How are you feeling, Lain? |
I’m doing okay. How about you, Touko-san? |
Pretty much as always. I could use a little more time to calm down and think things over, though. |
You’re very busy? |
Yes... Ha, ha. Now our roles are reversed. I feel like you are counseling me. |
Ha, ha. |
Ha, ha. By the way, what did you decide to do about the diary? |
I decided to keep a diary. |
Wow, that’s great! I didn’t waste my money right before payday. |
I’ll pay you for the diary. |
I’m joking, I’m joking. |
But I get paid well anyway. |
But I guess it's too low considering how many hours I work a day. |
Oh, no. |
This isn’t good. |
I'm just grumbling about myself. |
But you’re funny, Sensei. You’re a lot of fun. |
Ha, ha. |
Well, why don’t we begin? |
Let’s pick up where we left off last time. |
Have you learned the word "ego" at school? |
Uh-huh. I looked into it. It’s about knowing that you are yourself? |
Right. |
People around your age can get unsure about that. |
They ask themselves "what kind of person am I?" Boys sometimes think that they are heroes and that they will accomplish some superhuman feat someday. |
Girls sometimes imagine that they don't belong with their own families. |
They think instead that they are members of a rich elite family, and that a prince on a white steed will surely come one day to take them away. |
I don’t feel that way. I think that I’m just me. |
But It’s hard to tell what you are just by yourself, isn’t it? |
When I was younger, I thought that there was a different me, and that somehow I wasn't the person I was at the time. |
A different me? |
Yes. |
For example, if there was something happening that I didn’t like, I wondered why I had to be the one dealing with it. |
I thought there had to be some kind of mistake. |
I thought that someday I would return to the real me. |
I also thought things like, if there was a big earthquake, everyone would die, but I would be the only survivor. |
I thought that I was someone special; someone "chosen." In another words, I believed in a "me" that could not be. |
It’s funny, isn’t it? |
I don’t believe that I’m anyone chosen. I’m okay with being ordinary. |