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Oftentimes I find myself wondering whether or not this tale will ever be remembered. The chances were slim, I always concluded, as unlike the old geezers in my school’s history books, I was no-one important. This story—no, this anecdote, wasn’t worth remembering, so I wonder why I am recalling it now. The great warlords or genius inventors of the world get remembered, a run-of-the-mill high schooler in a small ocean nation all the way to the east will undoubtedly be glossed over.
Maybe that phrasing discredits me a little.
But that was fine.
It was simply, truth.
Indisputable.
Insurmountable.
Absolute.
As if it were the natural order of the world.
It was for those reasons that my old friend, Rui Kamishiro, will probably stain the historic records of the world somehow. He had that sort of disposition. Everyone that met him probably thought so too, especially when coming face-to-face with the results of his rather extraordinary pastimes. Of course, I’m talking about the fact that he single handedly created a robot and all sorts of contraptions, and he has not even left high-school yet. It is said geniuses, prodigies, wunderkinds, and what-have-you, always have a different sort of air about them. A sort of atmosphere they themselves shape, whether conscious of it or not. An air that sort of makes you revere them in a way. Maybe not so in the sense of divinity or royalty, but one that definitely demanded attention.
We, the regular Villagers A, B, and C of the world, will never reach that stage.
Never seeing the world they see.
Though.
Maybe it is ironic then.
Although it was only a brief moment in time, just a mere page—no, not even a page, a mere footnote in my life, it was a time wherein I saw the same sights Rui did. Although I shan’t share the full context of it here, for that is another story on its own, I can say when it was. It was not even that long ago, back in middle school where he and I met on the rooftop.
Hah.
Rooftops, huh?
I’m sorry. I’m getting distracted.
Allusions to other important events in my life aside, the brief time I shared with Rui on the school roof was a valuable one. A treasure amidst...well, non-treasure. The footnote to end all other footnotes. Though back then I had no real clear idea of my upperclassman’s genius. Perhaps I should have seen it though, considering how sloppy he looked. Geniuses can get away with those kinds of things. Looking disheveled, not well-kept together; and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. As long as they provided results matching a person of their caliber, then how much could society control them? We’re forced to respect them regardless, for they exist in leagues above us we never knew existed. So whether they looked like they just woke up or sat in weird positions while barefoot like L in Death Note, it didn’t matter. There was nothing we could do.
But regardless, he and I definitely looked over the school grounds together, seeing the same sights. And no difference in league or difference in height would ever change that. That’s what I remember.
It was simply, fact.
Solid and unmoving.
Like the most solid of rocks.
Though...
Even the most vivid of rocks can be affected by erosion, and wither away; muddling the recollection, and be misconstrued.
I realize that now.
Perhaps that’s the best way to describe what happened after that. Days passed idly by, and at some point, he couldn’t describe himself as a middle schooler anymore. But by that point I was already well aware of what Rui was capable of. It would turn out we chose the same high school to go to, but both of us...
We had already changed at that point; in that year we didn’t see each other.
Or maybe we were already changing from the very beginning.
All things come to an end, both good and bad.
So did our time on the rooftop together, ultimately.
It was not something I was sad about. There was nothing to lament. For something like that was, similarly, just the natural order of the world taking its course. The time I shared with Rui Kamishiro came to an end as fast as it suddenly began. So for now, all I can do is look back on it and recall it with fondness.
I’m just kidding.
I totally got you there, didn’t I?
It’s not like I never saw the guy again. I occasionally run into him at school or in the city.
How anticlimactic.
But not every story will have a meaningful ending.
Sometimes things will just end, as simple as that. With no resolution, no lesson learned. Now while this would be just the perfect timing to end this little prelude, to teach all of you some form of lesson regarding how unexpected life is or something, the irony had not reached its end. Perhaps my time with Rui was merely a precursor for what was to come.
Maybe just like sudden endings, things could begin just as suddenly.
Hm.
Should I have made that the point, instead? It would certainly match what I am about to tell you now.
When considering geniuses in my life, Rui would definitely be a fine pick among the people I have come to know over the years. Yes, it wasn’t wrong. But he wouldn’t be my first pick, for there was someone a bit more let’s say, in the forefront of my mind. A person undoubtedly like a genius. I came to know her around the time I got the invitation from a girl who would definitely be my first pick when asked for an enjoyer of cup ramen. That girl, Kanade, invited me to become the animator slash director of the music videos she required for the music group she was forming. That event could be a story in and of itself; one that I won’t tell now.
But I have the sense that it will be told one day.
Regardless, there was where I met her; that girl who was like a genius.
I only say like because...
Well, she surely wouldn’t know what I meant with that.
The irony began just as fast as it ended.
With that invitation being the cause of it all.
And while it would be certainly a little much to say the story of Mizuki Akiyama began then and there, I can say for certain that a chapter began at that very moment. The chapter of my life currently in the process of being written. The chapter of my life wherein I quite literally saw the world of the girl who was like a genius.
A girl named Mafuyu Asahina.
And now suddenly, without resolution, with no bells and whistles, over a thousand words in, this prologue, if you could call it that...
Comes to a swift and definite end.
---
And just as suddenly, things begin once more, like an ouroboros. Well, it’s not like that simile is wholly correct. Life definitely has an end to it, and perhaps it is for the better that we never delude ourselves into thinking that we can live forever. It’s not like we’re fictional characters or anything who never grow or age, like Satoshi from Pokémon.
Hm?
Why did that seem wrong somehow?
Either way, I never understood why obtaining eternal life is as popular as it is. Who would want to live forever? Especially considering, hypothetically, if you did somehow achieve it, there would be no way to turn it back either. The path to eternity was a one-way trip. Yeah, no, even if humanity did somehow create some elixir of immortality, then I would never partake. Besides, something like that sounds extremely fishy. There’s always a catch, like, what if the immortals could destroy one another, meaning that they were never truly immortal? Would it be like Baccano!? Would it?!
That’s probably enough references for now.
If we kept this up, then this ‘beginning’ would begin absolutely nothing.
And no way is Mizuki Akiyama a liar!
Absolutely not! Where’d you get the idea?
To prove it, why don’t we begin from the very beginning? I roused from sleep after a night spent hard at work for the next song for the music circle I was a part of, 25-ji, Nightcord de. As a child of the modern age, the first thing that I did went without saying. I simply checked my phone. A teenager in this day and age without a cell phone was as good as dead to the world. Though, at the same time. They say that anxiety and other bad mental stuff has been on the rise among teenagers in this day and age. It’s almost as if there’s some form of connection there.
But well, it wasn’t something for me of all people to figure out. Besides, simply blaming all of those unfortunate things on cell phones seems like a rather short-sighted and hasty answer given by your grandfather who is not so fond of those kids always on their phones.
Or grandmother, for that matter.
The clock on my phone displayed a totally perfectly normal to wake up at and did in-fact not display 13:08 in the afternoon. If you hear anything else, that’s just hearsay, rumors, comments made to sully my reputation!
Who am I even defending myself against? It’s not like my reputation is in a good position.
Anyway.
I woke up and checked my phone.
There wasn’t a rush to get out of bed. It was a day off from school. Though, it’s not like that made a huge difference. Whether it was just a regular school day, or a day off, seeing that on the clock would make anyone give up on any responsibilities they might have had. Absolutely everyone would, and I am in no way justifying my absences and tardiness at school.
Though.
Despite that.
I got up.
There were some matters for me to attend to that ‘morning’, even if they weren’t big enough to be considered responsibilities. Something that, even if I didn't do it, the world would undoubtedly keep spinning regardless. It was something as insignificant as that.
Very simply, I made plans to go on a trip to a few stations over.
There was a new outlet store that opened there, and I, being considered fashionably awake, definitely had to go check it out. Who knows? Maybe there was something workable there.
So that’s how my ‘morning’ shaped up to be.
I hope you weren’t expecting something else, like being rudely woken up by nosy family members and other such eventful familial moments that make you wish your family members were more alike mine or suddenly receiving a premonition of my unfulfilled destiny beckoning for me to come and seize it...
It was a perfectly standard, run-of-the-mill ‘morning’.
There were no encounters with family, and definitely no encounters with fate.
My parents were away, and destiny didn’t come knocking.
I leapt out of bed, did my morning rituals, ate some food, and set off as soon as I was able to.
And it’s when I closed the door behind me, was when this story really starts.
Sorry, I lied earlier.
Things will really begin now, I promise.
---
It was on my way to the station that I came across someone who I wasn’t expecting to see. Someone I saw often enough, sure, but it was still a surprise. A pleasant one? Perhaps. It was an encounter that certainly prevented this day from being merely written off as just another day in a series of many. Ahead of me on the pavement on the road to the station, she was walking, the girl I recognized as Mafuyu Asahina.
Don’t misunderstand, though. Don’t see this meeting as something like fate. It wasn’t. It was pure, unadulterated happenstance.
A coincidence tried and true.
Ah, but I was getting ahead of myself. It’s not like I actually ‘met’ her yet. I was still walking behind her, slowing my speed to keep pace with her so as not to overtake her but not slow enough for me to have to sprint forward if I did want to go up and have a chat.
The question is, of course, whether or not to do so.
Sure, she would probably prefer to not be bothered by anyone while busy with whatever she was doing. So, running up to her and dragging her into conversation would be unwarranted and potentially even annoying to her. Yes, a reasonable person with discretion would most likely acknowledge the presence of a friend or acquaintance in front of them but would not necessarily go out of their way to go up and speak to that friend slash acquaintance. It seems the conclusion, for all intents and purposes, was obvious.
I came to a standstill, and gently grinded the sole of my right shoe on the pavement, left foot forward.
Breathe-in.
And hit the ground running.
“Heya Mafuyu!~”
Did that sound too excited?
“Mizuki,” turning towards me, she spoke, when I had reached her side. Her tone was as flat as ever.
Was she annoyed already?
Sorry, Mafuyu!
But you have to understand this was the only way!
“How are you doing on this fine day?”
She took her time thinking about it, seemingly.
“I don’t know.”
Ah, was I really expecting anything else?
No matter!
“Thought so~, say, what are you up to?”
“Running an errand. Station.”
“Oh, what a coincidence! I’m going there too.”
“I see. Well, bye,” she said while turning away from me, not before ‘waving’ and getting ready to walk away.
It was such a minute wave that it would make you wonder whether or not it really was a wave. And in your confusion, you would only be able to bring out an awkward wave yourself, if you decide to even do so at all. It was similar to a wave from a stranger on the side of the street. Was it intended for you?
Wait.
That’s not what’s important here!
“Hey~!” I managed to regain her attention.
She simply turned back and stared inquisitively at me.
Oi...
Are you kidding?
This girl…
“We could, you know, go together?”
“Ah.”
How awkward.
But knowing who I was talking to, I was probably the only one that thought so.
Ah, forget about it! Forget about it.
Perhaps an introduction is in order?
Mafuyu Asahina. A second year high-schooler at Miyamasuzaka Girls’. Her defining visual trait (like my ribbons) has got to be the large ponytail she has flowing down in front of her shoulder.
But that...
Did that really describe her at all?
I mean in the first place considering what she’s currently going through, it would be a saving grace if there were any words that properly captured her. Everything else besides those words that don’t exist were just…
Just trivial details.
Perhaps I had to change my thinking.
Who was Mafuyu Asahina to me?
A precious friend.
What nonsense.
As if that described her properly.
But I didn’t have it in me to completely disregard such a description.
Then what else besides that?
Smart.
Mafuyu Asahina was a smart individual. No, that word was too childish, wasn’t it? ‘Intelligent’ sounds better.
Mafuyu Asahina is intelligent.
“Mizuki, what are you going to the station for?” she asked without looking in my direction.
Hmm.
“Try guessing!”
Maybe a little unfair.
She shifted her face towards me in response to my invitation. Seems she wasn’t expecting it. I suppose not giving a straight answer is a little rude from me, but what’s the harm in it? She then looked down and away, raising her hand to her mouth, head skewed ever so slightly, seemingly in thought. I didn’t say anything while she was thinking; there was no room for words. Her aura gave off a feeling that any hints given by me would not be appreciated and probably considered downright insulting. The two of us had come to a standstill, until she finally came up with an answer.
“My classmates mentioned some new store opening some stations over. I don’t remember exactly where, but are you going there?”
Woah.
She got that?
That’s sure to be twenty picarats.
“Correct! You really do know everything, don’t you, Mafuyu?”
Her eyes narrowed, before dismissing my words. “Of course I don’t know everything. I only know what I know.”
“I’m only kidding~”
Well, yeah.
Of course you wouldn’t know everything.
Of course you wouldn’t be a genius.
You’re just a high-schooler.
Both of us are.
None of us are main characters of some weird fantasy series where omnipotence can be achieved by high-schoolers. Not even if they’re honor students.
But just to be certain...
“Make sure to avoid cats, okay?”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“It’s in your horoscope.”
“I see.”
“By the way, your lucky item today is a pair of glasses.”
“Was the horoscope sponsored by an optician company?”
“I don’t know~ I wasn’t paying too much attention.”
“What did your horoscope say?”
“Pluck favors the bold!”
“Pluck? Not luck? Isn’t the proverb, ‘fortune favors the bold’ ?” she asked, puzzled.
“Nope! It definitely said pluck.”
“That doesn’t make much sense.”
“Well, whether it’s luck or pluck, it certainly has a certain edge to it doesn’t it?”
Mafuyu narrowed her eyes, but she didn’t say anything in the end. I feel like she’s doubting the credibility of the horoscope.
“I left my glasses at home.”
We’re back on that to–huh?
Mafuyu has glasses?
“You have a pair of glasses?! Seriously? I would kill to see you wearing them!”
“Why? They’re purely aesthetic. There’s no point. That’s why I don’t wear them.”
Always so pragmatic.
“It’s not about that! It’s about moe.”
“Moe? What’s that?”
She looked confused.
“Nevermind actually. Forget I asked that,” she looked at me with disinterested eyes.
How rude! I was just about to explain!
Hmph.
Ah well.
“Well, if you ever want to know, just ask.”
“I won’t.”
This girl...
If I was Ena, I would definitely be pissed off right now.
Mafuyu cleared her throat after we covered some distance in silence.
“I’ll try looking for those glasses when I get back home.”
See Ena? She cares more than you think. Though I wonder if the Mafuyu of a few months earlier would even say something like that. Then again, that Mafuyu would have probably walked away already at this point.
Hurray for the future.
Even a girl previously stagnant can grow with time.
They grow up so fast...
I’m so proud.
I pretended to whisk away a tear from my eye, only for Mafuyu to look at me with confusion in response. You’ll understand one day, Mafuyu. Like once you decide to take care of a plant or a pet.
Just make sure it isn’t a cat.
A rabbit felt more her style.
“Pyon-pyon?”
“What are you doing, Mizuki?”
“Uh…don’t worry about it?”
“I don’t understand.”
Well, some things don’t change overnight.
Wait...
Didn’t she mention once that she took care of underwater plants?
A caring and nurturing Mafuyu...
The thought kind of scared me. It didn’t fit her at all.
I shook my head; there was no point in envisioning things I would never see in this lifetime.
But despite everything I’ve said, it felt like whatever it was she took care of in the future...
It would probably have the best life it could ever ask for. After all, this is Mafuyu who we were talking about.
Isn’t it ironic? She has winter’s touch.
“If you could choose to take care of a plant, what would you choose?” I asked her out of nowhere.
“A venus flytrap,” she responded, after a brief silence.
...
Don’t those like hibernate or something!?
We continued talking on and off just like that as we were approaching the station. Mafuyu made sure that we kept walking despite the antics that— primarily I— caused.
“Mizuki, how long until your train?”
“We still have more than enough time~”
It was probably jumping the gun if I called this side of Mafuyu kindheartedness. For all I knew, maybe she just disliked not being punctual.
Or perhaps she just wanted me gone already~?
But whatever it was, it certainly was considerate of her.
You don’t mind it if I hold a positive opinion of you, right, Mafuyu?
Well, she probably wouldn’t understand my reasoning, even if I did explain myself in front of her.
That’s why...I don’t think of her as someone extraordinary.
As...
As a genius.
A person that understands everything is undoubtedly smarter than a person who just knows everything. That went without saying. That was...what separated genius from mere intellect. The line in the sand.
“Mafuyu, how would you define genius?”
“Someone who understands everything in their particular field?”
But she...
Even if she knew everything, regardless of everything else…
She didn’t understand anything at all.
And this might be prying just a little.
But how fair is it to call a girl who lost herself in her pursuit of academic and social validation a ‘genius’?
If anything,
I would hate that.
Something like that wasn’t the point.
That could never be the point.
Self-identity in exchange for genius?
Nonsense.
Maybe even downright insulting.
I almost wanted to ask her if people called her that at school or anywhere else.
But looking at her profile...
Looking into the empty eyes that I swore looked less empty as the days went by...
I didn’t have it in me.
I didn’t want to remind her of anything.
That’s why, she was only like a genius.
Not quite the same.
It would never get there.
Asymptotic.
That was when we encountered a small child, crying.
Undoubtedly, a lost child.
And before I could even react, Mafuyu had already walked up to her in an effort to calm the child down.
Seeing her back turned towards me, as she crouched down to be on the same eye-level as the young girl, made me realize something.
Helping a lost child was the normal thing to do.
‘Normal’.
‘Genius’.
Mutually exclusive, no?
Genius meant being beyond normal.
Normal meant not being a genius.
Geniuses were allowed to do whatever they wanted, walk over the world and crush everything beneath their feet.
The world spun for them.
Because they weren’t normal.
Because they possessed genius.
I’m sorry Mafuyu, for not calling you a genius.
No, that’s not right, is it?
Because you don’t do what you want.
Because you probably don’t know what you want.
If anything, you’re the most ‘normal’ out of all of us.
Only we know the truth.
You wake up normally, go to school normally, you go to your club normally, you go home normally, your ‘normal’ voice, your ‘normal’ attitude.
So normal, that you go beyond normalcy.
A genius...
...at being normal.
But being a genius at not being a genius, can that still be called genius?
If a fake, in its desperate attempt to be the real thing, is more real than the real thing…
Then, Mafuyu, are you normal, or are you not normal?
Then, Mafuyu, are you a genius, or are you like a genius?
Then, Mafuyu, how do you see this world?
That’s what I wanted to ask her, but I knew better than to pose the question, as I joined the two lost children in front of me.
---
The epilogue, or maybe, the punchline of this story.
I woke up the following morning with this weird sensation that compelled me to go to school that very same morning. It was a strange feeling that I seldomly found within me. And it was even more unusual if it was stronger than my desire to simply fall back asleep again. Call me a lost cause if you will.
This time I’ll allow it, so have fun okay?
But you know it’s not like my academic situation is totally worthless. My parents and teachers might get on my case for attendance, but never and I do mean never is it for my actual performance.
A glass half full?
Well humans are mostly water.
I prepared my uniform, dunked the necessary books in my bag and went on my way not even half an hour later. Being late now felt like a waste. Almost as if I half-assed my own decisions.
But Mizuki is serious today okay~?
Believe in me.
Well, I don’t mind if you don’t.
We live and die alone, after all.
Except maybe twins.
School is...not my favorite place on earth. Though it’s not like it's completely the worst. There are some good people there amongst the crowds of nobodies who will certainly never be remembered. Those nobodies who may as well not even have faces. Ah, but there was no point in sparing any of them a thought. I’d much rather focus on the people I do care about, those genuine enough to actually mean what they say to me, and aren’t hiding behind half-hearted half-truths meant to deceive me.
Hypocritical? What are you talking about?
One of those people has got to be An Shiraishi, my classmate. She’s a blast to hang out with! And I usually did when I was at school.
“Mizuki? Did you end up going to that store yet?” the girl with literal stars in her hair asked me during lunch.
“Ah, I did! Yesterday in fact.”
“Was it any good? Kohane and I were planning on going there soon.”
Ah, the partner.
The image of a young girl wearing a cap came to me.
“It was, I bet you two would have a lot of fun!”
“I see!” An frowned a little, “Say, wanna maybe come along? The three of us?”
Ah...
I don’t feel like third wheeling...
“Nah, I already went there. Maybe some other time?”
“Riiiight, well no biggie.”
Sorry, An~
“Ah, but I gotta say, Toya is a real piece of work,” she said while slumping over the desk in a manner befitting a cartoon character, sighing.
Toya-kun?
“Now what makes you say that?”
“Oh, it’s nothing big. Just, yesterday during practice he pulled off some stuff that I’ve never seen–er, heard him do before,” she said with a sigh. “He’s a real genius when it comes to music.”
“A genius you say...”
“I mean, I guess it makes sense considering his family background and all. Add that on top of his academics and that’s gotta count for something, right?”
“Count for genius?”
“Yep. Genius.”
“His family members are like famous musicians, right?” I asked, my memory failing me.
“Yeah his dad and brothers.”
Musicians.
How could I have forgotten? It goes without saying, but those definitely got remembered too. They probably should have been the first thing that came to mind. It’s like defying death, somehow. But in a sense, being remembered just simply allowed for that. Defying the natural order of the world, what a genius thing to do. Great musicians and their works were immortal. Even now, they walk upon this world from their graves.
Then would that make Mafuyu someone truly extraordinary after all?
Not even necessarily as a member of Niigo, there was also her brief time as OWN…
Toya-kun, Rui, Mafuyu and even Kanade and Ena for that matter... No, not just them. Even the person in front of me, my sister, and even more people I must be forgetting right now...
I’m surrounded by geniuses.
The main characters of the world.
But if all of them were geniuses...
What did that make me?
How did Mizuki Akiyama see the world?
Well, it’d probably be empty; just like that place.
But.
But well.
It wouldn’t suit me. I don’t like sticking out, after all.
Thankfully my hair wasn’t naturally two-toned.
“Will you be staying for the afternoon classes?” An snapped me out of my thoughts.
“Huh?”
What a topic shift.
This may seem ever so slightly disingenuous of me considering the little spiel about how much I wanted to go to school...
“I’ll probably go after lunch ends.”
Can you blame me? The Japanese educational system is a mess and the societal pressure on all of us is just way too much!
“I’ll send you my notes then!”
God bless her soul.
She’s the only real one in my class. If only I had a way to show my appreciation.
But well, that’s for some other time.
“Are you going soon then?” she asked as she put a straw in her juice box.
“Yeah.”
“You should get going soon then, before the teachers find you.”
“Are you sure you should be telling me that as a member of the disciplinary committee?”
“Thankfully I’m just telling you as a friend~”
A friend, huh.
“I’ll take your advice then,” I said as I rose up from my seat.
An silently waved at me, as she was busy emptying her box of juice.
Of course, I waved back at her. “See you, An~”
I didn’t leave immediately.
For some reason, I felt like going up to the roof.
Maybe it was some lingering sentimentality, but let’s not focus on the details.
Look too closely and you might see things you don’t want to see.
They say to never meet your heroes, after all.
But I met him there.
“Oh what’s this? How serendipitous for us to meet today,” Rui Kamishiro said, tilting his neck in an attempt to look at me as I stepped out on the rooftop behind him. He was crouching over something.
“Is it?”
“Well, it is not common for you to be around here, especially not at this time.”
“Is that so?” I deflected the answer.
Rui...
He seemed to be working on something. Another invention of his?
“Say, what are you up to?”
“I’m glad you asked! Perfect timing too. I wanted to make a balloon shaped drone, so I modeled it after the one we saw back in middle school. What do you think?”
...
Huh?
Balloon?
What balloon?
“Were we on the rooftop?”
“Correct, I mean, where else could we have been?”
When was there…a balloon?
Did I...not see it?
Did he see something I didn’t?
Did we…
I shook my head.
I didn’t even need to be a Nonsense User to figure out what it meant.
He really was a genius.
“Mizuki?”
“Huh? I just don’t remember it being this color!”
Or remember it entirely.
He nodded, and refocused his attention to his new creation.
I felt like laughing, but all I could get out was a wry smile.
Sorry.
It seems I was mistaken.
The distance between me and all of them was far too large for their genius to mean anything for me.
And all I could do was watch his back from afar, as he continued to tinker on his new drone.