The Memory of Her Smile
Midorino Mizu
Disclaimer: Gensomaden Saiyuki is the property of
Minekura Kazuya.
It was never publicly noted in the small village that Kanan and Cho Gonou looks were remarkably alike. There was, however, a distinct resemblance.
They were both tall and slim, with narrow, fine-boned features, thick, dark brown hair, and warm green eyes.
There were likely many in the small village who thought that the two teachers were even closer than they admitted, but few voiced the thoughts in public. And thus, the two lived in relative peace and solitude, consumed by their love for each other.
They had met when Kanan had still been in high school, a sunny and curious girl who aspired to be a kindergarten teacher.
Gonou had not sought the teenaged girl out, by any means. He was teaching high school literature at a nearby boys academy at the time, and was reckoned to be the most terrifying teacher the school had seen in recent years.
He never smiled, and his green eyes were cold and cynical. His lessons were always sharp and informative, and his students always took copious notes.
Mostly because they were terrified of what he would do if they did not.
Gonou had no intention of being a literature scholar forever; he had only taken that particular course of study in college because he had one a scholarship in it. The only reason he taught at the small, exclusive preparatory school was because he received a tuition remission from the university it was connected to.
Cho Gonou was a law student. It was the general consensus in the teachers lounge that he would be a very successful lawyer.
His fellow teachers couldnt imagine anyone being foolish enough to argue with the tall, cold young man.
But that was before he met Kanan.
Her school was hardly in the same league as the one he taught at; it was a mission school, run by the few Catholic missionaries who had not been chased out after the Western movement had soured. The students there were, in the main, orphans, and few of them had aspirations beyond completing high school and passing the necessary exams to get a good job at a good company.
Few people had the energy for dreams and goals after a lifetime of adversity and scrambling for survival.
But Kanan had always, even as a child, been different in that regard. Shed always stood tall when other children had made cruel jokes, and she had never let her hopes desert her.
She had always had goals. One to constantly reach for, and others to capture in the short-term. One of the nuns had told her when she was young that that was the best way to fight the despair.
In Kanans last year of high school, she started looking for her family.
She had already achieved her other goals. She had the highest grade point average in her class, the best test scores, and she had been accepted to an exemplary local university. Kanan wanted to see who she had been missing most of her life.
After extensive research and myriad frustrations, she finally found out that the only other surviving member of her family, a brother several years older, was teaching at a nearby school.
She went to meet with him immediately.
Kanan was a pretty and vivacious girl, and her eyes were big and innocent. It was often surprisingly easy for her to convince people to do things.
For instance, it was rather shockingly simple to convince the security personnel that she really did need to go into a male-only academy after school hours to see one of the teachers. And equally easy to obtain directions to Cho Gonous classroom.
He was grading the literature essays that had been turned in that afternoon, and predictably enough, he didnt take well to being interrupted.
But Gonou had also been raised in a mission, and the nuns had also drilled politeness to ladies into his head. So when he looked up, and saw a smiling young girl in the doorway, he was icily polite.
May I help you with something, miss?
Kanan beamed at him. Are you Cho Gonou?
Yes, he replied, allowing his brow to furrow slightly. And you are?
My name is Cho Kanan. She paused, waiting for him to acknowledge the connection in some way. When he didnt, she continued. Im your sister.
Ah, replied Gonou coolly as he bent his head and picked up his red pen again. I hope you didnt travel a long way to announce that, Kanan-san.
It was Kanans turn to furrow her brow. Why?
Because, continued Gonou without lifting his eyes from the essay he was grading, Your trip was an exercise in futility. I havent the time or the inclination to build a relationship with any supposed blood relatives.
Oh, exhaled Kanan. She was silent and stood perfectly still for a moment, and Gonou even thought that she had left the room.
Then she stepped closer and leaned on her brothers desk. But Im not a supposed blood relative, Cho-san, she murmured softly. I am your sister.
When he looked up at her again, she smiled, a sweet, quiet curve of her lips.
Later, Cho Gonou would decide that her smile had been what had made his protective armor begin to crack and peel away. That her smiles had been the catalysts every time a piece of his carefully constructed faade fell away.
In the beginning, it had been her smile that had saved him; rescued him from the hollow existence he had been determined to live.
In the end, it had been the memory of her smile, and nothing else, that had destroyed him.