CHAPTER 1 STORY 2
Miss Fran’s Maxim
“Elaina, everything we cultivate over the course of our lives becomes a foundation for living, you know.”
One day in the middle of my training, Miss Fran suddenly said something strange that sounded like an aphorism of some sort.
You reeeally get to know someone after being with them for a long time, so I had long since accepted that when she said things like that, it usually just meant she was hungry.
So I didn’t disguise my grimace as I answered, “Sigh… Is that so?”
“Yes—everyone has things in their past that make them blush to think about, or an experience that was so difficult, it made them want to die, don’t you think? But by no means should we try to erase those things from our pasts.”
“By the way, do you have any such past experiences, teacher?”
“Of course. Even at my age, I’ve gotten lost because I was chasing a butterfly and found myself on the verge of tears. That is my past, so painful, I could die…”
“Wow…”
I didn’t need to hear that…
“Do you have any, Elaina?”
“I had one just now, when I asked you that question, Miss Fran.”
“……”
“Right, so in the end, what are you trying to say?”
“……”
Suddenly, my teacher’s lips curved into a smile, and she said, “Even when we make mistakes, it’s precisely because of those mistakes that humans grow, bit by bit. Past mistakes become our foundation for moving forward. So it’s important not to fear them and to try all sorts of different things.”
“By the way, what did you learn from the mistake you just told me about?”
“I learned that butterflies are fickle, so I will get lost if I follow one.”
“But, Miss, weren’t you chasing butterflies when I first met you?”
“…Ah.”
I see. It looks like your foundations are still quite shaky—
Instead of saying that, I asked, “But if that’s the case, couldn’t you sometimes do the cooking instead of me?”
“No, no. I don’t do such things.”
“Your words and actions contradict each other…”
“What are you talking about? I am performing the action of ‘I don’t cook.’ By no means am I avoiding cooking because it is a big hassle. I’m someone who can do anything, if I try.”
“…So then, what have you learned from performing the action of ‘I don’t cook’?”
“The unshakable fact that even if I don’t make anything, with my pupil here, who is good at cooking, it’s possible to live a rich life.”
“……”
“Thank you for everything you do.”
Her foundations are not only shaky, they’re sinking as we speak.
It was a maxim I couldn’t help but question. But when she thanked me to my face, it gave me a strange feeling, part joy and part embarrassment.
…But anyway, those feelings shored up my own foundations.
“Should we go ahead and eat already?”
[Publication Information] Volume 1
Toranoana Buyer’s Bonus
[Author Comments]
This is a bonus original story I wrote to go with Volume 1 of The Journey of Elaina. Since the page count of the bonus stories that go out to the stores is limited, I often had to work hard to make everything fit, and it makes me smile to see evidence that I was already struggling when I wrote Volume 1.
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