On the table before us, each of them had a white curtain of cloth hanging down, concealing their faces, as if judgment were about to be passed before the court had even begun.
“Ahem… Miss Joanne, the truth is that we can no longer conceal the matter of your exchange student status.”
“Now that an unforeseen incident has occurred, we may have to send your information to everyone—students and teachers alike—so they can understand… the problematic background you come from.”
Hearing that, we lifted our head slightly.
It felt as if our heart were being squeezed tighter and tighter.
“W–wait a moment, please—!”
“If not…” the mysterious voice interrupted immediately, cutting into our trembling words.
“Then both you and that teacher must remain silent about this matter. You are absolutely forbidden from revealing anything outside. This is the result that both you and we will obtain.”
—An exchange.
“We will assign you a buddy teacher. It is something we should have done from the beginning for an exchange student.”
…Our heart felt as though it were being clenched smaller and smaller, until there was barely any room left to breathe.
Not because of the filthy proposal they had just offered—
but because someone else would replace Mr. Blue.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
So we answered them with a calm and polite voice, hoping to show that we accepted their proposal…
but not the idea of anyone replacing him.
“I already have Mr. Blue as my teacher… And the other students have been kind enough to accept me as well.”
We did not know then that those words would ignite that voice with fury.
“You’re nothing but a foreign child who used the pity of having no parents to study at our international school!!”
“We don’t receive a single cent for this—so you have no right to say anything anymore—!!”
Hah… hah… hah…
The sound of our breathing grew ragged as we struggled to keep the tears from falling.
Yet in the end, they still flowed out—
even as we accepted their terms.
“Do as we say. Or leave the school grounds and wander the streets as a vagrant.”
The final voice sounded gentler than before.
Or perhaps…
it was only the false kindness we had imagined.
That night, in the student dormitory, no one knew why we were quietly sobbing.
The next morning we simply told everyone,
“I miss home… I’m sorry for the noise.”
A few days later, an unfamiliar teacher appeared.
A neat white suit. A friendly expression. Impeccable manners.
He turned toward Mr. Blue, who was having lunch beside us, and began the conversation—while placing us at the center of it.
“I know you won’t leave… not without him.”
At the time, we did not know whether he had come out of genuine kindness to help the two of us—
or simply for his own benefit.
But in the end, we had dragged Mr. Blue into it as well.
The next morning, in the student dormitory, a letter was delivered into our hands.
After reading it…
we finally understood.
We had been nothing more than a chess piece all along.
A piece without a place of its own.
Because no one had ever offered us their hand when we tried to stand.
And yet…
perhaps there was one thing that might have been good about having a place to stand.
If someone were to look at us as someone important—
without caring whether that chess piece would lead them to victory or not.
“Don’t lie.”
“…If I did lie, would you know, sir?”
Joanne lowered her gaze slightly.
Mr. Blue’s blue sleeve moved as his hand reached forward, gently touching her face.
A face that had carried its burdens alone for far too long.
His large, heavy palm rested against one cheek.
He pressed lightly.
There was a faint scent—
like the sea.
Yet no tears fell, even as he searched her expression with that touch.
For just a moment,
the man in blue felt as though
he might be the one person who truly knew her.