Whys?
The World is So Cruel
7 Years ago, year 201x ....
“Good morning, everyone! My name is Rentaro Ishida, call me Ren, and I am from Japan! From today, I will be in class with everyone, please help to the future!”
After introducing himself with a loud and passionate voice, the young man standing in front of the class immediately bent straight 90 degrees, then stood straight back up. Not only the spirit of ’45, Ren flashed a very brilliant smile. In fact, his two gray eyes seemed to shine brightly.
Contrasted with the young man who just entered and shouted, the students of the entire class—including the teacher who stood beside—just fell silent with rounded eyes. As an average teenager aged 17 years, they understand that being a new student has mixed feelings between groggy and happy. However, didn't he overdo his spirit?
“So, where is my seat, Mother Teacher?” asked Ren still in a loud voice.
Ms. Ernita, a math maple teacher who doubles as IPA-A XI's homeroom teacher gasped. “Oh, yes, your seat is on an empty table there, in the left corner of the back row,” he said while showing directions.
Ren nodded steadily. “Good, Mother Teacher,” he then walked excitedly like a child.
Every step he took, almost all eyes—especially the female student— tailed him move. They are still very curious about the figure of Ren who appeared suddenly in the middle of the lesson and outwitted the attention. Not to mention the different Asian faces and relatively white skin color compared to the average male student who is brown and yellow. Isn't he getting more attention?
As soon as he arrived at the empty table mentioned, Ren pulled out a chair and sat on it with a firm posture. His deskmate—yang turned out to be a male—lam immediately welcomed with glee. “Konnichiwa* ,” map.
Ren was a little surprised to hear his greeting. Then, he smiled broadly. “Konnichiwa,” reply Ren.
“My name is Andika, just call Andi. Yoroshiku Onegaishimasu* ,” he said with a big smile.
“Yoroshiku nee,” reply Ren again. “Your Japanese is good, Andi-san*.”
Andi chuckled softly. “Ngak, coke. I can only do the simple thing from watching anime. Going to Japan was my dream, especially to Akihabara. He said it was anime town, right? Have you ever been there?”
“Then I went there—”
“For the one in the back,” cut Bu Ernita from the front of the class, “Mother knows you are curious about new friends and want to get acquainted. But now it is a lesson hour so please retract the introduction first and focus on the lesson.”
Miss Ernita took a breath. “Good, we continue. The three people who were called please do the matter on the board. Bagas, Eva, and Rika.”
The three disciples called by his name stood up. Together they walked to the front of the class to work on math problems that were already available on the board. Ren who suddenly joined in the middle of the class just noticed.
“We're doing a math quiz,” whispered Andi explaining. “Bu Ernita will call us randomly to work on the matter ahead. I haven't been called and hopefully not forever.”
Ren paid no attention to Andi who was busy praying—rather than studying, then he looked straight ahead of the class, watching the students who were working on the matter seriously. Among the three of them who lined up, one looked striking with curly hair that grew brownish black.
“Andi-san, that's who's standing in the middle?”
Andi stopped praying and faced forward. “Oh, her name is Eva. He's our class secretary. Her hair is unique, right? She is quite popular because of her hair.”
Not telling Andi, Ren was only fixated on looking at the unique haired girl.
***
Note:
*1: Sapaan “happy noon” in Japanese. However, if spoken other than during the day gives the meaning of greeting “hai”.
*2: On self-introduction is “ fun to meet you” in Japanese.
*3: A polite/respectful call to someone in Japanese.
Connect ...