Three Days of Happiness

5
Chapter 1: A Promise For Ten Years Time
When I was first told about how I could sell my lifespan, what
immediately came to mind was a morality lesson from elementary
school.
We were ten-year-olds who still didn’t know how to think for
ourselves, so the teacher for our grade, a woman in her late
twenties, asked us something like this:
“You’ve all been told that a human life is something that can’t be
replaced, and it’s more valuable than anything. Now, if it were given
a monetary value, how much money do you think it would be
worth?”
She then took a thoughtful pose. I thought her way of asking the
question was inadequate, personally. She was silent for a good
twenty seconds, still holding a piece of chalk and staring down the
blackboard with her back to the students.
While she did that, the students earnestly mulled over the question.
A lot of them liked the young, pretty teacher, so they wanted to say
something pleasing that would get them a compliment.
One smart-aleck raised her hand.
“I read in a book once that the total life expenses for a salaryman
are about 200 million to 300 million yen. So I think the average
person would be somewhere around there.”
Half the students in class oohed and aahed. The other half looked
bored and fed up. Most of the students hated that smart-aleck.
The teacher managed a smile and a nod. “That’s certainly true.