Yay! Haven't done an oneshot in a while (Full Cycle went horribly, horribly long), and they're so fun; never have to worry about updating! Whew, and back to my old style of writing. It's less dreary than the one I used with Full Cycle, I think.
---Park Bench---
"…and tomorrow you'll be giving a lecture at the Okinawa center."
"Yes."
"Then afterwards, I want you to continue your research on the Meissner effect. The university is expecting quite a bit of progress from you."
"Yes."
"And don't neglect your algebra; the tutor should be coming tomorrow night."
"Yes."
"If all goes well, then that leaves the following day free for the physics, biology, and language tutors."
"Yes."
"Finish the writings tonight and we'll have the medicinal tutor look over it when he comes."
"Yes."
"The papers by Dr. Honjou, I hope for you to finish reading them tonight as well."
"Yes."
"Well, what is it? You want to ask me something?"
"…can I go to the park today?"
"What…? With such a tight schedule…well…I suppose it'd be alright. Your mother and I will be attending a meeting tonight, so don't expect us home until late. Your dinner will be prepared for you, just ask the cooks."
"Yes."
"Well then, I'll speak with you later, Eisuke."
"Yes."
Harukawa Eisuke was not a happy individual. Harukawa Eisuke was not an unhappy individual. He was simply constantly drifting in the middle ground, aloof and apathetic about his surrounding world. Twelve years in, he was already jaded of life. His parents probably had something to with it.
He was a genius, everyone acknowledge that little detail. Ever since age 3, his parents would fill his day with tutors from many different fields to spread his range of knowledge. Remarkably, he kept up and by 8 or 9 actually began to surpass some of his tutors (who weren't just your normal run-in-the-home tutors, by the way; some were actually scientist with papers in high regard). Very scary. Simultaneously, his parents arranged for him to do his own research and to have his findings published. A few became highly acclaimed. Even scarier. By age 10, he was giving lectures. With the double draw of a good lecture and the novelty of such a young boy giving it, the halls and colleges he gave them in were often packed. Very, very scary.
Or at least that was the impression he gave to most other people. Adults were unnerved by a child speaking more intelligently, and more importantly, incomprehensibly, to them. Is this kid even human? They would wonder to themselves, How does he know this stuff? I don't know this stuff, and I'm (insert some age of position here)! It made them feel inferior, and adults do hate to feel inferior to someone about half their size and most likely a fraction of their age. So adults weren't about to befriend him so easily. True, they'd admire his works and would be happy to work on a project with him, but that's it. Strictly work related acquaintanceships. They'd be equally happy to see him fail. Failing is natural for humans, and would making him seem less godly, and thus, approachable. That and it felt nice just to see someone that good fail at something. As for other children, they were afraid of him. Not only of his bizarrely advanced brain, but also of his appearance. He was a gloomy looking child and looked gloomier with each passing year. Not to mention whenever he rolled his eyes, the pupils would disappear and coupled with a smirk, it would give him the appearance of an evil villain for a TV show. It wasn't entirely the other children's fault either, he was filled with pride. Even to many other geniuses, he was a genius. A genius of geniuses, proven by the doctorates he had, mounted (by his parents) on the wall. Really now, how many twelve year olds do you know with doctorates? With that in mind, I'm certain you don't find it strange that he looked down upon the other children, who to him, were indeed quite brainless. As for his parents, well, they basked in the fame brought by their child. Not that they didn't love him, certainly they did, but…well…it just didn't prevent them stripping him of a childhood. All in all, it's rather impossible to say that he had a very…loving, affectionate childhood. However, it would still be a lie to say he hated his parents. He loved them, deep, deep down, somewhere in his mostly glum heart. Just don't ask where.
In his twelve years, he had accomplished a lot, yet at the same time, very little.
Whenever he had some free time, which was rare, he would walk to the nearby park and sit on a bench. That's it; sit and watch. He liked to sit on park benches. He liked to sit on them and catch glimpses of a life he thought he could never have.
There'd be children playing with their parents. That was definitely impossible; his parents never even came with him to the park. There'd be children playing with other children. Well, he didn't really want to play with them anyways. They were just dull twits who waved around with their petty intellects, and who would want to play with them? He didn't…well, maybe a little. Besides, even if he wanted to, they wouldn't. His ideas must've been too complex for them, yes, that's it. There'd be children playing with their siblings. His parents didn't want any more children. There'd be children playing with their pets. He really wanted a pet. An actual pet, not some lab animal that could possible die on him randomly due to some effects of an experiment, just when he was starting to grow attached to it. A dog or something he could play around with would be optimal, but truthfully, he would've grateful for a fish. Sure, there were animals like fishes at his home, but they were taken care of by the hired folk since he was always too 'busy' with something or the other, and they couldn't be counted as his own pet. He could've used one; a pet would've made him feel less lonely…not that he was lonely.
"Hey, boy, if you want to go over and play so badly, why don't you?"
"Wha?" He blinked and turned towards the voice. It was a young girl, perhaps 5 or 6, with a pile of papers on her lap and a pencil tucked in her ear. She had seated herself on the bench by him.
"I asked why you don't just go over since you want to so badly."
"I don't."
"Yes you do, I can tell by that wistful look in yer eye."
"…I had a wistful look in my eye?"
"Yup, your face is like an open book."
"Thanks…"
"If you don't mind, how about an answer to that question, eh?"
"Ah, well, I've tried before; it never worked out too well."
"How many times?"
"…three, maybe four."
"Go for a fifth then."
"No thank you."
"If you really want to, and I know you do, then you ought to. You have to try for the things you want, you know."
"…"
In the silence, the girl turned to her papers and pulled the pencil from her ear. She bent lower and began to write.
"…is that math?"
"Yup. Got it from my preschool."
"They give you that amount in preschool?" Huh, maybe his tutors weren't moving at as fast a pace as he had thought.
"Yup, for the month."
"And you're…"
"Doing it all right now. I like doing everything at once. It leaves the rest of the month open for my other stuff."
"It must take a long time."
"Not really, it's just addition and subtraction," the girl flipped to another page, "I can go through it pretty fast."
Addition and subtraction; Eisuke couldn't remember the last time he had done problems like them. "Hmm, maybe preschools should work on more advanced material if their students find it this easy."
The girl giggled. "For a genius, you sure are an idiot on some respects."
Eisuke bristled. He, an idiot? "I am not," he replied tartly.
"But you are, even with all your doctorates and published papers. I am too, although in different respects."
"Wait, how do you know…"
"About your long list of accomplishments? Well you're in the science and math journals that my dad reads. I read them sometimes, and the ones I've read have you in them. You seem to be in them an awful lot. You're Eisuke Harukawa, right? The one who outgrew his old neurology tutor at age 8? And the one who's going to give a lecture at the Okinawa Center tomorrow?"
"Preschools really should give more advanced material."
The girl gave his an almost pitying look. "You really are clueless. Honestly, how many five year olds do you think read science journals?"
He blinked. "Oh…so not everyone does?"
"Alright, maybe this is a better question; how many five year olds do you know read science journals?"
"You're the only five year old I know."
"That explains things. But didn't you say that you've tried to mingle with people of normal intelligence?"
"I'm not certain what level 'normal' is at. I assumed that I had just been associating with people who were dimmer than most."
"Gee, no wonder your attempts never worked out."
"Just what exactly is that supposed to mean?"
"No one likes to be treated as if they're stupid. They probably know that their brains don't match up to yours, and with the way you talk about 'em, well, it almost sounds like you're rubbing the fact in their faces, even if not intentionally."
So it was his fault?
"Don't worry, you're just out of practice dealing with people in everyday situations, that's all."
"Oh."
The girl continued to plow through her stack of papers and was about halfway finished.
"So, you're a genius too?"
"Well…it's not as flashy as yours, but I like to think that I am of above average intelligence."
"Then why are you still doing that level of work?"
"I go to a nice enough preschool, but it's not filled with geniuses. What did you expect, a packet filled with logarithms?"
"If it's that simple of a challenge for you, why do you go there?"
"Genius or not, I would like to enjoy my childhood, which is short enough as it is. I wanted to meet new people instead of being holed up at home all the time. Besides, as hard as it may be for you to believe, boy, just because they're not geniuses in the world's sense of the word does not mean that they're not geniuses at all. The things everyone's able to think up amazes me all the time."
"Like…?"
"Well, one of my friends has an entrance to a hidden world behind the couch in her living room. There, it rains flower petals, and hails candy. The lakes are made of infinite amounts of diamonds which turn liquid in your mouth. The beings that inhabit that world are furniture which can move and they like to eat books and pencils, which in that world, tastes like bread and fruit. They have enslaved the humans into becoming furniture for them and my friend is currently the hero, trying to set them free. I think she's battling the desk dragon today. Hope she doesn't get hurt by its splinter claws."
"That's insane. Who thinks about these things?"
"A lot of people do, including me, although I must say, I could never imagine a world that bizarre. I bet you used to think about these things to. Before we learn all about those laws of science, there were no rules to bind our minds to a set point, and the world always seems more like magic at those times. Or once you learn, you can still imagine those things, but they seem like nonsense. It's just not the same anymore once you can't believe it's real."
Eisuke chuckled. "Well, regardless, I doubt my parents would've allowed me to go to a normal school. They preferred to give me tutors, although I don't think they'll mind sending off to a good enough college."
"But aren't all those people twice your age?"
"I go for the learning, not the people."
"I'd rather go for both, so I think I'll wait until I'm their age."
"How did you convince your parents?"
"…my mom wasn't there to argue against it…"
"And your father?"
"Oh! Actually, he was against it, but then I said," the girl drew herself up and put on a serious face, "'Dad, I'm a kid first and I demand to be treated as such.'" She grinned, "He started laughing. He was pretty easy to convince since he said yes after that."
"Wonderful, all I have to do is say that to my parents and I'm sure they'll take me to a psychiatrist to check my head because they're confused about just exactly what put that mad idea in my head."
"So sardonic at twelve? When I'm twelve, I hope I'm still chipper."
"I'm sure you will be."
"Thank you, I bet putting on a face that made me look like an inflated chipmunk helped convinced my parents, though. I don't think you can look like an inflated chipmunk, your face is so bony and fatless."
"I eat fine, thank you."
"I'm sure you do, no parent with a kid like you would want to starve the kid." With a small flourish, the girl grinned and straightened out her papers, "There, all done."
"Don't you find that work dull? There's no challenge in it to keep you remotely interested."
"You don't think that this is all I have, do you? My dad may have let me go to a normal school, but that does not mean he isn't giving me a few tutors, though their nothing compared to yours, I'm sure. Especially since I'm not learning everything. I focus mainly on biology, I bet my dad's a bit disappointed, he wanted me to specialize in math, like him." She slid from the bench and gathered her papers. "Well, I better go. My dad's going to wonder where I am."
"Your dad let you go to the park alone, at five?"
"Oh, he's over there with a bunch of other people," she gestured to the small crowd on the opposite end of the park, "I just wander off sometimes because I get bored of listening to adults talk about all this serious stuff."
"Isn't that dangerous?"
"Yes, I told you I'm an idiot sometimes, didn't I? But, I keep a vigil eye out and stay in a place filled with other parents, children, and light."
"That makes it better somehow?"
"Better than walking down a dark alley alone."
"Uhh…what's your name anyways?"
"Ephemeral," she grinned at his confusion, "Transient." She laughed, "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll get it eventually, you are a genius, after all. Bye-bye, boy, it was fun talking to you."
"Bye." He waved back absently.
The girl stopped and turned. "You're a kid too, you know."
"...I know." With one last wave, the girl ran out of sight, towards wherever her father was.
That was probably the most successful, day-to-day sort of conversation he had ever had. He was almost sorry it ended. There was laughter coming from the other children in the park. He watched them.
He would go for a fifth after all. Maybe next time, he would convince his parents to come with him too.
And so the park bench became empty.
A/N: I haven't done something this light-hearted since my Naruto fanfic back in 2007. Kinda bare on descriptions, but it was fun to write. :)