Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh.
Chapter Two – The Withered Daisy
Math class – one of the most hated classes in Domino High School. Some hated the class because the numbers and symbols made no sense to them. For others their dislike originated from the lack of interest. For still others it was because of the dullness and repetitiveness.
"And therefore the answer to this question should be?" the teacher asked and scanned the classroom for raised hand.
Silence. Not a soul moved.
The teacher expected that reaction, after teaching math for ten long years it was hard not to. He scanned the room again, this time for students not paying attention. Everyone suddenly found extreme interest in their math books – everyone, except for one. "Mr. Kaiba?"
Seto jumped. "Yes?" He lazily glanced up at the board and saw a question. He calculated the question in his mind quickly.
"The answer," the teacher said sternly. "You should pay atten– "
"Two thousand seven hundred thirty three."
The teacher paused to look at his answer key. Henodded reluctantly, "Correct."
Seto smirked.
The teacher scanned the room again. This time he found another person not paying attention, "Mr. Wheeler what is the answer to question sixty-four?"
"What?" Joey asked frantically as he snapped back into reality. He quickly corrected himself, "I mean…" he looked at the questions in the math book. There was no sixty-four. He should have paid more attention. He decided to take a wild guess. "Six thousand four hundred thirty six."
"That's incorrect because there's no question sixty-four. You see me after class. I suggest you pay attention for the rest of the class before you have double detentions."
Seto smirked again.
"It's so not fair man, Kaiba didn't pay attention either. How come I was the only one getting detention," Joey complained to his friends after school.
"Yeah I know exactly what you mean. The same thing happened to me in science class," Tristan said sympathetically.
"It's like the teachers favour him over everyone else or something," commented Joey bitterly.
"And look at all his school absences. He keeps missing school and he never gets in trouble," Tristan cried.
"I say he pays the teachers. I mean a cheap guy like him surely wouldn't find that wrong," Joey said sourly.
"You guys that's enough," cried Yugi.
"Why?" asked Joey and Tristan simultaneously.
"Kaiba is not exactly the nicest person in the world but gossiping will not help the matter at all," Yugi explained.
"What will Yugi? For god's sake that guy didn't even thank us when we saved his life! Besides, what did we say that he didn't deserve?" asked Joey.
"I think Yugi is right guys," reasoned Tea, "these gossips will certainly not help the situation. I say next time, you guys should just pay attention in class."
"Well I was just saying it's not fair," Joey said sulkily, "And I did pay attention most of the time, Tea. I was just giving my brain a short rest. Kaiba was the one who paid no attention in class."
It was at that moment when Tristan noticed someone not far away from them. "Um Joey? May be you should stop…"
"Tristan you are turning away from me too eh? I just don't get you guys. I tell you Kaiba did pay those teachers. He – "
"I what, Wheeler?" interrupted a cold voice behind Joey.
Joey knew right away who was behind him. He laughed nervously as he slowly turned around. "Oh hi Kaiba! I didn't know you eat lunch at school…"
"I what, Wheeler?" repeated the tall brown haired teenager.
"Um… nothing… listen I forgot but I have to go somewhere," Joey said as he slowly backed away.
"You didn't look too busy when you were talking about me, Joey. So please stay and tell me what was in your mind," Setoretorted icily."Or are you too scare to face me you pathetic scared little doggy." He smirked.
"I didn't think you have any rights to call me pathetic Kaiba," Joey snapped, his voice draping with acid. "After all, you were the one who fell right into the cooperate giants' obvious trap. If it weren't for Yugi and me you would have been trapped in that virtual reality world of yours."
"I never asked for your help," Seto hissed. "So tell me, Wheeler what were you saying about me?"
Joey growled. "I was commenting on how a cheater like you would gladly pay the teachers to get out of troubles," Joey commented dryly.
"For your information, Wheeler, I, unlike you, never thought about such things. I answered every single question that the teachers threw at me correctly." Setochuckled and turned around. "Unlike you."
"Jerk!" Joey shouted. His friends held him back from fighting. "Just let…me…go!"
"Calm down Joey! You don't want to get sent to the principle office for fighting some teachers' pet do you?" cried Tristan.
"Tristan is right. You really shouldn't fight," said Yugi.
Joey grumbled.
"Joey you really don't want to get another detention!" cried Tea.
Of course, calling Seto a teachers' pet would not be appropriate. He never acted like one. He never offered any teachers any help. He never paid any attention in class. He never answered any questions in class voluntarily. Despite all that, however, teachers liked him, after all, who would not like to brag about teaching a rich child prodigy?
"Class take our your math book," said the young teachers. She was a pretty teacher, young and pretty. Her features were so delicate they looked like flowers.
All thirty little kids clumsily got their math book out from their backpack. "Page twenty-six class," added the teacher. The children clumsily turned their math book to page twenty-six. "Today we are going to learn about two digit addition," the teacher announced in an excited voice.
Even in the young age of six the students learned to hate math, they all groaned.
The teacher smiled in sympathy. "Don't worry. It's very easy and I am sure all of you are going to get the hang of it really quickly."
Everyone groaned again.
"We will start with some easy stuff first," said Miss Hisakawa with a smile, "Hikari what is four plus six?"
A girl in a red skirt looked at his fingers and after a moment she said, "Ten."
"Really good," said the teacher happily. She took out a jar full of lollipops, took a red one out and handed it to Hikari. She looked around the room again. "Akio? What is seven plus two?" the teacher asked as she paced around the room.
A boy in a blue sweater wiggled his fingers and finally said, "Nine."
"Correct!" Miss Hisakawa said joyously as she handed the boy a green lollipop. The boy greedily took it. "It seems that you guys know your math quite well so I will start teaching you new stuff," said the teacher as she walked toward the black board. She wrote a question on the board: 45+6
"Does anyone know the answer to this question?" she asked.
Silence, no one moved.
The young teacher continued to smile. "The answer is fifty-one. You can get this by just adding one side at a time, so in a way this is like two easy questions put together…" her voice trailed off when she noticed one of her student was drawing in his notebook, not listening. She stared at the student silently.
The rest of the class soon caught on to the tension and they all turned and stared at the boy in suspense. The boy finally looked up after about thirty seconds of silence and intense stares. He gulped.
"Seto Takashi!" cried Miss Hisakawa, "you must pay attention in class."
Young Seto gulped again.
The teacher sighed. "Do any of you know why I want you to pay attention?"
Silence.
"I want you to learn. If you know everything already I have no objection to you not paying attention in class! School is only going to get harder and if you don't listen now you won't understand the harder questions." The young woman paused. She thought for a moment before adding carelessly, "If you know the answer to a question like two thousand four hundred sixty-five times twenty then I would not mind you drawing in your note book at all, Seto."
Silence.
"Do you under– "
"Forty-nine thousand three hundred," said the brown haired boy quietly.
"What?" cried the young woman, surprised. She didn't expect an answer.
"Forty-nine thousand three hundred," repeated Seto.
Miss Hisakawa gasped as she realized the boy was giving her the answer. She knew he was right but she could not help but take out her calculator and punched in the question she gave out. The answer was right. It was forty-nine thousand three hundred. Her jaw dropped.
"Four hundred fifty-six divided by thirty two?" she asked. The thought of the possibility of having a child prodigy in her class slowly materialised in her head. She decided to ask another question; just to be sure that it was not blind luck.
Seto blinked. He was starting to get scared by his teacher's reaction. "Um… well… four…fourteen and twenty-five hundredth?" he stuttered.
"Seto I want to see your father after school."
In herdismay sheforgot to give him a lollipop.
"Mr. Takashi I want to talk about your child's education. Your son Seto is doing a fine job in hiding his knowledge. He hardly talked in class but today he finally did. I cannot believe him but he answered some pretty hard math questions right."
Seto felt his face burn. Mr. Takashi laughed at his son's expression and replied lightly, "He have always been that way…"
"Have you ever consider putting Seto is an older class? It would be better for him," said Miss Hisakawa, almost excitedly.
"I had," replied Mr. Takashi. Seto stared at his father bewilderedly.
"So why didn't you?" the young woman asked anxiously.
"Because I knew how scary it is to be different. I wanted to respect my son's own wish. He didn't want to skip grades. He told me he would rather go to school like everyone else," said Mr. Takashi. Seto could not help but smile in relieve.
The teacher shook her head disapprovingly. "Are you sure a decision like this should be made by a six year old?"
"I do," Mr. Takashi replied calmly, "I believe that if my son does not want to skip grades I should respect his decision and not force him into it. I also have worries about bulling that might happen if I let you put my son in a few grades ahead." His voice was final.
Miss Hisakawa thought for a moment and finally asked, "I suppose you are right… but would you mind… would you mind if I give Seto harder work and perhaps tutor him after school?"
"I have not objection to that. Ask my son. Would you mind Seto?" Mr. Takashi smiled at his son.
Seto looked at his father and then at his teacher. He hesitated, considered for a moment then shook his head at the end. He said quietly, "No, I would not."
"I was thinking perhaps we can start on some very simple algebra today what do you say?" asked Miss Hisakawa.
Seto nodded silently.
Miss Hisakawa smiled. "Well algebra is basically a alphabet that is use to represent an unknown number. I can use it on any sort of question really, and these questions don't have to be hard. For example if I have no idea how many flowers there are in a pot but I know that the number of flowers times four plus two take away six is eighty I can find out how many I have. The unknown number of flowers can be called x but it can also be called any other alphabets. Do you get all I am saying right now?" asked the young teacher.
"Yes," Seto said softly. "Can I ask you a question Miss Hisakawa?"
The young woman nodded kindly.
"Why do you always use flowers in your examples?" asked the young child.
"You don't like flowers? I can use other things in my examples," the teacher replied quickly.
The young boy shook his head. "No, I don't really mind. I was just wondering."
Miss Hisakawa smiled. She said slowly, "That's fine. The reason is that I love flowers. I think they are really beautiful. Do you like flowers Seto?"
The six year old thought for a moment before replying, "I guess I think they are pretty too. Mom used to love them. She used to plant them everywhere in our house. But dad doesn't like flowers too much; he is too busy for them. I don't like them either."
"Why not?" asked the young woman.
"They are too weak. They die too easily," replied Seto.
The teacher laughed. "Perhaps, but without them there wouldn't be fruits would there? Besides the world would seem so bleak without them don't you think?"
"I guess so," Seto replied. For the first time since his mother's death he smiled, a genuine smile.
"You should smile more. They fit you," commented Miss Hisakawa. "You seem so sad all the time. I am sure your mother would love to see you smile too."
Seto said nothing about the comment but he smiled again. "What is your favourite kind of flower?"
"Daisies. I love Daisies," said the young woman with a smile. "I think we should go back to algebra now."
"Thank you for inviting me to dinner Mr. Takashi. That was very delicious," Miss Hisakawa said politely as she wiped her mouth.
"Well considering all the time you put into Seto I am still in debt to you. Besides, I didn't invite you to dinner today, Seto did," replied Mr. Takashi.
Miss Hisakawa smiled and turned to Seto, "Well thank you."
Seto said nothing but smiled back. He began to collect the dishes and head wobbly to the kitchen. His father stopped him, "I will do the dishes today Seto, why don't you show your teacher around?"
Seto smiled again. "Okay," he said happily, he was never too fond on washing dishes. He turned around took his teachers' hand and excitedly led the guest around his home. "Here's the living room… here's the kitchen… here's the washroom… here's my father's room…and this is my brother's room," hewhispered as they arrived at a dark room with a little bed.
"He is so cute" the young woman commented as he took a close look at the infant child in the bed. "How old is he?"
"He is a year old," Seto replied rather proudly and stared fondly at his baby brother. "He is called Mokuba."
The young teacher smiled.
They left the room and soon they arrived at another, "This is my room," he said and turned on the light.
Miss Hisakawa smiled again and commented, "Wow, it's very… neat."
"Mom used to say that it is hard to find anything if a room is not neat," Seto replied softly.
The young woman walked to the bookshelf. She commented softly as she looked at the books, "You really like reading science fiction don't you?"
Young Seto nodded. "I wish we have the technology the people have in the books."
"Well a lot of stuff written in some of the older science fictions did become reality… you know you might even be able to make part of that fantasy come true."
Seto beamed and said dreamily, "May be…"
Seto was worried. Substitute teachers had replaced his favourite teacher for the past few days. "Poor Miss Hisakawa…" said a voice behind the door to the staff room. Seto stopped walking abruptly. He looked at the door the voice came from. The young boy curiously walked closer to the door.
"I know, she was so young," said another voice. The young boy recognized the voice belonged to the principle.
"What happened anyway?" asked a third voice.
"I heard a drunk driver hit her when she was crossing a road Sunday night. The car should not be moving at that moment but as I said the driver was drunk."
"Drunk drivers? I tell you alcoholic drinks are invented by the devil!"
"Did she suffer much?"
"No, it was quick."
"So what are we going to do about it? How are we going to tell the students? She taught a grade one class you know…"
"They will have to know eventually… Let's send a notice home to the grade one and two classes about this today. This way the parents can explain everything to the younger kids in advance. I will make an announcement to the whole school about it tomorrow morning…"
Seto held his father's hand tightly as he stared at his teacher's coffin. He was not crying, his blue eyes were emotionless as he stared. Finally he dropped a lone daisy he picked earlier onto its cover. It was quite unfortunate that the daisy should be wilted, but that could not be helped since the ceremony lasted for longer than an hour, and naturally, after being deprived of water for so long, the daisy withered. Just as the boy said before - flowers dies too easily, too quickly.
"We should go," muttered his father.
"No, I want to see it get buried," the young child replied firmly.
"Why?" asked Seto's father.
"Maybe she is still alive," replied Seto. His voice was soft, like a whimper.
Mr. Takashi sighed and squeezed his son's shoulder hard. "Seto," he said slowly, "she – "
"Is dead," the child finished the sentence, he took a deep breath. His voice softened as he continued, "I know. I know. She will not wake up. Of course not."
Mr. Takashi squeezed his son's shoulder again. They both watched as the coffin was lowered into the ground.
"Dad? Why do people die?" asked Seto suddenly.
Mr. Takashi said nothing for the longest time but at the end he replied, "Some people believe it is God's will."
"God?"
"Yes. They believe that whenever God wants to see a person he would call him or her to heaven," Seto's father explained softly.
"How about the others?" inquired the young boy.
"The others believes that death is nature's way to make room for new lives," replied his father.
"What do you believe?"
"I don't know," replied the father truthfully.
Seto thought for a while in silence. "Why do some people live longer than others?"
"Because some people are weaker than others."
"Some people are stronger?" echoed the boy. He reflected on his father's answers. "Will I die?"
"Not for a long time."
"Will you die and leave me alone?"
Mr. Takashi squeezed his son's hand reassuringly. "No, of course not. I will never leave you and your brother alone."
Little did the boy know, that in the matter of a year, when ever his mind unconsciously drifted to this piece of memory, or when ever he consciously chose to reflect on the event, a sardonic smile always manages to make its way onto his face.
Not the end
So…. What do you think? If you like it please review.