Notemi

 “Let us continue with our discussion about your training, Notemi,” Professor Lorraine said as he sat back down across from me. “Do you have anything in mind about what you want to do in terms of composing music?”

“Anything works as long as it comes naturally,” I told him. “But do you really think you can get Laizen to be excited through reading?”

“You may have noticed by now, since you are quite sharp,” Professor Lorraine continued, rubbing the back of his head. “But Laizen needs to expand his awareness to include other aspects of the world.”

I swiftly nodded in agreement. “Otherwise he will be stuck moping around, correct?”

“That’s right. Logic can only go so far, and Laizen has tasted the consequences of that. Since logic purely relies on memory, having a small pool of memory would limit his capabilities and usage of intellect. Therefore, reading will allow him to build up his memory pool in order to gradually break him out of his current knowledge.

“It’s a huge ordeal since intellects tend to find reasons to do and not do things when they are not trained well, so overwhelming him with beauty was a method the Integrator suggested. And since he still considers logic as part of his identity, if his logic fails him right now…”

“Then he’ll find any excuse to prop up a crumbling building,” I finished.

“Exactly. And to see him regress would not be pretty. We are fortunate to be in a period where almost all of us are sensitive enough to see a crumbling building before it happens. And given his potential and interest in things outside of logic, we wouldn’t want to lose a talented intellect like that,” Professor Lorraine said.

Laizen is intellectually capable of doing many things. But there’s always this aspect to him that sulked and found excuses to not do something. Since I haven't seen someone like that… what is he doing? Why is he wasting his life?

I felt some sort of disconnection within him. There’s this fire that burns inside him and I can just feel it wanting to express itself. I provoke him a bit to add fuel to the fire, but he simply can’t see his own capabilities and starts defending himself. Like—dude, it’s right there! Open your eyes and stop being a rock.

It’s both hilarious and saddening to see him attempt to combine two aspects of himself that he thinks is separate. If only he could relax and stop seeing my provocations as an attack to defend against. Whatever. More opportunities for him to notice, if that’s what it takes.

Yet with Professor Lorraine, he doesn’t want to push Laizen. I feel there is a better way for him to go about his training and neither of them are taking advantage of it.

“Since there’s a limit to how much information he can consume in a few months, isn’t reading a bit slow for a method to open up his mind? He may not even finish one book in a day,” I said.

“The method is tailored for him and his interests. Remember, it is about getting him to feel excitement, which will naturally cascade into curiosity. This is a method I thought of on the fly since fantasy books are the closest you can get to seeing ETs and the like with human content. After he starts with these, he’ll come around to being inspired for other things.”

“Hmm, so you’re cracking him open. Is that what you’re doing to me?” I asked.

Professor Lorraine chuckled. “No, of course not. I think of you as quite independent, and I wouldn’t doubt your ability to sniff out my intentions. You can also stop trying to sympathize with me by keeping a low profile; I know you are plenty capable.”

I relaxed and lightened up my eyes as I exhaled over my scarf and smiled at his comment. “You’re quite sharp yourself. I guess you’re a teacher for a reason.”

“Please, we’re all capable of seeing others’ capabilities in this time period. The only exception would be your partner.” Professor Lorraine adjusted his glasses and slightly turned to see Laizen in the corner of his eye, and I did the same.

He was sitting at the other end of the table, several paces away, completely engrossed in his black-covered book with his dark brown bangs swept to the side. If he didn’t flip the pages every so often, I would have thought he was a petrified human statue.

“What did you give him?” I asked.

“A book on dragons.”

“What, are ETs going to show up as dragons?” I said. “They’re just Earth lizards with wings. They’re not going to fly to this planet from another star through empty space.”

“Who knows; history has shown many things that breaks expectations,” Professor Lorraine said. “In the meantime, you can also find some books related to your interest in this library.”

I thought about it, but even considering books was not something that entertained me. Perhaps there is something worthwhile in the library, but nothing that would interest me since I already have what I need to make music—myself.

“Is there any quiet room in here for playing with instruments?” I asked.

“Considering this is a library, it is meant to be quiet; but we can go to the music room if you’d like,” Professor Lorraine suggested. I nodded and we both stood up to face Laizen.

“Laizen!” Professor Lorraine shouted and my partner turned to face us. “We’re going to the music room, so we’re leaving you alone here.”

Laizen gave many terse nods and dug his eyes back into his book. The professor and I exchanged glances and giggled at his act of not breaking his zone. We made our way back out of the domed library and entered the classroom building of stone walls and wooden beams that decorated its exterior.

As we walked down the hall, the sun’s rays beamed through the large glass windows and into the classroom of our first class. At the end of that same hall, Professor Lorraine opened a door labeled Music Room and I took a peek between his arm and the door frame while he was searching for the light switch.

The dim, naturally lit room was large enough to hold many instruments. I saw a drum set and both a guitar and viola hanging on the wall through the thin slit until the professor walked in and allowed more space for my focus. Past the door with lights now on, and I saw one side of the room swamped with options. Both a keyboard and grand piano stood next to each other, while a harp stood on the opposite corner with a xylophone and smaller percussion instruments.

More instruments from the string and brass family lined the walls, until I stopped at a closet. Swinging open its doors, it displayed variations of flutes and repair pieces.

Professor Lorraine broke the silence. “I guess this is your library.”

“The only thing is to choose what I want to do with everything here,” I said. “Where can I even begin?”

“I can pick a random instrument for you to start.” Professor Lorraine pointed to the grand piano.

I sat down on its chair and began playing some notes, and was pleased that everything was tuned properly and resonated nicely with the sustain pedal. “Maybe I can just call ETs here with beautiful music, then we can skip training.”

He chuckled. “Don’t think that’s how it works, otherwise we would have many of them here by now.”

“Or everyone is playing bad music. They’re probably wrecking the ETs’ ears and calling forth demons,” I replied. “On that topic, what is the threshold of excitement that you need to see an ET anyway?”

“You’ll have to ask Seamus for that, but I’m sure you need a high amount of energy within you because I only saw a blur with my current state,” Professor Lorraine snorted. “And we don’t have an instrument to measure such things.”

I let his words sink in for a moment and then something clicked.

“Wait, that's it!” Jumping from my seat with energy coursing through my clenched hands, I turned around to face him through the strands of my disorganized bangs.

Professor Lorraine tilted his head. “…What is?”

“Instruments to measure things!” I said. “But that’s not the point; what if I use instruments to imitate the feeling of excitement through a song? Then anyone listening could feel the same way.”