Volume 2 - Top-Tier Character Ayanokōji-kun [DISCONTINUED] [READ THE REVISION]

SS - Mizusawa Kenji: Old Friends Die Quick

"Ridiculous... This is just ridiculous! There's no way this just happened. And he misunderstood, too!"

"Mizusawa-san, please! Calm down! Put your pen down and take a few deep breaths!"

"A-Ah... Sorry, Himari-san."

The man who just had this short outburst was none other than Mizusawa Kenji, rector of the Kokushikan University in the Tokyo Prefecture. A man of renown and immense intellect. He was revered in his field and had published multiple groundbreaking mathematical research papers.

"Please, just... Leave me alone. I need some time to think."

"God!" his housekeeper said, puffing up her cheeks. She was called Himari Takahashi and had been serving the Mizusawa household dutifully for multiple years now.

"You always make me worry so much, you know?!" she said, pinching the old man's cheeks.

"S-Sorry. This is just... I don't know how to react to this."

"Look." She sighed loudly. "I have no idea about this whole math stuff, but if I can help you in any way, please just call me. You have this really bad habit of keeping silent and just bottling everything up into yourself 'till you explode. Even though you're so smart, you're such a moron."

"S-Sorry..."

"And don't apologize all the time! Geez! Anyway, I'm going to clean up the rest of the house now. Call me if you need anything, alright, Mizusawa-san?"

"I will."

This scene of a small woman berating a man who was several heads taller than her would have seemed surreal to any outsider, but this was just how their relationship was. Mizusawa Kenji appreciated these circumstances, because it was one of the few things he had left in his life.

When Himari left the room, his mind started entertaining two questions.

The first one being...

"Am I willing to change?"

Mizusawa Kenji thought that he was always right. That everyone else was weak, and that his environment simply needed to adapt to him. 

It was the boy known as Ayanokōji Kiyotaka who had made him think another way. But of course, it wasn't as simple as that; he wouldn't just change his methodology overnight.

But now, he was at least considering new options.

"Just like she said, I really am a moron..."

He knew he could fix his issues. He just needed time, patience and a calm mind. That's how he went through most of his life, and he wasn't planning on changing that anytime soon.

There was a far more pressing matter at hand.

Quickly grabbing the slip of paper Ayanokōji Kiyotaka had written his name on, he stared at the writing with utmost concentration. Of course, it was just a beautifully written name. He wouldn't get any more out of it.

"Ayanokōji, huh?"

He could clearly remember the man's face. Those focused eyes. That unyielding voice. And that way of thinking that knew no bounds, always striving for the top.

"Just what is Atsuomi doing nowadays...?"

Calling Kenji and Atsuomi mere acquaintances would have been an insult to their relationship. These two men of great renown knew each other better than most people did. They were best friends, and shared the same ideology. They used to be comrades.

The only difference being that Mizusawa Kenji didn't dare to step over the line.

As he kept thinking about old times, an uncomfortable memory resurfaced.