I'm going to talk a little bit more about my childhood.
In Kamisu 66, children are required to start going to school at age six. The one I went to was called Harmony School. There are two other similar schools called Friendship and Morality.
At that time, the population was a little bit over three thousand. I only found out after researching about education in the ancient past that having three schools for such a small population is apparently quite remarkable. But this only served to show that the true nature of the society I was born in was a lot more than meets the eye. As for other statistics during the same period, over half of the adults in the community were, for whatever reason, pursuing education related professions.
This is inconceivable for a monetary economy. But for a community based on mutual cooperation, money is not necessary. {The spread of human resources naturally directs itself toward areas that are needed the most, and those people complete tasks as required.}
Harmony School was about a twenty minute walk from my house. It's even faster by boat, but the oars are too big and heavy for children to row, so walking is preferable.
The school is in a quiet location a little ways away from the town center on the southern edge of Hayring. It's a one-story structure made of dark, polished wood in the shape of an A. The front entrance is the crossbar of the A. When you go in, the first thing you see is the phrase "Cherish Harmony" framed on the wall. It's the first article in the Seventeen-article Constitution written by a sage from the ancient times called Prince Shoutoku. It means to build everything on harmony. That's where the name of our school comes from. I don't know what sayings are hanging on the walls in Friendship and Morality.
Along the side of the entrance were faculty rooms and classrooms. More classrooms are lined up on the right arm of the A. Although the number of people at school, faculty included, was no more than a hundred fifty, we had over twenty classrooms. The administration wing was on the left and students were not allowed to enter.
In the yard in front of the building were a sports field, jungle gyms and other playground equipment, and an enclosure for animals we raised such as chickens, ducks, rabbits, hamsters and more. The students take turns caring for the animals. In the corner of the yard stood a white, wooden instrument box. No one knows what it's for; in the six years we were at the school, it was never once used.
The courtyard surrounded by the three school buildings was a huge mystery. Students were strictly forbidden from entering and we never had any excuse to.
Apart from in the administration wing, there were no windows that looked out onto the courtyard. So the only time we had a chance to peek inside was if we happened to be in there when the door was opened.
"...so what do you think is in the courtyard?" Satoru asked us with an eerie grin. We all held our breaths.
"Wait, you don't know what's in there either, right?" I couldn't stand him dragging out the tension like that.
"Well, not personally, but there's someone who did," Satoru said, looking annoyed at being interrupted.
"Who?"
"Someone you don't know."
"Not a student?"
"He graduated already."
"What's with that?" I made my disbelief obvious.
"That doesn't matter, just tell us what he saw already," Maria said. Everyone made sounds of agreement.
"Okay. Well, people who don't believe it don't have to listen..." Satoru glanced at me slyly. I pretended not to notice. It would have been better to walk away, but I actually wanted to hear what he had to say.
