I was rushing to my class when I collided with a man who seemed to be one of the lecturers in my university. I did not recognize him but due to his good looks, I remembered him immediately. He wore grey formal jacket where his tag hang on his chest. His tag read ‘Hijikata Toshizo’. Unfortunately, I did not get a glimpse of the department he was working in. When we collided, one of his books dropped and he was too busy to even notice it that he went away. The book had a whale on the cover and there was no title on it. It was rather thick as it was a sort of documentation about a certain whale. Oh no, I am not supposed to be reading this book! I need to rush to my Philosophy class! I got on my feet and started running, bringing the book along. Piercing waves of students, I fought my way to my class which was on the highest floor of the building. The lift was packed, thus, making it unreliable. I had no choice but to run up the emergency stairs from third floor to the eighth floor.
When I finally reached the entrance to the class, I caught my breath and pushed the door as I entered. To my surprise, it was not our usual philosophy lecturer who stood by the podium. It was Kondo Isami, our sociology lecturer instead. “Ah, come in! Don’t worry, you are not late.” He said with a smile as he beckoned me to take a seat. “Y-yes, sir.” I hastily went to random empty seat which was in the front row. “What is going on?” I whispered a girl sitting beside me. “No idea. Our class was supposed to start twenty minutes ago but Kondo-sensei entered and started chatting with us.” She whispered back. “Uh… I know you are all wondering why you are here when your newly transferred lecturer is not here.” Kondo coughed and took our attention. What he said was a surprise to all of us because we were not informed about getting new lecturer. It was either purposely not informed because if we knew our former philosophy lecturer was leaving the university, we would skip the class in unison, or it was too sudden that the campus had no time to inform us. “Eh? Are you not informed?” Kondo seemed baffled. “A-ah, it must have been too sudden. Let me take this chance to announce. Ahem. You will be getting new lecturer who just transferred yesterday. He is an old friend of mine and he—” That moment, someone barged into the classroom. It was that man I collided into earlier; Hijikata Toshizo. He was breathless, but he walked his way to the podium, saying, “What are you doing here? You are supposed to have an off-day today.” “W-well, I expected that you would run late today, and I don’t want you to come to an empty class due to miscommunication.” Kondo explained. His hands went its way as if naturally to fix Hijikata’s neck tie which had flown to his shoulder from all the running. “I’m here now, aren’t I? You can go back to the faculty office and score the piling journals from your students.” Hijikata who had finally calmed down, raked his hair backwards with his fingers. “Are you sure?” Kondo seemed concerned. “Yes.” Hijikata made a small smile and nodded. “See you next week, guys!” Kondo waved his hand at us as he walked to the exit. He was your typical kind uncle who would treat you to anything you wanted. It was oddly heart-warming to see him. It was even odder to see that Hijikata. There was an unexplained feeling running within my chest. Hijikata sighed as he scanned the room. “As Kondo-sensei must have explained, I am your new Philosophy lecturer. I apologize for being late as I got into traffic.” He briefly introduced himself. The whole class gave him nothing but stare. “We have wasted enough time so, let’s review your previous material.” He said, and majority of the students scrunched their faces. I reached into my bag to retrieve my notebook and my pen. I set them on my desk and waited for further instructions. As I watched the new lecturer, I saw that his calm expression had changed slightly when he looked into his small suitcase. He must have noticed that the whale book was gone. I glanced at the book peeking from my bag and returned my eyes to him. Hijikata returned to his calm state and flipped pages of our curriculum book. “Anyone can tell me about Noble Lie?” He skimmed around the class, probably memorizing faces. His black eyes met mine and his expression turned stiff for unknown reason. “Yes.” Feeling awkward due to his stare, I raised my hand to answer his question instead. There was a short silence before he nodded, letting me answer. “Noble Lie originated from Plato. Noble lie is a lie that is made for the better of citizens which could be social harmony or certain agenda.” I answered and was immediately dismissed. He did not affirm my answer or correct it, he just re-explained the whole thing and continued with the materials. He acted as if nothing was wrong, although from time to time he would look at me sadly. I pretended to not notice it. Why is he looking at me that way? Have we met before? I wondered as I picked the whale book out and flipped the front page. It was about a certain whale which let out 52 hertz sound and other whales could not hear its cries that it would stay lonely the whole of its life. *** An hour and a half had passed, and the class ended. Students started talking about our new lecturer, especially the girls. It was obvious that they would notice him for his good looks and how he suited the slick-back hairstyle. With the whale book in my arms, I walked towards the desk next to the podium where Hijikata was. He looked at me reflexively which I found rather odd. He looked at me with the same surprised expression. “Sayo…” He muttered and immediately covered his mouth with his hand. Perhaps I was right that we had met somewhere otherwise, there was no way he would know my name. “Why do you know my name, sir?” I asked. In such situation, it was normal for someone to feel insecure but for unknown reason, there was pinch in my chest and I felt blue suddenly. Hijikata sighed as he avoided my gaze. “What do you think about Noble Lie?” He asked. “Although it is for the goodness of people, a lie remains a lie. I prefer… the truth no matter how harsh it could be.” My eyes were transfixed on his eyes although he refused to look at me. He seemed uncertain and there were tears in his eyes. He did not seem like the type of man to easily shed tears, but he was the verge of it. “You used to say the same thing, yet you don’t remember a thing, huh?” After saying so, he finally looked at me with a sorrowful smile. His expression hurt me. I must have forgotten something important, but I was certain I had never met him. What is this feeling? “Have we met before?” The moment I questioned so, Hijikata’s expression returned to the lecturer he was; calm and almost cold. “I am not sure. Why?” He responded. It was as if he had changed into someone else or perhaps he was trying to divert the topic. My heart told me he was lying. “It feels that way.” I was not sure if I was making sense, but I followed my instincts. “You have known Kondo-sensei for a long time too.” “Well, we were childhood friends. It is given that we are close.” He gulped the lump in his throat; nervous. It was as if he was lying but at the same time he wasn’t. There was something he knew or remembered but he wouldn’t speak of it. “Let me guess, you picked my book up? The one with whale on the cover.” He said as he began to clear up his desk, putting his books and papers into his suitcase. “Y-yes.” I reached my hand out to return the book. “You are like this whale.” I blurted unintentionally. “Hm? Why do you think so?” He quickly took the book and inserted it into his suitcase. He stood up from his seat and checked if his clothing was neat. His movements were deliberately quickened. He seemed eager to flee. “You seem lonely.” Upon my words, Hijikata stopped whatever he was doing. He looked at me and scoffed. “It is the price of being the one who remembers, Osayo.” He said in a sort of old accent and left me alone in the classroom. Osayo. I had no idea what was wrong, and I was clueless why my tears would flow when he called my name. It felt nostalgic and dear as if we had known each other for a long time.
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AuthorI am an amateur author and this is my web where i will spread my stories in the vast world called internet. Nice to meet you everyone! Archives
January 2018
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