Ryuuto and the Scientist (2)

“Amazing…” she echoed the words I had just said, though I couldn’t quite tell whether the words had registered yet. And if she did, like, what would she think I meant was amazing? The club fair, her paper airplane, the donut event ... you gotta be more specific, Ryuuto!

“I meant…you know, understanding the content in that book, with that much enthusiasm…it’s really impressive, amazing, I’d say.” I took a deep breath: being able to say that it was much harder than I anticipated. I reflexively scratched my head at the bit of awkwardness that crept up over the past several minutes. You’ve done it now, Ryuuto…

“What a creepy thing to say–”

“-No wonder she doesn’t talk to him anymore–”

Begone, unwanted thoughts!

Sato fully turned around and slowly made her way back to the kitchen area of the common room. “You don’t think it’s weird?” She placed her book bag back down, making a soft thud on the ground once again.

I mean, ‘weird’ is one way to phrase it, depending on the context. Sure, it’s weird she is insanely knowledgeable in this subject and can make a physics-breaking paper airplane—but that’s not a bad thing. Far from it.

“Weird…I guess I thought it was a bit strange you haven’t mentioned it much,” I paused for a moment, turning to look out the window; the sun had already set, leaving the soft pink hues waning away towards twilight. Oh, how this one day has been packed to the brim with unexpected events.

“But it’s not really my place to ask if it's not something you–” I stopped as I felt two arms wrap around me, which took me by great surprise. A soft squeeze around the chest and a light tap on the back of my head. A hint of floral scent wafted over as a wave of air drifted past me. 

It must’ve been only a couple of seconds, yet it felt significantly longer, like time had taken a moment to catch its breath.

“Thanks, I really appreciate that–” she replied, taking her arms away before I turned back around. The conflicted smile she held onto earlier had vanished, replaced with a softer grin. “I’ll explain why I’ve been this wishy-washy about this–but…”

“But?”

“But first, let me get some snacks!” She backtracked and rounded the corner to her room, leaving me to wonder, once more, what in all that was high and mighty was going on.

***

“I grew up in a pretty small town back in Ohio, and at school….I was probably the only girl in town who was a total major science nerd.” She leaned back in her chair, taking a bite out of the shrimp crackers. “Mmmm… these crackers are really good…anyways, not like a normal nerd that likes science, like a super mega nerd.”

“Super mega nerd….” I tried comprehending her descriptions, which had quite a layer of adjectives and superlatives.

“Okay, Iwasaki-kun, what’s your favorite subject?” She seemed to have noticed my struggles in understanding.

“Huh..my favorite subject–” I pondered, “uh… I guess….international affairs,” I went with. Putting me on the spot like that….I guess that would be a subject I had at least some interest in studying. I didn’t really have a ‘favorite’ subject, to be honest, just topics I felt were easier to study, as opposed to the sciences. I still tried to do well in those courses, but the concept of a free-body diagram or the Krebs cycle still gave me flashbacks.

“Alright, so imagine you wake up in the morning thinking about international affairs, after you get home you read about it, you want to talk to your parents about it at dinner, read online about it, go to sleep thinking about it, maybe dream about it—” Dream about it? How would that even work?

She started laughing. “Okay, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but do you get the idea?”

“I think so.”

She leaned further back–wait, wait, Sato, that’s too far back, you’re going to fall over! “So at school, the dynamic was different; none of my friends were really interested in this stuff, so I didn’t really have many people to talk to. And when I’d talk to other classmates about it,” she thought for a moment. “They’d say it was weird for someone like me to be so obsessed about it…”

I blinked, engrossed in what she had just revealed about her former classmates. Why would they disparage something she was clearly so talented and passionate about?

They could be jealous. Envious of her strengths, it’s an easy way to prop themselves up by kicking others down a peg. It happens…much more often than it should, nevertheless.

“That’s rough. They were making fun of something you really like,” I remarked, taking the final pretzel stick from the small packet and pointing it at her. “That’s weird.”

“Right?” she smiled. “But I guess I don’t have to worry about that stuff now, knowing there are people who don’t mind this side of me,” she happily took another handful of chips and munched on them.

“The physics or the eating,” I joked. Her face instantly changed, forming the pout of the week.

“Hey!!” she snapped back, “this is my comfort food–and look at you enjoying them as well!”

I closed my eyes. “Sure.” I’ll probably grab something to eat later, considering I had some of the free food at the fair, though not as much as Lafon or Watson.

But Sato’s right; from what she’s said, it sounds like the path she walked to get where she is today wasn’t all rainbows and sunshines like one would assume from her bubbly personality. I nodded my head, and as I opened my eyes, my sight was greeted by Sato cheerfully opening another package.

It had only been two weeks since that initial encounter at the convenience store…staring at the mound of food that could send my bank account shivering in fear.

Besides, I should probably start looking into a part-time job – it should cover the rest of my living expenses with some leftover. I’ll indulge myself in these free afternoons and evenings for a little longer.

“Alright, that’s enough venting from me,” she stretched. “Any last questions?”

Not in particular, though…

“I suppose…. What really is an Eddy current?” I asked, and couldn’t help chuckling a bit. “I’m sure you explained very well before, but it really was going over my head.”

She leaned back forward, straightening her chair a bit. “Let me see, it’s hard to explain it without showing it in action—” she looked around the room, as if to find something tangible she could demonstrate with.

“Hold on… these are induction stoves, right?” She pointed at the electric stoves in the kitchen.

“Uh…I think so? I know they’re electric and don't heat up anything besides cookware.” Now that she mentioned it, the portable stoves that said they were ‘induction stoves’ resembled these kitchen ones, as opposed to the small gas-powered ones.

“Then that’s it! Induction stoves are a perfect example of Eddy currents.” Her eyes shone as she started explaining something about metal molecules and… oh boy, my head was spinning already. Ryuuto is confused! He may hurt himself out of confusion!

“Agh, I’m doing it again…Iwasaki-kun, are you free tomorrow?” she asked, snapping me out of my trance.

“Tomorrow–”

“Ah–never mind, I forgot my program had something planned then…” she playfully bonked her forehead with her palm. “How about Sunday?”

“Sunday’s good too–” To be honest, she could have picked any day of the week, and the answer would have been the same, I really have a lot of free time on my hands…perhaps more than I really know what to do with.

Like, I really came to university thinking the sudden increase in free-time to relax and the like would be a bonus, and not even two weeks later, I can't even stand my own inner thoughts in boredom…even so, where I was starting to look forward to what Sato’s schemes were.

“Okay, let’s go shopping!” She stood up. “And not for any ordinary things like clothes, we’re going to Home Depot!” Home Depot? Is that like a store you can buy houses from?

“Sato-san, what’s a Home Depot?”

Her left eye twitched, and her cheeks became slightly pink. “R-right, they don’t have that here in Japan, don’t they…”