"Some days it was no trouble at all. Others, it was the equivalent of getting hit in the chest with a sledgehammer." Those were the words Ueda used to describe his current status to the school nurse. During the first week of classes, the students were more or less required to go to the nurses office just to see how their respective cases and if there was anything knew the staff had to be aware of. It was not the most exciting thing in the world but it was required, and so in all his dry sarcastic glory Ueda and the Nurse went over how he was feeling. And the general idea that they came to was that he felt like shit that was just forced through a trash compactor. But as the Nurse put it, and as Ueda was already familiar with that was just how life was. With no real curer for his so called "problem" all that they could do was lengthen his life out for as long as they could and hope he at least get's a "full" life before he finally kicks the bucket and progress past the point of bodily failure.
"Sometimes your just dealt a bad hand." Was how Ueda finally described his feelings to the Nurse after he was asked how all this not getting better thing was making him feel. Sometimes your just dealt a bad hand., his own thoughts floated through his head as he sat at his desk, ready to begin the day. The fatigue was what was hitting him the most it was one of the more simplier side effects of the slow degeneration of the nervous system but it had the ability to sink him like a rock. Unavoidable it leached his system of energy and no matter how much rest he got, he was always felt as if he was on his seconded all-nighter in a row. It was one of the main reasons he was late to his morning lessons almost all of the time and the main reasons his teachers for the most part let it slide.
His head was down as he looked at the notebook in front of him. On what should of been notes or anything slightly academically related was instead a drawing. Mr. Nomiya had talked to him the second day he got back to Yamaku. The ageing art teacher and a for the most part laid back man who was very passionate about art. He had been asked if he had been sharping his craft over the vacation and when Ueda said that he had he was only half lying. It had just begun to be harder for him to draw like he did two years ago when he was a first year let alone when he was still in chūgakkō. The strength and coordination in his arms and hands was not what it used to be and as he sketched away on his paper, his hand shaking as it went causing the lines themselves to wobble and become erratic. This was the primary reason for the second half of his summer that he had never even looked inside his sketchpad or picked up a pencil, frustrated more with himself than anything else that one of the only things he was as "good" at as everyone else had suddenly almost seemed unachievable. But after he had talked to Mr. Nomiya, he had felt a bit guilty about it. Giving up not just on Himself, but on his ideals of never letting his falling apart stop him.
So his hand shaking subtly as it may scratched across his paper in a series of clumped together lines which slowly formed into shapes themselves. It was rough and oblong but in the end it was a drawing of what he saw in the outside world. It was spring of course, April to be exact for even though Yamaku was a special school, it was still a school located in japan and so followed the own national school scheduled more less the same. And so he was drawing a cherry blossom located outside its petals slowly floating down through the breeze. Traditionally a transitory symbol the falling of the petals representing ones transiting from one part of ones life to another, it also had another meeting oddly more poetic for Ueda. To the Samurai the falling cherry blossom petals represented the ideal life: short, yet filled with vibrant beauty ending in a dramatic fall. A short yet brilliant life, it was in many ways the only ending Ueda could really aim for. To go out blazing a warpath that all could see behind him.
It was then that he felt a slight nudge. It was Hideo and he was making a small gesture with his hand motion him cover his paper up. Ueda stuttered for a moment before putting both his arms down covering the paper. Moments later their homeroom teacher passed them who also happened to be their first teacher of the day Mathematics. He was a large man that some had drawn conclusion that he was a samurai they found in a block of ice, who the school had somehow taught modern day mathematics. He had an okay personality and did not refrain from making jokes but was very strict once it came to teaching itself and did not take it kindly when he found his students dozing off or drawing in his class. As he passed by, Ueda turned his head and nodded to Hideo in thanks, who give him a casual thumbs up. But before Hideo could do much else the teacher began to speak.
"As you all know this being your third and final year the Yamku most of our time will begin preparing for the Daigaku Nyūshi Sentā Shiken or National Center Test for University Admissions to determine your secondary education future here in Japan and abroad. But since we are still in the first week of classes, we are going to be starting off a bit slow. And to help refresh one another of each other's faces. We will do some group work today. I have put you all in pairs, as listed on the board and you will have to do textbook pages ...." The teacher's voice droned off in Ueda head as he watched him write the assignments and groupings on the board. Ueda looked hard at the board willing the words to come into focus, another side effect of his condition his eyesight and hearing was also starting to go but at a slowed rate. He looked at the names noticing very quickly the teacher had very carefully not placed any really close friends together, forcing people to socialize. A smart choice Ueda thought but at the same time such a bore. He chuckled a bit as he saw Hideo name being paired off with Maaya Kanno, a deaf girl in their class, a little bit out there but very good at track and also Hideo had been crushing on her for the past three years. It was to say going to be an interesting experience for him. Then Ueda eyes found his own name he was paired with Ms. O'Connor.
Ueda had seen Fiona O'Connor there and again in their three years attending the academy together. Never really had that many conversations with her, none actually not accounting for hellos and goodbyes. But beside that she seemed like a nice enough girl. If looking a bit out of place, being one of the foreigners to attend Yamku though Ueda was not one to judge where someone came from it all came back to two people and intercourse in the end. It was how they all got there, so why did it matter if you where from Japan, America, or even Ireland. He looked around for the girl with the red hair, dragging herself and her desk/chair over. Another puzzle for Ueda to try and solve in his head, hearing conflicting stories of a cold harsh exteior and yet a warm interior and stories of well applied uses of a baseball bat. Another odd little tidbit. How did one baseball with one hand? He flipped open his stop drawing his little picture of the cherry blossom and looked to the opposite page of his notebook on the right hand side. His textbook out, he turned and looked towards Fiona's direction as he heard her desk finally clunk against his.
It was at this time that Ueda give a small smile as he spoke. "A forward note before we get started, I'm sorry that you got paired with me and secondly if at anytime you need me to either shut up, stop rambling, pay attention, switch to English, you know the basics. I give you full permission to hit me, just not too hard you might break me. But beside that it would seem it was time for us to begin our wonderful journey that is the hell that is advance level calculus."
Ueda heard the teacher clear his throat from by his desk where he was doing his own paperwork, and Ueda looked up at him and smiled. "I mean yay! Math is fun!" The teacher shook his head and give a small smile as Ueda looked back down and flipped open his textbook to the required pages, as he did so he whispered under his breath so that Fiona could be able to hear it but not the teacher. "If you shoot me now, you will probably have enough time to get yourself too before the teacher has time to react.... I'm just stating the options here."
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