[IN THE PAST...]

"...Nao...miss Nao... You look pale, miss Nao." Mishima says to his jittery student. 

The Professor had a lesson at his secret atelier today and taught the class sculpting with clay. It's almost the end of the school year so Mishima wanted his students to have some fun today. After they finished it started raining so the professor offered to drive his students home.

Nao Egokoro happens to be the last person he needs to drive home. 

The girl looks up at the man, finally. "Professor...I...I..."

Suddenly Nao grabs Mishima's arm and starts panicking.

"I feel like I'll never paaaaaaaaaass!!" She cries out as she buries her face in his arm too. 

Mishima has to quickly compose himself so that he doesn't ram into anyone else's car by mistake. "M...miss Nao? What's the matter? Exams are a ways away yet. And I'm sure you'll do fine, miss Nao." He assures her. Nao shakes her head. "I can't...!! If I fail, I... What'll I even do!?" She cries. "Hrm... Please calm down. I'm busy driving...!" Mishima tries to gently urge Nao to let go of his arm which works. She frantically lets go and sits back down with good posture after flailing her arms uselessly a bit.

After five seconds her hands are back in her hair.

"Maybe I'll swallow a bunch of mud and die!?" She cried out, making sure to not disturb Mishima physically anymore. "It seems you feel quite cornered..." Mishima sighs and parks on the side of the road. Nao was confused because they were still a ways away from her house. 

Mishima keeps his hands to the wheel  and doesn't look at his student. "...Err...miss Nao. To tell the truth, I failed my collage exams"

To say that Nao was flabbergasted would be the understatement of the century.

"Huh...!? You did, professor...?" Nao's hands finally leave her hair and fall onto her lap. Mishima nods. "Yes, indeed. I had grades as good as anyone's... And a more or less serious lifestyle... I put in a perfectly good effort... At least I believed so. However, where some will pass, others will fail. There's nothing that can be done about it. And, being more conceited than the average person... I lashed out at everything. However, people can always improve themselves." Mishima turns to his student. "So, miss Nao. What do you suppose gives people the impetus to improve?"

Nao was not expecting that question...

She scratched her cheek in thought before turning to her teacher. "Talking to family and friends." She answers. 

Mishima blinks twice. 

"My, my... I wasn't asking for you to give the model answer, you know?" The professor chuckles which causes Nao to pout. He smiles. "But still, how wonderful! It must speak to your purity that you can honestly embrace the words of others in any situation. Perhaps that is why your friends are all such good people, miss Nao." Nao smiled at Mishima's kind words.

The man shifts in his seat and fixes his glasses before continuing his story. "Well, in my case...it was time. It required an above-average amount of time... But I regained the courage to face forward. And such is why now...I enjoy my time with you and the rest of the class." Mishima smiles and puts a hand on Nao's shoulder. "Though I failed, I gained happiness. The dream I had pictured did not come to pass, but the reality I found was much like a dream." 

Nao has more than calmed down from those words. "Professor..." The girl didn't know what she could even say.

Luckily Mishima spared her the need to continue.

"There's nothing to fear in failure. A person's life does not end there. As long as you live on...happiness will surely come to you!"

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But how is she supposed to find happiness after the man who taught her that is no longer by her side...?

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[Word Count: 657]