Micchi (After) - I’ll at Least Teach You How to Put On Your Shoes
We have a new student coming in today.
He must have relocated from a city to avoid Kegai attacks, and this place was the best he could afford. That's understandable, since it was also the case for me. Not even Tokyo is safe, after all; I[1] have; I think I won't be against making friends with him.
As I sit around and ponder, Sawada[2] keeps bringing in more and more information. I wonder where he's been getting his news from.
According to him, the transfer student[3] came from space.
"What a big fat lie," I think to myself, but it turns out to be true. He's lived all his on an international space station called Hope, apparently.
Now I'm a little interested in him. On the outside, though, I hide my interest by pretending to look bored as I read a book.
The Hope... It was called a space station, but that was just a ruse. It was functionally a spaceship, and it was intended to be one of the final options to get humanity away from the Kegai.
Yeah, that's what my father told me back when he was still alive. He also said that the funds spent on that project could have been used to help so many victims of Kegai attacks here on Earth instead.
That means the people on board must have been the elite of the elite.
Hmm... I see. So that's how it is, huh?
I thought I wouldn't mind him, seeing that he's been through a hard time, but I know there are no decent people among the elite class. I've seen the lows my father's so-called friends were willing to sink to.
In the end, I decide to not give the new guy any attention.
And speaking of which... Here he comes.
He's much more inconsiderate[4] than I expected.
I'm pretending to read a book right now, but he doesn't seem to care. Now that's what I call self-centered[5].
And then, contrary to all my expectations, he turns out to be terribly unreliable.
He appears to be out of breath just from walking up the stairs to this classroom on the second floor, and his arms are somehow thinner than mine.
Moreover, he has a tendency to drop things.
He would often let go of his pencil without putting it down, causing it to fall to the floor and roll toward me.
Why? Is he that much of a goofball?
As the thought crosses my mind, I inadvertently stare at him. Our eyes meet. He seems... very embarrassed.
What in the world is wrong with him?
"You know, maybe you should try to appear more confident. You're not... as imposing as I expected," I blurt out my honest opinions. Damn it.
"Why would you think I'd be imposing? And why would I pretend I'm more confident than I actually am?" He asks, genuinely wanting answers. Ahh, and I was planning to ignore him, too... Michiko, you idiot...
"Never mind. It's nothing."
"Doesn't seem like nothing to me," he says, looking as serious as he always is, "Even the smallest hole can decrease a room's airtightness, you know."
"Why bring up airtightness now? We're in Japan, not out in space."
"I know, but..."
The face he's making is... probably what people would make when they chew a bitter-tasting bug. The transfer student -- Taichiro-kun -- proceeds to change his expression almost immediately. He seems to have a high level of control over his emotions. Is this something he learned in space?
"I meant to say that it's not good to overlook even the small things. You don't have a saying like that here?"
"Big problems start small."
"Yeah, that's it."
"There are also sayings for the reverse, though -- don't put the trivial ahead of the important, losing a battle but winning the war, and don't see the wood for the trees."
Most people would lose their temper by now, but Taichiro-kun only nods along.
"That's a lot. It's pretty cool how much the Japanese people like their idiomatic expressions."
"Taichiro-kun, you're also Japanese, you know."
"Yeah, that's what I was told," Taichiro-kun says with a straight face.
What a strange guy.
I can't help but giggle. I was wrong to lump him in with the elites.
I still think he's a goofball though.
"Uh... okay. Are you having trouble with anything? I could help you out, at least for a bit."
"It feels like I have to run an obstacle course to get anywhere. Is there anything I can do about that?"
"What do you mean?"
"There's too much... stuff... that gets in my way when I move. Feels like I waste too much time putting on and taking off my shoes, too."
"Uh-huh...?"
I have absolutely no idea what he's talking about. Wait, actually, the part about shoes is a bit understandable. In some countries, people keep their shoes on while indoors and only take them off before going to bed. But what'd he mean when by "stuff that gets in his way when he moves"?
"So, asking out of curiosity... how did you manage in space?"
"Followed the law of inertia."
So he remained in motion unless interrupted because of the lack of friction in outer space. Makes sense.
"Taichiro-kun, Earth has gravity, so it's only natural that we think about the use of space differently. And about the shoes... soil and sand stick to them when you go outside, so in Japan, you mustn't wear them while indoors."
"Yeah, I already know why things are this way[6] -- so now I want to know how I can deal with it. I'm the only one who thinks everything's an obstacle course, and I want to fix that."
I wonder what this obstacle course he keeps talking about actually represents.
In the end, I decide to try walking him home.
...And I can't help but heave a sigh almost immediately. He's not paying attention to his feet at all; his eyes are focused on a point far ahead. This must be how he's lived up in space.
Well, down here, doing that makes him trip a lot.
And he was right about wasting time putting on shoes[7]; he takes forever. He can't seem to do it standing up, either.
"Hmm... Clumsy type, huh?"
"I could manage myself just fine back in space, you know."
"Sure, but you're on Earth now, so..." I trail off as I see him turn super depressed.
Why... why do I feel like... I'm awakening to a new fetish?[8]
"...Look, I'll at least teach you how to put on your shoes."
"Thanks. I appreciate it."
After getting to talk with him, I realize that what is normal for one person might not be so for another. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?
In the end, I decide to consider it good.
===
Chapter 15 Character Profiles
↩[1] Micchi (Michiko Hiume)
A bookworm.
She would have been content just to be able to read in peace and quiet, but the library is closed due to the Kegai and other issues.
She has developed an interest in Nini when he arrived in town.
First-person pronoun used: Watashi
↩[2] Saru (Kunihiko Sawada)
Member of the baseball club. Quite good at looking after others.
When he was in elementary school, he was called "Saru" or "Saruta" because of his tree-climbing skills. Sometimes he is still called by those nicknames.
He is not keen on studying because he wants to find a job to ease the burdens of his widowed mother.
↩[3] Nini (Novus Nemo/Taichiro Oyama)
The game's protagonist.
Born on the Hope International Space Station as Novus Nemo, and raised outside of the Japanese linguistic sphere despite his ancestry.
Due to the unique location of his birth, some people treat him as effectively an alien.
His nickname, "Nini," is short for "nobody" or "new" in the International Space Station's standard language.
Being Teruko's grandson, he goes by Taichiro Oyama, his Japanese name, when he comes down to Earth. No records of his father and grandfather exist in Japan.
First-person pronoun used: Boku
===
Chapter 15 Footnotes
↩[4] "Inconsiderate"
From the viewpoint of the Karel System's objects -- that is, the other characters -- the player's actions are an anomaly, like a machine repeating the same actions over and over.
↩[5] "Now that's what I call self-centered"
Considering that he's being controlled by the player, it's only natural that he seems this way.
↩[6] "I already know why things are this way"
An example of how difficult it is to give advice to people in trouble.
The person giving advice may believe that if they don't know what's causing the problem, they wouldn't understand how to solve it, but that message may be difficult to get through to the person who just needs help.
↩[7] "Wasting time putting on shoes"
Japanese shoes are designed to be easy to take off, and their size numbers differ from those of other countries.
↩[8] "Awakening to a new fetish"
Something akin to motherly instinct.
Micchi's true wishes are to not be considered pitiful, and to be kind to others.
===
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