Doraemon paced up and down the room anxiously. He was waiting for Nobita to return home from the exams. He can't help but feel worried; he really hoped that Nobita did well…
"Doraemon!"
Doraemon turned and saw Nobita standing in front of him, panting as though he had just ran a mile. In his hand, he held his exam paper.
"How did you do?" asked Doraemon tentatively.
Wordlessly, Nobita handed the exam paper to him.
Doraemon looked at it.
On the top right corner, in red ink, was scrawled the number 77.
Doraemon lowered the paper and gave Nobita a huge smile but instead; found himself in the boy's embrace.
"It's not a hundred, but I manage to score that much!" cried Nobita excitedly. "Thank you so much, Doraemon!"
"Well done, Nobita-kun," said Doraemon. "You see, as long as you put in a lot of effort, you can do it!"
Nobita nodded happily.
Suddenly, the door opened and Nobita's mother walked in.
"What's all this noise?" she asked. Then, her eyes fell on the paper in Doraemon's hand.
"Is that the result for today's exam?" she asked sternly, quickly snatching it from him. She stared at the score on the paper.
Suddenly, she let out a screech and pulled Nobita into an embrace.
"Well done!" she cried as tears poured down her face. "Well done! I knew you could do it!"
She began to pull Nobita towards the door. "Let's go out and celebrate! We'll go and pick up your father from work and maybe we'll go and see a movie…"
Her voice trailed off as she and Nobita went down the stairs, leaving Doraemon behind.
Doraemon just stood there, smiling to himself quietly before it was replaced by a sad expression.
He knew that it was bound to happen, but it still saddened him.
It was his job to mold Nobita into a better person, but he also realised that the more that Nobita grew up, the less he would depend on him. Once Nobita was completely independent, Doraemon would become obsolete in Nobita's life.
The thought of not being needed stung Doraemon's heart.
But he would not let it deter him from his goal.
Doraemon wondered if he should follow Nobita and his mother for their celebration but decided against it. Nobita rarely got any show of affection from his own parents; he would not intrude on this precious moment.
When Nobita came home that night, chattering excitedly about the movie that he and his parents watched, Doraemon put on that big smile on his face and listened to him.
When Nobita finally fell asleep, Doraemon just sat beside Nobita.
He felt pride and sadness in his heart.
He was proud of Nobita, and wanted to help him grow further.
But at the same time, he was sad. The more Nobita grew, the more he would drift away from Doraemon.
Doraemon shook it off, and climbed into his closet to sleep.
He stared at the wall of the closet where he had pinned the exam paper.
Again, his heart welled with pride.
He slept with a smile on his face.
a lot of self reflection eh?
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