Catalyst for Change

“Why do some people always push themselves for no reason?”

That was the question Sakuma Sora wondered aloud to himself one afternoon as he walked down a street on his way home from school. That day, his route was unusually quiet and empty. This was because school ended early that day due to some sort of academic competition for which their school served as a venue. Thus, the students who didn’t care much about the competition left school grounds hours ago, while those who did care were still present for the competition, leaving the street Sora was walking down rather quiet.

While Sora wasn't interested in the competition, his late arrival at school that morning landed him in after-school detention to write a reflective essay on how tardiness could impact his future career. Although he should've been able to finish the essay sooner, he struggled to even figure out what his future career would be. Since, like many teenagers his age, Sora was still unsure about what he wanted to do in life or what he was even passionate about.

He honestly wished that his teachers had waited until later on before asking students to fill out the surveys. He thought it was still far too early for students his age to be asked to seriously think about their futures. Because not everyone is as driven and certain as others.

At that thought, Sora is reminded of a scene from that morning’s homeroom session. Though he came rather late, Sora arrived just before his teacher reminded his class that their class representative was going to take part in the competition later that day. Sora vaguely remembers the class representative saying something about how the competition had something to do with her dream. Many students clamored around her, commenting back and forth, making it inevitable for Sora to overhear.

He thought it was incredible how someone the same age as him could already know exactly what they want in life and are already actively taking steps towards that goal.

As Sora continues walking and turns a corner at the end of the street, he sees a couple of people wearing safety gear and gloves gathered around a pole near the sidewalk that protruded out of the ground. The pole had a circular cover on top of it, like a large parasol. Upon closer inspection, Sora realized that those people were electricians from Zenith, a large and popular technology company that have recently begun installing clean energy sources like solar panels and wind turbines in more suburban areas. Since most of the clean energy sources were only accessible in big cities, far from smaller towns such as where Sora lived.

As he remembered hearing Zenith’s catchphrase, “Clean Energy for All, Forever.” on television, he was reminded of the Zenith company’s grand dream. Which once again made Sora think about his future. 

With advanced technology having started to solve many of the world’s main concerns, most careers and job choices have started to revolve around new technology. Many of Sora’s classmates have talked and discussed their career choices surrounding technology, which made him think that perhaps he should consider choosing from one of those options. But even then, he thought that the large variety of options that left him with were still far too many choices to pick from.

Deciding to give up on that train of thought, Sora kept walking until he arrived at his destination–his apartment building. He stepped onto the cracked sidewalk and looked up at the white-brick facade. The building boasted large, arched windows that reflected the evening sun, giving it a warm glow. Despite its old-fashioned charm, the entrance door was modern, with a sleek metal finish.

He stepped inside and headed straight for the stairway. Thinking about nothing except getting to his apartment, Sora ascended the dull-gray stairs until he reached the second floor. Making a turn, he walked down the hallway, looking at the apartment door numbers until he finds his own apartment’s number. He twisted the lock on the door, creating a satisfying click, before then proceeding to head inside and closed the door behind him.

“I’m home!” Sora called out in a louder voice while taking off his shoes.

Soon after, a woman’s voice responded to Sora’s call. “Oh, welcome back, Sora. Sorry, but I need to leave for work now. I’ve left you your dinner on the table. Go take a shower and eat it afterward.”

“Mm… alright Mom. Good luck with work tonight,” Sora replied as he approached his mother.

“Oh also… I’ll probably be working late tonight, so don’t wait for me and just go to bed, okay? You have school tomorrow, and you can’t oversleep again like today.”

“Okay okay, I will,” replied Sora in his usual laid-back tone, already tired of going through this exchange multiple times.

“I’ll see you tomorrow then, goodnight.”

“People usually say goodbye instead of goodnight in these situations, you know?” Sora remarked.

“Well, I wanted to say goodnight to you now, since I won’t be able to say it to you tonight,” Sora’s mother replied. 

“Heh, alright then… see you tomorrow,” Sora said as he chuckled a bit.

“See you tomorrow.”

Sora’s mother walked out the door and locked it behind her, leaving Sora alone to his own devices for the night. He followed his mother’s advice and took a shower before getting dressed in a hoodie and sweatpants and ate the food his mother left for him. His dinner consisted of a simple chicken and egg over rice, accompanied by some miso soup. After eating his dinner, he headed to his room and lounged around looking through social media on his phone for a while before turning off the lights and going to bed.

A couple of hours later, Sora woke up in the middle of the night and wanted to go grab some water. He could see light from beneath his room door and heard his mother’s voice coming from the living room. Figuring she’s calling someone on the phone, he decided to open the door quietly, as to not disturb her. Once the door opened, however, he could hear his mother raising her voice.

“Please… Let me borrow some more money.” She pleaded on the phone with a slight tremble in her voice. “I promise I’ll pay it back. I just need a bit more to pay off Sora’s tuition.”

“… Thank you,” she said after a while.

Hearing all that, Sora felt rattled, overwhelmed and unable to think clearly. He knew their family’s financial situation wasn’t the best, which was why his mother always worked late hours. But he always figured that they were getting by just fine. He'd also seen news articles and social media posts mentioning a decline in the world's poverty rate. So never once did he ever consider that his family’s financial situation was going badly. He always thought such problems were far away from him and existed behind the screen.

Now that Sora knew, however, he felt uneasy. He had no idea what to do in this sort of situation. He considered that maybe he could perhaps simply ignore what he had heard tonight and pretend that it never happened. Perhaps it’s best to just stay out of it and go through his normal everyday life like he always had before. After all, his mother had most likely kept quiet about this from him exactly because she didn't want him to worry about it. Surely, things would go perfectly fine without him needing to do anything.

But then, his initial unease turned into fear as he considered what-if scenarios. What if they couldn't afford rent or utilities? What if they had to cut back on essential items like food or medicine? The potential outcomes raced through Sora's head, terrifying him. So instead of staying scared the whole night, Sora decided to confront his concerns directly by asking his mother.

“Hey… Mom?” Sora called out.

“Oh… Sora,” his mother replied, startled. “Sorry, did I accidentally wake you up?”

Sora noticed his mother’s eyes were slightly reddened. Realizing it’s been five years since he last saw his mother cry. It made him realize that if this problem was making his mother upset to the point of tears, then he clearly couldn’t simply ignore it.

“So um…” he started. Sora then took a deep breath and prepared himself for the likely outcome. “Are we… uh… having problems with money?”

Sora’s mother’s eyes widened and then opened her mouth as if wanting to say something. But then decided against it and seemingly resigned herself.

“You overheard my phone call just now, huh?” she asked, figuring he found out just now. “Sorry… I wanted you to just enjoy your high school life without needing to worry about this… So I thought it’d be best to not tell you about it.”

Sora figured that was the case. So instead of questioning her further about her choices, he wanted to move on to the topic they needed to talk about.

“Should I um… start looking for a part-time job this weekend?” he asked.

“Eh? No, you don’t need to go through all that trouble. Just enjoy your high school life like you have been,” Sora’s mother replied.

“But–”

“Don’t worry… You probably heard, but I managed to borrow some money, so we’ll still be fine for a while,” she quickly refuted. “You don’t need to worry yourself over that right now. I promise I’ll find a way. Once you graduate from high school and grow up a bit more, then you can start thinking about these sorts of problems,” she said as approached Sora and started patting his head with a warm look in her eyes.

“… But you’ve been working yourself to the bone lately, haven’t you? And you're still struggling… can’t I just help share the burden a bit?”

“Sora… You only experience your youth once in your life,” she started, pulling him into a warm embrace. “I’ll make sure you can take your time and have fun with life. So you just make sure you enjoy it as much as you can.”

Unable to find a way to convince his mother to let him help, Sora gave in and went back to his room after getting a cup of water. As he lay in bed, he replayed the events that had just transpired. The weight of his family's financial struggles pressed down on him, making sleep difficult. His heart ached with worry as he lay in bed that night, continuing to think about how he could help out his mother.