A lot of weird terms in this chapter, but most of it's just words mashed together, so please don't be too confused.
"Ma'am, I believe your son is gifted…."
"What? Shupepe?" The woman giggled, feeling flattered.
"Uh, no. I meant your other son." The school principal pointed his pencil at Kululu, who was behind the woman, playing around with a few electronic devices that he'd torn out from inside the walls. "I called you here because of him, remember?—Uh, please don't touch those, son! That's school property."
"Oh… yes… I remember." She cast her eyes to her feet shamefully. "But—" Her head shot up at the principal. "Kulu-chan's not gifted. He does love to play with some very interesting toys, though."
"And why…" The principal bit the eraser end of his pencil. "…do you think that your son is not gifted?"
"Well, because you can't really tell these things at an age like his," she said, fumbling with her hands. "I mean, Kulu-chan's only at level three* in training school, so most of the things that he does are usually discombobulated and don't have much to do with his actual brain activity…. Brain activity? Is that right?"
"Uh, yes." The principal glanced down at the clipboard on his desk and handed it over to the woman. "If you'll take a look at these results a few of my staff members have gathered from examining him over the past month or so, you might be surprise at what you'll see." As she flipped through the papers, he listed them. "Extraordinary test scores, an IQ that is off the charts, school projects that prove him to be extremely advanced in technology skills…."
She examined the papers with a pleased air, inspecting the grades of her son, until she got to the physical education section and frowned deeply.
"Ohh… that's rather disappointing."
Behind them, Kululu activated the device he'd finished building. A teleportation portal opened and an adult phynoyuanogura stepped into the room.
"The… point that I'm trying to make here, ma'am, is that your son is quite intelligent for his age… too intelligent, we also think, for his current level."
"And so…?" she asked skeptically, looking him in the eye.
"We've been considering that he would perhaps do better in an environment more suited for his mindset." He glanced toward her. "Ma'am, what do you think of moving your son up a few levels?"
The woman sprang to her feet, placing her hands firmly on the desk table. "That's nonsense!" she blurted. "Whatever you say, I know the truth! Kulu-chan son is not gifted!"
"Moooooom! This phynoyuanogura is trying to eat my interdimensional matter-transmitter!" Kululu complained from behind him.
His mom glanced to the side without turning her head. "Hold on a moment, Kulu-chan. Mother's talking to the principal."
"But, Moooom! Make him stop!"
The principal cleared his throat, glancing up at her.
She sighed and sat back down in the chair. "Fine. Do what you want with him. But I know my own son, and I think you're seeing him in a much different light than what's actually there."
"Er… yes…." He made a face, peering behind her as Kululu desperately tried to shove the phynoyuanogura back into the portal. "Something tells me that I think he'll do just fine."
It was just nearing the second half of seasonal phase one** in Keron's northwestern region when training school would be opened back up for the new year. The break for kids was over, and now it was time again to send them back to their studies and training to enable them to someday carry the future of the planet on their miniscule shoulders.
Kululu was feeling quite nervous. Last year he'd ended training school at level three, and somehow this year he was suddenly being put into level seven, instead of four. It would be quite a big jump for him. What would it be like? Would the lessens be more suited to his intelligence? Would he not be so bored any longer? Would there be new people? Would they be older than him? Would he finally be able to make friends?
Eventually, with all these questions encircling his head, the anxiousness slowly washed away and excitement came instead. How wonderful it would be! Someplace new, with high hopes for him. He couldn't wait.
The first day of school came quite soon. His anxiousness rose to the top again.
Before he'd even known it, he was there, looking up at the looming, dark school, feeling queasy about this decision. Now meeting new people didn't seem so great after all.
He swallowed, urging himself to press forward. His hands tightened around the straps of the bag over his shoulders, and he walked through the enormous doors of the gate.
Nothing seemed to have changed about the school. For the most part, it was the same when he'd left it during the end of the first half of seasonal phase one***, and ended his year of level three in turn. Not much time seemed to have passed since then. But now things would be changing drastically, and training school life for him would probably never be the same.
Kululu glanced down at the slip of paper in his hands. "Room 400365, floor 140," the paper slip said. Where was that? That was quite a large number, big of a school as it might've been. The constructors of the building did a pretty good job of making the place look a lot smaller on the outside, though that was thanks to the planet's advanced technology. It was still pretty high up, though. Maybe he could take the vertical transporter.**** There was a long line for it, and Kululu didn't have much patience, so he sat down in a corner and built his own vertical transporter for himself.
Once he reached floor 140, he deactivated the transporter and set his feet upon the ground, tucking the device into his backpack. He navigated his way down the halls, looking for the room that was room 400365. Many larger, older-looking Keronians gloomed down upon him, giving him strange looks as he walked on through the halls. Most of them already had no tails. Some of them were even beginning to loose the white on their faces.
That's so weird, thought Kululu, mildly intimidated by the new appearances.
Finally he came upon it. Room 400365. He took a breath, gripped the straps to his backpack, and entered through the door.
Everyone was staring at him. His cheeks burned. Was there something on his face? He was certain that he wasn't wearing his pacifier today….
One kid pointed at him. He had no tail, and there was orange halfway down his face, signifying that he must surely be much older than Kululu. "Ppfft, how'd a baby get in here!" he remarked.
Though he tried to fight against it, Kululu glanced to either side of him. Baby? What baby? That would be weird if there was a baby in the room.
"He shouldn't be in here at all! Level two's on the fortieth floor, kid!"
Huh? thought Kululu. He looked around him again, suddenly nervous. Did he go into the wrong room?
"Little kids like him can't even get up here without a code," said one girl. She flipped her curly ear-hat-things matter-of-factly.
Someone else went up to him and peered down into his eyes. "Yeah, kid, how'd you get in here?"
Kululu backed away a little. He didn't like it when people looked him in the eye.
"Well?"
Remembering that he had been asked a question, he spoke up.
"The vertical transporter."
The Keronian in front of him looked confused. "But you can't get to this floor unless you have the code for it. What's the code?"
Kululu tried to remember. The code had been sent to him that morning through the mail, but he'd only glanced at it once. Nor did he use the public vertical transporter, so there hadn't been any use for it. But someone was asking him what it was. He searched his memory….
"3RU98EVJ94," he answered.
The Keronian stepped back, astonished. "Okay, then…. Um, guys, maybe this kid really is supposed to be in this room after all…."
"That's impossible! He's just a baby!" one girl said, thrusting her hands on her desk in protest. The rest of the room began chattering angrily.
Kululu's shoulders slumped. Somehow he'd known this would happen. These people did not accept him. Nobody would. It had always been this way. There was too much pressure on the things that didn't matter; when there was a genius, nobody seemed to care. But someone with strength and physical ability was worshipped, since they were most useful to Keron.
All of a sudden he was struck in the back of the head as the door opened, and a new figure stepped in. The classroom hushed.
The new Keronian walked over to the podium in front of the class and set her papers down. She wore tiny spectacles on her nose-area and had a sophisticated, adult look. Kululu stared in awe.
"Thank you, class. I'll be your advisor this year, Tichacha," said the woman.
Ah… it's so much different from the other levels, thought Kululu.
Her eyes went immediately to the tadpole in the corner of the room. "You there."
Kululu straightened up. "Y-yes?"
"Level four is that way." She pointed downward. Kululu frowned. Why does everyone expect me to be down there? What do they take me for, dumb?
"I-I know that, ma'am."
"Then why are you here?"
He handed her the slip of paper.
"Hm, room 400365, it seems," she mused to herself. She handed it back to him. "All right… let's see…." She looked through her files of students. "Kululu? Take a seat in the back."
"All right." Kululu went to the back of the room and slid into the desk, plopping his backpack down on the ground next to him. It made a noisy ka-thunk as it hit the floor. Many other students turned around and snickered.
Well, at least it's not me they're laughing at, he thought optimistically, and my backpack instead.
But it wasn't. It was just him.
In the beginning, Fuyuki had started to worry. Why wasn't he awakening? What was wrong with the guy? Kululu had been laying on the sand, asleep and groaning, for nearly half the entire day, and Fuyuki knew that something was wrong.
In the beginning. But now he grew to accept the new Kululu. The island turned much happier to him, and Fuyuki was having lots of fun by himself.
At this particular moment he had the undeniable urge to cover Kululu's body with sand.
There was nothing holding him back. Fuyuki scooped up sand from off the beach, making a large pit where the grains had just once been. In this small depression he placed Kululu, which he covered in sand from the feet up, making sure not to get any on his head. Fuyuki sat back, marveling at his work. It still didn't seem quite right, though…. He took some more sand in his hand and let it slip through his fingers onto the sandy bulge of the Sergeant Major's body.
"Maybe I can build a sand castle!" he realized with enthusiasm.
Fuyuki set right to work in his creation. With the proper amount of dirt and water and sand, he was able to make a few towers around the yellow Keronian's body. It began to look like a great fort. He felt just like a kid again. But it wasn't quite done. He added more sand to the walls, a bridge out of shells, and completed it by sticking a leaf onto the tallest tower, which was in the middle. He carved in tiny, wobbly rocky stones with his shaky hands and a tiny stick.
Kululu turned over. The whole thing was ruined.
"Sergeant Major, how could you!" Fuyuki chastised, swatting the sand across the beach in his anger. A whole bunch of it sprayed across the ground and into the waves. Fuyuki began pacing around, trying to calm himself. He was angry, horribly angry. At what? He had no clue. He wasn't even quite sure what was going on anymore. There was a strange, bubbly sensation in his body. His mind jumped to other topics, all at once. Sand castles. The moon. Going home. Happy bunny rabbits with no skin. Eating fish alive. Suddenly the whole place turned into candy.
And he had this headache, this constant pounding headache, and just like the waves, it breathed in and out on him.
*Keronian equivalent of second grade
**Second half of spring
***First half of spring
****Something along the lines of a fancy alien elevator of some sort