Note: Just in case you wonder about the questions received in the interviews in this or the previous chapter.
My sixth form asked us the similar questions. I got the one about getting an elephant and then a giraffe into the fridge! I think I said buy a big fridge and stick it in! My friend said to chop it up!
Chapter Seven
Two days later and the madness that had been Wilcrests Hedge High School and Meryton Lievesworthy were over. Grateful that the ordeal was over Subaru contentedly lay in his own bed. That was until Hokuto decided to forcibly wake him from his slumber. It was at times like these that he considered asking their grandma for a lock but the questions that would undoubtedly ensue from such an interaction prevented him from doing so. Besides Hokuto was hardly a horrible interruption.
"Subaru, how did you find the Meryton interview?" Hokuto asked propelled awkwardly at the edge of his bed. They had only returned a day ago; Hokuto from Meryton and Subaru from Wilcrests.
"uh Hokuto," Subaru replied sleepily "Can't we talk about this later?"
"No! You might forget about it later besides its already seven o clock. You should be up already!" insisted Hokuto eagerly. "You know that if you have breakfast too late you can get a tummy ache and even a headache too. Plus sleeping in is just so bad for you..."
Seeing no way to delay his sister from the interrogation Subaru tried to rub the sleep from eyes. He had missed his twin greatly even though they were gone for but two days.
"Ah okay Hokuto. Just give me a couple of minutes and then we can talk about it," he bargained. Stretching languidly he rose to take a quick shower and convince his body that it really should be up at such an early hour. The holiday, for Subaru at least, was proving to be less and less relaxing. Finally, looking more animated than before, Subaru joined his sister on his now made up bed.
"Well, how was it?" Hokuto asked again with a distinct air of impatience.
"How was what?" Subaru asked completely clueless.
Sighing dramatically Hokuto wondered whether Subaru was being deliberately obtuse or if he had really forgotten, in such a small space of time, what happened. If this was how he remembered her questions what would be the chance he would remember the interviews she thought to herself sullenly.
"The Meryton interview!" Hokuto exclaimed
"It was strange at first but once I got over the odd sounding names it was OK. How about you?"
Thinking back to the exam, Hokuto remembered the OA paper as clearly as if it was sitting next her. Not surprisingly her question had been completely different from Subaru's. Taking a deep breath she recited it for Subaru once he had informed her of his question.
OA Paper
You will be asked questions on this section in your interview so read carefully!
The ones in a nutshell
One is a synonym of two and two means three. Four is an antonym of One and means five. Six is a word used to describe one but not two and while seven describes four it can also describe two. One and seven rhyme while four and one are half rhymes but three does not rhyme with anything...
Replace One to Ten with words so that the statements hold true.
I want to grow a Snifferpig. I only have a Butterhorn. A Snifferpig needs water and grass to grow. A Snifferpig cannot grow in anhydrous sand but can grow in mud.
How do I turn my Snifferpig yellow?
"So to the question 'how do I turn my Snifferpig yellow?' I wrote 'paint it!'" Hokuto said happily "What do you think?"
Now Subaru really did not want to answer that question, partly because he still wanted to go to sleep and partly because he would have wrote a completely different answer. I mean the person wants 'to grow a Snifferpig' and they 'only have a Butterhorn' meaning that they don't even have a Snifferpig. That falsifies the question already!
"I have no idea Hokuto..."Subaru whispered still perplexed as to what a plausible answer to that question could be...
"Well it doesn't really matter I suppose. I mean I found all words one to ten in the first part of the question and I answered all questions in both interviews! I could just tell that Meryton loved my portfolio! How was your Wilcrests interview?" Hokuto asked leading Subaru to realise he was never going to get to sleep.
Subaru had not sent a video or pictures like Hokuto had. Instead he only sent his essay. He really doubted he stood any chance of ever attending Wilcests Hedge High school and for some reason that really bothered him; after all his time there had certainly been interesting.
Nervously Subaru climbed the stone stairs to the entrance of Wilcrests. After one interview already he felt he had less reason to be scared however unfortunately for him his nerves did not listen to reason. Halting at a huge oak engraved door he tried desperately to gather his nerves and after taking a few deep breaths entered into a lavishly decorated reception. He headed in the direction of a receptionist behind a mahogany desk; his new shoes squeaking on the oak floor as he walked. The receptionist, a lady who had practised the art of idle conversation, soon signed him in and assured him that his interview would be any minute now. Soon he was seated and waited patiently for his interview.
Five minutes passed and he heard footsteps growing louder by the second, approach him. Breathing deeply he prepared his body to be taken to his interview. He felt almost as if he was awaiting his death.
"Excuse-me!" the receptionist said raising her voice without quite shouting, "Students are not to enter the reception today. It is being used as a holding room for prospective students!"
Subaru's head turned to the student in question and was greeted with a smile. The boy, probably around five foot eleven wearing the Wilcrests uniform, smirked haughtily at the receptionist.
"But Helen, my maths lesson was cancelled today and-" he whispered conspiratorially in her ear just loud enough for Subaru to hear, "-these new students could use a bit of cheering up. Look at him," he said pointing in Subaru's direction, "he looks petrified!" Subaru blushed deeply at the statement and suddenly realised how intricate the patterns lining the floor were.
Helen puffed furiously, "You know my name is Mrs Hurst! Mrs Hurst and that boy's not even in the school yet and you're setting him a bad example. Besides I thought you were helping in the interviews with that lovely quiet friend of yours...Arashi isn't it?"
"Yes I was but if I had to hear another monotonous answer again I'd die!" Sorata exclaimed dramatically his hand on his head. "Not even the beautiful Arashi could tempt me to stay another day there."
Edging closer to a frightened Subaru, Sorata studied him carefully. "I could have sworn you were here just yesterday..." he said rather confused further irritating the already annoyed secretary and confusing Subaru.
"Only you were wearing this cute little skirt and-"
Suddenly it clicked who this Sorata was talking about, "Ah-h that was my-"
"And your voice definitely wasn't that deep yesterday!" Sorata shouted enthusiastically stopping Subaru from continuing.
"Idiot," a female voice responded before Sorata or Subaru could respond. "If you'd actually been paying attention yesterday you would have known that Hokuto had a twin brother that would be coming."
Both boys and the secretary turned to face one very prim and proper Arashi. Her nose turned upwards so it appeared she was looking down it at all of them and her hair swished round her body like a blade. Subaru narrowed his eyes and noticed that on Arashi's uniform were several badges. He saw 'prefect' at the top then just barely legible was the second which read 'Girls Sports captain'.
Sorata blushed and said, "How do you remember all their names! I just think midget one, midget two..."
Taking a long suffering sigh and trying in earnest not to smile Arashi turned from Sorata and faced Subaru, "My name is Arashi and that moron there is Sorata. We both came to study here from Japan too. In fact Wilcrests has a partnership school in Japan called-"
Sorata mimicked a yawn obviously ending the short fuse of Arashi's temper. Cutting her practised speech short she said, "Come. It is time for your interview now." She glared at Sorata who smirked back at her.
"Don't worry Arashi; I'll save a place for you at lunch!" Sorata called causing Arashi to blush furiously.
Turning to Subaru he said quietly, "She really gets annoyed when she's hungry you know so I always save lunch for her!" Arashi looked close to the point of spontaneously combusting at that point and Subaru was extremely scared.
"oooh and watch out for the other sixth form helper," Sorata yelled as they left receiving glares from both Arashi and the receptionist, "he is a creeeeep!"
"That is it Sorata. Detention tonight!"Mrs Hurst cried as they left.
Subaru caught a pained cry from Sorata, "But we were going to go to the cinemas!"
The trip to the interview room was rather uneventful and Arashi regained enough composure to resume looking like a waxwork model. The silence was practically eating him up and his nerves once again returned.
Sighing, Arashi stared at the boy in front of her knowing he had no chance in hell of surviving the interview unless he lost more of his nerves. Strangely she did not remember his sister to be nervous, not even one bit.
"You don't need to be nervous," she said dryly, "unless of course you're stupid, emotionally retarded or a sociopath." She said still looking straight ahead as she walked.
At that moment Subaru realised he had much preferred the silence.
"Subaru!" Hokuto cried waking him from his memory and he realised that he'd stopped speaking for a long while now. In fact he had to congratulate Hokuto on being so uncharacteristically patient.
"Oh yes," he replied still rather dazed
"Well the actual interview..."
Arashi stopped at a thick heavy stead door. Without any warning she opened it and both of them stepped inside. At this point Subaru felt rather outnumbered. Before him including Arashi were five people. Arashi returned to her seat leaving Subaru effectively stranded.
"Mr Sumeragi?" An elderly man said, and he nodded, "My name is Mr Stevenson and I teach maths, on my right is Mr Abidemi, he teaches biology and on my left is Mrs Angel. She teaches classical civilisations in sixth form and history in main school. Two sixth form students are with us today, Arashi and Seishirou; you can ask them any questions after the interview."
Subaru looked from each person as Mr Stevenson mentioned them. Mr Abidemi was thin and his skin was as dark as the mahogany table the receptionist had been sitting behind. As he stood he looked as statuesque as Arashi with she being the porcelain version to him. However unlike her he smiled slightly as he made eye contact with Subaru. Mrs Angel had hair to fit her name and it cascaded down her shoulder in golden curls but she did not nearly have the soft face to match. It was hard an aquiline with distinct lines and no cherubim features at all. Arashi hadn't changed in the few minutes since he first noticed her so he directed his gaze to Seishirou. As their eyes met he felt almost as if he was being dragged into them; consumed and willing. It was strange and brief and he could almost pretend it didn't happen. Seishirou had hazel eyes and one really couldn't tell his height from sitting down but he looked to be much taller than Arashi maybe even taller than Sorata.
"It's good to meet you," Subaru said nervously looking at Mr Stevenson. He shook hands awkwardly with all the teachers in turn repressing a subconscious desire to bow.
"Please be seated Subaru. Our interview will now commence. "
"Now this interview is not really to test your academic integrity but rather for us to get to know you; to see how you tick and how you reason..." Mr Stevenson droned on.
Subaru found himself stealing glances at the two sixth formers. Arashi was uncommonly still apart from her hand that was scribbling something down at a fascinating pace. Subaru found it very hard to tell what Seishirou was doing but it was obvious he was not paying attention to anyone in that room.
"Now Subaru you wrote in your essay that you enjoy learning about other countries traditions and past civilisations. Would you agree that is rather a strange character trait of someone from your country?"
Subaru was quite shocked at this question and even more so that neither Arashi nor Seishirou even flinched. In fact it appeared the boy was so focused on whatever he was doing he didn't even hear the question. All eyes, save Seishirou's, were on him expecting him to answer their question and they eagerly awaited a response.
"I don't think I could agree no. I've lived in many different countries and so have had many a chance to discover new cultures but I can't speak for everybody in Japan. I think most people in Japan are proud of their country sort of patriotic like America for example but they are interested in other cultures. For example the united states again. But I guess that everybody thinks differently. It's true that the Japanese tend to be less globally aware, they are more domestically aware but again not everybody can be categorised."
"I have to say that I for one was very impressed with your essay so there is no need to be on edge. You answered that question really well. Do think that stereotypes like the one I mentioned before are generally correct?"
Subaru felt anything but at ease. He wondered why the questions were so vague and even why they couldn't just ask anything else.
"Well each country has its own stereotypes. I'd always heard that the British drink lots of tea and have stiff upper lips. Likewise that the Japanese are polite, love American culture etc but the thing to remember is that these are generalisations. Of course some are true, for example, in nearly every British home I've visited so far I've been offered a cup of tea. However I've also seen quite a few show their emotions visibly." Subaru stopped talking self conscious that he'd talked for too long.
"I guess you've had the advantage of living in many other countries as you said but even so do you expect people in a country or a certain group of people to be a certain way because of a stereotype?"
"I know that when I was younger I certainly did. I'd expect all Americans to be loud and overweight because of what I saw on television or read in books but now I know differently. The best cure to prejudice and misconception is discovering people yourself. You'll realise people are just people regardless of how they've been taught, what they know and even who they are. People are as different as they are the same."
At that Subaru noticed Seishirou's eyes catch his again as he had left whatever he had been doing to listen.
"You're right of course, only I think it takes people of greater years than your own to come to that conclusion. Of course some never do. Well I'm afraid that it's that time of the interview where I have to ask some morally generic question which people have debated about since time began. So Subaru do you think that people can be both good and bad?"
"We all have the capacity to do right and wrong but I think it is something more complex that defines whether you are good or bad and I'm afraid that I don't know what it is. To answer your question though I'd say that people can be both good and bad in regards to behaviour but overall a person is one or the other."
"That is an interesting answer. But I'm afraid that I'm a bit confused as to your meaning. You said we can do good things and bad things i.e. behaviour but then doesn't this shape whether you are good or bad? For example how much good or bad you do?"
Subaru tilted his head slightly as if he was pondering an answer, "It is very possible that it could however I have a belief and I'm not sure where it stems from that something else shapes if you are a good or bad person. It sounds completely ridiculous I know and I'll try to explain."
By now all eyes were on Subaru. Usually a candidate said something because it was rational or it was part of their religious beliefs but not many tried to explain a 'belief'.
"I think in our life, "Subaru continued, "A person will do more bad than good. We will do more to harm than to relieve, more to take than give and just because these crimes are not anything as drastic as say murder or rape these things still add up. Perhaps all crimes bear the same weight on a person's soul- if you believe in such things. I'm not sure and I'd still judge someone as good or bad based on how much they have done but I still can't help but believe there is more. I'm sorry I can't really describe my ideas further but they are still in development."
"Hmm I think I understand. What you suggest is something similar to karma although in your idea we are all more inclined to do wrong and so cannot possibly restore order by ourselves and therefore they must be an external factor to consider."
"Yes. I suppose that for some the external factor is God for example in Christianity the bible says the good works alone will not take you into heaven and again the idea of original sin...I'm not sure I believe that we are born bad...I'm just not really sure," Subaru said his head in contemplation mode. He suddenly blushed realising he had given no clear answer to the question, "I'm sorry but I know nothing for sure."
The interviewer considered his statement and said, "I'm not sure anybody really does, you just admit it. However despite your theory in the making you say that you would judge someone based on how much good or bad they do, how they act for example?"
"Judge...,"Subaru repeated "Yes because it is the only way I can assess their character."
"Hmm it's funny that you mention religion, it's hardly the most popular thing today..."
"That might be because the popular way of thinking is in a new direction. I don't want to think of it this way but most people are most capable of thinking as a whole not individually. They think they are being nonconformist to believe in the more new thing or least accepted thing but never just to think. They end up caught in a new trend just after leaving one and spend the rest of their lives in this state..."
And so the interview continued in such a manner, not so much a series of questions and answers but more of mutual questions, thoughts and collaborations of true thinkers.
As Subaru left the interview room he felt a wave of relief wash through him. It was over, the whole ordeal was over. It was then that he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned round to see the male sixth former, Seishirou, who had, he assumed, followed him out of the room.
"I thought you might like to attend a debate put on by the student council," he said as he handed Subaru a card with details on it.
"Thank you," Subaru whispered genuinely surprised.
"You can invite anybody you like as its open to the public to watch," he added thoughtfully as he began to walk away.
Three weeks passed and the moment when the results from both schools would be ready was drawing near. Both twins were feeling the pressure mount after each successive day and the tension weighed down everybody. Nobody said it but they all knew how unlikely it was for both twins to be accepted in the same school. It would have been futile to dwell upon such things and lady Sumeragi encouraged both of the children to do as much as possible to prevent their minds from dwelling on it. She sent them swimming, climbing, shopping, hiking, touring and socialising with every possible child in their vicinity. Though they tried to forget about it, the moment still arrived.
With trembling hands both twins picked up two envelopes each. Subaru lost the beat of his heart as he carefully opened one of the two envelopes watching even as Hokuto opened hers and their grandmother watched expectantly. This one was from Meryton.
To the parents and careers of Subaru Sumeragi,
I'm pleased to inform you that your child has received a place at Meryton Lievesworthy and we will be happy to accept him come September...
Subaru stopped reading. He'd got in! He had actually got in. While in this euphoria he quickly opened the next letter not really caring if he got in or not; or so he told himself.
Subaru Sumeragi,
We are happy to offer you a place at Wilcrests Hedge High School. We look forward to seeing you in September should you take up this offer...
With a wide smile Subaru turned to look at his sister but only caught glimpse of her as she ran up the stairs. On the floor scrunched up were two letters and the both of them held rejections.
