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“Shinobu, we have to talk.”
The boy glanced at the door as it opened to reveal a familiar figure standing in the doorway. It had been hours since their last encounter. Picking up the pen which he had put down when his roommate came in, he continued in his writing.
“It’s late, Mitsuru. Our graduation is tomorrow morning.”
“So?”
Silence.
“Talk to me, will you?” demanded Mitsuru exasperated. “I’m your best friend! I deserve at least that much.”
With a deliberate motion, Shinobu put down the pen and looked away. “You won’t understand.”
Mitsuru sat down on Shinobu’s bed firmly, and stared at his roommate. “Try me.”
Shinobu looked at Mitsuru, really looked at him and nodded. “Maybe you will understand at that,” he replied softly, more to himself than anything else.
“So what is it? Why are you going to Harvard? I know enough to know that if you really wanted to, you could have vetoed the choice.”
Shinobu looked down at his hands. “It’s the university that Akira went to.”
“So?” pressed Mitsuru. “Why should that matter?”
Shinobu looked at Mitsuru and started slowly, as if each word was being unwillingly dragged out from him. “It matters because…”
The silence stretched between them. Mitsuru stared at Shinobu.
“You don’t have to walk in Akira’s footsteps to be somebody, Shinobu.”
“Perhaps,” Shinobu nodded slowly. “But that’s what my family expects. Especially now that Akira has no plans of ever returning.”
“So you’re just going to follow what they say? You’re not going to fight back? At all?”
“They are my family.”
“But you’re not Akira.”
Shinobu looked distant as he stared back at Mitsuru who returned the stare unflinchingly. “Does that matter?”
“Of course it does!”
“…”
Mitsuru paused, then started slowly. “I’ve learnt a lot in Greenwood. I’ve learnt calculus, history, ancient languages, but one of the more important lessons that I’ve learnt is that even though I may be born an orphan, I still have family. I have the Ikedas, even if we aren’t related by blood. And at Greenwood, you, Suka, Shun, and the others… you’re all my family.”
“Your point being?”
“My point being, that being a family encompasses a lot more than blood and DNA. It involves actually accepting that person for who they are and what they want. They don’t force you into expectations merely because that is what is best for the family. They have expectations so as to push you to be and do the best that you can. Going to Harvard doesn’t mean anything other than that you’re attempting to finish a cycle Akira left undone.”
“And going to Tokyo with you breaks this cycle?” Shinobu lifts one brow cynically.
“This has nothing to do with Tokyo University or me or your family even. This has everything to do with you. You have to make a stand somewhere Shinobu, before you just become an Akira wanna-be. At least your brother made his choice.”
Mitsuru climbed up to his bunk. “You have to live your own life. Think about it. The Shinobu I know is stronger than that.”
Shinobu watched his friend fall asleep before turning back to the window where he caught a glimmer of his own reflection in the moonlight. “It’s not that simple.” He whispered.