Professor Layton and the Rewound Repercussions –Part 12—

"Good morning, Clive."

"Morning, perhaps. I would argue the quality, though."

Layton watched the boy from across the partition. Clive was looking worse than he had the last few visits. The dark circles under his eyes had returned, emphasizing the paled skin on his face. "Are you well, my boy?"

"Do I seem well, professor?"

"I was under the impression that you had been doing better as of late."

"Impressions are nothing. All that matters is truth."

"Have you been sleeping?"

"Sleep? What's that?" Clive laughed bitterly. "I don't think I remember a time when I slept well, let alone at all."

"You have to have slept. It's impossible to go long periods without it, my boy. You'd die."

"I'd go crazy first." Clive smiled. "And look where I am, professor."

"You aren't crazy."

"You keep saying that, but I'm not so sure that it's true. Thinking back, I've probably always been like this."

"Like what?"

"Different."

"Everyone is different, Clive."

"And I suppose we're all special little snowflakes, too, are we?" Clive shook his head. "Oh, no, professor. After my parents died, it was difficult to connect with others. I wasn't like the children at my school. I couldn't speak to them on the same level. Well, then again, I suppose nothing has changed."

"Give people a chance, Clive. You're being unfair."

"Don't you feel the same way, though, sometimes? After all, you're the only person I feel I can talk to like this."

"I am honoured."

"The way you avert the focus of the conversation from my questions seems to answer in the affirmative."

Layton sighed, brushing a fleck of lint from his collar. "If I've ever felt like I couldn't connect to someone, it's because I haven't been trying hard enough."

"Not all things in life are solved just by trying, professor."

"I never said they were. Conflict between people, however, is. If you do not succeed the first time, it means you've been going about it the wrong way. The only way to reach an understanding is to keep trying until you find the right method."

"That's foolish. Why should I do all the work?"

"Mock me as you might, Clive, but it worked with you."

Clive flushed. "So you do not understand me after all."

"Not fully, no." The professor put his hand to his mouth, tapping his lip thoughtfully. "But I intend to. At first, I couldn't fathom your thinking at all. Your motives were unclear to me. Now, however, they are quite clear to me. Had I been in your situation, I might even have done the same."

"I'm afraid we won't see eye-to-eye on this issue, professor."

"Why not, my boy?"

"You were in my situation."