To my dear friend K
RI Ko
We were always sitting at the right end of the classroom, where the seats were near the entrance from the corridor, so classmates entered the room with rattling noises. But we liked the seats rather satisfying. We were G class of the third year of high school, which class was all hoped to go universities of the mathematical or science fields.The seats were free to sit but almost determined by the personalities. The serious were sitting at the comparatively before widows sites. The seats were quiet and easy to concentrate. We were also serious to the learning but liked probably the worst seats that could not concentrate by the various noises for entering and out-going to the room. But we loved the seats.
K and I first met at this class and became best friends. He probably hoped to go to chemistry and I was physics. He was very good at mathematics and I was ordinary at math. I sometimes asked him how to solve the hard quests of math. At that time he smiled to me and said, " there's any little paper? The problem can be written enough by such a little space."
Over the our seats, papers were frequently flown to the end of the class where the trash can was set always fulled with the calculate-papers for math and writing of English memos. The members of the class were all eager to solve math quests for preparing to entrance examinations to the universities. At the result they threw the used papers over us towards the can. So around the can, the scraps were littered with. I was never tidy but I was the nearest one to the can, so I sometimes went to trash dump to clean the can.
After we graduated the high school, he studied chemistry as planned at university. But I selected language study, not physics. I also liked philosophical or linguistic fields for their long historical heritages. What I returned to the field related with physics was already over the age 30s. As a result my research object has been narrowed to language universals using mathematical writing or physical approach.
After half a century, he died by disease in his researching way while I have learnt same theme on language using maths way not solving any quest from 1920s' Linguistic Circle of Prague. Over my head still now vain calculate-papers are being thrown to the can behind us. If I ask him to help me for solving, he will say to me wanting tiny paper to write the simple answer with his dear smiling as ever.
22 May 2013
