prologue (2/2)

“Never underestimate the power of earthquakes You should be thankful you’ve survived so far”

Ever since that terrible dayto get accustomed to earthquakes just because the aftershock tre time after

“I’ll let you in on a little secret It’s my number one rule: ‘Cowards win in the end’”

He scribbled “Cowards win in the end!” on the freshly wiped blackboard

“You’re handwriting stinks”

The class burst out laughing at this remark from a boy in the last row

“So what? More importantly, Goro Endo, are you afraid of earthquakes?”

The large eyes of Endo–if anyone was a prankster it was him–opened even wider

“Hey teach, how do you know my name?”

“Let’s just say us teachers froine Now back to the question”

“No, earthquakes don’t scare me But… I really hate them”

“Alright, let’s ask the others Who’s afraid of earthquakes?”

About a third of the class raised their hands, all girls Not even a single boy ad afraid

“Looks like this class is filled with a bunch of tough guys Or h Yukio Ota, which are you?”

When singled out, the small boy jumped to his feet as if he’d just been shot at Onodera’s decision tochart of his new class yesterday had paid off nicely

“No sir, I aotten used to the tremors which come so often”

“Never get used to earthquakes No et that OK?”

Onodera e the characters on the blackboard several times

“Alright, let’s try one more question How many of you hate the phrase ‘Do your best”?

This time the vast majority of the class raised their hands

“Naomi Matsui, why do you hate it?”

The tall,

“Because it’s super annoying”

The other students laughed, but Onodera felt her answer shouldn’t be taken lightly

“Why is it super annoying?

“Since we’re already trying our hardest, we just want to be left alone”

A few students nodded in agreement

“However,” began the honor-student opinion of class representative Satoshi+ Chiba, “I feel that we should be thankful that there are people froement”

“Good point After all, so else to tell everyone”

Onodera used chalk on the blackboard once more: “Don’t work too hard”

“Huh? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Can a teacher really say that?”

The class began to buzz with excitement Onodera paid noout blank sheets of writing paper

“I’d like everyone to write an essay The the I would like you all to include in your essay”

He paused until the papers had reached all the way to the students in the very back of the classroom

“You have to write about soh to want to scream, ’I can’t take this anymore!’”

At Onodera’s remark, looks of confusion appeared on the students’ faces

“Don’t hold back You can write anything you like Justyou can’t bear anymore”

At theassely well behaved He couldn’t help feeling each of the painfulWhile he believed that each region had its own characteristic personality traits, there seemed to be more than these children that would be explained by that

Onodera clapped his hands to signal the start of the assignment, and each student looked down at the blank sheet on their desk

He paced slowly through the silent classrooazed outside PE classes were in session across half of the school, and tents containing eency supplies and provisions covered the other half in a disorganized ency shelter, the PE classes were held in large groups corades The students appeared sos even worse, there was that mountain of debris on the far side of the school fence There lie the bank of the Toe heap Du up dust and dirt, and excavators moved busily around the trash collection area A dust cloud formed each time one of their shovels scooped up debris The school’s fence enclosed it on all sides, but the pile of debris had already well exceeded the fence’s height At times, eddies of dust particles would fall frorounds

One of the dust particle clouds looked as if it was raining down onto the children in the sports field

I wonder if that dust will have any impact on the children’s health…

Why did they decide on putting a trash collection area right next to an elementary school anyway?

Didn’t the school principal and neighborhood object?

Within a city scarred as far as the eye can see, the ele a fierce atte environ that effort

There’s just so themselves so hard There’s no doubt that the people here–and the city itself–want to get things back to normal

Onodera sighed deeply and looked back towards the children busying thenment