Chapter 86: Chapter 85 - The Truth About Kuro Kurogane

Outside the faculty office window, gently falling rain complements the soft spring afternoon.

The rain is not torrential.

This is a soft spring shower.

It is a gentle spring shower that blankets the earth in quiet forgetfulness.

Minami Asakura is alone, at her desk looking over student records.

Or, at least that’s what she is supposed to be doing.

Instead, she is continually day dreaming about one person.

Kuro Kurogane.

Again.

Over the last couple of weeks, it has happened much too often.

Since she went to his house, her perception of him has completely transformed.

The "suspicious playboy" she thought of has changed from simply being a silly idea to being an extremely silly idea.

To say the least, there are several things Minami still does not understand about Kuro.

There are several things about Kuro that lie behind the veneer of his calm demeanor.

There are a few things about him that Minami has been fortunate enough to see.

There are certain times she catches a glance of him when he turns off and his expression becomes distant.

There are certain times when he looks older than he should.

There are certain times when he looks forlorn and lonely.

Even when surrounded by people that love him.

For Minami, she can’t put her finger on why, but she senses Kuro is troubled.

And once she sees it, she can’t look away.

The next piece to the puzzle came in an unexpected manner and at an unexpected time.

That afternoon after class, Minami was in the faculty lounge having coffee and talking to a few of her fellow teachers.

Nothing was out of the ordinary with the conversation up until it reached Kuro’s name.

"Kuro Kurogane has changed so much in the last few weeks."

Minami glanced upwards.

The person who spoke was one of the older instructors; one who has known Kuro for quite some time.

Immediately, her focus heightened.

"Has he changed?" asked another instructor.

The older instructor nodded.

"Compared to one year ago, he is like a different person."

This statement piqued Minami’s interest.

Different?

How?

The older instructor took a sip of his coffee and then let out a long, slow breath.

"When I knew him before, Kuro rarely spoke to anyone."

Minami blinked.

Kuro was not typically that way.

"He arrived at school.

He got good grades.

He went home.

That was it."

The other instructor nodded.

"I agree."

"He looked so tired all the time."

The room became more quiet than before.

Then the older instructor continued.

"Since Kuro’s mother passed away, he has never really bounced back from it."

Minami’s body tensed.

His mother?

The conversation about Kuro continued, but now, more than ever before, Minami listened intently.

"Kuro was a young boy when he lost his mother."

"Kuro was in middle school when he lost his mother."

"Kuro probably lost his mother when he was even younger than that."

"Kuro took the death of his mother very hard."

All of the instructors exchanged sympathetic looks.

"Kuro no longer opened up to other people.

Kuro no longer relied on other people.

Kuro developed a self-sufficient way of emotionally self-soothing."

Minami felt a tightening sensation in her chest.

The picture in her mind was not one of calmness in regard to the Kuro she knows now.

He used to be a young boy.

He was a boy without friends.

He was a boy who had lost someone and was very sad.

He was a boy who was alone carrying his own pain.

So many pieces were starting to make sense.

Way too many pieces.

Maturity.

Patience.

Giving so much to help others.

Not asking for help himself.

All the pieces came together.

Then one of the two other teachers said,

"It’s great to see things are so much better now."

The second teacher said, "Yes."

"The boy’s father got remarried."

"And the new wife is a great lady. *

As soon as she heard this, Minami thought about that woman.

"She was so nice."

"She was so kind."

"She was just a nice person.

"Things appear to be more unified now in the family."

The teacher smiled and said, "I’ve never seen him smile so much in one year than I have in three years.

For whatever reason, that hit harder than anything else said by any of us.

Laugh more.

And that sounds so simple.

But it was so heartbreaking.

Had he really suffered from this much solitude?

Then the bell rang.

And all the teachers left the room.

And the conversation ended.

But Minami stayed in the same place.

Both physically and otherwise.

Because everything that was taken as a belief was now destroyed.

Every belief.

Every theory.

Every wild theory.

The playboy.

The manipulator.

The student with bad motives.

They did not exist at all.

The truth is much simpler.

And much sadder.

Kuro Kurogane had never attempted to be "bad.

Kuro Kurogane had only attempted to hide his pain .

And Minami had failed to see what was right in front of her.

She was not able to figure out what to do during the rest of the day.

That held true as well during class.

Every time her eyes shifted toward Kuro, she noticed new aspects about him that she had not noticed before.

The way in which he took care of others without hesitation.

The way in which he provided aid to his fellow students without being asked.

The way in which he listened more than spoke.

The behaviour no longer appeared to be a mystery to her.

The behaviour felt familiar to her.

She was familiar with people who fit those criteria.

People who learnt that trusting in other people to care for them would only receive disappointment.

People who grew strong by themselves believing that they did not have an option.

People that carried their burdens by themselves.

Minami had never before felt ashamed of herself as much as she did now having met him.

Minami was not ashamed because of how she had felt about his family or her foolishness of writing in her notebook.

She felt ashamed for the way she had judged Kuro.

She judged him without any information or understanding of him.

Still he remained kind to her.

She felt a sting from this epiphany of her being judgmental.

The end of the festival meeting was met with the same as it had from the beginning.

The students were accessing resources for their projects.

The staff were submitting documentation for the meetings.

Finally there were only Minami and Kuro remaining in the meeting room.

The sunset filled the room with orange light with shadows consuming the floors.

No one spoke for several minutes.

Driven to her limit by a series of competing distractions, namely an enormous stack of papers that required simple statements describing the situation she was beginning to believe

She suffered through intense difficulty attempting to come up with the right answers.

Suddenly after many attempts

"Kuro."

He raised his head

"What?"

Before she could respond to this simple query, she lost her resolve and was reduced to fear of his response—even to the point of abandoning the whole attempt.

Almost

"I had heard about your mother."

Silence

Not uncomfortable silence

Not awkward silence

Only silence

Kuro rotated his head down

"I see."

No anger

No surprise

Acceptance

This made Minami feel worse

After several moments of internal struggle, she began again

"I’m sorry."

Kuro’s reaction was to blink

"What do you mean, ’I’m sorry?’"

Minami was caught off guard by this question

"What do you mean, ’What do I mean?’"

"I didn’t understand you."

There was a pause

"I’ve misunderstood you."

There was another pause before he added,

"I’ve misjudged you very many times."

At that point, Kuro looked at her

And surprisingly laughed

And even more surprisingly for Minami was that he laughed again

And at that moment, she lost a bit of her sense of what was going on.

"Why are you laughing?"

"I’m sorry," he said covering his mouth

"It’s just that you sound so serious."

"I am serious!"

"I know," he said—and that added to what Minami was feeling

Minami sighed

And then slightly lowered her head

That would be considered a rare act of recognition that she was apologizing

"I misjudged you."

"I made assumptions about you."

"I thought I knew you."

"I do not know you."

The room became quiet once again

Kuro then spoke again

"You are not the first."

This I found somewhat alarming

"What did you say?"

He raised himself slightly off the chair

"Most individuals develop misconceptions about another person."

He had no resentment in his smile.

He only had sincerity in it.

Some people believe I am okay.

Others believe I am not okay.

Some people believe I can be counted on.

While others believe I am really odd in how I act.

Minami slowly nodded her head in acknowledgment.

Everything he had said resonated with her greatly.

Then Kuro shrugged his shoulders.

"It just happens".

It seems so simple.

Almost too simple.

As if years of being misunderstood got to the point of being something to get used to.

It was hurtful to her for some reason.

More than she had anticipated.

As the sun went down slowly through the window panes, the room grew darker.

Finally, Minami was ready to learn about him.

Not because she was looking into his life.

Not because she had any interest.

But because she wanted to know the person.

Not the presumptions.

Not the misleading information.

Not the facade.

But the human being.

They eventually finished putting away all the files.

The work was done.

They both stood up.

At this point, the moment should have been complete.

However, as Minami was preparing herself to leave, she noticed a difference in Kuro’s exterior.

His exterior was clearly less rigid than he had previously been.

This change was due to reasons other than the work they had done together.

Kuro had a family that was automatically riding to the rescue.

Aoi , Akari , Shizuka and Daichi .

All family members who love Kuro.

All family members who will keep loving Kuro.

All family members that will help Kuro to rebuild himself.

Knowing this made Minami smile.

The sky above them was void of clouds.

There was no longer any rain.

Minami felt an internal change within her heart as she walked side by side with Kuro towards the entryway of their school.

In other words...

She made a choice.

Those assumptions had been eliminated.

There were no more investigations.

She had thrown away her notebooks.

If she wanted to understand Kuro Kurogane...

She would do so with complete honesty.

She would also do so, however, in the role of a teacher and possibly also one day as a friend.

Minami would not contemplate this last possibility, however.

Not right now.

As Minami and Kuro walked out into the soon to be gone sunlight, they would not be aware of the woman watching from just inside a nearby window.

Blue haired Aoi Tachibana.

She watched them closely.

She was thoughtful.

She was observant.

For the first time...

She was not watching Minami Asakura as a teacher...

But as an opponent.

This next Chapter of their lives was about to unfold!