As first-period class began, the female teacher in charge of Japanese entered the room.
Her expression was sour and her eyes were sharp.
“I have some unfortunate news. There are eight students who did not send in their homework for three days Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The content is at the fourth-grade level. It is something that anyone with motivation can easily solve. In other words, those who did not send in their homework lack the motivation to do so.”
The teacher tapped lightly on the teacher’s desk, anger in her voice.
“This school is the last chance for those who cannot study. In English, students do not know the difference between general verbs and be verbs, mathematical formulas are spells, students cannot understand what they are talking about in social studies, and students do not know what they are being asked to do in Japanese. They don’t understand what they studied in elementary and junior high school. They don’t have the basics. Because the bottom layer of the pyramid of knowledge is lacking. But if they change their minds and tackle the problems that they are supposed to be able to solve, they can be reborn as capable students. Students who don’t turn in their homework are throwing away their own chance.”
Someone said,
“But, teacher, thanks to our supernatural abilities, we already have jobs at the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, so we don’t need to be able to study, right?”
One male student leaned his weight on the back of his chair and snickered.
He spoke as if he were already a winner in life.
“What are you capable of?”
“What? Terrain manipulation?”
“You might lose your job in the future, you know?”
“What?”
The boy with the bad attitude widened his eyes in confusion.
“As Director Sayuri might have said, The weakness of a person with supernatural abilities is that it cannot be used without the person in question. Don’t you ever think that if, in the future, a state-of-the-art earth-moving excavation machine is introduced that doesn’t complain, doesn’t need vacations, and doesn’t require a salary, don’t you consider that your job might be gone?”
At the teacher’s sharp remarks, the boy responded with a trembling voice, as if to reassure himself.
“No, no, no, this is not science fiction, and it will be a hundred years before there is a drilling machine that is more capable than me, Terrain Manipulator.”
“Don’t you know that over 100 years ago, when steam-powered excavators were introduced, all the coal miners were laid off? Even more recently, with the introduction of tax AI, tax accountants all over Japan have switched to Certified Public Accountants. Technology advances. Shouldn’t we study for the day when machines will one day replace us? Or will you be conveniently used at low wages by a poor construction company that can’t even afford to install civil engineering machines?”
The male student straightened his posture and was silently depressed.
Several other students acted the same way. I bet they were students who were thinking similar thoughts.
I was no stranger to this.
Now that I was drilling methane hydrate from the seafloor every day with an Apport, or treating cancer, virus, and pollutant intoxication, there was no guarantee that this would last forever.
What if a new energy source was found and methane hydrates were no longer needed?
What if a new medicine was developed and cancer, disease, and intoxication could be cured with a single shot?
I was given 600 million yen, which sounds like unrealistic money, but if Japan experiences tremendous hyperinflation in the future, that 600 million yen would simply be a piece of paper.
In other words, with the yen at 1/10th of its current value, 600 million yen will be worth only 60 million yen once you step out of Japan.
I naturally straighten my back when I thought about the possibility that tomorrow would be my last.
“And Yamami Maya.”
The teacher’s gaze fell on Maya.
“What’s wrong? You were submitting your homework properly until last week.”
That fact took me by surprise.
–Maya didn’t do her homework in history as well as Japanese!?
I became concerned that this was serious, but Maya just shrugged and did not say anything.
Perhaps sensing something in her behavior, the teacher did not pursue the matter any further.
“Well, that’s fine. Anyway, you must turn in your homework, even if it is late. If you don’t do it quickly, it will accumulate like debt, and eventually, you won’t be able to handle it. Okay, class is about to begin.”
****
After school.
As I teleported to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications with the students of the school, I called out to Maya.
“You don’t look good. Is there something wrong?”
Maya glanced up at me.
Her eyebrows dropped downward, indicating her depression.
But Maya shakes her head.
“Un…I’m fine…”
Saying this, she joined the circle of students in the same police squad.