This has been written before chapter 128, so it has absolutely nothing to do with it
It's already six o' clock. I have plenty to do and yet I am stuck in the classroom today.
I see through the window a person coming here. It's her, isn't it? I walk to the door and open it for her. We exchange our greetings and I let her seat on the chair in front of me.
Shiota Hiromi is looking me in the eyes. I can hear every single breath of her and see every detail of her face. It's a pale oval with strict black eyes in the centre and a little nose. It's very much like Nagisa-kun's except for the colours.
"So, Shiota-san, how can I help you?" I ask.
She seems hesitant Almost a little embarassed. I wonder what is it. She is the one who asked for a meeting. I hope it's not about having Nagisa-kun return to the main building again.
"You have a very different aptitude this time, Karasuma-sensei" she says. Her eyes aren't meeting mine anymore.
I lift an eyebrow to hide my frustration and feel a little pulse behind my forehead. The last time she spoke with the target.
"Well, you too" I say. And that's true according to what I heard.
"The point is- she says- that after my last visit I and Nagisa have started talking a little bit more. He tells me about his friends here and there is one of his classmates I'm worried with" Her fingers are moving on the desk frantically. "So I came here hoping you could tell me a little bit about this person" she is looking me in the eyes again. "This person is a girl called Kayano Kaede" she spills out.
I stay silent. Kayano-san. Right. That's a problem.
"The point is- she continues- that I tried to look around and there is nothing about her. Nothing at all. She is not among the students of Kunogigaoka. There are no pictures of her anywhere. I looked for her on every social network I could think of. There is a profile with her name, but no photos at all even there. So- she breaths deeply- what's this about?"
How should I explain this to her?
I open a desk's drawer. Great. Today's homework is still here. The target corrected it and is going to give it back to the students tomorrow. I guess it's best to show her. I take the papers, find Kayano-san's and give them to her.
She accepts it with an interrogative look.
"It's ok, you can read it" I say.
The woman looks at them and starts reading them slowly. She finishes the first assignment (a math exercise, if I'm not wrong) and passes to the second one. She stops. I know why. The calligraphy on this paper doesn't match with the first one's. She stays silent and keeps reading, but when she arrives at the third paper she turns completely white. Again I know why. The one on the paper is Nagisa's writing.
She gives me back the papers. "What does it mean?" she asks.
"What you think" I answer. She doesn't talk. I sigh. "The girl named Kayano Kaede doesn't exist- I finally say -She has been created by the other students: Actually I think Nagisa-kun was the one to first imagine her"
The woman doesn't speak. She just tightens her lips making them almost disappear. "And why are all the students acting as if she was...real?"
I folds my arms. 'Cause someone encouraged them to do so. "I asked them to do so- I reply- You know, when I came here the atmosphere was bad and Nagisa-kun was acting as if his "friend" was real. So I thought that having an imaginary student may help the class to become more united and started treating Kayano Kaede as a true person" I conclude. How was that target? Did I explain your reasoning correctly?
"But, isn't this dangerous?- Shiota-san asks me while standing up. She is almost shouting - This will just make Nagisa and the others fall into their delusions even more, right?"
I don't answer immediately. "I understand what you're saying, but having an imaginary friend isn't such a rare occurrence. The students know she isn't real even if she seems so to them- I say- It's just a game among us"
"A game?- she is trembling- And tell me, is Nagisa too thinking of it as a game? Because he talks about her in a very realistic way"
That's a good question. A one I often ask myself. Still, I answer that he deep down probably knows the truth and that his way of talking of her may just be a way of seeking more attention. So I advice her to spend more time with him. A time that must not be stressful, but relaxing and enjoyable.
When she leaves she is still pretty shaken.
I hear the door opening and find the yellow octopus next to me with his cheek pressing on mine. The physical contact is unnerving.
"She seems as if she is putting on much more effort, right? She is trying to be a better mother" he comments.
I move him away. "Her doubts are understandable" I say.
"Yes, but what you said is certainly true. Kayano-san isn't the product of a mad mind, but a common phenomenon" he says holding his tentacles.
I'm not sure. It's true that it's common and it is not a problem per se. Still, having a group of people acting that way. Wouldn't it leave them with a strange after-taste? Nagisa-kun in particular.
I am not sure about the boy's relationship with this "phenomenon". "Are you sure Nagisa-kun doesn't believe she is real?" I spit it out.
The target is looking at me with that emoticon face of his and a giant smile. "I think it's plausible. What you said to Shiota-san is the same I would have said". Then he turns as meaning he won't talk anymore about it.
A second after that he is gone. I let myself lye against the back of the chair.
Kayano Kaede... The first times interacting with "her" was almost as hard as to interact with the target. For sure I am not an imaginative person. I also tried to avoid it, but the students would always protest. When I came they were seeing it as a joke.
Every time there is a duty they don't want to do they say it's Kayano's, but they also say it's Kayano whenever they want to act stupidly or do some crazy big project. Like the giant pudding. I still can't believe they actually managed to do that. Hara-san and Muramatsu-kun both studied a way to develop a great flavour, Yoshida-kun and Okuda-san took care of the technical and scientific parts and Yada-san went to ask the mayonnaise factory to lend the class the machines.
Often when they are facing a hardship they act as if Kayano is with them. They imagine "her" as a support member. As the support member.
I am not blind and I can say "her" presence affected the class in a good way. Okuda-san was able to open up with the others by interacting with "her" and I remember when Kanzaki-san told me about her being kidnapped. Imagining to be together with Kayano helped her to stay calm and to fight the shock. At one point one of those delinquents almost strangled her and in her mind she kept saying to herself This is happening to Kayano, not to me.
They also use Kayano to escape some frustrations. Like Okano-san and her physical complexes.
All in all it's clear that their affection for "her" grew up. I look at the papers. After all they are taking the burden to do more homework just to keep "her" alive.
"She will be a breeze- the target told me when I firstly questioned him about the matter- She will become like a glue which keeps the class together"
A breeze, mmm? That's right. At this point I can almost see her sitting in class or doing her exercises during P.E. with the others. I see her in every angle of the classroom chatting with her classmates or making strange funny faces. She has truly become one of the students. I just hope that one day just like a breeze she disappears leaving great memories and no bitter aftertaste.
This is about Kayano's character: I don't dislike her, but she is one of the students who appears the most and at the same time she is among the ones who have done less in the manga.
We don't know her backstory and she doesn't have a talent like Nagisa's which is important for the plot. At least not yet. She only had one chapter like many of her classmates who appear far less than her.
So I just tried to explain with this story why she appears so much in the story despite not having an active role. I imagined she isn't a real person, but something like an imaginary friend and tried to describe the interaction of the class with her and how they use her to grow. That's all. The text gives some examples of important Kayano's moments in the story and how I reinterpreted them. Of course it's a simple joke. I don't think that this is the real origin behind Kayano's character and hope she will have some kind of development in the manga.