A short story of Arthur.
Memory.
Arthur: You were kind of tense today.
Kostya: Yes? What makes you think that?
Arthur: Well, when you got a rubber band in your face five times in a row, I wondered if you were an idiot. Something happened?
Kostya: What the fuck? I was just thinking. When I was on the bus, I saw several drunken men molesting guys at the bus stop. I didn't see the whole situation, but they looked like they were killed, it's just that no one helped the young guys even.
He took out a cigarette and lit it.
Arthur: Hey, look over there. – I pointed further down the street, where a guy was walking, immersed in himself, and three guys, about 25 years old, approached him.
Kostya: Do you think they want to upload it?
(P.s. Slang language will often occur in memories. I will try to explain it.
Upload - (upload a person) That's what they say when they want to breed a person, by going through words and ambiguous meanings of phrases)
Arthur: I don't know, let's see.
The guy, dressed in a black jacket with a collar, did not pay attention to his surroundings and continued walking.
Three hooligans purposefully approached him and stood in front of him.
Bully 1: Hey, hey, hey, isn't that Volkov? What are you doing here?
A guy named Volkov stopped and looked at them with a bored look.
Volkov: Who do you think you are, that you dare to stand in front of me?
Bully 2: Ha ha ha, look how you talk. This is not your mukhosransk, so keep an eye on the bazaar, you cunt!
(P.S. Mukhosransk - (are you from Mukhosransk?) that's what they say when a person arrives, lives in another city that is not Moscow or St. Petersburg.)
Bully 1: You know that walking around here after you beat up our Kent is not a very smart decision.
Wolves: …
Bully 3: Did you swallow your tongue? Answer when the elder is talking to you!
Gleb: I'm Gleb…
Before this bully, who seems to be the main one among the three, could finish, Volkov kicked him in the stomach.
Gleb: Uff
Bully 2: Are you fucking crazy?! Fuck you…
The second bully ran into Volkov with a swing of his right hand. Brass knuckles?
Kostya: Hey, can I help you?
Arthur: No, if he falls, we'll run up.
Kostya: Well, yes, you're right.
Volkov dodged the blow, shifting his body weight back and hit with a jab and a hook, left and right hands respectively, sent the bully into a knockout.
Arthur: He's fast.
Kostya: Yeah.
He hit the last guy on the knee with a low kick and ended the fight with a knee to the jaw. Then he went up to this Gleb, who was still trying to catch his breath and lifted his head.
Volkov: If you talk to me like that again, you'll lose your other eye.
He looked at him with the same bored look and took an awl out of his pocket.
Kostya: Hey, can you stop him?
Arthur: Damn, look – I showed him the man who goes to Volkov – the "demon" came, it looks like he arranged it.
The "Imp" approached Volkov and spoke to him casually.
Bes: Oh, what idiots they are. Kid, leave him alone, I'll talk to him myself.
Volkov: Who are you? And did you make them deal with me?
Bes: Ha, you're brave to make such statements.
Kostya and I immediately went up to Volkov and stood next to him. The imp saw us and frowned slightly.
Volkov: Who are you?
Arthur: Do you have a habit of asking who is who? Haha
Kostya: The Bes, leave him alone. It's your boys' fault.
Bes: The cunts are now deciding what and who can do here? Aren't you arrogant?
Kostya: If you wanted to drive him away with your lackeys, then leave this idea.
Bes: Hahaha, you noticed, right?
Kostya: So you don't collect all kinds of garbage and you will live better.
Bes: Haaa, your tongue is too long. Maybe you should shorten it. He cracked his knuckles and started walking towards us.
Volkov: I can figure it out myself, I don't need help from people like you.
Arthur: Oh, you're really sharp-tongued. Are you sure you want to leave crippled?
Kostya pulled his arm back behind his back and leaned it against his back.
Kostya: Are you sure you want to make a fuss here?
Bes: ... - he stopped and looked at Kostya, who was grinning with his trademark smile.
Bes: These little brats… Okay, I'll leave your girlfriend.
He turned around and left, and his six men, who were hiding nearby, came out after him.
(P.S. A six- (I'll leave your six) is a person who grovels in front of another, more influential person.)
Volkov: What? Where from…
Arthur: You see, you would have been left alone, so say thank you!
Volkov: I didn't ask for help. He turned around and wanted to leave, but Anton stopped him.
Anton: Listen, my name is Anton, and his is Arthur. How are you?
Kostya: Kostya. Is there anything else you need?
Anton: Let's go for a walk. You're not from around here, are you? Where are you from?
Kostya: What do you want?
I hit him on the shoulder and put my hand on his neck.
Arthur: Don't worry, we just want to get to know each other. So where are you from?
Kostya: From Magadan.
Anton: Wow, now it's clear why you're acting like this. And why did you decide to move to Moscow?
We still managed to persuade Kostya to come with us. Interesting guy. He came here with his mom because of her job. So we went home, adding each other to the social network.
The short story of Horikita Suzuna.
I was leaving school after class ended. I'm sitting next to two problematic classmates. One always looks out the window and behaves strangely.
He likes to say that he wants to avoid trouble, so he doesn't communicate with anyone. He can't get it started and just looks at everyone.
Recently, there was a situation with Nii-san, where he had a little fight with him, but nothing serious. But he dodged so fast that even I'm not sure I could have done that.
Then his words about exceptions and help in the study group. He wanted me to try to fix it all over again. Also his grades…
He's weird and that's for sure.
There is also a second classmate. Is he from Russia and is he acting... simple? It's like he's bored here and enjoying his life. Even after it became known about the school system.
He asks me sudden questions and often starts conversations about personalities and the situation around me.
After a while, I look at these questions and understand these dialogues a bit. He mentioned the school, or rather the points we got. He spoke about that exam as if he knew what would happen next. "The exam is not for school? Horikita, what do you think it's for? Don't you know? I think it's for us and for everyone's self-esteem."
Then I thought it was just to see how well we know the material. But now, this is for "everyone" not in a general sense, but in a direct way, affecting everyone together. But if he understood, then why couldn't I? I need to try even harder.
It was because of his attitude that I had such a little fight with him, because how can a person who doesn't take anything seriously understand and understand the situation?
When I left school and walked a little way down the road, I saw Nii-san with Arthur.
Horikita: What? What is he doing with Nii-san?
I hid not far from them, but I couldn't hear them.
Nii-san looks tense. What does he tell him? And this girl also left at the request of Nii-san.
Arthur points his finger at his Brother as he looks increasingly tense. What are they talking about?
But when I wanted to approach them, the Senpai came up to them. There was a blond guy standing in front. But when his brother wanted to speak, Arthur raised his hand and began a dialogue with Senpai before the latter left.
Why did Arthur shut his brother up and what did he tell Senpai to leave? But after a couple of sentences, the brother left, and Arthur approached Senpai.
I also decided to leave and went to the dorm, but after walking for a couple of minutes, someone came up to me from behind and called me.
...: Suzune.
I stopped and thought I'd imagined it. I turned around and saw my Brother.
Suzune: Research Institute…
Manabu: Suzune, have you been eavesdropping on us?
Suzune: N-no, I just saw you and…
Manabu: I see. What is your relationship with Arthur?
Suzune: Oh, he's just a classmate. A strange classmate.
Manabu: I see. Nothing changes.
Suzune: B-brother, what do you have with him?
When Manabu wanted to leave, he stopped. Adjusting his glasses, he smiled slightly for a second and said something that Suzune did not expect to hear.
Manabu: He's an interesting guy. I don't have much in common with him, but Suzune – he looked at his sister and continued – cherish such people, they won't betray you.
Suzune: Wh-what are you…
Without waiting for his sister's reply, he turned around and went on his way.
Suzune stood there and looked after her brother, and then back to where he had been before.
Why did my brother say that about him? And how did they even get to know each other?
She stayed there, not paying attention, but those around her, among whom one person stood and watched this scene.
A short story by Matsushita Chiaki.
I broke up with the girls and we went to our rooms. Entering the room, I took off my shoes, went into the room and lay down on the bed.
Chiaki: Phew… I'm tired after karaoke. Who knew that going with a Russian just to sing would be so emotional…
Seriously. I cried, laughed, and was nostalgic. And all this from one song! And there were several of them.
What's wrong with their songs? Why do they like such genres so much. As Arthur said, these are cult songs that touch everyone's soul, but foreigners like us cannot understand the depth of the songs.
But even so, everyone who was at karaoke experienced difficult emotions. More precisely, a whole bunch of emotions, but do Russians understand them more deeply? I do not understand…
I got up and changed my clothes. After that, deciding that I didn't want to do anything else today, I went back to my bed.
Picking up my phone and flipping through the photos, I thought about it.
I met Arthur by chance, but if it hadn't been for that meeting on the bus, then maybe I wouldn't have communicated with him. I'm probably the closest to him in class, which makes me happy.
He is very quick-witted and smart. If he works on a class, then the path to A class will be easier. After all, I will help him with what I can, maybe someone else will turn out to have abilities that do not show.
I remembered how he realized that I was hiding my abilities.
That day, Arthur asked me to go outside. It was a couple of days after May 1st. I was a little surprised that he wanted to discuss it, but decided to leave.
We met him near the shop. He offered me kvass, his favorite drink. It is very tasty, but when I found out that it is high in calories, I decided to drink rarely.
Let's talk about secular things, as I thought, he moved on to the main topic and asked his question as directly as he could.
He asked: "Why are you holding back?" He didn't even soften the question! How can you find out a question like that? I got a little worried and started to deny it.
Then he gave examples where I'm on the bus, on parties, and even now I'm asking questions that open up a different meaning in the dialogues I said earlier. Which not everyone can do.
He said: "You have a good cold reading, even when I try to disguise my sentences, not everyone can do that, and if you could, then you are not an ordinary girl. You'll probably say that it's just an ability developed from childhood, then what about the answers that you erased on the exam?"
He went on to say that he received my answer forms, just like Hirata received the Sudo test. He analyzed where and how I answered and found it strange.
Arthur continued to tell me that I noticed small details from the teacher's explanation and, due to this information, raised the topic of conversation with some people, trying to find someone who also finds it strange.
I sat and listened to it with surprise. How? How did he figure out that I was hiding... no, why did he get hung up on these little things and decided to check on me? When I was about to ask him this question, it was as if he read my mind and just said. "You're the first person I've started talking to here. Of course, I will pay more attention to you, because we can become friends."
Become friends? I was surprised by this, but he explained to me that a friend is not someone with whom you go through good moments. And the one with whom you have gone through difficult situations and only after you can trust this person, you will consider him a friend.
After thinking about it for a couple of minutes, I agreed with him. Is this the order of things for Russians? To have wisdom at that age, which is developed by others only later, closer to the age where you manage your own life. After his arguments, I told him why I was doing all this.
I just wanted to find someone who would be with me when I don't imagine anything special. Friend, girlfriend, boyfriend. I want to find those who first recognize me as a person, and only then what is behind my last name and my abilities.
We agreed that this would remain between us, and I made sure that he would probably work for the class.
After that, we parted ways.
A short story of Sakayanagi Arisu.
I was heading home after I saw Arthur smoking outside the building.
This interesting guy seems to have bad habits. I heard from my father that in Russia, children of the same age as us are very spoiled. They have a lot of bad habits and disregard the morality that we have established.
But they are much ahead in understanding life and can understand different situations better than we do. He was talking about society, but still…
When I play chess with Arthur, he improves every game. Even though we've played less than ten times, he already understands and uses several tactics. And the game of checkers is a completely different level. I can't beat his trick in any way.
When he asked me why I was so fixated, or rather because of someone, I remembered the boy I saw behind the glass. But why did he realize that I was because of someone? After some thought, I realized that he noticed everything I said or did.
But when I asked why he was so fixated on checkers and other games that we didn't play, he replied something in Russian. I didn't understand at first, but when I got to my room, I opened the translator and, according to my memories, began to look for the answer that he gave me.
After ten minutes, I finally found the word he said.
To survive.
Why did he answer like that? Could it be that he was forced to play? I think it's an interesting topic, but I can't ask him yet. It's better to let him think that I didn't understand his answer, so that in conversations with him, I can begin to understand him better.
I remember after visiting the White Room, a few years later, my father told me about some man who lives in Russia.
He told me after I overheard his conversation on the phone. He didn't mention names, but it said there were two people, a man and a woman. They were killed.
I started asking him, and he told me that there was a man in Russia whose life was also terrible, but it could be worse than the boy behind the glass.
From those words, I felt excited. Someone who's been through more than him? What kind of life could this man have?
But my father did not tell me about the identity of this man, I did not even know his name. But one thing he said for sure was that this man from Russia would be better than that boy from the White Room.
I didn't understand what he meant, but he gave me the answer. "It's better to understand life. Arisu, this is a man who will figure out life and get on a better path, but if that boy leaves the room, he will be lost. If you choose who is better to communicate with and go through life, then I will choose the first one. Because what is produced in the environment in which this person lives is not welcome betrayal. Such people are punished there. But with that boy, such moral principles don't work."
I listened and memorized everything he said. I am very interested in this environment in which such people are raised.
Thanks to Arthur, I will understand what comes out of Russian society. I have already noticed a special attitude towards girls. To be honest, it is very pleasant. I also realized that they don't look at nationality, health or any other characteristics of a person. If this is a good friend of yours, you can joke with him about this topic.
It might be interesting at this school if Arthur participates in the class race. I also want to learn more about the Russian mentality through him.
I hope it will be useful.
A short story by Ichinose Honami.
When I met Arthur in the elevator, I greeted him as usual. It's so good that I met and got so close to him. He is a very sociable and open person.
I remembered what he had told me recently about my eyes. On the evening of the same day, I looked in the mirror and thought what was so special about them. I searched the Internet for what the meaning of this compliment might be.
When I went to the first site and read the meaning of this compliment, I gasped. I immediately turned to the mirror and my whole face was red. Looking down, I thought, surely he couldn't be referring to them?
Discarding this thought, I rephrased the question and pointed out what this implies in Russia.
After scrolling through several sites, as well as watching videos, as Arthur explained, so as not to stumble upon bad sites and judge only by his information.
It said that in Russia it makes deep sense in different circumstances. But as Arthur said, he was talking about possible confessions. I thought a little and came to the answer that the whole situation showed concern for me so that I would choose the right guy who would understand me as a person, and not judge by what everyone sees.
Could he have just said it directly instead of having that approach? Maybe this is just a parting word so that I remember a few words, and not attach too much importance to it and focus solely on the understanding guy?
Huh, maybe that's why he didn't explain it directly, I'm thinking too much.
I leaned back on the bed and looked at the mirror.
Beautiful eyes? Thank you.
Arthur: Good morning, Ichinose.
Ichinose: Good morning!
Arthur: [Готова?] (Ready?)
Ichinose: [Готова!] (Ready!)
Arthur: Okay, then let's get started.
We started our lessons and continued to go to school.
A/h
That's the end of the first volume, the chapter came out in 3k words.
Write your thoughts, what you liked, what you didn't like very much. Which points can be added more, with whom to interact, and the like.
I also ask you to wait for the next volume to be released, because I plan to release by topic, not by chapter. Don't worry, they won't be out for a long time. But I'll take your opinion into account if you want a chapter-by-chapter issue.
Thank you for reading, write, if there are errors in the story or text, I will correct them.