All it took was an unfortunate encounter with someone who knew much more than what met the eye. From their meeting at an adventure course to measuring the distance between the sun and the moon, there was no telling how deep she had fallen for him; n...
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31 ☆ ("I FAILED YOU, SATO." )
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"So, Sato," It was the end of January. The second round of entrance exams is in a few days, and our Teachers have started doing their last check-ins with their students. Like it was during the summer, I remained stoic, fiddling with my fingers and allowing my legs to sprawl just slightly. Teacher Fujii wasn't amused, but I think with a sense of nostalgia, he was relieved that I didn't show up in bandages and a sprained ankle. "Have you decided where you want to go to university yet?"
I shook my head. Teacher Fujii frowned. "But university-specific exams are coming up, and your almost-perfect score can get you just about anywhere. Have you picked a career?"
That was the one thing I was sure of. "I did."
"Oh?" Teacher Fujii tilted his head, a soft smile on his face. "What do you want to be then, Sato?"
"I want to be like you, Teacher," I swallowed, lifting my head. "I want to be a teacher."
He blinked a few times. His smile faded. "A teacher, huh?" Teacher Fujii felt out the sound of it, licking his lips as he searched for a different expression on my face. When he realized I meant it, he chuckled slightly, a smile rising again. "I can see you as one, Sato. I think you'd make a great teacher, no matter what level you teach. Do you have any specific topics that you want to master?"
"No. I'm going into this blind and discovering what I'll master on the way," I explained. "I don't know what university I want to go to, but I know one thing for sure, Teacher–I want to be far away, so far away, where not even a person would willingly drive over. I don't want friends and family visiting me by train either, and not a flight. I want to be stationed in Japan; it's just not accessible."
Then, I added, "Not even by Riki."
"You don't mean that, do you?" I didn't respond. He sighed. "I didn't think you were serious. Why are you attempting to isolate yourself from everything you know and love? Don't you want to at least be with Aoki or Kim?"
Then, he added, "I'm sure Kim would like to be with you. Right?"
"That's not true. Even if they wanted to be with me, I wanted to start anew. Something about being in Okayama and having them know my life like the back of their hands–the one thing I wanted to suppress until the day I die–it doesn't sit right in my stomach," I replied hastily, shaking my head. "I need to be alone and find myself. With them, there's no chance that I'll succeed. I'll just continue trying to approach things with no sense in mind, and go back to being inhuman."
