The Second Carpenter

XXXII

XXXII_I_More_Teenage_Drama

Norhan had said he had something important to tell them that day. So, before the session, Scarlet told Bluemoon what she wanted to tell her. "You'd said if I were going to be jealous of the one you wished to be your lover, then I should have been the one. We're both alone now. Will you take me back?"

"I'm so sorry that I have to say this, and it makes me feel terrible, but no. I no longer feel for you as I did then, and even if I did, I still wouldn't. You're so mutable, Scarlet. If we start a relationship, you might change your mind in a week, if not in a day, or an hour. I can't afford to be hurt like that again. And you shouldn't do what you did to me to any other girl. You're mainly attracted to men. So, find a man. Also, I might no longer have a lover, but I'm not alone."

XXXII_II_The_Optimum_Fifteen

". . . And I choose Bluemoon."

"You choose Bluemoon," said Scarlet, looking Norhan straight in the eye, with a vacant stare. "What am I to do now?"

"That is yours to decide."

"So, I'm not needed in . . . whatever vague thing that you've never actually explained to us?"

"No. But I will still be your guardian. And I will still teach you in person."

"But you choose Bluemoon."

"Correct. I choose Bluemoon."

"Even though I slept with you."

I knew it! Bluemoon thought.

"Yes. Is that why you did it?"

"No. I've told you why I did it. Why did you it? Oh, bother. If you think the fact that you've abused my trust will diminish my faith in humanity, you are wrong."

"I've abused your trust?"

"Yes. You've brought me all this way and then thrown me away."

"Are you going to take revenge on me?"

"It's not like I can do anything to you. But maybe I want to."

"But is revenge, as a concept, a positive thing?"

"Huh?"

"I've said that I won't stop teaching you."

You think it's nothing, huh? "I don't know whether it's positive or negative; but I know that I would enjoy it. And I know that it is human. Art also doesn't make anything better save for pleasing us as it matches our understanding of beauty."

"But do you not grow weary of the human imperfections? To me, things that are flawed are wrong with existence."

Bluemoon had agreed with the desire for revenge being natural, but as soon as she saw Norhan's stance, she subconsciously changed her opinion both on the outside and on the inside only to agree with him. "I agree, Master." That is all she said. And Norhan continued without heeding her.

"If something is not correct, why should it be? Like when you try to solve a math problem in your head and you come up with wrong answer without knowing and thus consider it true. How can it exist if I's untrue? It's as if it makes it possible for you to temporarily live in a world with different laws of mathematics. Not literally, of course; but I can't put what I actually mean into words. It doesn't matter, for someday you might feel it. If you don't, it'll just mean you're not supposed to. The same goes for words that you accurately remember along with their meanings but feel wrong and strange."

"Master," said Scarlet. "If you'll excuse me, I'll be going. I'm going to continue to pass my official courses. I'm not interested in your teaching anymore."