What Not To Do (Part 2)

A unique thing about people with pure hearts is the magnetic effect of their presence to both good and bad alike. They are like the sun, and the people who find themselves fortunate enough to get close to them eventually fall into their orbit and remain close.

Fortunately for everyone except Abigael Liljadottir. What started as a way to build a fake friendship turned into something else entirely over the course of her time in Norway.

During the days and weeks spent in Oslo, Abigael found her hardened self softening. The killer instinct that she honed and used to her incredible success was particularly neutralized when she was around him.

He’d make her laugh with witty jokes and converse with her about a wide range of topics. There were also little kindnesses like holding an umbrella for her in the rain or making sure that when they walked along the street together he was always the one walking closest to the road.

Those tiny events added up and became big for her while remaining small and unconsciously done for him. It was just in his nature to act this way. That very nature of his made doing her job extremely difficult.

But where there is kindness, there is something to be taken advantage of.

It was in the third week of negotiations that the breakthrough finally happened.

Andreas Pedersen signed the contract with less than favorable terms for the environment and the public.

Why this sudden change you ask?

It stemmed from a night at his house where he and Abigael cooked a delicious meal together, and the night ended up becoming something much, much more.

Suddenly, those terms weren’t so disagreeable to him.

For Abigael it was a great success that spelled the beginning of her most drastic climb up the corporate ladder yet. The commission alone from the contract agreement was enough where she could realistically retire if she wanted.

But what was the true cost of doing such dirty business?

A broken heart.

And to her surprise, she was the one who left Norway with it.

The affair between her and Andreas fizzled even faster than it started. Once Abigael went back to Iceland, their contact with each other went from infrequent to nonexistent. She couldn’t understand why he was treating her that way and agonized over where it could have all went wrong.

She never got her answer from him, so her genius brain decided to forsake her and began to make up a series of answers that steadily killed her inside. It was like death from a thousand cuts each time she thought of what the reason could be. She was falling apart like that daily until weeks later when she received a phone call from Andreas, and he finally explained his point of view.

Andreas did his job so diligently because he truly desired to be a public servant. By allowing himself to fall in love on the job, he betrayed the very oath he took and felt tremendous guilt for it. More so than even that, he thought about the power dynamics of that relationship and realized that he was perhaps unconsciously using his position of authority over her. To an outsider looking in, it would seem like he dangled the contract over her with the express purpose of having her use her body as payment.

The very thought made him sick, and every day since that night it ate at him as though his chest was a fish tank full of piranhas.

Abigael thought his explanation was childish and silly, and laughed it off thinking it was a joke at first. She told him that she never saw it that way. Truth be told, if anything it was the other way around; even though she didn’t go into it thinking the two of them would actually hit it off, she was trying to make him more amiable by getting him to like her.

Because of that, she was more than willing to continue on with him, and made it clear that was her truest desire.

But Andreas couldn’t shake it, he was still far too guilt ridden for what he did, and he seemed to want to punish himself by rejecting her heartfelt proposal.

And just like that over the phone, their relationship completely severed and they never met in person again.

This event served as a defining moment in Abigael’s life, from that point on she promised herself that she would never be damaged by such weakness again. If being kind only ended up bringing her so much pain, she would do whatever it takes to defend herself. So she engrossed herself in her many talents and became ever more ruthless as time passed by.

Abigael Liljadottir vowed to be an unstoppable force forevermore.

Until she was confronted once again with another immovable object.

That object being the unexpected arrival of her daughter Anita.

One could imagine her shock and dismay at finding herself a mother in the midst of her prime, but she decided to keep Anita as a way to spite the very idea of Andreas. She never once told him about her, and was more or less an absent parent for Anita’s first 5 years of life.

She was too focused on her work to be a doting mother, and made the dreadful decision to send Anita off to her father to live with him in Norway. Of course, to butter up the deal she sent her daughter there with large sum of money for his troubles.

By that point, Andreas had long quit his job as Minister; he abandoned it well before his term was up when he learned how the Smelting Plant in Reyðarfjörður had been operating. The entire industry was rotten from the bottom up and he knowingly signed off on the continuation of it because of his relationship with Abigael. From the horrible impact on both land and sea, to the inhumane conditions of the miners of bauxite in places like Guinea and South America, to the transport of the refined alumina to Iceland.

It was capped off with the mistreatment of workers in the plant in Iceland that resulted in a series of lawsuits that went nowhere due to the company protections he approved in the contract.

That little action of signing that paper brought about immense human and environmental suffering, and the guilt pushed him into a reclusive life far outside of Oslo deep into the Norwegian countryside.

In the high forest is where he became a complete recluse, spending the last few years there tending to his land outside his cabin and doing nothing more than an occasional trip into a small town for supplies. He remained there alone and preferably forgotten until his daughter Anita showed up at his doorstep out of the blue.

At first he couldn't believe that Abigael managed to find him, and then he was even more shocked to learn that he's had a child of his own living in out there in the world this entire time.

With the little girl revealed to be his daughter was a young woman named Elisabet who had another contract for him to sign. A contract that requested he accept the responsibility of caring for the girl until she turned 17, at which point she would be returned to Iceland and live with her mother to prepare for a future of Abigael’s choosing.

If signed, he would be allowed to hire a caretaker or a butler to handle miscellaneous deeds in regards to making Anita as comfortable as possible along with enough money that he would never have to worry about providing for her so long as she was with him.

There were many things to be flabbergasted and offended about, but he was far too overwhelmed by the presence of the little girl to care. She was proof that his selfish decision to fall in love with Abigael had actually borne something wonderful; it didn’t mean he was allowed to stop feeling guilt over the terrible toll his love brought upon others, but it meant that he had another chance to at least make something right.

He signed the contract and gave the confused little girl a warm embrace.

He vowed from that point forward that he would shower her with love. He vowed to be her immovable object to make up for Abigael’s disregard of her happiness. If he was all Anita would have as she grew up, he’d give her two parent's worth of attention and care.

For the next 12 years they made that cabin in the cold Norwegian countryside the warmest home in the world.

---------------------------

“When I finally had to go back to live with my mom last year, I wasn’t too thrilled about it. I spent the first few weeks sulking, I was stuck in her giant house and never really left. I thought it was going to remain that way forever, but to her credit she ended up giving me a chance to make the very first decision I've ever made for myself. Want to guess what that was?"

"...."

He is far too troubled to answer.

"Twelve years in a small mountain town with my dad and many months stuck in that house with my mom really made me want to experience something entirely different. I had seen how incredible Tokyo looked on TV ever since I was a child, the big tall buildings, the lights, the people, the food. It all looked so magical and so unique that I just had to see it in real life. So when she offered me my very own decision, I asked her to send me here to complete my final year of highschool.”

The two of them have reached the bottom floor and are walking by the gymnasium. The shouts from the girl’s volleyball club and the sound of their sneakers squeaking and scuffling along the wooden floor go entirely unnoticed.

“And she just let you do that..?” he asks, weary of the answer.

“No, there was a catch.”

Tani looks like he just put a piece of chocolate in his mouth that turned out to be pure chalk.

“....”

“She had me sign a contract. I would be allowed to come here to study this year, in return I will work for her company after I graduate instead of going to college.”

“You’re kidding…”

“It’s not a bad trade off really, she could have never let me come here in the first place. I would have been sad had I not ever got to meet you and the others.”

By now, Tani feels like he’s holding down an erupting volcano with his bare hands. “That's a terrible trade off..! Anita, this whole thing… it’s so horrible.”

‘THUNK!’

At the very moment he finishes saying that, a volleyball flies out through the gym doors and hits him right on the side of his head.

“Gbbffff!”

He reacts to the unexpected impact by swinging his hands in the air as though fighting off a swarm of bees. The volleyball bounces off the wall and rolls harmlessly at his feet.

“Ah, sorry!” a girl’s voice echoes from within the gym.

“Did that really just happen right now of all times!?” he shouts incredulously. “This is some serious stuff we’re dealing with over here!”

That projectile unintentionally served as a break from the heavy atmosphere; with a chuckle, Anita picks the ball up off the ground and tosses it back inside to the girl. Well, tosses wouldn’t be so much of the word as propel. The ball is thrown so hard that it seems to obliterate everything inside the gym in a series of incredible thuds. Her throw unleashes immense chaos and the girls of the club all duck for cover and squeal in fright.

Anita sends them a friendly wave and continues walking as if she didn't just drop a bomb in there.

“T-Thanks..?” a girl meekly responds in disbelief that she just witnessed the laws of physics being broken.

Tani gathers his senses and rushes to Anita’s side at the shoe lockers down the hall.

“I know things aren’t particularly perfect, but it’s the cards I’ve been dealt.” she says while putting on her street shoes.

“You're just going to accept those cards with a smile on your face?” he asks as he follows her to the doors leading outside to the courtyard.

It’s here that he realizes he left his umbrella up in the clubroom. Anita sees this and uses her umbrella to gesture him to come to her side as she stands in the doorway. The noise of the storm reaches its crescendo from where she stands. Tani looks out to the wet world behind her as though it had a life of its own, but Anita steps right into it and opens up her clear umbrella in one smooth motion.

He hesitates for a moment before taking a step in close to her to shield himself from the rain. As they walk, their shoulders make contact with each other and he can’t figure out what to do with his hands. The way her arm is positioned she almost has to rest her elbow on his shoulder to cover them both, so his hand occasionally bumps into her side dangerously close to somewhere inappropriate.

“It’d be easier if I held the umbrella up over us since I’m taller than you.” he points out.

Anita chuckles and doesn't oblige. “It might be easier, but I prefer it this way.”

He puts his hands in his pockets and bashfully looks away.

“My mom is coming here to Tokyo for a couple days on business, so I’ll be missing club until next week while I entertain her. Sorry about that.”

“No problem, that’s just the way it is.”

“And to answer your question,” Anita says, her eyes now looking towards something much farther away from the front gate that they’re walking towards. “I am going to accept those cards.”

Tani bites his lip. “Is that what you want to do though? Are you really okay with working alongside her at a company like that?”

“Of course that’s not what I want to do.” she quickly replies. “I hate the very idea of it.”

“Then why don’t you---”

“Remember what I said about focusing too much on the future?”

Tani pauses for a moment before saying, “I do…”

“I consider myself lucky that I have the chance to do what I want right now. So my only wish is to focus entirely on the present. I want to have fun with you, I want to learn Japanese, I want to experience my first and only real year of high school to the fullest, and I want to look back and know that moments like right this very second were the best times of my life.”

A lump suddenly forms in his throat.

She presses herself against his shoulder as the rain grows even heavier, hitting the umbrella with so much force that the noise within their little dry space is almost deafening.

Anita has to raise her voice when she finishes, “So if you don’t mind indulging me for a little while longer, I will remain in your care until we graduate together.”

Tani strains himself just to look at her properly and register such an innocent request, that clear desire is so palpable that it drags at his very soul. Yet he finds himself more than reluctant, there’s no way he can just do that and pretend that nothing bad is happening beneath the surface.

“You mentioned earlier that I might find myself in your parents' story.” He says, seemingly getting closer to her as he speaks. “You were right, and when I imagine myself in their shoes I know exactly what not to do.”

“...?”

Straightening up his posture, his voice becomes even stronger than the pelting raindrops when he says, “I can indulge you to your heart's content this year, but that’d be too easy.”

As if to emphasize his words, a thunderclap pierces the sky in a tremendous bang. It gives extra power to what comes out of his mouth next.

“You coming here to Kokusai was not only your ticket to knowledge, it was also your ticket to freedom.”

“Freedom?”

“That’s right,” Tani presses his fist onto his chest like someone pumping himself up before battle. “I am going to get you out of that shitty contract.”

Anita stops in the courtyard and looks up to him surprised. Tani has never looked more earnest than now, the heat from that fire of commitment reads as certainty. Even though he’d be up against the most ruthless businesswoman in the world with unlimited funds at her disposal, in this instant she allows herself the foolish belief that he could actually pull such a thing off. He is her genius club leader after all, she’s seen first hand what he’s capable of.

But therein lies the main problem.

Even if he had a one percent chance of winning, taking on her mother would prove to be a bridge too far; it would take absolutely everything in him to go to battle with someone of her stature. And doing that would be the very thing she has preached against ever since she met him and saw what he was doing to himself.

Forget his own goals of college and his life afterwards in the world of politics--- any chance of even the most basic high school experience would be impossible.

It’s not only Tani who would suffer: Emilia may never build the confidence needed to find friends outside her club, if he doesn’t help her now she will go into her senior year alone once the rest of them graduate. Mariko may not find what she’s looking for without Tani there to guide her towards her truest self. Charl would certainly fail English, and the manga that he has so passionately been working on would no longer have any inspiration. Ume wouldn’t be able to enjoy spending time with her childhood friend if he spends all of his trying to fight for Anita’s sake.

The world around Tani would irrecoverably change.

What kind of person would she be if he let him sacrifice so much for her?

She shows him a strained smile and gently cants her head to the side when she says, “Tani, thank you… but I don’t want your help with that.”

Tani was confident that she’d accept his help; he even offered it with the purest intentions and zero strings attached. So he is a bit dumbstruck when he gets rejected.

“...O-Oh.”

He doesn’t know what else to say. Does this mean she doesn’t want to get herself out of the contract? Or maybe it means she doesn’t believe he’s capable of saving her from it? He begins his usual tailspin when things don’t go in a way he expected. But when Anita leans into him and puts her head on his shoulder it snaps him right out of his stupor.

“You said it’d be too easy for you to indulge me to my heart’s content, so instead do me this…” She takes a step out into the rain and holds the umbrella over him. With an accepting smile that looks both melancholic and grateful, she tenderly says, “Keep yourself in mind, and let me be the one to help you.”

He finds her exceptionally beautiful in this moment, the rain seems to glisten like falling diamonds as it lands atop her golden head and it sends his heart aflutter. He still attempts to keep her dry by pushing the umbrella back towards her, but to his surprise her arm doesn’t budge, it’s as if she were a human anvil.

“I don’t need help with anything though..." he says, finally giving in and grabbing the umbrella while turning his flushed face away from her. "And how the hell are you so strong?? Damn!"

She clasps her hand around his and keeps it firmly in place, prompting him to return his gaze.

“No one needs help with everything, but everyone needs help with something.” Anita is getting soaked, but she’s smiling as though she doesn’t even notice the rain. “Tani, I’m going to help you achieve your goals without sacrificing these precious present moments. If you let me do that, then you will have helped me way more than getting me out of that contract ever could.”

She gently releases her grip on his hand, sliding her fingers along his as she backs away from him. While watching her drift away, behind her shoulder he catches sight of someone standing at the front gate.

It is Elisabet, dressed smartly in a suit and holding a black umbrella over her head while waiting patiently for Anita to get to her. She sends Tani a little wave and a knowing smirk that might as well have been a dagger thrown at his chest.

However, he dodges it and looks back to Anita with a face he had to work hard to create. He refuses to see her off in anything other than a smile.

“Anita... Let’s have fun this year.”

She shows him a toothy smile before turning to run to Elisabet. “I already am!”

Tani watches them leave the school grounds and stands there lost in thought like a statue. After a long couple of seconds he lets a soft sigh aid him in turning away to begin heading back to the clubroom.

“I guess I’ll do my best for her.” he says, gripping the handle of Anita’s umbrella with all his strength and lifting his head up in determination. “I will definitely do my best.”

Today’s UN Lesson ---- The best help costs nothing!