Magnanimous (Blue Exorcist ~ Yukio Okumura)

Chapter 12

The very next day, I packed up my Literature supplies in my backpack and opened a text conversation to Yukio. Hey, it's Akilina. Are we still meeting up around noon to work on the assignment?

My phone buzzed not even minutes after I pressed the send button. As long as you're still okay with it, then yes. Do you want to meet up at my dorm or would yours be easier?

I told Yukio that it didn't matter to me and that I would be at his dorm building soon. I finished packing up my notes and books, then slipped on my black and white sneakers to walk out the door.

I knocked on the Okumura's dorm building, adjusting the strap of my bag nervously. The door cracked open and made a slight squeaking noise as someone opened the door. Yukio stood in the doorway, wearing a dark blue t-shirt and black jeans. "Hey, Akilina, come on in," he greeted me with a soft smile. "Rin's out with Shiemi and a few others from your class, so we should be able to work pretty easily."

"All right," I said quietly. "I have a lot of notes and different rough answers to some of the questions we have to put in our essay."

"That sounds great, I did some of the same. I have my things in here," Yukio led me to a wide living-room area on the first floor, just outside the kitchen. He had his book on a coffee table with notebooks and post-it notes and loose papers. "I'll get us something to drink. Is Ramune okay?"

"Yeah, of course," I nodded in confirmation, "Thanks."

Yukio walked off to the kitchen, coming back with two bottles filled with blue liquid and a plate with sugary brown cylinders. He placed the two bottles of Ramune on the coffee table, along I with the plate. "Have you tried karinto before?"

"No, I can't say I have," I shook my head, "Never heard of it."

Yukio gave a soft smile. "I believe you'll like it. My brother made them, he can actually cook very well."

I picked up the karinto, and it stuck caramelized brown sugar on my fingers. I cautiously bit into the end of it, letting my mouth taste the sweet dough. It was like a beignet, but had a sweeter and more syrup-like flavour. "It's very good," I nodded in approval.

Yukio smiled, picking up one of the sugary snacks. "I'm glad."

"All right," I waved my hand as I started to get back on track. "So, we have to write our paper on what we think are the top three themes of the book, right?"

"Yes, I have a few, but I haven't filtered through them yet."

.

I nodded in approval at our work, reading over the finally-finished final paper. The typed copperplate font lined the pages, filling up just over five pages.

"I think we should be able to start and finish our speech tonight, also," Yukio said. "It's only eight-thirty. If you typically go to bed early, then we can always work on it tomorrow after class."

"No, I think we'll be fine, I'm always up anyway late at night. If you'd rather wait until tomorrow, we can, though."

"Tonight is perfectly fine," Yukio began leading me from the printer for us to sit back on the couch. "I think we should each explain one of the themes, and simply paraphrase the paper. The last theme seems a bit broader and larger, so we can take that and the conclusion together."

I nodded at Yukio as I looked down at my copy of the paper. "So, you wrote about the cultural clash theme, so do you want to explain that? Then I'll present the one I wrote on society complexity?"

"That sounds perfectly fine to me. I think we should try to memorize our parts, even though we can go off the script. We shouldn't cite our paper exactly."

"Yeah. But we should still practice the last sections that we're doing together, right?"

"Of course, I think we should practice the entire speech together. Perhaps at the third theme, I'll introduce the theme of destiny, since you just spoke about society complexity, so it will make the change of subject more clear. Then, maybe you can explain the first example and context? Then we could go from there?"

"That sounds perfect to me."

.

"Okumura Yukio and Katai Akilina," the professor called out, cueing for us to approach the front of the class to make our presentation.

Yukio and I made our introductions, then began explaining our research. Yukio began speaking about the theme of cultural clash to the class, most of which was not paying much attention to the many speeches.

"For Achebe, the Africans' misperceptions of themselves and of Europeans need realignment as much as do the misperceptions of Africans by the West," he continued. " By his own act, he encourages other Africans, especially ones with Western educations, to realize that they may misperceive their native culture."

I nodded, taking my cue with a deep breath. "Which leads us to another major theme in the book of Things Fall Apart. From Achebe's own statements, we know that one of his themes is the complexity of Igbo society before the arrival of the Europeans."

I focused greatly on remembering the quotes I had to give out, trying to recite them word-for-word.

Yukio and I finished our speech with a nod after closing, and there was tired and soft clapping. The professor nodded at us as we sat back down in our seats, and he continued writing on a page before he called up the next pair of students.

At the end of the class period, the professor stated that the rest of the students left would present their speeches tomorrow, and to receive our grades with him before we left.

I walked next to Yukio, hearing girls give him compliments on his speech and adore his talking. He picked up the page with our grade on it from the professor, showing it to me as he read it.

100.00. Very original, good flow.

I glanced over at his other comments, reading his compliments for our speaking abilities and our story context.

"It went well," Yukio commented. "Good job, Akilina."

"Thanks," I gave the other a student a small smile. "You, too."