"You mean you need help with your personal life problems?"

"Who knows," Saori replied, leaning his back against the fence. "Personal problems don't interest me. I have given my life to one goal, but I have no regrets. I just want to find the answer to one question. Do you think you can answer it?"

"What exactly is the question that bothers you?" asked Ryou, interested.

"It's a question I've been asking myself since I was a child. No one has been able to answer it, and that is why you are here beside me to answer it for me," Saori lifted his head, enjoying the cool air that ventilated an entire area of the park. The trees rustled and the petals lying on the ground flew in the direction of the wind. "If I don't like your answer, you may consider yourself a failure. How do you want to resolve your situation?"

With his words, the man put the boys in an awkward position. Not only did they not know what they were dealing with, but the questionnaire was very strange, unlike any other. After thinking about it, the guys nodded at each other and agreed.

"You want to know my problem, then. And I wouldn't mind listening to the wind blowing further. In peace. But what can you do - work is work."

"First of all, what is your question of nature, and does it have anything to do with your life?"

"It does, indeed. I wouldn't ask it any other way. To put it more accurately, it is more of a riddle than a question."

Tomoyuki misunderstood what Saori Kobayashi was talking about, and inadvertently considered the man a bum in his head. It could not have been otherwise, he thought, for Saori's manner of speaking was cool.

"There is a human essence in your work. You know what that is? The essence of helping people and getting paid directly for it. No wonder your type of work still exists, because people always have something to talk about and problems to solve."

"I assume by that you mean that our work is good for the state and for society as a whole?"

"You are literally purgators, haven't you noticed that yourself? You cleanse people of their sins and help them in difficult situations. Whoever asks for help, you help."

"I can also make an analogy with warriors. As the task of the keeper is similar to that of the warriors to protect the people from calamity, we, on the one hand, do these same things, as do the police and the whole auxiliary health care field."

"Hmm. On the other hand, you keepers don't give lives to the people in return, like the same warriors or police officers. Undoubtedly, you are here to provide social assistance to those in need, but you lose nothing if you are defeated."

Ryou fell silent.

"Our conversation has reached an impasse. We can only be content that your work provides you with a fail-safe number of pluses and no minuses, but you also help people. Let's stop there."

"Are you interested in such Organizations performing social assistance?" asked blue-eyed guy moderately, entering the dialogue from the parish for the first time.

"Absolutely, yes. I believe it will be such areas of activity that will build the future. I'm exaggerating, but the common people really do need Social Assistance Organizations."

There was a brief pause. Clapping his hands loudly, Saori Kobayashi turned the schoolchildren's gaze to himself, and with a cough, he continued the conversation.

"I've always been interested in human nature. As I learned more and more about the world at large, I developed the necessary process for later life - maturation and development. Nowadays, in gratitude to my age, I don't have much to do."

"I understand you. Adults often face this stage of life."

"And I thought again: what other things can the human soul be capable of? Nowadays, all people do is sit through their time working or getting an education. This is not bad, because this way they can develop and earn a living. However, there is a layer of people who do not live, but survive. Surviving on leftovers from their paychecks, they stagnate, limiting their livelihood."

"Therein lies the human nature of our time."

"I couldn't agree more. There is a second layer of society, aka the middle class. Such people can provide themselves with subsistence opportunities, but they also suffer from stagnation, because when the money runs out, they have nothing else to do."

"Most people around the world are middle class."

"The third layer is the rich. I won't explain, it's all over their face - they love money and can take for themselves what the previous two layers can't. However, there are rich people who don't care about flying somewhere to another country and expanding their outlook, and there are rich people who don't have free time at all. Do you know what ties all the people who don't have proper free time for their personal deeds together?"

"They lag behind those who have plenty of time for such deeds," Tomoyuki replied, confident in his assertion. Ryou looked back at the young man.

"That's right. These people don't find time for self-development, because they've been doing only one thing for decades. They work, being rewarded for that work in the form of money, and the same money they spend to cover bills and food. The rest of the money they save for a rainy day or save to get new jewelry."

"So what's the point? Isn't that how people can develop their country at the same time?"

"Imagine now a man who can find extra time for absolutely any act. What kind of person can you imagine with your own powers?"

"I think I can imagine two people: the self-developing one who doesn't care to do himself or people a favor, and the degenerate one who irresponsibly spends his time and money on meaningless deeds," Ryou said after a short thought.

"Case in point. We'll discard the second kind of person, because such people are mostly in our society and are nothing interesting, aren't they?"

Ryou agreed with the man's conclusion. "That leaves us with the type of person we are interested in, Kobayashi-san."

"The kind of person who doesn't care about reading a cool book or, at most, helping a homeless person in any way that isn't morally out of line. Such people are seen as the future of the world. Can you perceive that such a person has actually seen more than ordinary people?"

"Of course, because they wasted no time. Communicated with the right people and experienced more than just negative emotions throughout their lives."

"Say, it's easier to communicate with people like that, because they can always find a topic to talk about and a story to share."

"What exactly is it about people like that that interests you?" asked Ryou, to which the man coughed and turned around.

"Let's walk for a while," the man said, stepping toward the path. The boys followed him. "And here's the thing: when such a man has seen every possible thing in his life because of his free time, he begins to see human life from a different angle."

"And what might this man have been doing, say, in life?"

"Obviously, he was looking for himself in self-development and helping people. So, he was able to succeed in broadening his horizons. Suppose this person's character was not different from other people, and the person himself was a commoner. So, he got to a state where he saw everything possible in life--the good and the bad, the honest and the evil."

"You ask how different he could be from commoners?"

"Exactly."

"Then I think he was, at his peak, a kind of monk-prophet to people."

"Do you think if you, Hayashi-kun, saw the absolute full range of human emotions in your life, would your consciousness change for the better or for the worse? Maybe you'd become a human helper, or maybe a serial killer."

"I think if I were one, I'd be overwhelmed with neutrality about things."

"I'm sure of that, too," Tomoyuki joined in. "If a man in his lifetime has learned of all the misdeeds and injustices in general committed by men, he would not want to help at all."

"I agree with your reasoning. Our opinions are unanimous. Suppose a good man has met injustice and then justice with his own eyes in a short time. The fact is, it is injustice that will be remembered more in his life."

"Why do you think so?"

"By weighing negative experiences and positive experiences. Negative experiences outweigh positive experiences with their bitter aftertaste, making positive experiences less important than negative ones. Suppose you have made a mistake and paid for something important to you. You will try with all your might not to make that mistake again. But when you do a good thing, clearly it will be less remembered, and you may soon change your mind."

"I think I get your point."

"And here's the bottom line: the person we mean, who has had any of the possible human experiences in his life, what will he end up being? Will he help people, or will he be left alone with a ton of weight in his thoughts?"

Guys couldn't give an answer to his question.

"It doesn't matter at all which path he chooses: the path of reason or loneliness, because that's not what we're talking about here. I am more interested in the other..." declared the man, and fell silent as he looked at the glowing pond that reflected the evening light sky. Taking a cigarette out of the pack, he set about lighting it.

"What on earth are you wondering...?" asked Ryou gently, and the man exhaled the smoke that had gathered in his lungs as he took a puff, and lifted his gaze to the young man.

"This man knows all the secrets of the land and has had all the experience, which is why the people call him great. Yet he does not care one gram for his greatness. I am sure that such a man can forget not only his own name, but be lost in all his selves. What would you call such a person who has seen everything in this mortal world? A man who has seen all human emotions and their essences, and is a jack of all trades because of his knowledge of all and everything?"

Saori pointed his finger sharply at the two boys. Ryou was troubled by his prank, for he was already in a tight spot himself. Tomoyuki, however, continued his thinking in order to please both Saori Kobayashi and Ryou with his answer, which would allow him to have a closer relationship with Ryou in the future. Tomoyuki's goals were self-serving, and he could not easily pass up his chance. After pondering his answer, he decided to respond with a direct and harsh statement to the face of Saori Kobayashi, who patiently awaited the young man's opinion.