[Current Affairs] Penguin Teacher's Classroom of Unease, Part 3, Episode 5
[Regarding Episode 5 and beyond]
The story of writing about the unease in question concluded once with the fourth part of the third series.
Therefore, the nature of the content changes from the fifth part of the third series onwards.
The problems themselves have already been laid out in the previous story.
From here on, it is not a story about searching for answers.
It is an attempt to look at 'what happens after you have thought about it'.
Penguin Teacher will no longer talk about the problems in the third series.
Even if the talk about the problems is over, the act of thinking is not yet finished.
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What changes when you look?
Classroom. Morning.
Ordinary Chibi stands still, staring out the window.
Yesterday's conversation is still spinning around in their head.
Pain is like a price tag, stuck onto someone.
We pass through the checkout without looking at that price tag.
Ordinary Chibi
'...Looking, huh.'
Penguin Teacher
'...Are you thinking about something?'
Ordinary Chibi turns around slowly.
Ordinary Chibi
'Teacher... if I look, will something change?'
Penguin Teacher sips their tea.
Penguin Teacher
'Looking, is it?'
Ordinary Chibi
'Yeah. If I look at the pain, what changes?'
Silence.
Penguin Teacher does not answer immediately.
At that moment, the classroom door opened.
Seido-kun
'Looking is important!'
Seido-kun enters with his usual cheerfulness.
Ordinary Chibi
'Seido-kun!'
Seido-kun
'Knowing the problem is the first step!'
Ordinary Chibi leans forward a little.
Ordinary Chibi
'Knowing is?'
Seido-kun
'Yes! If you don't know, nothing begins!'
Seido-kun heads to the whiteboard.
Seido-kun
'By looking, your consciousness changes! If your consciousness changes, your actions change!'
Ordinary Chibi's expression brightens slightly.
Ordinary Chibi
'Then, I just have to look!'
Seido-kun nods vigorously.
Seido-kun
'That's right! It starts with looking!'
Penguin Teacher
'...Is that so?'
Penguin Teacher's quiet voice falls into the classroom.
Seido-kun and Ordinary Chibi turn around at the same time.
Penguin Teacher
'If you look, what changes?'
Seido-kun
'Eh...'
Penguin Teacher
'Even if you look, nothing might change.'
Ordinary Chibi freezes.
Ordinary Chibi
'...Eh?'
Penguin Teacher sets down the tea.
Only that sound echoes in the classroom.
[The air stops]
Ordinary Chibi raised their voice.
Ordinary Chibi
'If you look, your consciousness changes, right!?'
Seido-kun
'Yes! By knowing the problem, you start to think!'
Penguin Teacher
'What do you mean by 'start to think'?'
Seido-kun is a little confused.
Seido-kun
'Well... like, you start to think of it as a problem...'
Penguin Teacher
'Even if you think so, does nothing change?'
Ordinary Chibi
'...Eh?'
Seido-kun
'No, but if your consciousness changes...'
Penguin Teacher
'When your consciousness changes, what changes?'
[Silence]
Seido-kun is at a loss for words.
Ordinary Chibi also falls silent.
Penguin Teacher looks out the window.
Penguin Teacher
'Even if your consciousness changes, the other side of the checkout doesn't change, does it?'
Ordinary Chibi
'...'
Ordinary Chibi mutters softly.
Ordinary Chibi
'But, even if I look, there's nothing I can do...'
Penguin Teacher
'Is that so?'
Ordinary Chibi looks up.
Ordinary Chibi
'Eh... what do you mean, 'is that so'...'
Penguin Teacher
'Even if you look, can you do nothing?'
Ordinary Chibi
'Because, even if I, one person, do something...'
Penguin Teacher asks quietly.
Penguin Teacher
'Then, what about not looking?'
Ordinary Chibi
'...Not looking?'
Penguin Teacher
'Does not looking mean you don't have to do anything?'
Ordinary Chibi's hands stop.
Ordinary Chibi
'...'
Seido-kun also hangs his head.
Silence fills the classroom.
Seido-kun raised his head vigorously.
Seido-kun
'But, it's better to know than not to know, right!?'
Penguin Teacher
'Knowing, is it?'
Seido-kun
'Yes! Looking is knowing!'
Penguin Teacher
'Are looking and knowing the same thing?'
Seido-kun
'Eh...'
Penguin Teacher turns their gaze to Ordinary Chibi.
Penguin Teacher
'Were you looking at the other side of the checkout?'
Ordinary Chibi nods slightly.
Ordinary Chibi
'...I was looking.'
Penguin Teacher
'Did you know?'
Ordinary Chibi shakes their head.
Ordinary Chibi
'...I didn't know.'
Penguin Teacher
'Then, looking and knowing are...'
Ordinary Chibi
'...Different.'
Seido-kun mutters.
Seido-kun
'Even if you look, you don't know...'
Penguin Teacher sips their tea.
Penguin Teacher
'That's right. Even if you are looking, there are things you don't see.'
Ordinary Chibi hit the desk.
Ordinary Chibi
'Then there's no point in looking!'
Penguin Teacher
'No point, is it?'
Ordinary Chibi
'Because, nothing changes, right!?'
Penguin Teacher
'What do you mean by 'nothing changes'?'
Ordinary Chibi's voice trembles.
Ordinary Chibi
'Even if I look, the pain doesn't disappear, and there's nothing I can do...'
Penguin Teacher
'That's right. Even if you look, the pain doesn't disappear.'
Ordinary Chibi
'...'
Penguin Teacher continues quietly.
Penguin Teacher
'Then, what about not looking?'
Ordinary Chibi
'...Not looking?'
Penguin Teacher
'Is there pain that you are not seeing?'
Ordinary Chibi answers softly.
Ordinary Chibi
'...There is.'
Penguin Teacher
'For you, does it exist?'
Ordinary Chibi's breath stops.
Ordinary Chibi
'...'
Penguin Teacher looks out the window.
In the distance, the convenience store sign is visible.
Penguin Teacher
'Does what you are not seeing 'exist' for you?'
Ordinary Chibi
'...It doesn't.'
Those words dissolve into the air.
Seido-kun also cannot say anything.
Ordinary Chibi asks in a small, trembling voice.
Ordinary Chibi
'If I look... will it hurt?'
Penguin Teacher
'Hurt, is it?'
Ordinary Chibi
'If I look at things I don't want to see, I'll feel bad, right.'
Penguin Teacher
'That's right.'
Ordinary Chibi stares at their own hands.
Ordinary Chibi
'So, isn't it better not to look...'
Penguin Teacher asks quietly.
Penguin Teacher
'Then, while you are not looking, what about the pain?'
Ordinary Chibi
'...'
Penguin Teacher
'Is not looking, so that you don't feel pain...'
Ordinary Chibi hangs their head.
Ordinary Chibi
'...Someone is hurting.'
[Silence]
Only the sound of the wind can be heard from outside the window.
Seido-kun is trembling slightly.
Ordinary Chibi turns to Seido-kun.
Ordinary Chibi
'Seido-kun, you said there was a point in looking!'
Seido-kun
'That is... well...'
Ordinary Chibi
'What changes if I look!?'
Seido-kun hangs his head slightly.
Seido-kun
'I... don't know either.'
Ordinary Chibi
'Eh...'
Seido-kun
'Even if you look, what changes...'
Seido-kun's voice is trembling.
Seido-kun
'But, maybe it's okay to keep not looking...'
Penguin Teacher nods quietly.
Penguin Teacher
'Is that so?'
[An atmosphere where no one has an answer]
All three fall silent.
A heavy silence falls over the classroom.
Ordinary Chibi asks as if summoning their last bit of strength.
Ordinary Chibi
'What about you, Teacher!? What do you think changes if you look!?'
Penguin Teacher sets down the tea.
Penguin Teacher
'...I don't know.'
Ordinary Chibi
'...'
Penguin Teacher
'However, the one thing I am curious about is...'
Ordinary Chibi gasps.
Ordinary Chibi
'What?'
Penguin Teacher answers while still looking out the window.
Penguin Teacher
'Does the pain you are not seeing 'exist' for you?'
Ordinary Chibi
'...'
Penguin Teacher
'Or does it 'not exist'?'
Ordinary Chibi cannot say anything.
Seido-kun is also silent.
The sunset is beginning to dye the classroom orange.
Classroom. Twilight.
Ordinary Chibi mutters softly.
Ordinary Chibi
'...Teacher, if nothing changes even if I look'
Penguin Teacher
'Yes.'
Ordinary Chibi
'It's easier not to look, right.'
Penguin Teacher
'Is that so?'
Ordinary Chibi looks out the window.
Ordinary Chibi
'But...'
Penguin Teacher
'But?'
Ordinary Chibi
'Is it okay to keep not looking?'
Penguin Teacher sips their tea.
Penguin Teacher
'Well. I don't know.'
[Silence, Penguin Teacher looks out the window]
In the distance, the lights of the convenience store are visible.
People are lined up in front of the checkout.
Penguin Teacher
'The pain you are not seeing...'
Ordinary Chibi
'...'
Penguin Teacher
'Does it 'exist' for you?'
Ordinary Chibi shakes their head slightly.
Ordinary Chibi
'...I don't know.'
Seido-kun and Penguin Teacher say nothing.
The sunset is sinking.
The classroom is quietly getting dark.
[Fade to black]
(From off-screen, in a small voice)
'Even if you look, nothing might change.'
(Pause)
'But, not looking definitely hides something.'
(Pause)
'What you are not seeing does not 'exist' for you.'
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[End of Episode 5]
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#Essay #Education #Politics #Economy #SocialIssues #Cognition #Perspective #Imagination #Unease #OrganizingThoughts #Unconscious #PenguinTeacher