âYou look like youâre in a bad mood. Not that itâs anything out of the ordinary these days.â
âWe have a parent-teacher conference tomorrow.â
Sitting at the kitchen table, Nodoka stared at a printout sheet and sighed. Seeing that, Khalija smiled wryly.
âParent-teacher conference⊠Oh, itâs that, right? Career counseling.â
âThatâs right.â
âDonât tell me you wrote something like âMagitech Knightâ on the form.â
âI didnât write it. I wasnât thinking about writing that either. Thatâs just generally lame.â
âThatâs a relief.â
ââŠâŠKhalija-san, how did you decide on your career?â
âDonât use me as a reference. You already heard it, right? About what happened in my life to make me end up like thisâŠâ
âBut not just anyone can become a Colonel, right? Does everything just work out for the best if you have talent and do your job properly?â
âI donât know yet if it was for the best or not, butâŠâ
âThatâs right. You wouldnât know that, right? Besides, this career counseling itself is like some sort of game where you match your grades against some safe occupation that the adults would like, itâs just horrible.â
âI wonât deny that you can also look at it that way. If itâs just about finding a dream and building up the zeal to work towards it, you can still do it on your own. But looking at things objectively is hard to do even after you become an adult. In that respect, I feel like that sort of coercion is also necessary.â
âLogical harassment.â
âEh?â
ââŠItâs nothing. I already know that. I know that itâs just part of the system. But coming from our homeroom teacher, who somehow grew up without gaining any objectivity, that sort of thing really pisses me off. Everyone in our class knows about how he scolded a boy who wanted to be a horse jockey and a girl who wanted to join the SDF to the point of tears in April.â
ââŠâŠThat sort of thing also only lasts for a moment. For both of them.â
âI still think I have more talent to live in Ante LandeâŠâ
âNodokaâŠâŠâ
âAh, thatâs right. Mom and I are going shopping after the parent-teacher conference tomorrow, so you should take some time to relax, Khalija-san.â
âAh, got it. Iâll do that.â
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