He was not truly listening to his teacher’s words.
The words did reach his ears, and they carried a truth sharp enough to pierce his chest. Yet it was not that he was simply ignoring them. Rather, he was receiving them through a different kind of filter, a subtly altered way of understanding.
“…The teacher may have a point,” he thought. “But that cannot be the only truth. It also feels like it does not quite fit who I am right now. I’ll ask AI about it when I get home.”
And so, wrapped in the reassurance of self-affirmation that AI provides, he held onto a brief sense of happiness and drifted into sleep once again.