Disclaimer: I make no money from writing this, and no recognizable characters are owned by me!

Daniel stepped into the room with a false confidence and a very real sense of boredom infused with resignation. He shouldn't feel like this; he'd gone through the requisite thirteen years of school just like anyone else, suffered through 13 years of walking into a school on the first day. College should be different. By the time one reached college he should not be stepping into a new classroom with that same sense of foreboding and faint hope of one wondering if the following several months will be pleasant or hellish or some combination of both.

Taking a deep breath brought a sense of stuffy staleness to Daniel's nose, that closed up feel that every classroom was known for. Some things never changed, no matter the venue.

Daniel stood in the doorway and surveyed the room. He was early. There were few enough other students that Daniel had a virtually unlimited choice of seats, and after a moment of hesitation he moved forward into the room and chose a seat mid center. This was a strategic placement. He was far enough forward that he would not seem uninterested to the teacher and he could avoid being surrounded by those who chose the back so as to better manage goofing off during class, but he was not seeming over eager by placing himself in the front half of the class. That might also work in his stead to avoid being given too much attention by the teacher. Daniel was not sure if the rules of high school still applied for freshman college but one couldn't be too careful. At least this time, as opposed to high school, he was taking classes of his choice that he could very much imagine correlating to his life. Maybe he'd even enjoy them.

He glanced down at the book he'd carried in with him. Business management 101. Daniel sighed. Not interesting, perhaps, but at least he'd be able to apply the knowledge to the running of Mr. Miyagi's Little Trees, and it would also keep Mr. Miyagi, as well as his mother, off his back, finally, about starting college. His other class, Eastern Philosophy, was nothing but an indulgence to an interest Daniel had acquired since meeting Mr. Miyagi a few years ago, but it would hopefully prove to at least be a pleasant class, studying something he was interested in.

Daniel took the last moments before class was expected to begin to study other students entering the room. He was surprised to discover that a few of the new students taking seats around him were not fresh out of high school as he was. Some, in fact, were well into middle age and beyond. While this surprised him it was not an unpleasant surprise and he wondered if that meant that college would be refreshingly absent of the usual dramas and politics of popularity that high school was rife with. He had imagined that it would follow the freshmen into higher learning but perhaps he'd chosen the right courses to avoid such things. Daniel had had his fill of dividing lines based on status and popularity and he'd had more than enough of the bullies that tended to cross those lines to make the less fortunate pay their dues in misery. He'd expected to be at least a year older than most of the freshmen since he'd taken a year before enrolling, but it seemed he was one of the youngest; seeing students who were older reassured him. With luck, social standing wouldn't be as important in community college as it was in high school.

The middle aged man who seemed to be the teacher walked in briskly and set his brief case on top of the desk in the front of the room and that was the cue for those left milling around and introducing themselves to find seats. A woman that Daniel would guess to be in her thirties took the seat to his right and a young man near his own age took the seat to Daniel's left, but he paid little attention. The teacher called the class to order and there was no time for introductions.

"How first day class go for Daniel-San?" Mr. Miyagi asked the moment Daniel walked into the Bonsai shop and set his bag down behind the counter. "Daniel-San go to college this time?" he joked with a small smile.

Daniel smiled back with a small chuckle "Yeah, yeah. I went," he said, acknowledging the small joke referencing the previous fall when he was supposed to have started college but had instead used the money to open the shop that he and Mr. Miyagi now operated as partners. "It was okay. Can't expect too much out of a class about business management," he half-complained. "But I'll learn some things to help me here, at least. My other class starts tomorrow and those are the only two I'm taking right now."

Mr. Miyagi nodded but his ambiguity about the small class load Daniel was carrying was obvious, and Daniel sighed. While disapproval would be too strong a word to use, Daniel was aware of Mr. Miyagi's uncertainty that Daniel was reaching his full potential by forgoing a larger university to instead take a couple of classes at the local community college.

Daniel stepped over to where Mr. Miyagi was serenely clipping and shaping a Bonsai and began to work on the one he had started himself the day before. They clipped together in familiar companionable silence for several minutes, standing side by side, before Daniel spoke again.

"I'm not wasting anything, you know," he said to Mr. Miyagi. "I'm not wasting my time or the money or the opportunity." Mr. Miyagi stayed silent but he gave that familiar tilt of the head that let Daniel know he was listening. "I don't have any big plans for what I want to do for the future, I never did. I don't want to be a doctor or a lawyer, Mr. Miyagi. If I wasted time and money on education for something I don't want, that would be the waste. But what I really want, now, is to run this shop with you. This is where I see my future. I'm happy now, why should I change that? And owning and running a business isn't exactly nothing, you know. I'm going to school, which is what you and Ma wanted for me, but I'm taking a class that will help me with what I'm happy doing now. I'd say that's win-win."

Daniel kept his eyes on his Bonsai when he finished speaking but he waited anxiously for Mr. Miyagi's response. Mr. Miyagi's disapproval would not necessarily change Daniel's mind, but his approval was important to him and it would color his confidence about whether what he was doing was right. One of the bigger issues Daniel had faced with the possibility of going off to college was that it would mean leaving Reseda and Mr. Miyagi, and that was something he couldn't see doing at this point in his life. He was sure Mr. Miyagi knew this, though they had never talked about it, and Daniel wondered if that was why Mr. Miyagi insisted he begin college; so he would not feel he'd been the one to hold Daniel back.

Finally, at long last, Mr. Miyagi gave a curt nod. "Hai, Daniel-San, I understand. This your decision and you have made it. I respect what you must do."

Daniel let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding and offered Mr. Miyagi a older man returned the smile before reaching out to place a hand on Daniel's shoulder for a moment , and then he returned his attention to his own Bonsai. Without it having been said, Daniel knew that Mr. Miyagi had not taken much enjoyment from the idea that Daniel would leave, either. They enjoyed each other's company and each had found something in the other that they had been missing for years. Their relationship was multifaceted but it fulfilled things that each craved. Neither had taken enjoyment from the idea that it might end with distance when Daniel went away to school.

"So how has business been today?" Daniel asked. The shop had been opened for almost six months and he was worried that business hadn't picked up as quick as he'd hoped it would. It did well enough, but for a specialty shop that sold something not found anywhere nearby, it seemed to him that it should be doing better.

"Business good," Mr. Miyagi nodded. "Three customer, two buy."

"Just three?" Daniel asked, disappointed.

Mr. Miyagi chuckled. "Daniel-San, three in one day good business. Bonsai very special, only Bonsai people want Bonsai. Bonsai people maybe know more Bonsai people and they say to friends 'come to Mr. Miyagi's Little Trees, Miyagi's Bonsais very special'. Then more people come."

"I guess so," Daniel halfheartedly agreed, not convinced.

"Miyagi know so," Mr. Miyagi insisted confidently. "Come, we do kata."

That was one benefit to having a business that only drew the occasional specialty customer, Daniel thought with a smile. Even at work there was plenty of time for them to continue Daniel's ongoing training in karate with Mr. Miyagi.

He stood two steps behind Mr. Miyagi and followed the older man's moves in the new kata he'd been teaching him, reaching for that balance in his mind that the serenity of the workouts always helped him achieve.

Any day that ended with serenity was a good day.