What does it mean to be free?
A question that creates questions in-itself with its ambiguity and straight-forwardness, allowing for hundreds of discussions to be created from just its stem.
Things such as "what is the definition of free?", "what type of freedom are you talking about? Thought, expression, beliefs?", and most importantly, "what qualifies as being free?"
The qualifications of freedom are tough to think of for the radical sum, and so they alleviate it by saying that the qualifications of freedom are simple.
Freedom to think for yourself, to expression your own emotions and thoughts without Big Brother watching you, and to believe in what you want to believe it.
But in my perception of such an individualized question, it's never that simple.
Those freedoms may exist within our societies such as Japan and America, quote "we hold these truths self-evident, ask men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
However, there will always be certain extents by which our freedoms are limited, and that is not just bound by the governing body that controls the state which the citizens thrive in.
Rather it is society bound as well.
Our freedom to express ourselves freely is undeniably locked by the addicting article known within the realm of our conscious as social media.
Social Media has created a "new-normal" for things, it has developed trends that are followed almost without thought.
And it also demonizes and judges others that don't follow these trends.
Following the crowd and trends has become a spell that my age-group has aimlessly been enchanted by.
And those who desire not to follow it and speak their own feelings, try to express themselves are shunned and belittled until they comply too.
In this way, our freedom to express ourselves is limited by the social-bindings we live in.
And that desire to fit in, that desire to be with a group you're accepted by is only human nature.
It applies to all humans, a desire for connection.
And arguably, if one were to isolate themselves from the world without connection with another human - they may go insane.
Even I, isolated from society and trapped in a white-prison where only the strongest and smartest survive, had some (though minimal) form of connection that built me into the creature that I am.
And if I were to be without connections, I doubt I would've stayed as sane as I did during those years.
And now that I'm here, I realize just how important connections are to people.
For example, people like Kushida are what the world calls "social animals" - people who want connection more than anything, and will do anything to keep it.
For them, their connections define them as a person; and Kushida is that person.
She has skills in almost all things, but she's not the best at them.
And that's what she wants to be, she wants to rule upon all those who are worse than her and show just who the strongest animal is.
But Kushida is the best at one thing, connection.
It is absolute that Kushida has skills in making friends just due to how easily sociable she is, and she even make friends with people like Ike.
Ike, of all people.
Someone she herself absolutely despises with a passion.
But I suppose that shows the limits to which she desires to keep that "friendly person" reputation.
For if she showed her true one, everyone would hate her.
But, to dumb everything down to a minimum, people like Kushida and many others desire social connections, even if those connections may cause problems.
They want friends, they want to be with a person that truly cares for them.
And many think that about me, many think that I am their friend.
But in reality I do not care for them, I do not like them deeply to any extent and could drop them whenever I desire for the sake of achieving victory.
They are absolutely nothing to me, these students are nothing more than another item I draw out of my toolbox.
And it is not the fault of my own for thinking in such a manner.
But it is the one that I was forced to live, and thus I hold it close to my cold shield and present it with honor.
"Kiyotaka-kun!", someone greeted me with a heavenly smile.
However, why am I here then?
"Hey, Hiyori."
With this girl, who I could easily manipulate to achieving my victory over Class C?
"Are you ready to go?"
"Sure, I'm ready."
I'm not quite sure myself, but I do know that there's something that holds me back from using her like the others.
And for some reason, I also accepted her invite to "hang-out", as they call it; something that I had done with the Ayanokouji Group around 29 times.
But this time, I wasn't with them.
I was with Hiyori, a girl from another class.
I met Hiyori around five months ago, trying desperately to reach a book with her hand despite her painfully short height.
In an act of what-I-think would be called kindness I assisted her in her hopeless goal, to which she thanked me and we later had a variety of discussions together.
Over that 5 month period, we've gotten closer together... well, she's gotten closer to me, at least - as I do not think that I am close to her like she most likely feels she is with me.
In my eyes, it's as if I just met her again and we were having our first discussion together; having my original view of who she was.
Thinking of her like a stranger, an enemy which I was meant to destroy.
However, I ask myself again, how can that be true when I'm here at Keyaki mall?
Hanging out with her?
I'm not sure if I'm right or not that she's simply a stranger, but my mind is usually the most logical option to follow.
For even if something within my body is saying a different message, I must not be lured by its siren calls.
For it may lead to my downfall.
"Eh? Kiyotaka-kun, are you okay?", she said looking directly into my eyes with a worried look.
Oh, I must have been spacing out in her eyes.
"I'm fine", I said in my normal attitude.
"O-okay, then... let's go!"
It was rather clear that she did not believe me, for Hiyori is an extremely kind girl that worries over issues that I may have with Class' and other external issues completely unrelated to that.
But I have no time to think about that now.
"Alright, then."
I have something to deal with.
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That's it for this one, I'll probably continue this outing thing for one more chapter, and then I'll continue to the next month.