Pandion (Genera #1)

Chapter 23

T he train took a little less than a half an hour from T station to S station. The worst of the morning congestion had passed, and there was a fair number of seats available. So far no one had stopped them to ask any uncomfortable questions, and the commuters looked like regular people going about their regular business.

Since the anti-empath protests were localised around the EA’s offices, empath communities and other affiliated spaces, the rest of the country seemed largely unaffected by the unrest. The surrounding calm was deceptive.

Harumine was confident that the SEU had the resources and competence to shield itself from all of this like an impregnable fortress, but there was no telling what awaited between the station and the SEU main campus and whether they could get through unscathed.

Something wrong? Kagesawa looked like he was asleep, but apparently that was just for show.

Nothing beside the obvious, Harumine responded. Are you feigning sleep to appear inconspicuous or to avoid having to talk to Yajima?

With how Yajima had disappeared, it was no wonder there was a rift between them. Despite this, Harumine could tell they’d been linked and worked together for several years. There was something very familiar about Yajima, and the two seemed close despite the mood and the time apart.

Both. I’m suddenly reminded how annoying he is. Kagesawa’s face remained neutral, but his projection sounded irate.

Out of all of your links, I feel like he’s the one I could get along with. A little rough around the edges, Kagesawa had said. They were much alike in that respect.

Kagesawa cracked an eye open. Harumine could sense the question. He hesitated. He could have swept it under a rug with a lie, but that felt about as uncomfortable as outing his pointless link interviews when Kagesawa had disappeared. He sighed.

You left without leaving a note. I did some research. He seems palatable by comparison. They were not necessarily bad people, but at least Yajima hadn’t left solely for selfish reasons.

What sort of research? Kagesawa sat up straight and turned to look at Harumine.

A few observations. Never mind. It wasn’t very fruitful.

“Why do I get the feeling there’s a conversation going on, and I’m being excluded?” Yajima eyed the both of them.

“This is our stop.” Harumine pointed at the sign, saved by the timing. There’s a back route into the campus, usually used by the students that weren’t so keen on following the curfews.

Harumine knew of its existence for having used it to avoid bumping into other people when he’d wanted to make a quick run to the nearby bookshop or the konbini for a midnight study snack.

When the train stopped at the station, he led Kagesawa and Yajima down the stairs and to the smaller East exit. So far, there were no signs of protesters or anything else threatening. The sidewalk all the way up to the familiar konbini was nearly empty. Harumine dared to be cautiously optimistic. The rest of the way would be more secluded through a quiet residential area.

“Do you need something from the konbini?” he asked. There were vending machines at the school, but the selection was laughable. The cafeteria was for students only, so there was no guarantee they’d be allowed to use it.

No, Kagesawa replied. Yajima went in by himself. Is it far?

A few hundred metres. Now that he was fairly sure they’d get there without being harassed, Harumine realised he was still nervous.

Or was this excitement?

But why? Nostalgia? So soon?

He was happy to be reunited with his professors and even some of the other staff. There were a few underclassmen he’d been on good terms with, but none of these felt like the reason he was excited. Was it the prospect of finding out something new about the organism?

What’s taking him so long? Kagesawa asked.

Let him take his time. There’s hardly anyone here. We’re fine. On an average day, there would have been more students around, but other than that, everything appeared normal.

Hopefully, the people he knew on campus were doing all right. He considered getting in touch with his old school mates and friends, but since he’d kept a distance after graduation, and most of his friendships felt strained and awkward to begin with, it was difficult to take the initiative. Yajima exited the konbini.

“This way.” Harumine continued down the street.

The campus was fenced off, but there was a small parking garage behind a restaurant where the height of the fence halved to give better visibility out into the street for the few people who used the garage. The top of the fence had become suspiciously scuffed where people had climbed over it.

Harumine hopped over with ease. Kagesawa followed without having to hop. The three of them circled around some overgrown bushes to a little back road behind the West main building. Beyond there on the other side towered the dorms. It felt familiar, foreign and a little sad now that there was nothing there for Harumine anymore.

The West main building housed a lot of the lecture halls and classrooms, but also a number of staff offices and the research department. Barging in there was useless without a valid research student ID, but with a strategic pit stop, perhaps one could be arranged.

As they entered the building, Harumine realised why he was so excited. And when he realised it, he immediately recoiled.

What’s wrong? Kagesawa asked.

“What is it?” Yajima was almost as quick to notice.

“Oh, nothing.” Harumine groaned inwardly.

He was excited because he wanted to show Kagesawa around the place: the auditorium with its half-modern, restored clock tower. The massive university library. The view from the glass skybridge between the East and the West buildings, shaped like joining cherry tree branches that were illuminated after dark with blooming, light pink flowers in the spring. The dorm rooms overlooking the park and the founder’s statue… something he hadn’t glanced at twice when he’d studied here but now felt nostalgic.

To his shock, he’d also been looking forward to introducing Kagesawa to the people. This was not a sightseeing tour, for fuck’s sake. “It’s on the third floor, if memory serves me, but we’ll need an access card for the lifts.”

Kagesawa was not the gorgeous girlfriend he was taking home to see his parents, and this was not a date. The man looked about as kempt as a trash bag with his hair tied back in a mess resembling a bird’s nest, wearing that ancient excuse of a coat he’d worn the first time they’d met. It had been dirty then, and it most certainly hadn’t been washed since. It was a disgrace.

These weeks had made Harumine virtually blind to Kagesawa’s vagrant image, and what was worse, he wasn’t much better himself in this oversized jumper and tattered trousers. He couldn’t even recall when he’d last worn a proper suit and tie. Was it emotional growth that he’d learnt to see past the exterior somewhat? Or was it a loss of his sense of propriety, a moral bankruptcy even?

Harumine knocked on the door of the office of student services. The student councillor that answered the door was dressed to perfection in her uniform. The contrast was supremely unpleasant.

“May I help you?” She looked worried, but her voice was kind. Perhaps the recent events had eased the dress code, or perhaps she was taking pity on him?

“My apologies for the interruption, but does Hase-sensei happen to be in today? What about Shigemoto-sensei?” Harumine would make do with either.

The councillor seemed reluctant to cooperate.

“May I see your student ID?” she requested.

Harumine patted his pockets, wondering if he even had his wallet with him. He could almost hear the imaginary angelic choir sing their praises when Kagesawa handed him his wallet. He pulled out the now-expired student ID and handed it to the councillor, who inspected it with some curiosity.

There was a moment of confusion visible on her face, but it did not last for very long. Clearly, she was having a private conversation with her link to verify what to do. A door behind her opened, and a man came to join her at her desk. He looked familiar.

“Harumine-san.” The man nodded to Harumine, printed out a slip and assembled a visitor’s badge. “Welcome back. Hase-sensei is busy at present, but if you are not in a hurry, I can leave him a message, and he will get back to you later. Shigemoto-sensei has been dispatched to Kyoto and will not be available for the next two weeks. May I ask what this pertains to?”

“It’s difficult to explain. I would rather discuss it with Hase-sensei directly, but it has to do with the current situation.” Harumine took the badge offered to him. “Where should I wait for him?”

The student councillor’s colleague, Matsutani-san, with whom Harumine had spoken before though a mere handful of times, seemed only a fraction more willing to help.

“May I suggest the dorm service building, sir.” Matsutani-san set a keycard onto the desk along with a voucher. He then added two more vouchers as an afterthought. “As per the university policy, could your friends fill out these forms, please?” He gave tablets to Kagesawa and Yajima respectively. “We do not normally host outsiders on the premises. However, am I correct in assuming one of these gentlemen is your current link and the other is indeed also of the profession? Since you are here, we would be remiss to refuse asylum.”

Both Kagesawa and Yajima skimmed through the forms, neither too pleased about having to fill them. Harumine took the keycard and the vouchers, knowing exactly what they were for.

“You are correct, thank you,” he said. Despite it being a veiled insult, he could not afford turning them down.

After a bit of badgering, the forms were filled to the minimum satisfactory extent, and Harumine pulled his two bickering associates back outside.

“What a bunch of snooty shi—” Yajima shut up at the sight of Harumine’s face. That was the intention, though the execution had proven more effective than expected.

“They were gracious, all things considered.”

With the three of them marching in looking like absolute trash, it wouldn’t have surprised Harumine had they decided to escort them straight off the school grounds.

It was likely that Hase-sensei hadn’t any previous engagements but that Matsutani was giving the three of them the opportunity to freshen up before actually facing the man. The keycard was for the communal service building with the baths, pool and gym. The vouchers were for an express laundry service that provided a change of clothes while theirs were being washed.

The replacement set would be up to par with the expected standards while their current attires were not. Practically no students used the service here because they were either the kids of the filthy rich elite who wouldn’t be caught dead in such clothes or regular moderate income or scholarship students that washed their own clothes at the dorm. The service persisted as a symbol of luxury to pad the brochures with, alongside the onsen, the sports facilities and the hairdresser. Funny that it would come to actual use now.

The university campus gave Kagesawa bad vibes. The buildings were modern or immaculately maintained, and the environment objectively visually pleasing. There was plenty of greenery, and somehow the air seemed fresher and nicer on this side of the fence. However, it was much too pristine and exclusive to be actually welcoming.

Kagesawa felt acutely out of place. All of this wealth reminded him of the baggage he carried from a previous life, back when he’d still lived with his parents and back when not fitting in was a daily occurrence.

Satoru, on the other hand, looked right at home, no matter what he was wearing. He had that air about him that suggested he was capable of effortlessly adapting to any situation at any time. His confidence was triggering Kagesawa’s inferiority complex.

Kagesawa followed Satoru, trying to attract as little attention as possible, but he felt like he was sticking out like a sore thumb, regardless. What the hell was that gigantic glass structure high up in the air? Who had paid for that? What was it for? To symbolise something?

He was glad to enter the dorm service building even if it felt like trespassing. Out in the open, he kept expecting someone to stop him to throw him out. It seemed like that might still happen indoors, but thankfully the lobby of the service building was empty, and the shower rooms were private.

At the other end of the lobby, they located the laundry chute and a dispenser for the replacement clothes. Once they’d input their measurements, a hatch opened to reveal a perfectly pressed suit, accessories, shoes and a tagged bag for what was heading for the wash once they’d showered.

Kagesawa couldn’t recall if he’d ever been as nervous taking a shower, fearing he might break something or make a mess with everything around him so exorbitant and spotless. It also didn’t help to know Satoru was showering in the adjacent booth.

This is not the time, he reminded himself.

Luckily, he’d been dampening the link to spare Satoru from his frayed nerves since this all started, so it didn’t draw attention when he continued to do so now.

Kagesawa dried himself off and put on the suit. It was close enough to the correct size but not a great fit. A tailored suit had never made a difference in the past, but at least with this, there was something other than himself he could blame.

He brushed his hair and made an effort to tie it back a little more neatly than usual. Checking himself in the mirror, he suppressed the increasing sense of despair. He was never going to ‘clean up well’. It was no use to even try.

He untied the ponytail and gave up on the hair. Shouldn’t he have been immune to the shame by now? If he’d only had himself to worry about, he wouldn’t have been as nervous. The stakes were higher because he didn’t want to embarrass Satoru in front of his peers.

Satoru and Yajima were already waiting in the lobby by the time Kagesawa was done. Yajima looked casual, even in a suit. Satoru was wearing his as well as expected. He was of average build, so the suit was almost as if made for him. Perhaps hiding behind the two of them, no one would pay attention to the strange third wheel. At least, so he hoped.

Ready? Satoru asked. Kagesawa nodded. He was as ready as he’d ever be.

It was with mixed feelings that Harumine observed Kagesawa trying to adjust to the suit and blend in. He shouldn’t have had to jump through these hoops to be accepted.

Harumine hadn’t thought much about the dress code before. For the first time, it felt like an unnecessary strain. He’d been dreaming about seeing Kagesawa straightened up, in a proper suit, but now he felt too guilty to enjoy it. What was the point of a suit if it didn’t give its wearer a boost of confidence? Kagesawa looked awkward and lost.

Thankfully, Hase-sensei was more laid back than most and would probably not mind minor discrepancies. If this could be presented as an intriguing scientific study instead of a personal favour, the chances were Hase-sensei would do his best to help, regardless of whether Kagesawa could sell himself as a worthy cause.