Koroshiya 殺し屋 ⋮ Fushiguro Toji

Chapter 17

The sun made its presence known. It's invisible rays beamed down on the earth and it's people. You sit on a bench with Megumi while fanning yourself with a brochure of Ueno Zoo. But the glossed paper does nothing against the heat of the afternoon star. Distant laughter could be heard as children with their families walk pass. Some here for leisure, some a field trip and some for research. In your case, you accompany the teenage boy to this menagerie for his research; more specifically on the topic of endangered pandas.

The two of you continue to sit in front of a large hutch; it was tall with no roof. There were a few bears housed in the cage. They were either sleeping, eating bamboo or lazing around. Megumi continues to scribble inside the small notebook that he had brought with him.

"What exactly is your paper on?" You ask the boy as you try to keep your mind off the hot weather.

"Pandas." He continues to write, "And why they're going extinct."

"Why are they going extinct?"

"It's notoriously hard to get pandas to mate and female pandas are only fertile for about 3 days or less annually."

You continue to fan yourself, "Oh, I never knew that. Very interesting..."

"According to research." The boy continues and his hand moves quickly over the page, "They're more likely to copulate and produce if they have the opportunity to choose their own mates."

"Copulate?"

"Have......" he pauses, ".......sex."

"OH." You nod and then you try not to burn with embarrassment, "Right."

"I guess they're more human-like than we think."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, can you imagine having an arranged partner?" Megumi continues to take notes from observation, "Or an arranged marriage?"

"No, of course not." You reply. Although in some society's that was still a norm, even till this day, "Just didn't think that really applied to animals. You know? Love and choosing your own partner."

Megumi hums in agreement, "That's true. Most male animals are philanderer's. Even in the panda species."

"Copulate. Philanderer." You snort, "Are you really 15?"

Megumi's vocabulary seemed higher than that of a normal teenage boy. He also appeared to be academically driven; now his school grades don't seem that surprising. What average 15-year old would want to spend their weekend writing a research paper at a zoo? And just so that they could exhaust all resources past all the photos and literature held in the common library or the articles found on the World Wide Web.

"And are you really in love?"

His question put you off guard. You stop fanning, "What does that have to do with you being 15 and talking like you're 45?"

"Knowledge is not limited to age. It's limited to how hard you're willing to work for it." Megumi closes his notebook, "The brain can hold an infinite amount of information. It's like having unlimited storage on a hard drive. Why shouldn't we take advantage of that?"

How hard you're willing to work for it. You snort internally at his words. The boy really is his father's son.

"You should teach your friend, Yuji a few things." You laugh, "But that still doesn't explain why that's relevant to me being in love."

"Same concept." The teen looks at you now, "You're surprised that I'm well-rounded for someone my age. So you ask if I'm really 15. Well, I'm surprised that you're taken but fooling around with my dad. So, I'm asking if you're really in love with your boyfriend. Just because you're with someone, doesn't mean you're in love. Just because I'm 15, doesn't mean I can't be smart. Does it make sense now?"