Loups-Garous

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Authors: Natsuhiko Kyôgoku
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all must mean someone doesn’t quite have positive feelings about you, but they definitely don’t suspect you.”
    â€œIs that so?”
    â€œIt’s like that,” Kunugi tied up. He made a weird face and sipped more tea.
    â€œMmm, this tea is good,” he said, very deliberately.
    It tastes the same everywhere.
    It was just something that came out of a dispenser.
    Because so many people sued for cases of dysosmia and hypergeusia, food products of late had enhanced flavors and smells. It was all a little acidic for Shizue’s taste.
    After a brief silence, Kunugi asked, “You were really that opposed to this?”
    â€œWhat do you mean ‘that opposed’?”
    â€œWell, you just said you thought the police doubted you because you were so opposed to their plan. Is that a way of saying you’re tired of doubting your own pupils?”
    â€œNo, it…isn’t.”
    Shizue immediately regretted having answered such an off-kilter question so earnestly.
    â€œI’m just a counselor.”
    She went on. “There are no longer such things as educators. Proctors help with specialized subjects, and supervisors are responsible for teaching basic social mores and rules. There are staff for running communication courses, but I’m sure that will be phased out soon.”
    â€œSo you’re telling me there are no more educators.”
    â€œI’m saying the word ‘education’ no longer connotes teaching and fostering. It has negative connotations of discipline and organization. Looking at past data it seems the word had a broader meaning before, but even so, by the end of the twentieth century it was no longer clear what was being taught, regardless of the methodologies used.”
    â€œI wasn’t taught how to live either,” Kunugi said. “I certainly didn’t like my teachers. I don’t know about before my time, though.”
    â€œWith no one learning anything, using the word ‘student’ was silly too. ‘Teacher’ is a weird word too. I don’t think ‘teacher’ originally signified the primacy of older age, but that’s the meaning it took on. There’s nothing guaranteeing an older person is inherently superior.”
    â€œI guess that’s a form of age discrimination.”
    Well, yes.
    â€œFor about ten years, all kinds of contradictions erupted, and these arcane educational pedagogical systems collapsed. Concurrently, the term ‘education’ was banned. Today, minors are all children—they are only recognized as such by the different rights and responsibilities they bear.”
    â€œI don’t really understand. Well, I’m the one always lectured on profession-based human rights issues, but clearly things are different from the past. When I was young, there were laws protecting young people, but…” Kunugi paused. “What am I trying to say here? W-well…” The policeman stammered.
    â€œYou’re confusing the issue,” Shizue said. “I know what you are trying to say. I’m no youth rights revivalist. There is no clear delineation between children and adults, so it’s no one’s right to make them up. Whether you have knowledge or experience or superior physical function isn’t determined by age or gender, so to create arbitrarily separate groups based purely on age is problematic. I realize this will seem like a gross exaggeration, but to say a minor can’t have a criminal record is in principle the same as denying a woman’s right to vote.
    You’re having to protect and shelter both, but beyond just protecting basic human rights lies responsibility.”
    â€œSo what don’t you like about all this?” Kunugi asked. “I mean, what is so important to oppose now, to the extent that you hate the police?”
    â€œWhy are you asking such questions of me?”
    â€œHmm…”
    Kunugi put his empty

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