033 [voice; Japanese]

[shockinglycool]

[Sorata sounds tired, but also pretty amused.]

I understand now.

There's a reason people under twenty shouldn't drink....

...It turns out to be dangerous.

How enlightening.

Comments

[bakuhatsushinji]

...Dangerous?

[bakuhatsushinji]

That doesn't mean I'm more worldly. It just means I interacted with different people. People with less experience in life than the people you grew up with in a temple. A lot of the kids in my class were, I guess, not idiots, but like, they deliberately chose to ignore a lot of things. Focus on some of the better things. Trying to find something fun, something that made them feel worthwhile. You probably know a lot more about life in general than I ever will.

Besides, different perspectives are a good thing. Different perspectives get results.

[shockinglycool]

That's pretty flattering, but... still not sure if I agree. I might know more about certain things, but it's at the expense of a lot of more normal things. I didn't go to normal school as a kid, y'know - I don't know how they got that arranged, but I was taught in the temple. But when I hit high school, I wanted to try it out, and somehow I managed to pass the entrance exam for the school in town. Still don't really know how. Maybe someone adjusted my grades for me. It was a shock to me. I barely knew what anyone was talking about half the time. Culture shock.

Maybe the people in my class were ignoring things, but that doesn't mean they were... I mean, the way I was raised, I was ignoring things, too. No limited perspective is better than any other limited perspective, I mean.

[bakuhatsushinji]

It's not a case of what you're taught and what you know. My grades in school were shit. It's what you do with that. Besides, who decides what is 'normal' things? Especially if we're talking like, world vs world vs world. What could be normal in your world could be completely 'what the hell' in mine, you know?

I didn't say they were, just that you need those different perspectives because otherwise everything ends up stagnant, and you're stuck with things you don't agree with, believe in, that sorta thing.

[shockinglycool]

That's right...

I guess in a way, if nothing else, this place is really good for that. Foreign perspectives. In about the most extremely foreign way possible. Not that so many people here take advantage of that... myself included, probably. It's understandable, but it's still a wasted chance.

By the way, I wanted to apologize formally for prying and butting in and presuming about you the other day. I've been pretty insensitive in that regard lately, and I feel bad about it.

[bakuhatsushinji]

That kind of thing is generally people's last concern. Survival and coping tends to top the list. Can't blame anyone for that.

Huh? Oh, it's fine. It's not like I was in the best mood anyway. This place seems kinda great for that.

[shockinglycool]

Just survival isn't enough. It's pretty much an indisputable fact that this is a highly stressful place. It's understandable, of course, but we have to work at it and work to counter it, too. That's why I think places like Shinji A's bar are necessary, even if I'm starting to have my doubts about alcohol. It's an imitation of normal life and normal behavior.

Still, though. I don't like being like that, and it's unusual for me, so I felt badly.

[bakuhatsushinji]

Yeah. At the same time though, there's a lot of people who don't seem bothered with trying to find something resembling normality. It's odd.

Fair enough. Like I said though, it's probably a by-product of this place so you don't need to feel too badly. Happens to everyone. It'd be more concerning if it didn't happen at all, you know?

[shockinglycool]

Really. It's depressing. Just chaos forever won't do anyone any favors, even the people causing the chaos. And other people just seem to be eager to take the excuse to act crazily and violently.

Maybe it would be more of a concern, but I also think of it like, "I'd be best off if I'd never had a reason to be like that at all."

[bakuhatsushinji]

I'd say 'maybe they'll learn', but, I'm not hoping for anything.

Huh. I guess. Life doesn't tend to be that kind though.

[shockinglycool]

I keep hoping that if things start to look more normal here, people will act more normal, too. Instead of just being stressed and bored all the time. Guess optimism is a little useless, though.

...No. It's not. Guess my optimism is just all over the place today.

[bakuhatsushinji]

Optimism isn't a bad thing.

[shockinglycool]

Not bad, no. Just a little unproductive sometimes. I'll have to work harder than I have been to back it up.

[bakuhatsushinji]

It's better to prove the optimist right than the cynic. A cynic has the easy option.

[shockinglycool]

Because unfortunately, the cynic has reality on his side, huh?

[bakuhatsushinji]

...Ha, yeah, unfortunately.