"Hiraoka," A firm voice called out. "I'm sure you know why I made you stay behind right?"

"Uhh..as much as I want to say that I do, I don't.."

Inside an empty classroom after school, was this young female teacher, sizing-up this low-profile student with her intimidating eyes as she continued her interrogation.

Her way of interrogating wasn’t anything new. The way the questions were asked was way too suggestive and was clearly one-sided, there was only one answer amongst a vast variety of choices like it always was. If interrogating someone only meant forcing out a specific word from another person, then I’m pretty sure word games like Shiratori would also be considered as one.

Either way, seeing that kind of scene was truly sad. It made you appreciate the blissful freedom you’ve always taken for granted in your everyday life.

And like any other person, I clearly wouldn’t want to be in the poor guy’s shoes. But as much as I wished that I wasn’t, unfortunately, it was me.

In front of my eyes was a female teacher around the age of who-knows-how-much, having her arms firmly crossed to assert her superiority. She had short black hair that reflected the afternoon sunlight that enveloped the after-class scene, and was wearing this sleek, blue tracksuit that gave emphasis to her well-developed figure. She was a physical-education teacher like her outfit suggests, and was also the homeroom teacher of our class, Yasuhara Hina-sensei.

"Oh? Are you sure you don't know what you did?" Sensei asked as she further reinforced her folded arms, causing her ubiquitous marks of adulthood to move up accordingly. What was with that sudden glimpse of heaven just now…was it intentional?

The way sensei’s track-suit amplified her older-woman charm was very effective. Each and every fiber of her clothes' well-being had taken the shape of her adult-sized bust. Just the sight of it was enough to make me take a half-step back.

"U-umm...I'm pretty sure that the answer that sensei's looking for is nowhere to be found in this guy's head." I timidly replied, averting my eyes from sensei's womanly charms.

"What are you suppose to be, a nun? Will you die if your memories don't get annually wiped out? I'm sorry to break it to you but science has already proven that your sad excuse isn't scientifically possible."

"Nah, I didn't mean it like that," I jested, swaying my hand around in denial. "I just seriously have no idea what sensei's talking about here."

“Ehh..” Upon hearing my response, a sullen expression clouded over sensei's face, a silent sigh managed to slip in-between her lips. "C-can't you at least take a wild guess..?"

"No." I bluntly replied.

"You brat..." Sensei mumbled in irritation. "I guess I'll just get straight to the point." Losing interest on her stupid game of charades, she drew this ominous-looking piece of paper from her desk’s drawer, fixating her gaze toward the object in question as she held it up high for the whole school to see. "To change is to lose...I won't lose to society. Does that ring a bell?" She asked as she sent a sharp glare my way.

"Eh? Uhh..k-kinda." Indeed, those few, insignificant lines that sensei had spouted just now was awfully familiar. It brought back some long-forsaken memories from the day just before yesterday. At this point, I could already take a wild guess to why I was asked to stay behind. "That's the essay I wrote for Tomura-sensei's class if I remember correctly. What about it?"

"Tomura-sensei asked me to deal with this since I'm both your homeroom teacher and a guidance counselor. Tsk." At that instance, sensei's face broke into annoyance, turning to her side as she pretended to spit on the floor. We were inside a building so it’s only natural that she didn't really do it. Or did she..?

"A-ahh, I totally get you sensei. It sucks when someone younger than you gets to boss you around like that, right?"

"Somewhere along those lines." Sensei paused, paying little-to-no heed to my sad attempt of diverting the topic. Too much for that ingenious plan… "Setting that dispute aside," She went on, placing my essay on her desk. "What kind of convoluted manga have you been reading lately to have the balls to show me this shallow stuff."

"Uhh..well, it's not like I wrote it for you to see…"

Sensei let out an exasperated sigh, rubbing her temple as if my words suddenly gave her a migraine. "Drop the fallacious arguments will you? You’re in no position to give me that kind of response.”

“Oh, then, I’m kinda into light novels at the moment..”

“Li-Light no…light novels?” Sensei repeatedly blinked, looking my way with eyes that of an innocent child that was being lectured about the birds and the bees. Even though she seemed to know about the library inside a certain magical nun’s head, she had no idea what a light novel was. It looked sensei was the type who would choose the movie over the book.

“Uhh..It’s kind of like manga, but less illustrations and more words.”

“Mhmm, I see.” Sensei nodded away in slight astonishment. “So what’s with these lines that seem to be taken out of a manga?”

Uwaaah..it’s no use. I’m not getting through this woman at all. And here I thought that I’ve already established my point of not reading manga recently. It was merely a misunderstanding on my part. Does this teacher even know how to listen? It feels like my words went through one ear and out of the other. Rather, they never managed to get through at all.

“I-it’s not like I took them out of a manga or anything like that...I merely wrote what I wanted to write.” I crossed my arms, averting my eyes.

“Is that so? I get the impression that society’s some sort of evil organization that you have to take down with this essay. Just so you know, people with dead fish eyes like yours have no rights to be a protagonist of a manga.”

Geh..could you drop the manga stuff already? Stepping on uncharted waters would only mean digging up your own grave. Also I’m pretty sure there are a number of main characters with this so-called dead fish eyes. Leave my eyes out of this dammit…

“S-setting manga aside, I’m not trying to play some cool main character role here. I might not look like it but I’m already past that age just so you know.”

“I guess I’ll just pretend to agree with you on that, mhmm.” Sensei paused, discarding my statement with a nod. “Putting that aside, why did you submit some shallow essay like this? Do you think that being cynical is cool nowadays? If I was your classmate and I saw this piece of garbage, I’m sure I'd already given you a nickname and spread the word.”

“..it’s not like I’m being cynical or anything like that, I just wrote the truth. Wouldn't you agree if I said that everything written on my essay is based out of facts?” Seriously, if newspapers back in the day had always received such reception, then I wouldn’t be surprised why yellow journalism was a thing in the past.

“Facts?” Sensei smirked. “If you ask me, the thoughts in your essay is filled with nothing but your mere opinions. I’m pretty sure that anyone who would read this would also think the same.” At that very moment, a somewhat triumphant expression came over sensei’s face, as if declaring her victory to the whole human population.

There was a part of me that felt defeat, while another part felt like throwing a rebuttal. But for some reason, it felt like any form of retort would only be put in vain with this woman. Unfortunately, I wasn’t the type of person to step down on an argument.

“Uhh, well..I can’t really argue with that..” I said, avoiding sensei’s eyes with a shrug. “But sensei, wouldn’t you agree if I were to tell you that facts merely came about from people’s opinions?”

“Hm?” Sensei slightly tilted her head in confusion, a puzzeled look on her face. “What are you trying to say here?”

“I’m sure that famous theories that are taught in class, and even established scientific laws that we currently believe in were once mere thoughts in some person’s mind that sprung out of curiosity. It was from their opinion that they shared with fellow men in their field, that the world is the way it is today. So it would be wrong if my essay were to get denied right here and now.”

As soon as I finished my piece, I turned to sensei and looked her square in the eyes, only to be welcomed by a slightly taken back Yasuhara-sensei, a repulsed expression playing on her face. W-what, was my words too convincing that you felt my true powers sensei? G-good to know.

“You…” Sensei murmured, “If your essay were to play a role in the development of society, then I’m sure this world would be a real dark place with that twisted outlook of yours..”

“Heh- this world is already dark enough with all the stuff that’s happening around. I don’t see how my highly self-aware thoughts would be able to make it even worse. In fact, I'm pretty confident that my essay would even make others more aware of their short-comings and probably make them pursue the path of betterment, if I do say so myself. “

“I see,” Sensei affirmed, “So now you’re trying to change the world huh. Aren’t you aiming too high for someone such as yourself? Even if a notebook that enables you to do so would randomly fall in front of you right now, do you think you can handle such a huge responsibility?”

“Who’re you supposed to be, Ryuk!? Will you give me that notebook if I happened to answer correctly!?”

“Oh..you seem to be rather interested.”

“I guess you could say that. Although, I’m not really inclined toward the ‘changing the world’ part. I don’t really give a damn about the world after all. I’d rather use the note to finish off those popular types that always seem to always get on my nerves.” Seriously, who do you think they are, celebrities? You always had to do as they say and had go along with their shit. And when you went against them, they’d make you enemy number one in class. What’s with that anyway. Even I wouldn’t treat celebrities like royalty.

“Kehh…you sure you aren’t just insecure?”

…What the hell is this woman talking about. Who would feel insecure about those carefree bastards. If there was anyone who’s insecure here, it would be them and no one else. Why do you think they try so hard to show off to everyone else, because they’re confident about themselves?

“Uhh..I’m pretty sure I’m not the one who’s insecure here.” I wearily replied.

“Well, if you aren’t some chuunibyou-ridden kid, nor an angsty insecure teenager, then why would you write something like this? Do you get off with being alone or something?”

“Why the hell does your assumptions get worse by the second…I don’t have a thing for being alone or anything like that. I just like peaceful solitude more than boisterous fun is all. Is anything wrong with that, sensei?”

At that moment, sensei looked away with a vivid shrug that said ‘ahh..this guy seriously doesn’t get it’ with her mere shoulders alone. Man was that annoying...

“Hiraoka,” She grabbed hold of my shoulder with her iron-clad hand, giving me this sympathetic look that made me feel like the receiving end of a charity foundation. “Shouldn’t someone like you rather be enjoying their youth instead of rotting in some corner alone? Your youth only comes once so you should make the best out of it...”

Hearing sensei’s remark, a loud smirk found its way in between my lips, forcing out this conceitedly huge grin to surface this very world.

"Sensei, including myself in the carefree majority would only spell trouble in more ways than one. They give you this sense of guilt each time you went against them even though you're in the right, and they'd also force you to go along with their shenanigans, only to leave you behind to make you their scapegoat. Also, they're pretty good actors if I do say so myself. They act this certain way while you have your eyes turned on them, then act another once you turn your back away. If they could switch from one role to another in such a short period of time then I'm pretty sure they could get nominated for an Oscar with that kind of acting. In other words, they're practically placing a hell lotta pressure on you in exchange for an ensured spot with their carefree group. It doesn’t seem like a practical choice.” I took a short pause to catch my breath, pointing my index finger up to further assert my point. “In conclusion, secluding myself from the rest of the world would not only spare me from going through that stupid excuse of acceptance, but would also guarantee me a safe and peaceful life at the same time. So by any means, it’s the best course of action to take.”

As I finished defending my stand, I lifted my eyes and met sensei's gaze. And contrary to my expectation, sensei’s face showed no sign of astonishment or amazement after hearing my nobel prize-worthy speech. Instead, she had one eyebrow raised as she sent me this rather sharp glare.

“So in short, you're basically running away from the problem, correct?"

"Uhh…well, I'd prefer to avoid calling it that. It's more of a tactical retreat...or a strategic play if you may." Indeed, calling it running away would definitely make it sound like I'm Mayweather or something, which is why it musn't be called that at all costs.

"Ohh.." Sensei crossed her arms below her firm chest in an exasperated way, once again lifting those huge signs of adulthood along with it. It made my eyes look away as they got immediately drawn back by her older-woman charms. Gulp. "Humility is one thing, and self-depreciation is another...I don't know if I should feel sad about what I just heard or amazed."

“I’d actually prefer it if you stayed neutral about it..”

For a good five seconds, there was this aggravating silence that fell over the two of us. No words were able to escape my mouth, nor were there any words that would seem to slip out of sensei’s as well. She didn’t move an inch from where she stood, and so did I. She just stood there, staring dubiously at me for the first three seconds, whipped her gaze to her wrist watch for the fourth, and threw them back at me for the fifth.

“Hiraoka, do you have a club that you should be attending right now?”

“Ahh..not re-“

“Ahh, my bad. I was stupid to ask.” Sensei interjected, cutting me off mid-sentence. “If it’s you we’re talking about here then I’m sure you don’t.”

“O-ohh..”

So it was already a given huh…

“I actually have an appointment with another one of your kind, so I think it’d be best if we continue things there.”

“Umm…I actually have plans after school.” I paused, “Also, another one of my kind? What are you trying to say here sensei.”

Ignoring my words and my very existence, sensei walked ahead in a rather slow haste. And as soon as she reached the corridor, she turned to me with a look that said ‘follow me or I’ll break your ribs’ with her mere eyes alone. It was seriously scary so I just had to go along.

With a terse sigh directed toward this cruel mistress called fate, I stepped one foot forward and decided to follow suit, blindlessly walking toward an inevitable fate with wavering resolve.

There’s seriously something wrong with this system.