Chapter 38 Interview and Ex-Girlfriend
Fujii Itsuki called Tachibana North College in advance to make an appointment for the interview, and went for the interview on the day he received his qualification certificate a week later.

Jiuhuayue was acting strangely during this week, often practicing the piano secretly without telling him.

Matsumae postponed the time for meeting Jiuhua on her own initiative. According to her, since they were all going to enroll in Tachibana Kita, she wanted to give Jiuhua a surprise at school.

Qiansui wanted to be friends with Jiuhua, so he occasionally visited Jiuhua's house this week and became more familiar with Jiuhua.
On the day of the interview, around ten o'clock in the morning, Fujii Itsuki arrived at the application office of Tachibana College as scheduled and waited there with other applicants.

There were more than a dozen applicants, from all age groups, and it was obvious that the competition was quite fierce.

These people are considered the best educational resources in the entire Otaru city, right?

However, Fujii Itsuki was very clear that there were actually few people among them who were in competition with him.

The mood was pretty good, but Fujii Itsuki didn't expect that he would meet someone here who he shouldn't have met.

When Fujii Itsuki walked into the waiting room carrying his briefcase and took his seat, he happened to sit next to her.

At first, the other party noticed him, but was afraid to confirm it at first.

After looking at him a few more times, I dared to confirm that he was indeed Fujii Itsuki.

"You are Fujii Itsuki?! Why are you here?"

Fujii Itsuki turned his head and saw the face of the adult woman next to him, and felt that it looked slightly familiar.

"You are--"

"It's you! You've changed a lot," she closed the interview materials and said with a smile, "You didn't recognize me either?"

Her black hair was tied into a simple ponytail with a black rubber band. She was wearing a standard suit with a white lining, which was a very clean and neat female workplace style.

As I looked closely at the face, it began to feel more and more familiar, until memories of my high school years came flooding back.

Fujii Itsuki remembered.

"Akagi Muko.?"

"It seems you recognized it. How have you been these years?"

"Not bad." Fujii Itsuki withdrew his gaze and did not focus on the chat with his old classmate.

"Why did you go back to Otaru?"

"For work reasons." The answer was also very casual.

Akai Muzi could see that he was not very interested in her, but this was reasonable, so she smiled back, "You are not still caring about the past, are you?"

"How could that be? I just don't know what to say to you. I have an interview coming up, so I need to think about what I'm going to say later."

"How can there be no topic? We are old classmates. We fell in love with each other. There are many things worth talking about in high school, right?"

"."

It would have been better if she didn't mention it. As soon as she mentioned it, Fujii Itsuki recalled the past.

Akai Muko
Fujii Itsuki's girlfriend of one year in his senior year of high school, who also attended Futaba High School in Otaru.

Back then, Fujii Itsuki and she were in the same wind orchestra.

When he was in high school, Fujii Itsuki was a saxophone player in the club, and she played the single horizontal instrument. They were in the woodwind group and they often practiced together.

Because of practicing together, the two gradually became familiar with each other.

Akai Muzi took the initiative to confess her love to Fujii Itsuki, and then they became boyfriend and girlfriend.

As for the reason for the breakup, it was very realistic. When she graduated from high school, she was going to the United States for further studies, and Fujii Itsuki was going to take the entrance exam for Kyoto University. Their paths were different, so naturally they broke up.

The only thing I'm not satisfied with is that the breakup was too casual.

If she values ​​the relationship between us, it would be fine if she seriously broke up with me because she needs to study abroad.

But in the month when she was about to go abroad, their relationship was neither close nor indifferent.

On the day he went abroad, he sent me a text message saying "Let's break up, see you again if we're lucky" and never showed up again.

The friend was also deleted.

Fujii Itsuki was quite depressed at the time, and it was during that time that he became addicted to smoking.

But now seven years have passed, and when Fujii Itsuki sees her now, he no longer has the same emotions as before, and the slight dissatisfaction and loss he felt when they broke up have also long since disappeared.

Fujii Itsuki checked the interview materials and said, "There's really nothing to say."

Akai Muzi stared at him, smiled as if relieved, and said, "Shu, there's no need to be so cold. We're not just classmates for three years, we're from the same hometown, and we're lovers. We've been dating for a year. You should know that after I took the initiative to break up with you, I haven't found another boyfriend."

"Whether you have a relationship in the future has nothing to do with me," Fujii Itsuki sighed, "Ms. Akai, please respect yourself. What happened in the past is in the past."

"You've become more handsome. Much more handsome."

"That's not a reason for you to continue flirting with me."

Akai Muzi didn't pay attention to his words, "Didn't you say you were preparing for the entrance exam to Kyoto University? How was it? Did you pass? That school is super hard to get into. Well, apart from other things, I suffered a lot while studying abroad. I finally practiced my spoken English well so that I wouldn't be forced to return home."

At this time, two people came out from the inner room. One of them bowed to the interviewer who was in his sixties, then turned and left.

The interviewer looked at the people in the waiting room with a serious face and said:

"Has Fujii Itsuki arrived yet? Come in in five minutes."

Fujii Itsuki responded to the interviewer and waited for the five minutes to end.

"Fujii, you must be here to apply for a teacher position. What are you applying for?"

"Mandarin teacher."

"Teacher? If you are applying for an external teacher, it's not a big deal. You didn't come here to apply because you heard that Tachibana Kita was short of teachers. It's not that the news is false, but Tachibana Kita has never been short of teachers. What Tachibana Kita lacks is formal teachers who can be incorporated into the system. The requirements are very high. Although Tachibana Kita has been a private college since its establishment, formal teachers are all national civil servants incorporated into the Ministry of Education."

Fujii Itsuki did not answer.

He knew all this information. He was not applying for an ordinary teacher position, but had agreed to be Chitose's (class teacher) and concurrent teacher.

"But it shouldn't be difficult for you. After all, you were the only one in our entire wind band who could maintain the top score in the school while practicing your instrument during the competition."

"Thanks for the compliment."

Five minutes later, he got up on time, straightened his suit and tie, walked to the door of the interview room, knocked three times, and went in after getting a response.

"excuse me."

Fujii Itsuki closed the door gently.

left middle right.

There were three interviewers in total.

The person on the left is the serious old man who just went out to call people. He should be the Dean of Academic Affairs.

The short-haired woman on the right, who is also around 45 years old, looks much kinder. She should be the director of education.

The middle-aged man, who is about fifty years old and wearing square-framed glasses, should be the principal.

"Please take a seat."

After bowing, Fujii Itsuki took three steps to the small stool in front of the three people and sat down.

The three of them opened his file and began to check it. After a few minutes, the three of them exchanged a few words with his file, and the director of education and science department spoke first with a smile:

"Please introduce yourself first."

Fujii Itsuki prepared for two or three seconds, then said:
"Fujii Itsuki graduated from the Faculty of Literature at Kyoto University and worked as a teacher at Tokyo Metropolitan Mita High School for three years. His hobby is reading. In addition to English, he is also proficient in other languages, such as Chinese and German, and can communicate fluently with foreigners. After returning to Otaru, I learned that your school has been short of teachers, so I applied for your recruitment. I am very grateful to your school."

The director of education listened to his self-introduction while looking at his resume.

His eyes finally stopped at the honor Fujii Itsuki had won before, the [Gold Medal in the National Wind Instrument Competition], and he nodded, then asked:

"I see. Mr. Fujii, can you tell me why you chose to resign from Mita?"

Upon hearing the word "initiative", Fujii Itsuki reacted.

The Dean of Education must have known about what happened in Tokyo when he asked this.
In the workplace, that is a typical case of the subordinate rebelling against his superior.

There is no problem morally, but it is a major stain in the workplace.

After doing something like that, is it a luxury to want to be a teacher again? This is what I have been avoiding in my heart.
The Dean of Academic Affairs put down Fujii Itsuki's resume and asked again in front of him, "Mr. Fujii?"

"."

What should I do? Should I lie about my motives and say that I had no choice, or should I take the initiative to tell these school executives about my purpose and make the interview fail directly?
It's a difficult choice either way.

Perhaps I should have agreed to Matsumae from the beginning and asked her to help me find a good recommender to get me into Tachibana Kita.

Fujii Itsuki placed his hands flat on his knees and remained silent for a few seconds.

He quickly rejected the idea in his mind.

No, he knew he should never do that.

The reason why I came here and returned to Otaru from Tokyo, isn’t it because I don’t want to live a lie forever?
If he keeps his head down at work and swallows his anger in the face of unreasonable demands from his superiors and the school, then what is the point of his past actions to expose Takashima's academic affairs?
He didn't want to be a coward and a dog of Takashima's academic affairs officer all his life and submit to the authority of the higher-ups, so he chose to have a good time, curse loudly at school, and then resign and return to Otaru.

Even if I lost my job, even if I lost my future, I was still worthy of the dream I truly desired.

Isn’t that what you thought at the beginning?

Isn't that why I did it in the first place?

Now that I want to regain my past, find my true "real thing", and pursue my true dream, shouldn't I break through the "constraints" and stop caring about the worldly right and wrong of the world?
Yes
This is the purpose of coming here again.

This is the real reason why I want to become a teacher again.

"Teacher Fujii? Can you tell me why you chose to leave Mita?"

After a long silence, Fujii Itsuki finally raised his head and faced the three interviewers.

After thinking for a few seconds, he began to explain:

“I chose to resign because I was dissatisfied with the corruption and unreasonable system within Mita High School.

“I believe that I am a teacher first and a school employee second. What I need to do is to be worthy of my students first and then the school.

"I don't think I need to waste time doing meaningless, extra work, which is not only irresponsible to students, but also a manifestation of succumbing to the backward system of the school.

"If I had chosen to swallow my anger like other teachers, my colleagues would have been exploited and my students would have been harassed. This would not be in line with my identity as a 'teacher' and would not be a good dream for me since I was a child.

"I chose this career because of my dream. Naturally, I have to live up to this identity, live up to my dream, and live up to my heart."

Fujii Itsuki then spoke out everything he wanted to say, as well as his original cause and motive.

After the statement, the expressions of the three interviewers remained unchanged.

The three of them were still whispering to each other as before. Finally, the Dean of Academic Affairs, who still had a kind expression, smiled and spoke:

"Then the interview ends here. Mr. Fujii, please go down first. If you pass the interview, we will notify you separately. Thank you."

*
Click.

The sound of beer falling.

Fujii Itsuki took out a beer from the dispenser of the vending machine, pulled the ring, tilted his head back, and drank it all in one gulp.

The coolness permeated my entire body, just like the never-ending ice and snow above my head.

Fujii Itsuki stood under the Academic Affairs Building, looking at the Big Ben on top of Tachibana North High School covered in snow.

The open playground meets the colorless and transparent sky, creating a desolate and silent scene.

He thought that the interview was probably a failure.

The workplace is the workplace, and it will never talk to you about your dreams.

What the school needs is a stable order, not individuals with unique ideas.

This is how the world is. Before you gain the right and identity to say those words, everything is a lie.

Those words are of no use at all except to comfort my weak heart.

"How was the interview?"

Fujii Itsuki put down the beer can in his right hand and turned to look at the person next to him.

Akai Muzi was talking to herself with a smile.

"Probably gone. How are you?"

"I'm fine, just going through the interview process normally."

Akai Muzi saw Fujii Itsuki looking melancholy.

"Did you say something you shouldn't have said again?"

Fujii Itsuki smiled at the beer can in his hand and said, "I feel uncomfortable if I don't say it."

Akai Muzi stared at him for a while, as if she saw him standing in front of her in high school. "You are still the same. When we were in the wind band, I told you not to argue with the seniors. Some things are not useful just because they make sense."

"That's just who I am. Otherwise, I wouldn't have returned to Otaru."

"I really won't listen to advice."

After saying this, Akai Muzi leaned the briefcase in her hand against the wall of the teaching building, walked to the vending machine covered with snowflakes, and ordered a can of beer exactly the same as Fujii Itsuki's.

She pulled the ring with one hand, made a toast gesture to Fujii Itsuki, and then drank it all in one gulp in front of him.

"Ah - comfort."

Fujii Itsuki looked at her smiling face facing the snowy sky in a daze and asked:
"When did you learn to drink? Didn't you hate it the most at first?"

"Five years ago, when I was studying in the United States, parties are inevitable in the United States. We go out to sing together. The atmosphere is there, and we always drink a little. And people always change, don't they? Do you smoke or not?"

When Fujii Itsuki saw the thin cigarette handed to him by Akai Muko, he did not refuse it.

He held it in his mouth, took out his lighter, held out his hand to protect the cigarette butt, and lit it with a "click".

"It tastes weird, why is it still minty?"

"Ladies' cigarettes." Akai Muzi could tell at a glance that he was an old smoker.

Fujii Itsuki pinched the thin cigarette filter with his index finger, stared at the gradually burning cigarette butt and said: "I still suggest you quit smoking. Smoking is bad for your health."

".? How dare you say that to me! You smoke and drink too! What did you say back then? Oh, by the way," Akagi Muzi straightened up, pinched her throat, and imitated the tone of Fujii Itsuki's words back then, "'I really don't know what the point of smoking and drinking is. It's a waste of money, and it's hard to smoke and drink. It's just asking for trouble for your body.'"

Fujii Itsuki smiled and said, "Then was the then, and now is now."

"So I said, people change. By the way, have you eaten?"

"your treat?"

"It's my treat."

“I can’t believe it—”

"What's your tone?"

"Someone knows it in his heart."

Akai Muzi cleared her throat and said, "Well, that was then, and this is now."

"the difference?"

"The only difference is that I have a little money now. How about going? I can also tell you about my experiences in the United States in the past few years."

"I'm not interested in the shit you've been doing over the past few years." Fujii Itsuki stuffed his cigarette butt into an empty beer can.

"So you're rejecting me?"

"However," Fujii Itsuki changed the subject, picked up the beer can, and took two steps forward with the motion of pitching a baseball, throwing it into the trash can more than ten meters away, "I'm still happy to eat your meal for free."

"What are you talking about? Wait a minute. Fujii, you are not still as stingy as before, are you? After all, you are an outstanding graduate of Kyoto University."

"No way, poor."

"What a sting."

(End of this chapter)