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“Gonta-chaaaan!”
...
“Gontaaa-chaaaaaan!!”
...
Angie’s calls remained unheard, or so she assumed, as she paced through the corridors in search of her oversized bug-loving friend. That was odd- Gonta always responded to his name when being called...
Yet at the same time, Angie didn’t feel remotely surprised.
She’d skimp out on the details, but Gonta has accidentally caused a bit of a spat in the cafeteria, involving Maki and Tenko. Though the fight passed over in record time and everybody forgot about it just as quickly, Gonta still appeared somewhat upset when he left.
So, as a talented artist and a super-cute servant of God, it was Angie’s job to find him and make sure he was okay!!
And it wasn’t like she needed God to tell her to do it. It was just a basic human thing right? And she liked Gonta too, so seeing him upset wasn’t good in the slightest!
So Angie had set out with utmost determination to find Gonta and though she fretted over her lack of actually finding the giant in question, she’d hit a metaphorical jackpot when she spotted and oversized clump of hair on legs in the near distance.
When she approached him, she realised he had just been sat on the floor in a particularly soothing ray of sunlight. His whole body seemed slumped over. Maybe he’d cheered up in the meantime....?
“Gonta! I found you!” Angie announced, beaming.
Gonta looked up wearing a very odd kind of smile, but his glasses did well to magnify the brimming of tears in his eyes. Angie deflated slightly in her spot. Crying meant bad things, right? That wasn’t so good.
“You’re crying.” She stated.
Gonta nodded. “Is that bad?”
Angie paused to think the question over. “Hm...It’s bad, but it’s not bad bad...um...” The words spread confusion amongst the pair of them. “Like...it’s bad that you’re crying, because it’s bad that you’re sad, but it’s not bad that you’re crying because...you’re crying.”
Gonta’s face remained perplexed by her words.
“It’s bad because it means you’re sad, right?”
Gonta nodded. “Gonta is sad...about earlier. That fight wasn’t nice...” He murmured. Angie nodded silently in agreement. “No fights are good, but that fight is over now, yeah? So don’t be too sad!”
“Gonta know’s that...” Gonta said, quietly, “But...it was all my fault wasn’t it? Gonta wasn’t trying to make Tenko angry!”
Angie took a seat next to him, remembering the events clearly. Gonta had said something that had upset Tenko far more than the whole ‘male’ thing did and Gonta had stood helplessly, taking an onslaught of verbal abuse.
The worst part, in Angie’s eyes, is that everybody seemed to agree Gonta should’ve have said that. That it was okay and that Gonta was forgiven, but Gonta shouldn’t say things like that.
That confused Angie massively, as she, personally, found nothing wrong with the comment. Hell, maybe would’ve said the same thing but everybody got so...mad about it.
And poor Gonta knew it was his fault and he knew that the others knew that as well. He’d felt like he’d disappointed them all. This wasn’t being a gentleman at all- it was the complete opposite.
And to top it all off, he still didn’t know why it upset Tenko.
“Angie doesn’t know why Tenko reacted like that either. Everybody else thought it was bad but I didn’t.” Angie told him as a kind of reassurance.
“Gonta still doesn’t know either. Nobody explained it to him. I tried to apologise but...Gonta didn’t even know what he was apologising for...” He trailed, lamely. “I know apologies matter, but apologies aren’t real if a person doesn’t know what they’re apologising for.”
Angie pondered that statement for a few moments.
“Angie thinks Gonta is very smart!” She said finally, “And she thinks Gonta is a good person and that Gonta is sorry because...Gonta really thinks about his apologies when he makes them!”
Gonta gave a small smile of appreciation, but still looked downcast. “Gonta doesn’t know if he should go back to the others. They all looked so disappointed...”
Angie stayed silent for quite a while. The two of them sat in the harsh, warming sunlight rethinking the events of earlier.
“Gonta...doesn’t understand much, does he?” Angie finally spoke.
Gonta sadly shook his head. “Gonta’s never been able to understand. Gonta tries and tries his best to be a good person but Gonta always does something wrong and everybody gets mad...”
“Angie isn’t mad at you- and God isn’t mad at you either! God will always forgive you!”
“Can God make me understand things better...?”
Angie processed the question. The term ‘understanding’ in this context didn’t refer to understanding something academic or scientific. It wasn’t like understanding things at school. It was understanding people and understanding the things people did and didn’t say.
Angie, herself, knew how hard it was to understand what people didn’t say. It made her wonder how everybody else understood something that wasn’t said and she didn’t. Did everybody else get together to learn things without her? That was mean.
But Angie trusted God to give her some kind of guidance. Even if she didn’t understand and accidentally made somebody mad at her, God had a reason for that and that was okay. God understood and if God understood, then that was more than enough for Angie.
“Angie doesn’t understand things either.” Angie told him, softly, “Angie doesn’t understand what people mean sometimes and sometimes Angie doesn’t know what to do and ends up doing the wrong thing a lot, but thats okay because God understands that Angie doesn’t understand and God guides her anyway!”
It was an overwhelming use of the word ‘understand’ for the both of them, but they both seemed to get the gist.
“Angie doesn’t understand things either...?”
Angie nodded. “Angie sometimes doesn’t know when people feel happy or sad so she often ends up annoying them...” She trailed off with a soft laugh. “Angie doesn’t know why people don’t just say how they feel. Or maybe they can wear boards around their necks and write what they feel!!”
“Gonta doesn’t think that will catch on, but Gonta does think it’s a good idea!”
They both shared a laugh and Angie was delighted in how she’d managed to cheer up Gonta, but she had a feeling he hadn’t forgotten about Tenko.
“Angie...is Gonta different from the others because he doesn’t understand...?
Angie immediately shook her head. “It doesn’t make Gonta different! Gonta and Angie are just the same! And if God understands that Angie doesn’t understand, then God will understand you too!”
Gonta smiled at the assurance, “But what about everybody else...?”
“Hm...Angie isn’t sure they understand right now, but that’s okay! They will one day and one day, Tenko will understand that Gonta didn’t mean to upset her and Tenko will forgive Gonta!”
“Do you really think so?”
“Angie knows so! But in the meantime, we should stick together! Because...” She cut herself off with a giggle, leaving Gonta with amused confusion.
“Because Angie understands that Gonta doesn’t understand and Gonta understands that Angie doesn’t understand!!”
A small, ringing silence echoed through the corridor before they both burst into laughter.
“Now Gonta isn’t quite sure he understands but Gonta gets it...” Gonta smiled widely, now completely cheered up from earlier. “Although...Angie says that the others don’t understand us yet...”
“Mhm?”
“But...if we don’t understand things because people don’t tell us those things, then we should help the others understand by telling them the things they don’t understand!”
Needless to say, he looked incredibly confused by his own words.
“Gonta isn’t sure he made sense...”
“Angie understands! And Angie will help Gonta! Because even if the others don’t understand us, we understand each other!”
“Gonta is very confused!”
Angie grinned.
“So is Angie!”