Chapter 3: Arc I – Chapter II – The Betelgeuse Mystery

 

 

 

Getting to his feet, Hoshino said with a smile, “I’m sorry. I’ll be the one answering, Sensei.”

 

Koizumi sensei looked disappointed.

 

“The word you were writing was Betelgeuse.” Hoshino said in a firm tone.

 

“That creepy dude in that old American movie?” Beppu asked. “Did the guy spontaneously combust or shit like that?” As usual, Beppu’s snarky response made everyone cover their mouths to hold back their reflexive chuckling. The noises of snorts filled the room.

 

Nodding, Koizumi sensei turned to the board as though Beppu had said nothing, finishing her spelling of the giant red star’s name. “G, E, U, S, E,” she said as she marked it down and turned back towards her students.

 

“You’re right, but wrong, Beppu-kun.” Koizumi sensei said, clasping her hands in front of her. “It’s pronounced much the same, but spelled differently. That movie put a creepy twist on the name by taking advantage of many people’s entomophobia. Can anyone tell me what that word means?”

 

Quickly coming to his feet, Nichols answered, “A fear of insects.”

 

“Excellent!” Koizumi sensei beamed at Nichols. “That’s my brightest student.” She nodded. “Yes. It’s fear of the form of an insect. But that has nothing at all to do with what we’ll be discussing today.” Turning to the blackboard, she doodled a bug and put a line through it before drawing an enormous circle on the board, spanning from the top of the board to the bottom.

 

“We’re talking about one star that the unaided eye can… well… once could spot at night — if you knew where to look. Although that’s not too hard. I’ll show you why.” Inside the circle, she drew smaller circles with three stars lining up, slashing upwards. To the right, she added a larger circle and a smaller circle below and to the left. She drew five additional circles to the top right of these, almost lined up in a curve, and after adding a few more to the left, most of these smaller. She also drew lines between these dots.

 

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“This is what we call Orion. A constellation that has had mankind fascinated for eons, ever since we turned our eyes upwards and first observed the movements of the celestial bodies. It’s easiest found by spotting these three stars that form his belt.” She pointed at the first three that she’d begun her drawing with. “But the largest star in this constellation rests on his shoulder, opposite from his mighty bow.”

 

“Oh… I guess I see it…” Oye’s eyebrows furrowed. “A weird stickman shooting… but isn’t he kinda like a Dullahan?”

 

“Oh…” Sensei turned around and laughed merrily, obviously more impressed by Oye’s observation. “Another creepy, but unrelated subject. Yes, he doesn’t have a head… but the most important thing to note now is that he’s also now missing his shoulder joint.” She drew a line through where Betelgeuse was in the constellation, the largest of the circles aside from the first she’d drawn.

 

“We’re talking about stars, right?” Beppu chuckled. “What are you talking about, teach? The stars’ll be around a lot longer than all of us, right?”

 

“Yes,” Sensei nodded. “And no. Time still moves for stars, the same as for us, and in special situations, we may witness their deaths in our shorter lifespans. In short…” She tapped her chalk against her right palm. “Whether you’re a mighty ball of burning gas floating in space or a human being, we’re all mortal in the end. Be grateful that you’ve lived to see this one’s glorious ending. We can ask for very little more in life, in my humble opinion. To witness the passing of a star that has existed for 10 million years is no small thing. This star watched as our ancestors learned to walk upright. It saw life as we know it as we all came into being. In a poetic sense, it’s like a proud grandfather of ours.”

 

“... But…” Nichols rubbed at an eye, moved by his teacher’s statement.

 

The others looked at him, but Hoshino nodded in understanding, chewing his lip.

 

“But the manner of Betelgeuse’s passing is confusing scientists and astrologists alike.” Sensei rubbed her lips with an expression that clearly said that she, herself, would love to know the reason. “... He’d been winking at us for a while, showing signs that this day might arrive someday soon, but no one really…”

 

“... An explosion, like Nichols said, right?” Beppu leaned back in his chair, looking more thoughtful than usual as he filled the silence as their teacher trailed off. “They always explode. Am I right in thinking that? I think I read about it sometime.” Beppu scratched his head, looking embarrassed, thinking everyone might think he’d turned into a nerd in their eyes.

 

“Not always, Beppu.” Sensei shook her head negatively. “Many theorize that he simply collapsed into a black hole. What normally would be expelled by the force of the star collapsing under its own gravity, causing a massive shockwave, Betelgeuse simply imploded and… vanished. Scientists suspect that with a stronger telescopic array, we’ll someday be able to study the black hole left behind by his passing.”