Kuro still hadn’t completed his application for university yet.
It wasn’t like he had forgotten what he wanted to study anymore.
Rather, one particular question wouldn’t stop bothering him.
Am I even good enough for this?
For the fifth ti, he deleted the docunt he had been writing.
Every single attempt ended with the exact sa thing.
Deleted.
The cursor waited patiently on the computer screen.
He shut down his laptop and walked off to school, hoping that a regular day would clear his mind.
Unfortunately for him, it didn’t work.
---
It didn’t take long until rumors about more acceptances in universities started making their way around the school.
The halls were alive with students congratulating each other.
Even teachers bead in happiness.
The library too seed filled with excitent despite its usual quietness.
Kuro managed a smile whenever anyone had good news.
However, it only made him feel uncertain of himself.
So lost in his thoughts that he almost ran into Yui in the hallway.
"Kuro."
He stopped in his tracks.
"Hm?"
"Do you have a minute?"
Her voice was strangely serious.
Completely unlike her usual teasing.
He nodded.
"Yeah."
---
They went to the roof together.
As soon as they reached there, the wind hit them.
For a few seconds, both were silent.
Yui rested against the fence and looked towards the cityscape in front of her.
"You’ve been avoiding everyone."
Kuro smiled awkwardly.
"I guess it was pretty noticeable?"
"Most people wouldn’t notice?"
"Maybe not."
She glanced at him.
"But the rest of us?"
"Yes."
---
With her arms folded across her chest, Yui asked.
"You’re wondering whether you’re good enough to beco a psychologist?"
Kuro gasped.
"How did you know that?"
"You always have this expression on your face."
"When?"
"When I studied for my third exam."
Ah.
Those sleepless nights.
That exhaustion.
That fear that hid behind her smile.
It was exactly the sa look that was on him now.
---
Yui turned to face him.
"Mind asking sothing?"
"Sure."
"What happened after I failed my second dical exam?"
"Have I ever told you to give up?"
No hesitation in answering.
"Never."
"Then why?"
"Because I knew that you still wanted it."
---
She nodded.
"You believed in ."
"Every day you reminded that a failed exam didn’t define who I am."
Kuro smiled gently.
"I rember."
Yui stepped closer.
"So then why let one application define you?"
That question hit him hard.
---
"You know..."
She continued, in a gentle voice.
"Everyone rembers that I passed."
"Their congratulations."
"The title of being a doctor."
"But when I think about how I beca who I am today..."
"I don’t rember the results."
She smiled.
"I rember the people who didn’t let quit."
She gazed into his eyes.
"You were one of those people."
Kuro hung his head.
"I didn’t do much."
"I guess you haven’t changed," she laughed.
"That’s what I said last ti too."
"I keep minimizing myself."
"No."
She put her hands on his shoulders and held them close.
"You listened."
"You never gave up."
"You believed in when I didn’t believe in myself."
She spoke softer.
"Can you imagine how rare that was?"
Kuro couldn’t answer that.
Because he didn’t realize it either.
---
She smiled warmly at him.
"I beca a doctor because I passed my exam."
"But you know what makes the person I am today..."
"...is the fact that so people believed in first."
A gust of wind blew through the rooftop.
Both of them stayed silent.
After a while, Yui drew in a breath.
"So."
She patted his shoulder.
"If you ever beco a psychologist."
"Hope that your patients are luckier than ."
She began moving towards the door.
Before going away, she turned around.
"Oh, and..."
"Don’t forget to complete that application."
"That’s a doctor’s order."
Kuro laughed.
"That’s a prescription for the first ti today."
"Well, there you go."
She disappeared inside the door.
Leaving Kuro standing underneath a clear sky.
He smiled to himself.
Maybe...
The people who knew us best...
They saw parts of us even we can’t see by ourselves.
And even though Kuro never gave those words much thought, Yui’s words stuck with him throughout the whole afternoon.
"I beca soone who believed in myself again... because soone else believed first."
That was exactly how Kuro felt whenever he looked at any of his friends.
Like soone who mattered to others because soone else cared.
Just soone who mattered.
He had been nothing but a friend.
Nothing more.
Yet sohow...
Even those few insignificant gestures had beco unforgettable to soone else.
Classes finally ca to an end and Kuro stepped into the hallway.
Almost imdiately, soone grabbed his sleeve.
"Co with ."
"Mina?"
She smiled.
"Just a couple of minutes."
---
Together, they walked to one of the classrooms which belonged to the education club.
The sunlight poured in through the windows creating long shadows along the rows of desks.
Setting her bag on a chair, Mina turned towards him.
"I heard from Yui."
Kuro sighed.
"All of them have been talking about now?"
"She worried."
"Usually, it’s you who notices if soone has been troubled."
"But this ti..."
"...we saw it in you."
Kuro chuckled.
"I guess I deserve that."
"You sure do."
---
Looking around, Mina started.
"When I first made a decision to beco a teacher..."
"I was terrified."
Kuro raised his eyebrow.
"You?"
She nodded.
"I just kept thinking that I lacked patience."
"I was scared that I wouldn’t be inspiring enough."
"I was unsure if I’ll be patient enough."
She chuckled.
"I wrote a very long list."
"I rember."
"You do?"
"You showed ."
She tried to cover her face with her hands in embarrassnt.
"...Just forget about that, please."
"I can’t."
"On pink paper."
She moaned.
"Why?"
"Because after reading it..."
"I asked you one question."
Smiling, Mina said.
"The question was..."
"’Why do all your reasons refer to things you think you don’t have and none of the things that you already give other people?’"
She looked at him warmly.
"After reading your words..."
"I spent hours thinking about that."
"I realized that..."
"I was asuring myself against the ideal image of a teacher."
"Soone I could never beco."
Laughing quietly, Mina concluded.
"You showed how to stop chasing perfection."
"And start growing."
Kuro looked away.
"I didn’t know that..."
"You never do."
---
Walking out of the classroom, they reached the hallway.
When Kuro was about to leave, a familiar voice called out to him.
"Kuro!"
Coming closer with a big notebook held above her head, Rika practically ran to them.
"There you are!"
"What happened?"
"I need your help."
"For what?"
"A very important matter."
Dramatically lowering her voice, she added.
"Creative ergency."
---
Walking side by side to the room where the art club mbers practiced, they reached it shortly afterwards.
The walls were crowded with the drawings, sketches, comic strips and unfinished manga pages.
Placing her notebook on one of the desks, Rika said.
"Read this."
Flipping through the pages, Kuro recognized those early drafts of hers.
The drawings were amazing.
The dialogue, however, looked stiff and artificial.
All the characters sounded the sa.
"I rember when you read it,"
Kuro started.
"And do you rember what I told you?"
Rika nodded.
"...You told that..."
"They all sound like they are reading lines for the plot."
"But not from themselves."
"Yes!" – She cheered.
"I went ho and spent the whole night trying to figure out your words."
"You helped see that..."
"I was trying to force the characters into the script."
"You taught how to listen to people."
Kuro looked confused.
"You were the one who..."
"No." – She interrupted.
"You helped learn to see the difference."
With a sincere smile she continued.
"Once I manage to beco a professional writer..."
"I will have to acknowledge that each of my characters exists because you heard real people."
---
Finally managing to leave the room, Kuro decided that it was finally the right ti to go ho.
But then...
Suddenly, Aoi appeared in front of him.
"I have been expecting you."
Kuro chuckled.
"Have all of you planned it?"
"We had a group chat."
"I wasn’t invited?"
"You were the topic."
"...That sohow seems even worse."
Aoi smiled for the first ti that day.
Really smiled.
---
Walking next to each other, they headed to the subway.
After a while, she looked at him and said.
"When we first t..."
"I believed that the people can be understood through logic."
"Through patterns."
"Through statistics."
"Through behavioral model."
Nodding, Kuro agreed.
"That is you."
"It was."
Correcting her glasses, Aoi continued.
"But then..."
"I t you."
"Heading her look, Kuro waited for her to continue.
"You made reconsider my predictions each ti we talked."
"Are you serious?" - Kuro chuckled.
"I am."
"But what was fascinating?"
"You constantly listened to feelings that were unquantifiable."
"You constantly observed changes in people long before they happened."
"Most importantly..."
"You helped see that..."
"...even though data can explain the behavior of people."
"It cannot be a substitute for understanding."
Stopping in the middle of the sidewalk, Aoi looked deeply into his eyes.
"Kuro."
"I helped change the way you analyze people."
"Consequently..."
"You helped change my opinion about understanding people."
---
They finally reached the station.
Before Kuro could even say anything, Akari’s voice rang from sowhere.
"There you are!"
Running towards them, Akari was slightly out of breath.
"We have been looking for you everywhere."
Aoi sighed.
"You were twenty minutes late."
"I got distracted."
"By what?"
"...By a cat."
"Of course."
---
Straightening herself, Akari turned towards Kuro.
"So."
"I’ve been hearing that everyone had their own speech."
"Yeah, apparently."
She folded her arms.
"I’m glad."
"Mine is going to be easier."
Without hesitation, without overthinking...
Akari smiled.
"Kuro, you are the glue."
"The glue which keeps us together."
Confused, Kuro tried to speak, but she didn’t give him a chance.
"Whenever we had an argunt..."
"You always managed to listen."
"Whenever soone was about to quit..."
"You always noticed that."
"Whenever Yui felt like giving up..."
"You always helped her."
"Whenever Mina didn’t have any confidence in herself..."
"You were there for her."
"Whenever Rika was frustrated..."
"You were there."
"And whenever..."
"You were..." – Aoi whispered.
"Yes, and when I was being unreasonable..."
Akari finished.
"We are all very different from each other."
"But yet..."
"...we keep finding our way back to each other."
And when she saw Kuro’s confused look, she added cheerfully.
"That’s all because of you."
There was a silence after this, but not because nobody wanted to say anything.
It’s just that they did not need to anymore.
For the first ti in days...
Those thoughts started to calm down.
Not because they disappeared.
But because the people who knew him the most...
They have reminded him of sothing.
Sowhere between...
All those little things...
Lies himself.
As the four of them walked to the station, Kuro suddenly smiled.
He did not know what was his future anymore.
There will always be hard days.
There will always be disappointnts.
But since the people who have walked this journey with him were believing...
Perhaps...
Maybe it was finally ti to do that, too.
Reviews
All reviews (0)