Pandion (Genera #1)

Chapter 40

T he coast guard towed the docking robot and the remaining two life rafts to the port of Tomakomai. The Sunfish Memuro had sunk almost precisely midway of the last leg of its route, between Aomori and Hokkaidō. They arrived only three hours later than their scheduled arrival time, but since Kagesawa, Harumine and some of the other survivors were taken straight to the hospital for a check up, their trip wasn’t over just yet.

While Kagesawa was examined and receiving treatment for the smoke inhalation and his other injuries, Harumine sat in the waiting room with a few of the passengers he’d helped from their cabins to the life rafts.

The waiting room was quiet. Because of their grand arrival on a docking robot, the other passengers had probably put two and two together and realised that Harumine was an empath. The atmosphere was tangibly awkward, but so long as no one gave him grief and he’d be able to walk out of here together with Kagesawa, it made no difference.

Before their departure from Oarai, Reika had given Harumine her contact information, so he was giving her a brief account of what had happened. His own family he’d contacted long since. His aunt was coming to pick them up as promised, but she’d taken advantage of the unscheduled extra time to run a few errands.

“Excuse me.” A young woman with a child, neither of whom Harumine recognised, was asking for his attention.

“You mean me?”

“Yes, I’m sorry to disturb you, sir. I was wondering if you were the gentleman helping at the Sunfish Memuro today?”

“Ah, yes, I was there…” The ferry crew and Kagesawa had done most of the work, but he’d certainly tried to make himself useful. She instructed her child to sit and wait and approached Harumine to speak more discreetly.

“My husband was on the ferry. He was sending me messages stuck in his cabin until you and your friend freed him. I am forever indebted to you. You don’t know how much it means to us to have him home safe with us.” The child behind her, perhaps four or five years old, looked happy and oblivious of the tragedy he could have faced.

“I saw your friend when you came in. Will he be OK? I would like to thank him personally if that’s at all possible,” the woman added. Another passenger beside Harumine leaned closer.

“Me too. I don’t know what would have happened if the two of you hadn’t been there. I didn’t think empaths would care what happens to us commoners.”

The other passengers murmured similar sentiments. It was sweet that they were trying to correct their misguided opinions, but some of their comments were so ill-informed they still sounded more like insults. Even so, if the word got out that empaths had taken part in the rescue amidst all this, the public perception might improve a little. Maybe it would amount to something.

A message arrived back from Reika. She was asking for more details on her brother’s condition.

“Ah, excuse me.” Harumine moved aside to respond to the message. He was typing it on the palm reader’s keyboard in an effort to appear normal, but it was painfully slow. Reika in turn replied within seconds:

Reply to your sister’s messages so I don’t have to. She’s annoying. Harumine gave up trying to type and popped in the port extension.

Why are you even messaging her? She can wait a while and fester with her questions, can’t she?

Not that it really bothered Harumine. All he wanted was an excuse to project to Kagesawa to hear something back. Any word from Ayase? The link was functioning perfectly so it must have not been anything too serious, but it was still a cause for worry.

Yeah, Ayase got back to me when I was getting the oxygen. Said there’s some off-shoot damage and wanted me to lay off the heavier tasks so they can recoup in peace… Oh, hold up, the nurse is done with the splint.

Kagesawa had broken his forearm and three ribs, had a few cuts, a sprain and some bruises, but considering what he’d been through, his injuries were laughably minor.

Apparently I fainted for a moment before, so they gave me a glucose drip. I’m feeling much better now. They still want to do a bronchoscopy, but after that I should be free to go. They’re telling me to take it easy for a couple of days and asking if I have someone who can pick me up. Your aunt is coming, right?

Yeah, she’s in Tomakomai waiting for us to be done here.

Harumine relayed some of the details to Reika and sat down again in the waiting room. Reika responded back with her usual speed:

‘Keep my brother safe’? Again with the misplaced trust. Harumine sighed. I guess I need to learn how to be a bodyguard. He’d probably have plenty of time between farming lily bulbs at the farm or washing dishes and waiting tables at the restaurant.

Considering how homely and embarrassing the family business had seemed before, he felt surprisingly OK about it now. Maybe he’d been embarrassing himself, thinking there was anything wrong with any of it?

Aren’t they done already? Time had slowed to a tedious crawl where a half an hour felt more like a day. How long did a bronchoscopy take? A month? Harumine had paced between the vending machine and the waiting room for at least half a year when they released Kagesawa back into the wild.

Hello. Kagesawa waved his hand at Harumine.

He was still wearing the decimated husks of the amenity kit slippers, his tattered jeans and the t-shirt he’d picked up from his old wardrobe that was now in worse shape than the one he’d worn previously. The rest of his clothes had sunk along with the Sunfish Memuro, so there was nothing to change into. They’d given him a towel that he wore over his shoulders, and he’d washed his face, but he was quite the sight.

“How was it?” Harumine hurried to ask.

What? The lung thing? It was fine. Or, some damage. They want to keep an eye on it, but they gave me some meds. It should be fine.

“Why don’t I trust you?” Harumine shook his head and turned to the nurse who’d escorted Kagesawa out. “Could you repeat his results and instructions to me? He has DEFD. I’m his link.”

Kagesawa nodded to give the nurse the go-ahead.

“You’re here to take him home?” the nurse confirmed from Harumine. “He’ll probably be a little tired today and tomorrow. Here are his prescriptions, but he’s not allowed to eat or drink anything until his cough reflex returns. It could be an hour or two. If you have any questions or concerns, you can consult the medical app. He will be invited back for a check up, or you can get in touch if any of his symptoms worsen, but he should be fine for you to take home.” The nurse gave Kagesawa his bag of prescription medicine.

“He’s fine?” Harumine confirmed, still suspicious.

“Relatively speaking, yes. If he takes it easy and everything heals as it should, he’ll be as good as new by the end of the year.” She smiled at the both of them and excused herself.

See, it’s fine.

They were about to leave, but the other ferry passengers still in the waiting room surrounded Kagesawa before they could. The passengers took turns to bow and give thanks as Kagesawa grew increasingly flustered and uneasy. When they had all had their turn, they remained eyes fixed at him waiting for a comment.

“Um, he’s not deaf or mute, is he?” one of the passengers finally dared to ask.

“No.” The one syllable Kagesawa got out was something between a croak and a whisper. Can you tell them my throat’s a bit sore?

“Oh?” Harumine hadn’t even realised. “He says his throat is sore. There was a fire on the car deck, and he inhaled a lot of smoke.”

“Aaa, of course, of course! That explains it.” The other passengers nodded in unison.

“We really should get going. Our ride is waiting outside.” Harumine guided Kagesawa gently past the tiny crowd that had started another round of praises and thanks.

Harumine spotted his aunt waiting for them not far off from the entrance, and they hurried over before anyone could make a scene outside. Good thing they did because only a handful of minutes later a small convoy of news reporters arrived at the hospital.

“That was close.” Harumine closed the car door, fastened his seatbelt and helped Kagesawa with his.

“Were the two of you being chased?” Harumine’s aunt, Fujiko, asked half in jest.

“That seems to be the case.” Harumine dismissed it with a laugh. “Thanks for picking us up, and sorry we kept you waiting.”

“No, no, it’s fine. It’s great to have you back. We’ve all been waiting for you since you sent the message. Everyone’s been really worried—your mom especially—and they can’t wait to meet your colleague.” Aunt Fujiko started the car and started driving.

Harumine glanced at Kagesawa, who was more subdued than usual and giving off some subtle but peculiar vibes.

Is everything OK? It’s home-stretch now. Just a couple of hours to go.

“ We did run into some trouble on the way, but we’re here now.” Harumine resumed the small-talk with his aunt, but eyed Kagesawa with some suspicion. Why are you dampening again? Didn’t they give you something for the pain?

“I’m thinking of cooking tonight. Would you like that?” Aunt Fujiko stopped at a red light and glanced back at her passengers.

She was one of the best chefs around, so her cooking was something Harumine had genuinely been looking forward to, now even more so, to see what Kagesawa would make of it. There was that excitement he’d felt wanting to show Kagesawa the SEU campus resurfacing again.

Yes, they did. Kagesawa closed his eyes. And I feel like I was hit by a truck-load of fluffy, soft mochi.

“I’ve been looking forward to it. I probably would have taken another seven years to come home if I hadn’t missed your cooking.” Harumine gave his aunt a happy smile, and his flattery made her beam in kind.

Well, this is a good chance to rest before meeting my family. Harumine extended his smile to Kagesawa, though it was slowly turning into a smirk. What I’ve found with the empath-type analgesics is that they can have some weird side-effects, but thankfully they don’t usually last for very long. He patted Kagesawa’s thigh and laughed. Relax and enjoy it. You’ll feel miserable again in no time. His aunt was driving on but glanced at them through the rearview mirror.

“Everything all right back there? Your friend looks troubled. Was it OK for him to leave the hospital?”

Uhhh, I hope this passes soon. I don’t want your family to think I’m a drugged-up dirty old homeless guy, and that’s exactly what they’ll think if I, uh, if I show up like this. I was counting on being just my regular dirty old homeless guy self, and at least having my remarkable wit to sweep them off their feet.

Kagesawa rubbed his forehead with some chagrin. He’d washed his face, but he was admittedly still in a dire need of a shower. The charred remains of his slippers weren’t helping, although they’d put up with the abuse remarkably well to still be wearable. He was undeniably a mess.

“He’s fine. He’s just nervous about meeting everyone.” Harumine’s summary caused Kagesawa to glare at him, though in slow, fumbling dismay. It’s kinda rare to see you like this. Even when you were drinking, I can only think of a handful of times I’ve seen you actually drunk. Harumine looked back at those few times rather fondly. Don’t worry about it. It’s a two-hour drive. You’ll sober up before we get there. Kagesawa didn’t seem convinced.

“Oh, there’s no need to be nervous,” Aunt Fujiko pitched in. “We’re all pretty laid-back, normal, small-town people. If you can deal with Satoru here, you’ll do fine with the rest of us.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Harumine eyed her sharply.

“Nothing, dear. You’re just a little… how should I put this delicately? Uptight.”

Her words made Kagesawa burst out laughing, and his laughter sounded like a hippo or a walrus being tortured to death. He tried to stifle it but let out a string of faint, involuntary snorts that didn’t seem to die down.

“I think you broke him.” Harumine shot a few more accusatory looks at the driver. She shrugged.

“Should I stop somewhere? Will he be all right?”

Yeah, will you?

“ Sorry, no,” Kagesawa mouthed, “I’m fine, I’m fine…” He was practically doubled over and wheezing.

“Oh, that reminds me, I’m so sorry! Where are my manners?” Aunt-Fujiko laughed nervously. “I didn’t even introduce myself. I’m Harumine Fujiko, Satoru’s aunt, as he’s probably mentioned. It’s nice to meet you, um…?”

Kagesawa was making what seemed like an effort, if poor, to collect himself.

Ah, could you introduce me and tell her I’m having some trouble with my throat so she doesn’t think I’m a complete asshat?

Sure.

Of course.

“He’s got a sore throat, so he’s asked me to introduce himself to you,” Harumine explained in his most matter-of-fact tone. “This is Kagesawa Tsuyoshi. My boyfriend 1 .”

1. ”This is Kagesawa Tsuyoshi. My boyfriend, the apartment wrecker, credit chip hoarder, tech geek, data stack compiler extraordinaire, do-uke, professional thing misplacer, multitasker, wet soap dispenser, organism-wrangler, glorified secretary vehicle handler, car deck interior designer, and docking robot rolling expert. He’s also a regular drugged-up dirty old homeless guy, a hippo and a walrus, and I love him.”