Hello, Goodbye!

Chapter 3: Effort

BEEP BEEP BEEP. I'm too tired to wake up. I check the time, and with a slow movement of my arm, I postpone the alarm, falling almost instantly into a deep sleep. After an hour passes, something starts pushing me, and suddenly I hear: "Wake up! Wake up!" I open my eyes, and the first thing I notice is the time. It's 11:20 AM. I get up and push my mom outside my room. I put on a blue T-shirt and a pair of black pants from my dresser, rush into the kitchen, and prepare a sandwich because I'm the most skilled in making sandwiches in the house. While the sandwich is in the sandwich maker, I go back into my room and throw some notebooks and books into my backpack. I hurry back downstairs so the sandwich won't burn. I make it back in time and after eating it, I grab some gum and start chewing it as I leave the house.

"By..." I close the door.

Maybe she wanted to say something before I left. Not that it matters now considering I'm in a hurry. It's 11:35 AM, and the private lessons start at 12 PM. His house is a 20-minute walk, so I should get there on time. The sky is quite gray today. I can't hear the chirping of the sparrows either. Everything is so quiet... It's like the world doesn't have life anymore. While I walk on my way, if I look at any teenager, any young man or woman, I can see them scrolling on their phone. It's like what they're doing is engaging or productive, but all I can see is the same face, a bored and serious face. I'm not different from them; I can see that. But why is everyone the same as the other? No one is different anymore. Or at least, that's what I think.

While walking lost in my thoughts, I see his house. I forgot what a 30-minute walk is like. I'm quite tired right now, but I have no choice but to study math. I go in front and start knocking on the door. POUNDING. After three pounds, the door slightly opens. I take a look inside, and then I hear Fujita.

"I'm waiting for you in my room. It's the first on the right after you climb the stairs."

"Coming..."

I open the door and see Fujita inside with a bunch of books. He's so focused on arranging the books that he doesn't notice me in front of the door. I take a few steps, and his head rises from the books.

"Hi! Didn't see you there! Sit down."

"Okay."

I sit down on a blue carpet. There's a very low table with all kinds of books on it, all related to math. I get kind of scared, but he looks confident. So I think he knows what he's doing. I grab a pillow to make myself comfortable and take out my pen and notebook from my backpack.

"I think we can start. First of all, I'd like to give you a test to assess your current level. After that, we can work on your weak points. Do you agree?"

"As you say."

I usually don't do my best in tests. What will actually happen if I get a bad grade?

"Perfect. Here is the test I've written..."

I take the test and as I look at it, I realize I don't understand a single thing.

"You have 30 minutes. If you don't know something, you can skip it."

I think 30 minutes is a lot of time for me. The test has six exercises, and I can solve at most three. About two, I'm sure I can solve, but the third one seems a little complicated. With a bit of luck, I should be able to solve half of the test. But the other half is a lot harder than the first one. I could say it's on a different level than my current knowledge. The first half is on algebra, and the second one is on geometry. My weak point is exactly geometry. I hate it from the bottom of my heart. I look at Fujita, and he seems to be looking in the book, probably preparing some lessons. I don't have anything else to do, so I start the exercises.