned closer to listen to what kiyotaka's going to say, his smile growing a bit into a grin.

he sighed before saying.

"it's a cram school my father owns, it won a few awards here and there, i was a part of it not long ago."

oh so i was right!.

"that's really cool kiyo! maybe that explains why you're really smart..." i said as i smiled at kiyotaka.

i expected him to respond to me but he didn't, he continued staring at what johan-sensei's going to do or say.

"while we await the results i would like to ask you a question ayanokoji-kun" he said.

"sure go ahead" kiyotaka replied.

"ah thank you, then my question is 'what do you think evil is in our current time?'"

kiyotaka's eyes widened slightly, a very odd change and surprising change in his expression to say the least.

kiyotaka took a breath and started speaking in a very different mannerism to the usual kiyotaka i know.

"'hell is other people' this phrase from jean paul satre is often misunderstood for some sort of hatred towards other people when it's in fact one that speaks about how the judgement of others and their degrading gazes are what makes them hellish not their very existence, if i had to change the quote to something befitting of our current conversation i'd say 'hell is oneself, hell is alone' our solitude and minds are what creates hell and hell is by all means evil, i won't deny the existence of evil people but their evil was only born from their minds, their silent moments of thought in solitude and sometimes, an evil person is just a good person that life never gave a chance."

wow, that was quite something...

i have never seen kiyotaka talk this much, me and the others are shocked silent, i wonder what sensei's going to say.

i thought he would praise him or simply feel nervous and shocked like us but no, the class A teacher just smiled.

"amazing analysis ayanokoji-kun!" he said as he clapped his hands slowly.