Asuka Shimizu and I are just robots.

This is Asuka Shimizu. She was my best friend in kindergarten. Every morning, we had to be in our jolly little homeroom at 8:15AM. I don't know how I felt about school back then. We finger-painted, sang nursery rhymes, played tag, and held hands, but I didn't really feel like I was learning anything substantial. I cried during lunch and didn't sleep during nap time. The only thing I remember being really attached to was my teacher Barbara and the white teddy bear Asuka brought to school every day. Asuka's dad owned a dojo in Shibuya. He was very big and very scary. I went to his Judo class once and never went back again. Later in life, Asuka became a celebrity and also ran her dad's dojo. I saw her about 5 years ago for the first time in nearly two decades. We visited our kindergarten and the same teachers were there, and they said, "Hey! Asuka and Lisa!" And we were like, wtf?? How the hell....? The only explanation I can think of is that kids are actually robots, and teachers have programmed us to develop according to complex proprietary algorithms that make us feel and look distinct. But really, we're just robots.