Chapter Fourteen
Over fall, into winter and the new year, nothing particularly noteworthy happened. Well, except for the fact that Aihara had managed to get accepted to Tonan University. She begged me to help her because her "future depended on it".
I helped her study. By this point, I was used to it and if I didn't help her, she would end up repeating the test over and over. So I figured I would get it over with because I would end up having to help her anyway. That was her only problem, but I had my own.
While it would've been easy (snap-of-a-finger easy) for me to get into Tonan University or an even higher scale university, that didn't mean I wanted to go. At college, there was nothing I couldn't learn alone. I didn't need the instruction of a teacher when I myself practically was one when it came to Aihara.
Not only was I unsure about college itself, but my entire future. I could see nothing, my entire future a bleak, white canvas of nothing. No problems I'd come across before now had been quite as troubling as this.
I'd look to Aihara who was so excited about it. A girl who struggled in almost everything excited for a larger and even more complicated workload. And for what? I wished I had that kind of zest for life, that inspiration.
It was a Saturday as my family and hers celebrated the acceptance. Aihara was the most elated I'd ever seen her.
"Congratulations on your college acceptance, Kotoko" was spelled out on the cake my mother made.
My mother lifted her glass, "Here's to Kotoko's college acceptance!" Everyone raised their glasses as well and clinked. All this over getting into a measly escalator system…
"Let's eat." My mother said as she cut into the cake.
"Thank you so much for this, Mrs. Irie." Aihara said with a great smile.
"It's my treat. I love making things like this." My mother said as she passed my father the first piece of cake to hand around.
"You were a little girl not too long ago," Her father said, "But you'll be in college this spring. I'm sure your mother is so proud of you." He became sullen quickly.
"Dad…" She said and rubbed his shoulder.
"I'm okay, I'm okay." He said and took a deep breath.
"It's Naoki's turn next to get accepted into a college." My mother said and passed around a couple more pieces to Aihara and her father.
"He's not stupid like her. He can get into Tokyo University without any effort."
"Yuuki!" My father snapped at him.
"Oh, right," Aihara said and reached down, bringing a wrapped gift up with her. She handed it to me, "This is for you. It's a thank you gift for helping me pass the exam."
"That's so sweet," My mother interjected, "Hurry up and open it." I tore off the tissue paper to reveal one of the strangest devices I'd ever seen. It was a "head massager". In other words, a bundle of wires with balls at the ends which I was supposed to run over my head. I eyed it in amusement. It was so like her to do these silly things.
Well, you do tend to give me some headaches. I thought.
Yuuki took it from me, "Head massager?" He said, reading it from the box.
"Well, Irie-kun will be taking the Tokyo University exam soon, won't he? He still needs to study, so…" I tensed again at the mention. Everyone expected so much of me. But what if that wasn't what I wanted?
"These are for old men." He handed it back to me. I placed it back in the box.
"Hey, cut that out, Yuuki," My mother said, "Never mind that. Why don't you use it, Naoki?"
"Not right now," I was handed a piece of cake, although I left it on the table, never having been one to enjoy such sweets, "Besides, I haven't even decided if I want to go to college." My father froze as if I'd struck him in the face. My mother simply stared at me, and Aihara's eyes ran all over me, like she was contemplating me.
I wanted to leave the room from it. I hadn't said I'd murdered someone, just that I may not want to go to college. What was so wrong with that?
But with the high standards my parents had set for me and with my father wanting me to take over his company one day, college would've done me no good. If taking over a company was all I was going to do, then I wouldn't have to get into anything else or go to college. However, with my parents' thought system, I thought I might end up going to college whether I wanted to or not. My life was hardly mine, anyway.
