Dr Kitajima was a caseworker at a nearby general hospital, and he learned about the alternative School and got in touch. He was hoping to take the in-patient children at his hospital who were falling behind. He’d also be very grateful, he said, if some of the teachers could visit the hospital.

As Akiko found herself more drawn to his calm smile and his gentle manner, she had a premonition.

I might end up marrying him.

Kitajima – she repeated his last name to herself, and each time she did, the feeling inside her grew stronger.

ONE DAY, AKIKO ENCOUNTERED A young girl at the hospital. Dr Kitajima had brought her into the courtyard outside.

She was a tiny girl with a lively personality. Akiko heard she was a first-year student in junior high, even though she seemed much younger. Her gaze, though, was very adult. The meds she was on had made her hair fall out, and she now wore a cap. She’d officially entered Yukishina No. 5 Junior High, though she had yet to attend a single day.

Her name was Mio Mizumori.

Akiko would never forget the encounter.

That year Akiko and Mio began classes once a week.

‘Akiko-sensei, I’m so looking forward to this.’

The girl was a bundle of eagerness. A well of curiosity.

Every time Mio’s large eyes gazed at her, Akiko sat bolt upright, goosebumps spreading across her. As long as this girl called her ‘Akiko-sensei’, she wanted to continue to spend time with her, and teach her. To be a teacher her young pupil could be proud of.

So there are children like this in the world, she thought.

Meeting Mio had a tremendous impact on her.

Mio wanted nothing more than to go to school, but she couldn’t. She wasn’t pessimistic or gloomy at all, but instead was eager to absorb and learn everything she could. More than a few times her iron will spurred Akiko on, made her feel she was the one being rescued.

The experience touched Akiko immensely.

She always thought she understood the feelings of children who couldn’t attend school, who couldn’t make it, didn’t fit in – the ones who stuck out. But she hadn’t. As she worked towards her goal of becoming a teacher, as she helped out at the alternative School, she’d been so sure of it, deep down. But she was wrong. Her own circumstances back in junior high, and the situations of each of the children she met now, were unique. Not a single one was the same.

When Akiko was a senior in college, Mio passed away.