///
It was time for the lunch break, as the fourth-period lesson ends.
History is an important reminder for the people of Japan. To understand what we needed to sacrifice for the ‘peaceful’ and ‘prosperous’ time we live in now. And to learn from the valour of our ancestors and their mistakes. Therefore, it’s an important subject to teach children from a young age, for them to keep society as harmonious as possible. So, skipping this subject is considered to be incredibly audacious.
Not that it stops me, usually.
At this time, I would be on the rooftop already, eating something I bought at the cafeteria. Relaxing and enjoying the, presumably, good weather. Until the other students start to make their way to the school roof.
And since a certain someone arrived at the school it has gone much peaceful up there. So, the lunch break is even better now.
Although a certain history teacher who really takes her job seriously dislikes me because of my unacceptable behavior. She tends to watch me like a hawk, making my escape an impossibility. Alternatively, that woman just forces me to stay in the classroom after the lesson is finished.
I just want to eat something, without being forced to fight in the cafeteria.
But it looks like that is unavoidable today.
Sadly, it seems that I’ll have to just tough it out. But as I was getting ready to get up from my chair and face my bloody destiny, a book falls on the top of the desk.
The book cover has Kojien written on it. Garden of words or just dictionary published all over Japan, with many foreign universities using it. This one is specifically is very popular all over the country and used widely overseas. It’s the thickest dictionary in the main school building library I could find.
I turn to face the one who disrupted me.
Harumi was standing near me, looking at me with the usual unreadable expression. At this point, I’m getting used to that look. At first, I thought it was an inhuman expression for a person to constantly have. But now it seems just to be a part of who she is, something inhuman and beyond my understanding. Maybe I should give it a name? The Harumi look maybe? Nah, that’s really dumb.
Harumi keeps staring holes through me, waiting for me to say something.
“…I thought I told you to memorize all of this.” I can already understand what she wants to tell me.
Is Harumi going to tell me that she’s done memorizing it already?
“Yes.” She is. “I have memorized this ‘dictionary’ in its entirety.”
I can’t tell whether she’s serious or not, her tone is completely emotionless. And Harumi just keeps staring at me, an unreadable expression on her face.
Harumi’s tone, which always remains the same, shows nothing that would indicate that she’s lying. But there should be no way you could have remembered all of that in just one night. At least I can’t imagine anyone being able to do that.
“Did you really?”
“Yes.”
Is Harumi lying? Again, nothing in her behavior indicates that it is the case. The only thing I can do is test her.
Let’s see how she responds to something random that comes out at a spur of the moment.
“Okay then, tell me a definition of something. Exactly as it’s written in the dictionary.”
I just need to humor her for a moment and leave. There’s no way she can do what I requested. She’s just going say something vague, I’ll tell her that I need the exact definition as it is written. And leave.
That’s not what happens.
It seems nothing ever goes my way since Harumi appeared.
“Something: A thing that is unspecified or unknown. Something: Used in various expressions indicating that a description or amount being stated is not exact.” Harumi proceeds to tell me a couple of different ways a person could defy the word ‘something’.”
I look into the dictionary and the definition is written exactly as the girl said.
I open the dictionary and look for something else, something more difficult or obscure.
“What is the definition of Schadenfreude.”
“Schadenfreude: Pleasure derived by someone from another person's misfortune.” That’s exactly what the dictionary says.
I just wanted to see if she could define a favorite word of mine.
I move onto something else, something more difficult.
“Definition of defamatory.”
“Defamatory: speech or writing intended to harm somebody by saying or writing bad or false things about them.”
Flip.
“Definition of meretricious.”
“Meretricious: seeming attractive, but in fact having no real value”
Flip.
“Affluent.”
“Affluent: having a lot of money and a good standard of living.”
Flip.
“Maelstrom.”
“Maelstrom: a very strong current of water that moves in circles”
“…” All I could do was remain silent.
She really did memorize the entire thing. Only testing her a little, was enough to convince me of that.
I just picked out some random words after flipping pages.
There’s no way Harumi could only memorize some of the words and me picking them by accident.
She has a very good memory, that much is apparent.
But how did she memorize all of it in such a short amount of ti-
“Now explain.” Harumi interrupts my thoughts.
Huh? What does she mean?
“Explain what?”
“The meaning behind the words.”
Explain the meaning? Doesn’t she already know the meaning?
I mean she can probably remember most of what is written down in this huge book.
“What do you mean? Didn’t you just tell me the definition?”
“Affirmative.”
“Then what’s the problem? Doesn’t that count as knowing what the word means?”
“…” Silence, she probably doesn’t know what to say. Or how to describe what she wants.
Wait a minute wasn’t I planning to do something. What was it?
Something to do with me being held back in the fourth period by…
Ah!
I bolt out of my chair instinctively. Images of how the cafeteria looks like made my body react without thinking.
But someone grabs me by the wrist and forces me back on the chair.
Oh yeah, she did this the last time too. How persistent and annoying.
I glance towards Harumi.
Like the last time, she seems to just hold me very lightly. Like she’s holding a small animal in her hand. As if the girl just adding a bit more strength to the grip would crush me.
That would happen without a doubt.
“…Didn’t you memorize this whole thing.” It looks like I’m being forced to continue talking here.
How annoying.
“Yes. I have memorized all written in this ‘dictionary’.” Harumi repeats what she said before.
“Then what’s the problem? You have it all memorize, don’t you? What do you want from me?”
“I need you to explain the meaning.”
“I get that, but what do you want me to do exactly? I can’t just read your mind, give me more details and maybe I’ll figure something out.”
“…” Silence again.
C’mon, throw me a bone here. How exactly am I supposed to ‘explain’ something to you if you don’t say anything? I’m not good teacher material, and Harumi not giving me any details is only making things harder.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Damn it this is annoying, very annoying.
I sight.
It looks like I don’t have a choice.
“Let go of my hand and just follow me. I’ll tell anything you want then.”
I’ll figure out what to do with her after I eat something.
“Understood.”
With that I ran to the cafeteria and guessing from the footsteps following me, so did Harumi.
///
The cafeteria was as usual during lunchtime, completely packed and overcrowded. There was a long line of people going to the cafeteria from the outside. Inside of it were posters and signs with ‘Eat quickly and free up your seats’ hanging.
Just built another cafeteria damn it, how hard could that be?
“I want you to explain.”
I ignore her and consider the long line that’s in front of me. I can see the cafeteria building but still, it’s far away. The line itself is moving very slowly and it’s apparent that everyone is getting very annoyed at this. Most people here will have to go on an empty stomach for the rest of the day.
All of this is not very motivating. Considering that fifth to eight periods are all physical exercises, compared to the mundane subjects during the first to fourth period. Lacking energy and hunger pangs are not good motivators for future soldiers.
Usually, not this many people eat at the cafeteria, it seems today most just forgot to bring their own lunches.
Why today of all days?
Soon enough people started to gather behind me and Harumi, extending the line even further. They start becoming agitated since we’re moving painfully slowly. The grueling training that will come soon enough will be tortuous to all of us, especially on an empty stomach.
“Crap, what do I do now?”
There doesn’t seem to be any way of this dissipating quickly. The other convenience stores on campus are probably having the same issue. It seems that at least half of the student body is going to be cranky for the rest of the day.
“What is wrong?”
She sounded, as usual, worries of the soon to be hungry and unmotivated students completely foreign to her.
I guess even an empty stomach doesn’t faze her. It looks like nothing does.
“The line is too long, there’s probably no chance of having lunch today.” I can feel more people gathering behind us. At the very least most people won’t eat anything. “Damn it I can barely get myself motivated on a good day. How am I supposed to keep myself going through the rest of the lessons, without eating anything?”
Should I just give up for now? It looks like I don’t have a choice.
“Why do you not just ask them to make it shorter?”
The statement is said without much thought. Maybe even innocently, but Harumi’s flat tone makes it hard to understand what her attitude is.
“That’s not how it works. Most people here are waiting for their turn. I can’t just ask them to move out of the way.”
“Then what would make them move faster?”
If I knew that I’d be inside right now.
Asking nicely won’t work. Running through the line will get me a beating. And it's not like I can scare them or anythi-
Scare?
Wait I do have something that can make this thing a whole lot easier. Since I have someone who is the bogyman of this entire school. A bogyman that is standing right next to me.
I turn my attention to the solution to this long line that stands between me and food.
“Harumi, do you know what being polite means?”
“Polite? …Polite.” She goes quiet for a second. “Polite: Having or showing behavior that is respectful and considerate of other people”
“And what is the meaning of that? Do you understand how to be polite or what being polite really means?”
“…” That’s a no.
Ok, I think I’m getting a hang of how to handle her. If she wants to learn, I might as well use that to make things go my way.
“Being polite is essentially changing your behaviour to seem a better person than you actually are. Hiding both your thought and emotions from other people, to not offend them. It’s considered essential to survive in modern Japanese society.” Not me though, I can’t tell a lie to save my life. “You don’t understand what I’m saying, right?”
“I do not understand.”
All right, I got my justification.
“Then do you want to try being polite. Maybe it’ll be easier for you to understand by giving it a try.”
“How do I do that?” All right it seems she took the bait.
What a pure girl. If you don’t consider the damage Harumi can cause that is.
Harumi would be considered cute if her face and voice showed more emotion.
“Just ask them to move, I think that will be good enough. Add that ‘we’re are very hungry’ too.”
Most people at the school are familiar with how Harumi looks. The videos of her fight and the rumors are still a hot topic. Plus, she broke one of my classmate's arms recently. So, Harumi’s notoriety is even higher.
“Come on give it a try. All of the people here are very receptive to ‘politeness’.”
“Understood.”
Harumi turns to the person who is standing in front of us and talking to a person who, I assume, is his friend.
She pulls on the guy's school jacket, trying to beckon his attention.
“Could you move? We are very hungry.” Without waiting for him to turn around she already starts pleading with the guy.
He turns around.
Just what I need to make this go as planned.
“No way. We’ve been standing here for longer than you. Were hungry too yo-” He turns around to face Harumi.
But after he notices that the person who he was complaining to was shorter, his irritated gaze fell lower.
And after the guy sees who he was talking to, irritation turned to panic.
The guy's face immediately starts going pale, sweat started rolling down his face and his body began to shake.
“…”
The guy says nothing and puts a hand on one of his friend's shoulders.
“Hey… lets… move… out… of… the… way…” A shaky voice that is barely above a nervous whisper.
“What do you mean to move, I haven’t eaten anything since breakfa-” One of the guy's friends turns around to face him.
Only to follow his gaze.
Soon enough the entire group is looking at Harumi.
“…”
Silence. The people in front don’t breathe, move, or make a sound. Completely frozen in fear.
Harumi looks at me, probably lost on what to do asking for guidance. And I just moved her to say it again.
Turning back again the girl speaks.
“Could you move?” In the usual flat tone.
The group in front of us on the other hand.
““…AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.”” React with a very loud scream comes out of their lips.
They’re all scared. This is great!
Quickly the group scatters.
I feel a bit bad about using her like this. But seeing people turning into nervous wrecks is immensely satisfying.
“Do you understand now?”
“Negative. More observation required.”
Hehehehe, this is going great.
“Then try being polite to more people and maybe we’ll actually get to eat something”
I’ll add one more thing to make this whole thing seem more authentic.
“Don’t forget to say please, it’s going to be much more effective that way.”
With this, Harumi will sound even creepier.
“I do not understand. But I will try.”
We move forward, closer to the cafeteria entrance.
///
“Could you please move?”
A small group of people reacts in the same manner at the start, but after seeing who they are talking too they immediately ‘move’ as Harumi asked. The reaction was much better than the first time.
We move closer to the cafeteria.
///
“Could you please move?”
This time the reaction was even faster and chaotic. Even the people a bit more in the front start taking notice of the people running away. Seeing that Harumi is closing in, sends the panic through the line.
We close into the entrance.
///
“Could you please move?”
Now people just run away from us after hearing those words.
I and Harumi enter the cafeteria.
///
“Could you please move?”
At this point, the entire line was scattering, due to the panic that is spreading.
Very good. This is turning out better than I expected.
We’re moving much quicker and the food stalls are almost within reach.
///
Using Harumi as a proverbial scarecrow I made it to stalls that sold various dishes. Curry, rice bowls, desserts, and other types of food are lined up on the shelves or served by the cafeteria staff. There was a small section that sold bread, sweets, and other snacks that are easy to eat outside. That section is usually sold out because of how difficult it’s to eat in the cafeteria itself.
There were still a couple of students, who were eating or buying lunch. They were visibly confused at how impossibly empty it got, in what seems to be only a couple of minutes.
Probably the few, who have not watched the fight between Harumi and Koshimizu or heard the rumors.
What is important is that I finally get to eat something that’s not only bread or snacks. With the huge number of people being cleared out, it became much more comfortable to be here.
With the noise gone it’s almost silent, but not entirely. Still better than usual though.
“So, this is politeness? I think I have learned a lot.” Harumi mutters to herself.
She obviously doesn’t understand anything, well that’s probably why she wants to learn the ‘meanings’.
“Fear played it’s part too.” I correct her.
“Fear?”
“Yeah, fear.”
“What is that?”
“It an emotion that forces others to make decisions… Let’s just say that the object of a person’s fear drives them to react in a certain way. The way that a particular individual reacts is different, depending on what they fear.” I can already guess what Harumi’s reactions are going to be. Not like my explanation was good anyway. “You don’t need to understand now, let’s go get something to eat.”
“I do not understand.” As usual. “And what is the ‘object of persons fear’ you refer too.”
“Can’t you guess?”
“Negative.”
She doesn’t understand why people find her terrifying, not even that to most of them she’s just a walking nightmare.
How innocent.
“Then I’m not telling you. At this point, you won’t understand like usual.” Yep like usual. “You don’t need to figure this out now, let’s go get something to eat.”
I turn my gaze to the multiple food stalls.
What should I eat... Curry sounds good about right now? Yep, that sounds good.
After grabbing a tray, I move.
“A large portion of chicken katsu curry.” I ask the person behind the stall.
The elderly lady who looked baffled at how empty this place got, snapped out of her daze.
“Oh, yes please wait a moment.”
She starts putting the rice, meat, and sauce on to the plate.
I can feel someone pulling on my sleeve.
Harumi is staring at me with nothing in her hands.
“What? Not going to eat?”
“I do not understand.”
…
“…What do you mean?” I can see where this is going but find it hard to believe how ignorant she is.
“I have never seen anything like this.”
…
“Wait. Your serious?”
“Affirmative.”
…
“Do you even know what ‘this’ is.” I say pointing all the food items in the cafeteria.
“Negative.”
…
What the fuck?
“Then what have you been eating for your entire life.”
Harumi grabs my hand and puts something in it.
It’s an unmarked package.
…I see.
These military energy bars. She never ate anything but that?
…
I suspected it but, how sheltered could she possibly be.
Or maybe sheltered is does not describe what I imagine about her life? Maybe something even more extreme would apply to her.
Confined? Maybe?
…
///
"** *** ****. ****, *****, **** *** ***** ** * *** ***** ***."
…
…
…
"***. *** *** ***** *** ****. **** * *** **** **** ****."
///
…
Well whatever, that’s not my problem.
There is a portion of curry on my tray.
“…Give me another large portion.” Damn it, this is annoying.
I’ll guess I’ll go with something basic for her to try. If Harumi is really telling the truth, then curry isn’t the worst thing you can eat. Especially if the only thing you’ve ever eaten is some sort of military rations.
The lady puts another portion of what I already have on my tray.
“Follow me.” I say and start to walk off.
After grabbing some bottled green tea and paying for the food, I put down the tray on one of the many cafeteria tables and sit down.
Normally I would have Harumi pay for her own food. But at this point her not understanding what ‘to pay’ means, seems like a realistic prospect.
I look over to Harumi who’s still standing near me.
“What are you standing for? Sit down.”
She sits to my left.
“…Why there?”
“What do you mean?”
You know what, never mind.
She’s just sitting down next to me, for the emperor’s sake. If she’s not bothered why should I be.
I put the spoon and take some rice, sauce, and chicken. Putting the food in my mouth
The chicken which is usually dry becomes much more tender when eaten with the sauce. The rice adds some pleasant texture as well.
The tastes combine very well.
“Whuf hif fhis.” Muffled sounds come from my left.
I’m guessing that she doesn’t understand simple table manners.
“Don’t talk with your mouth full. It’s impolite, chew, and swallow, then you can talk.”
A moment passes.
“What is this?” Harumi’s voice for the first time since I met her seemed to show some kind of… Surprise?
Neither her tone nor voice changed but I could just tell that something was bothering her.
I turn to her and see the girl staring at the plate.
“What you mean the curry?”
“I have never ‘eaten’ anything with…”
“…Flavour?”
It looks like she really is having trouble picking what to say, so I try to guess what she means.
It seems she considers the word but only for less than a second.
“Flavour… Yes, I think that is a fitting word.” After saying that she returns to eating.
…
The longer I talk to her, the more difficult it becomes to understand how she has been living until now.
Well, that’s really not my problem.
After that we go silent and keep eating the curry. I take a chug of the bottled tea from time to time.
Harumi just keeps consuming what is in front of her. Not speaking up anymore.
After she finished eating, she just stood up and just walked off without saying anything.
A ‘thank you’ would be nice at the very least. Also, you owe me money now.
I look at the clock hanging in the cafeteria. It looks like it’s almost time for the fifth period. Better make it on time, I need that attendance after all.
In retrospect, this whole thing was not that bad, annoying, but not bad.
Well, the next day is a day off, so at the very least Harumi won’t bug me tomorrow.