However, although the teacher told us there was no right answer, in fact, there was. Ten years later, when I turned twenty, I actually did sell my future life span and received something of value in return. When I was a kid, I thought I would grow up to be someone important. I believed I was exceedingly special compared with my peers. Unfortunately, because my neighborhood was filled with extremely unimpressive parents who gave birth to many extremely unimpressive children, that misconception only grew over time.  Ž‘‘‡† †‘™ ‘ –Š‡ …Š‹Ž†”‡ ƒ”‘—† ‡Ǥ  ™ƒ•ǯ– …Ž‡˜‡” ‘” Š—„Ž‡ enough to hide my overbearing pride, and my classmates shunned me for it. They excluded me from their cliques and often hid my belongings when I ™ƒ•ǯ–Ž‘‘‹‰Ǥ ‰‘–ˆ—ŽŽƒ”•‘›–‡•–•ƒŽŽ–Š‡–‹‡ǡ„—–™ƒ•ǯ––Š‡‘Ž›‘‡Ǥ The other person who did was the ƒˆ‘”‡‡–‹‘‡†Dz•ƒ”–›-’ƒ–•ǡdzƒ‰‹”Ž named Himeno. ‡…ƒ—•‡ ‘ˆ Š‡”ǡ  …‘—Ž†ǯ– –”—Ž› „‡ –Š‡ „‡•–ǡ ƒ† „‡…ƒ—•‡ ‘ˆ ‡ǡ •Š‡ …‘—Ž†ǯ––”—Ž›„‡–Š‡„‡•–Ǥ–Š‡•—”ˆƒ…‡ǡ–Š‹ǡ™‡™‡”‡ƒŽ™ƒ›•„‹…‡”‹‰Ǥ All we thought about was trying to outdo the other. But at the same time, we were also the only people either of us could really talk to. She was the only one who would accept what I said without misunderstanding it, and I was probably the same thing to her. In the end, we always wound up together. Even before that, our houses were across the street from each other, so we spent a lot of time together as kids. I suppose you could call us something like childhood friends. Our parents got along, and until we started going to school, when my parents were busy, Hime‘ǯ• ’ƒ”‡–• would watch me at their house, and when her parents were busy, Himeno came over to our house. We saw each other as competitive rivals but had a tacit understanding that we would play nicely together in front of our parents. Not for any particular reason. It just seemed like a good idea. We might have kicked shins and pinched thighs under the table, but whenever the adults were watching, we were like close friends. •—’’‘•‡‹–ǯ•’‘••‹„Ž‡™‡”‡ƒŽŽ›™‡”‡Ǥ For reasons much like my own, Himeno was despised by the rest of the class. She thought she was smart, sniffed at the people around her, and made no attempt to hide it. So she was shunned by everyone else.