“What’s with these homies dissing my girl-”
I jolted awake at the sound of my alarm, quickly reaching over to shut it off. ‘Wow. Excellent job, Genjo,’ I thought to myself. ‘Way to remember to change the song on your alarm before moving.’ I hopped out of bed and opened the alarm app, changing the sound to literally anything but that.
Ryu slowly rolled out of bed. “...Genjo?” He was struggling not to yawn. “I thought we didn’t have class today. What’s the rush?”
“Just because it isn’t Wednesday yet, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t already be trying to adjust our internal clocks.” As I brushed my teeth, I looked at myself in the mirror. To be honest, I’m not feeling as great as Ryu was giving me credit for - I was still recoiling from the bizarre dream I had last night. “Not to mention, we still have more orientation events.” I spit out my toothpaste into the sink and looked over at Ryu’s barely conscious body. “...You did remember the orientation schedule, right?”
He grabbed a set of vitamins and pills off his nightstand and downed them all with a single swift gulp of water. “Vaguely. How much more could they possibly have to tell us?”
“We still have to get our ID cards, don’t we?” I opened my acceptance booklet, which I had left on top of my keyboard, and began reading off the rest of the itinerary for the next two days. “There’s an assembly happening in the park soon. Roommate contracts still have to be written and signed, I still have to pick up most of my textbooks and supplies, and we should also probably take some time to learn our way around campus.”
Ryu finally let loose the yawn that he had been trying to contain for minutes on end. “Why can’t you just go and give me the scoop after?” He was running his fingers along the right side of his head like he had forgotten about what happened yesterday.
My voice was slightly muffled as I put my t-shirt on. “Because they take attendance, Ryu.” I grabbed my red zip-up hoodie and slid my arms through the sleeves. “If you want to be in bad standing with the university before day one, be my guest.” Before walking out the door, I picked up my sunglasses and headphones, placing them both neatly on my head.
Ryu groaned as he made his way over to his sink. “Ugh, fine. I guess one assembly won’t kill me. Not showing up with singed hair, though.” He pulled an electric razor out of his drawer and cut the majority of the hair off the right side of his head, and then further trimmed thin, horizontal streaks of lightning that ran from front to back. It actually looked really badass. Interestingly, he didn’t remember to shave his chin.
We grabbed our bags and made our way out of the West Dorm. The sun gently shined down on us and the breeze kept us cool as we strolled towards the center of campus. Walking between two different sides of campus with completely different architectural styles was still fascinating to me. The historic-looking buildings on our left had their names, along with their respective departments, chiseled into the marble above their entrances - ‘Suzuki Hall: School of Geology’, ‘Fujiwara Hall: School of Performing Arts’, and ‘Tanaka Hall: School of Journalism’ stood out to me in particular. The southwest quadrant on our right not only had slightly newer buildings, but also some slightly more modern subjects as well listed on their signs. ‘Kawasaki Hall: School of Exercise Science’. ‘Irwin Hall: School of Intelligence’.
Ryu pointed at Irwin Hall. “Something about that name seems kind of redundant.”
We chattered as we passed even more buildings that we could make out from a distance. ‘Ishimoto Hall: School of History’ on the left. ‘Moore Hall: School of Film’ on the right. Not seeing many science related buildings yet was concerning. Now that I think about it, what type of building would Ryu have his classes in?
Before long, we arrived at the central park. Hundreds of chairs filled with students were lined up in rows, facing the center courtyard where a large, wooden podium now stood. We were lucky that the trees provided copious shade to shield us from the heat. Is there any reason we couldn’t have had this meeting indoors?
Ryu and I unsuccessfully scanned the crowd to find two adjacent empty seats. He rolled his eyes and said, “Would it kill people to not leave gaps?” Ryu started walking towards the back row of seats. “Just text me when it ends.” I found my own seat in the middle of the third row from the front. I really hate squeezing by people to get to seats, but it was a lot better of an option than sitting all the way in the back.
When I sat down, I heard a familiar voice to my left. “Long time no see, Sazama.” It was Chika. Her nearly monotone voice made her sound colder than usual. She was carrying a notebook and an expensive looking fountain pen.
“Hey, Dokuro.” It took a lot of effort to not call her by her first name. We had gotten pretty well acquainted over the break - so what happened?
She put the cap back on her pen and closed her notebook. “I see you took my suggestion on the haircut.” That’s right - I had gotten so used to the way that Petrov made my hair flow that I hadn’t even remembered to change it back.
“Yeah, I found a product that finally works for me. I’m just trying it out for now, so I hope it doesn’t look bad.” ‘That was a lie,’ I thought. I honestly prefer my regular bangs, but the past 24 hours have taught me that sometimes you just gotta roll with the punches.
Chika gently placed the notebook inside a purse that was nearly invisible beneath her eggshell cardigan. “Not bad.” She wiped off the inconsequential amount of dust that had gathered on her lap where her notebook was resting. “Sazama, are you religious at all?
I couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. “Huh?”
She stared down at her hands while they rested on her lap, as if she were contemplating something incredibly important. “It doesn’t have to be one of the major world religions. I’m also including things like animism, or even ancient mythologies. Does anything along those lines… matter a lot to you?”
‘What a weird thing to bring up at a time like this.’ I don’t like having judgmental thoughts. They just make me feel worse than I already know I am. “...not particularly. It’s kind of difficult seeing so many different belief systems and narrowing it down to just one and calling it ‘correct’, I guess. Why do you ask?”
“Oh, nothing all that important.” Chika took a smaller notepad out of her sweater and wrote a short memo. “Just doing some research, that's all.” She quickly flipped through the different sheets on the notepad, all of which had inscriptions of many varieties. “It’s interesting to see which types of beliefs drive people to find meaning in life.” I could barely make out most of the text in her notes, but a few lines stuck out enough for me to read them before the pages flipped by - ‘fate’, ‘enlightenment’, and ‘predestination’.
Before I could get the chance to ask her about those notes, the assembly had already begun. A hearty middle-aged man with a comically large nose walked up to the podium. He tapped his finger on the microphone - which was not only unnecessary, but also uncomfortably loud - and began his speech. “Good morning. I would like to, on behalf of the entire faculty and staff, welcome all of the incoming student body to the Specialist School for Superior Students! My name is Dean Bennett, the Dean of this university. Before any of you ask, no, my name had nothing to do with the hiring process.” Somehow, I could tell the entire crowd doubted that.
“Now, I’m sure the last thing that all you young men and women in the audience want is a lecture, but I believe that, while it is important for your experience at this university to be rich, educational, and exciting, it is also important to remember that there is a basic code of conduct to follow.” …aaaaand everyone had officially stopped paying attention. “You all are young adults. And you will be treated as adults here, in regard to both respect and expectations. As an institution, we reserve the right to discipline, suspend, or even expel students who violate our standards of conduct.” I could’ve sworn that I saw Bennett look at a particular section of the audience when he said that last bit.
Bennett droned on for almost a full hour before letting us go free. “Before you all go…” Oh god, he’s never gonna take the hint, is he? “Be sure to pick up your permanent student IDs. Your photographs will be taken and your IDs will be processed at the same time. Pictures will start at 2:00 p.m. in the annex of Nakanishi-Bennett Dining Hall. You are now dismissed.”
Wait… where?
“Sazama, are you okay?” Chika was standing and looking down at me with a concerned expression. “Everyone’s already leaving. You’re not saying you enjoyed that lecture, are you?”
I quickly snapped back into reality. Most people had already left their seats. “Oh, sorry.” I stood up and realized for the very first time that Chika was a solid 4 inches shorter than I was. “Chi-” I quickly stopped to correct myself. “...Dokuro, are you gonna go straight to the dining hall for ID pictures?’
Chika was securing a white headband and a butterfly shaped hair clip to keep her bangs to the side of her head. “No, I have some other places on campus that I’m interested in locating first.” But despite her supposed plans, she hadn’t moved. “...I worry about you sometimes, Sazama.”
“Huh? Why’s that?” I nervously scratched the back of my neck.
“I’m not entirely sure myself.” Chika looked me up and down like she was examining me for reasons to list out. “You just seem so… spaced out all the time. Not to mention all the nervous ticks you exhibit when we talk.” She took a pair of glasses with large, circular frames out of her purse and placed them on her face. “I just… can’t tell what goes on behind those eyes.” Her glasses seemed to have a few smudges that she hadn’t wiped off yet.
I could feel my hands start to tremble again inside of my hoodie’s pockets. Would it kill her to be a little less cryptic when she psychoanalyzes me? “Is there something wrong with getting lost in thought every once in a while?” My feet were firmly planted on the stone sidewalk to keep them from trembling as well. “You can’t tell me that your mind hasn’t even wandered once while we’ve been here.”
“You’re right.” She took her notepad out of her sweater again. “I spend a lot of time trying to figure people out.” I was tall enough to be able to see every page from above. Many pages were filled with seemingly random notes as she flipped through them all. “That’s the problem, though.” Chika had flipped to a page labeled ‘Genjo Sazama’ at the top. All of the notes beneath it were either scratched out in black ink or ended in several question marks. “There’s just… too many inconsistencies. Why can’t I figure you out?”
I tried not to read too many of the notes without her permission, in case she had written some personal thoughts that I’d be better off not knowing. “Do you always tell people about the notes that you write about them? Or is that just a me thing?”
Chika sighed. “No. Most people are simple enough for me to sum up in a few sentences.” She started scratching out another note underneath my name. “But you… every single time that I think I’ve figured you out…” Chika wrote a large note on the paper saying, ‘seems to be fully aware of false prophets’ before shutting the notepad and putting it back in her sweater. “...you surprise me again.” She turned around and began walking towards the south side of campus. “Only time will tell if those surprises will be good… or bad.”
Part of me considered running after her. She thinks that she’s the one who’s confused? How the hell do you write down such a cryptic note and expect me to not worry about it? And what on earth did she mean by ‘inconsistencies’?
Before I could convince myself out of asking her, the sound of my phone incessantly vibrating from within my pocket did it for me.
[Incoming Call: Ryu Kase]
‘You done flirting yet?”
“Very funny.”
“Glad you admitted it. But that’s not why I called.”
“So you noticed it too…”
“Yeah. Something’s up.”
“Let’s go check it out, then. I’ll meet you there.”
“Alright. See you then.”
I hung up the phone and ran towards the northwest quadrant of campus, nearly tripping over myself on multiple occasions. It was difficult to run against the breeze, which now felt magnitudes faster as I forced myself against it. I completely forgot to check the names of the various buildings that I passed. My mind was racing, struggling to process anything that had occurred within the last several minutes. I had a feeling that I knew what I was about to see - and I sincerely prayed that I wouldn’t.
So you can only imagine the bewilderment I felt as I gazed upon a structure that had entirely renovated itself overnight.
The fence surrounding Nakanishi-Bennett was absent, and in its place were small trees, flower beds and carved stone benches. The dated stone walls of the building had been replaced almost entirely with glass panes, through which I could see tables, flatware and drink machines that were considerably more modern than the ones I saw inside of the exact same building last afternoon.
Ryu’s voice arose from behind me as he approached me and stood at my side. “Yep. I don’t fucking get it either.” We couldn’t help but stare at the dozens of students walking in and out of the front doors.
I was completely frozen in place, my eyes fixated on the columns holding up the awning above the door. “Ryu… that building nearly killed us last night.” I finally broke my gaze from the dining hall and looked Ryu in the eyes. “And now it’s like it never even happened.”
“Genjo…” I heard a sense of dread in Ryu’s voice. “You don’t think -”
“We couldn’t have hallucinated that, Ryu.” I cut him off before he could even suggest such a thing. “That wasn’t a dream. I refuse to believe that. I don’t have a clue about what’s going on here - so I guess the best we can do is… a little bit of research.” I stepped forward, making my way up the stairs to the door. Looking back at Ryu, I asked him a simple question; “You hungry?”
Ryu muttered, “You know I don't want to step foot in that weird ass building ever again,” before reluctantly following me up the stairs. “You’re really damn lucky I didn’t eat breakfast.”
The formerly decrepit Nakanishi-Bennett Dining Hall had become just as modern as its Southeast counterpart. Dozens of students were eating snacks or late lunches while waiting for the student ID line to open in the annex. Speaking of the annex, it was filled with couches, televisions mounted on the walls, and even a couple ping pong tables. This place really felt like a nice spot to hang out at - except it couldn’t make me forget what had happened here.
After Ryu and I got in a line and purchased a small lunch - I suggested that we be adventurous and try the French onion soup (spoiler alert: we didn’t like it) - we scanned the crowd for an open table. Before long, I spotted a boy in a familiar sleek jacket sitting at a table in the corner, facing away from everyone.
I decided to sit down right next to him. “‘Sup, Eiichi?”
Eiichi looked up from his massive bowl of cereal. “Genjo! Just the man I was looking to see!” He took out his phone and showed me an album of various photos he had taken of old weapons. “Which of these do you think looks the coolest?”
Forgetting what I had intended to ask him, I scrolled through the pictures. “Well, I think the katana kicks ass, but it’s a bit of a generic choice.” A few others stood out, like an incredibly sharp halberd, a whip made out of chains, and even a morning star. “If I had to pick one…” I stopped on one particular image. “The falchion - It has a super interesting hilt.”
Eiichi seemed incredibly satisfied by that answer. As he reached his arm around me and rested it on my shoulder, he heartily replied, “Oh, I knew you’d have amazing taste in bladework, bro. Just look at that curvature - the way that it protects the wielder’s hand without sacrificing any style… nothing short of marvelous!” Eiichi was so elated from talking about the sword that he nearly shed a few tears.
“No problem, dude! Always happy to help.” I took a sip from my very underwhelming soup. “...Wait. What exactly am I helping with?”
Ryu had finally arrived at the table. “Sorry, I was grabbing a few extra napkins. In entirely unrelated news, some idiot spilled their soup on the -”
“Ryu! The other man I was looking to see!” Eiichi completely ignored my question in favor of giving Ryu the exact same spiel.
After a long, intense inspection of the photos, Ryu answered, “Probably the dagger. Looks like a really old hunting knife.”
Eiichi once again nearly burst into tears, joyously sharing his love for the dagger. “Amazing choice, my friend! That right there is an acinaces, used by the ancient Persians before it eventually fell into the clutches of the Greeks. Wonderful craftsmanship from such a long forgotten age…” He continued talking for almost a minute about the history of the dagger. Wow, Eiichi really knows his stuff. I can totally see why he’s gotten such a huge online following - his storytelling is top notch.
I once again asked, “Eiichi. Is there any particular reason you’re showing us these? Don’t get me wrong, they’re cool as hell, but why ask us?”
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
“Oh, that’s right. Never told you guys.” An unfazed Eiichi opened an app that Bennett had asked us to download during the assembly for easy access to our school information - which I totally forgot to do - and showed us his degree plan page. ‘Eiichi Kido has been accepted for enrollment as S.S.S.S. under the programs of Superior Studies in Social Media Management and Aspiring Studies in Metallurgy.’ “I’m trying to decide what I should make for my first project.”
“...Metallurgy?” Ryu scratched his head. “Doesn’t that mean you -”
I quickly interrupted Ryu. “You wanna be a blacksmith?” My eyes lit up with excitement. “Oh my god, I can totally help you with that! I’ve played around with so many types of metals when I was a kid, so if you have any questions about the chemistry behind it, I’d love to help!”
Eiichi chuckled. “Thanks, Genjo. I’m gonna need it.” He showed me the classes on his schedule. A few marketing courses… a class on ancient weapon history… and General Chemistry. “Didn’t realize exactly what I was getting into when I chose this program. So I might need a chemistry tutor.”
“Hmm… I dunno.” I stared at his phone. “If you give me a cut of that sponsorship money, I’ll consider it.” Eiichi declined my offer, citing a long list of contractual reasons that essentially meant that I'd have to do the brand deals myself. All jokes aside, why wouldn’t I help out a friend?
This time, Ryu interrupted the conversation, asking, “By the way, Eiichi… Isn’t it really bizarre that the dining hall got renovated so quickly?” Wow. He didn’t even try to ease into that.
Eiichi crunched down on a huge spoonful of cereal. “Uh, yeah, I guess.” He continued eating completely nonchalantly despite the weird shift in the conversation. “But the construction workers that the campus hires usually always finish renovations within a year.”
“Bro, what are you talking about?” Ryu seemed aggravated. “Don’t tell me you didn’t see this place get finished overnight.”
Eiichi set his spoon down in the bowl. “What are you talking about? I could’ve sworn that construction on the place has been finished for a while.” He calmly took a sip of an energy drink that I had seen a lot of advertisements for online. “Is the jet lag messing with your memory or something?”
Ryu leaned in across the table closer to Eiichi’s face. “I’m talking about how this place was literally still getting renovated last night. Things don’t just get finished in a matter of hours.”
In response, Eiichi just shrugged. “I agree with you there, that’s absolutely ridiculous. Not sure why you’re so pressed about it, especially given that we know it’s impossible.” He took another long sip from the can. “Are you sure it wasn’t just closed for cleaning?”
Ryu had no choice but to give up. We both knew something was fishy - and it wasn’t the scent of his clothes. The rest of our lunch went about as normally as it could after a mood shift like that. Once it got closer to 2 p.m., we all headed downstairs to get in line for our IDs. It was an extremely uneventful experience - aside from Ryu nearly sneezing in the middle of getting his photo taken. While we were waiting for the workers to actually print our ID cards, I saw a boy with pale white hair collect his ID card and walk out of the annex. I found it strange, considering I didn’t remember seeing someone like that in line with us. After we got our IDs, I went out the same exit, but the boy was nowhere in sight. I decided to not think much of it and parted ways with Ryu and Eiichi as I went back to exploring campus for my classrooms.
It wasn’t until that very moment that I had realized I had left my map on the desk in my room. Instead of walking all the way back to my dorm though, I decided that the “better” game plan was to wander until I found the science buildings (You may now applaud me for my phenomenal decision making skills). I figured the contemporary structures of the northeast section would have better odds than anywhere else. ‘Watkins Hall: School of Mathematics’. Bingo. Now that I knew I was in the right ballpark, I paid extra close attention to the different lecture halls to determine the fastest way to move between them for classes. ‘Barker Hall: School of Physics and Engineering’ in the northeast quadrant sat directly opposite from ‘Stardust Observatory’ in the southeast - no chemistry buildings yet. My search grew increasingly frustrating as more and more non-chemistry buildings passed me by. ‘Claythorne Hall: School of Computer Science’. ‘Shiraki Hall: School of Architecture’. ‘Kiyotaka Center for Political Sciences’. ‘Murphy Library and Institute for Legal Studies’. Still nothing…
I even managed to find the classrooms for my exploration courses before I found the school of chemistry. ‘Ford Hall: School of Archaeology and Anthropology’ laid before me on the other side of the sidewalk which separates the northeast and southeast quadrants. Every single sign on campus that pointed towards the chemistry building just led to an old building in the southwest - it didn’t have a sign in front of it, and the engraving above the doorway had either faded away or was scratched off entirely… did my classes even have their own buildings? Come to think of it, I hadn’t found a school of biology yet either. Am I losing my mind??
Finally admitting defeat, I turned around to walk back to my dorm for my map. Off in the distance, I saw someone walking towards the central park. I couldn’t make out many of their features - that is, aside from their uncannily white hair. Until now, I didn’t even realize that I hadn’t seen a single person as I walked around campus. The air around me began to feel stagnant, almost like it was at a complete standstill - the gentle gusts of wind had gone absent.
I followed the white-haired boy to the park, keeping a moderate distance between us so I wouldn’t startle him. He took several bizarre turns and paths as he walked. If he didn’t look so focused and purposeful with each stride, I would’ve guessed that he was just wandering aimlessly. If he knew that I was following him, maybe he was trying to lose me? But that would beg an even stranger question - for what reason would he not want anyone else behind him? To be entirely honest, I’m not exactly sure why I was still following him. What originally began as an impulsive decision to ask someone about the chemistry building had become a need to follow him - as if I had commanded myself to keep going.
After several minutes of traversing this campus in the most maze-like manner possible, we eventually found ourselves back in the southeast quadrant. My legs had grown heavy from all this walking. Like usual, I watched him round a corner - I followed. Every time he took the long way around a building, I traced his every step. If nothing else comes of this, at least I know my way around campus now. Once we passed Dubois Hall, the School of Psychology and Philosophy, the boy stayed completely still. ‘What a strange place to stop,’ I thought to myself. After all, it was a fairly open space that was visible from several windows. If he was here to do some sort of illegal activity, he picked the absolute worst place to do it. Suddenly, the boy shifted ever so slightly, like he was about to turn around. Various thoughts deriving from ‘damn it, why now?’ rushed through my head as I ran to hide behind Dubois Hall in a panic. After only a few seconds, the sound of his footsteps continued. The sounds slowly got quieter, which was definitely a hell of a lot better than if they got louder.
I carefully stepped out from my hiding place and did my best to catch up to the boy using only the sounds of his steps as a guide. After rounding a few more corners, I could hear his brisk walk turn into a full blown sprint. Attempting to run after him as best I could, I was surprised at just how suddenly the sounds grew distant. Eventually, I had no choice but to stop. “H-how did he… get away… so fast?” I said out loud in between gasps for breath. At this rate, I’ll get an entire month’s worth of cardio done in just a few days from all this running. Once I caught my breath, I stood up straight and faced forward again. The white-haired boy was completely gone. In his place… was a less than familiar building.
‘Kurosawa Hall: School of Chemistry’.
…what an interesting twist of fate.
As it turns out, Kurosawa Hall was behind the Southeast Dining Hall this entire time. Whoever designed the layout for this campus: I hate you. Whose genius idea was it to separate the chemistry building from the rest of the sciences? Oh, and don’t even get me started on the sign issue - why did they all point in the opposite direction? It’s almost like the faculty woke up this morning, spun a massive wheel with the names of every student on it, and decided to really annoy whichever student they landed on. Hell, they should just change my acceptance letter to read, ‘Dear Genjo Sazama…’
‘Fuck you in particular.’
Kurosawa Hall was a pretty nice building, all things considered. The massive glass windows next to the labs were not only most likely a safety hazard, but also let me look inside to see all the instruments that I could’ve only dreamed of using in high school. Their centrifuges appeared to hold dozens of test tubes at once. All of the glassware was pristine and well organized. Even the lab benches were well maintained. It took astronomical amounts of effort to not erupt into screams of joy, but could you blame me? I felt just like a child on Christmas morning, greeted by presents that are so obviously what they asked for, while everyone in the family pretends that they have no idea what could be inside. And just like that child, I hated having to wait until my turn to get to play with them all.
After gawking at all of the lab equipment for a while - I even stared at the fucking beakers for god’s sake - I made the incredibly tough decision to leave Kurosawa Hall. When I opened the door, I was once again greeted by the harsh sunlight and the gentle breeze. Plenty of other students were walking by, whether solo or in small groups, all looking for their classes just like I was. I guess I was just ahead of the curve. Were all of these students still waiting in line for their IDs when I left? I don’t remember Eiichi, Ryu and I being that close to the front of the line. I glanced at my phone to check the time - 2:40 p.m. …That didn’t seem quite right. I’m not sure why, though.
I really need a break. I decided to text Ryu, Hiro and Eiichi to see if they wanted to hang out - shoutout to Hiro for already making a group chat for us.
[Group Message: Ryu Kase, Hiro Takamaru, Eiichi Kido]
“What’s up guys?”
“Just got done finding my classes”
“Anyone down to do something?”
Hiro: “Of course!! I’m right outside of Barker”
Ryu: “sure. got nothing better to do”
Eiichi: “yeah lol”
Nice to see the varying levels of enthusiasm.
Ryu: “i’m not walking all the way to barker though”
Ryu: “that’s too damn far from my dorm”
“I’ve walked like 5 miles today, Ryu.”
“Get over here.”
Hiro: “Get over here!!”
Hiro: *Attachment: 1 Image of a gold-clad ninja*
Eiichi: “get over there, ryu :P”
Ryu: “ughhhhhhhh fine”
Ryu: “gimme 20 minutes”
He ended up taking much longer than 20 minutes. Hiro put his hands behind his head and frowned. “Ryu, what took you so long? I’ve been wasting away out here.”
Ryu scratched the back of his neck and shrugged. “What, you’ve never been late before?” We all saw the look on Hiro’s face as he internally debated whether or not to say ‘nope’.
“Damn. Look who woke up on the wrong side of the sailboat,” said a puzzled Eiichi, who was more focused on the best way to set up a camera on his shoulder. “If you wanna keep arguing, go ahead. I wouldn’t mind having a third story post for the day.”
“If you’re gonna turn me into content -” Ryu walked over to Eiichi’s shoulder and started adjusting the camera for him with ease. “- at least pay me.”
Eiichi smiled. “Sorry. Handed out too many loans recently. Please apply at a later date, and we will attempt to process your request.” Ryu simply rolled his eyes and attempted to wrestle the camera off of Eiichi’s shoulder, ending in the most embarrassing street fight that I’ve ever seen - I hope it looked cooler through Eiichi’s camera lens.
The four of us went on a slow walk around campus so we could people-watch and compare schedules. Hiro was ecstatic to see how close the engineering and film schools were to each other. Ryu, on the other hand, wasn’t so happy. “Apparently, not enough sailors come here to warrant constructing an entire facility for us. Who knew?”
I took a drink from a soda that I had bought on my way to meet everyone. “Ryu, how many of y’all are in that program?”
“Doesn’t matter.” I think that was Ryu’s way of telling us that it was just him. “Anyway, it’s kind of annoying to know that my classes are probably changing buildings every semester. I’m taking a Naval History course in Ishimoto, and then my actual sailing class is in Ford.” Ryu picked up a small rock from the ground and threw it as hard as he could. “Not to mention that the Athletic Center is in the southwest quadrant. I don’t think the university could’ve forced me to walk any further if they tried.”
As we walked past a group of girls, Eiichi took his hand out of his jacket pocket to brush his cyan hair. “Poor bastard. Suzuki and Tanaka are right next door to each other, so the complaint department won’t be hearing from me anytime soon.” As he spoke, I could hear the girls muttering amongst themselves. Don’t tell me that trick of his actually worked…
I took another sip of my drink, trying hard not to spill any on my clothes as we walked down a flight of stairs. “Then it probably didn’t take you that long to find them, you lucky son of a bitch.” I told the three about the pilgrimage I had to take just to find the damn chemistry building… And after saying it all out loud, I started to realize how unbelievable it actually was.
“Genjo, what did you say about a guy with white hair?” Hiro chimed in from the back, since he walked slightly slower than the rest of us. “I don’t remember seeing him at all.”
I looked around my shoulder at Hiro. “Of course you didn’t.” I gulped down the rest of my soda. “You weren’t at lunch with Ryu, Eiichi and I.”
Eiichi lightly elbowed me as we kept walking. “Look at you, being so observant - leagues more observant than I’ll ever be.”
Ryu agreed. “Yeah, dude. I’m surprised I didn’t see a guy around with such a weird hair color.” He turned his head to see Eiichi glaring at him, a piercing gaze perfectly centered between the middle part in his vivid blue bangs.. “I stand corrected - maybe I’m just blind.”
Long after we had all parted ways later that night, I thought about that interaction for a while. How did no one else notice him? Maybe Eiichi was right… I’m probably just more observant than most people. But then again, anything is possible after what Ryu and I saw yesterday. Whoever that white-haired boy was, I don’t think I was just seeing things.
~
“She’s a dove, she’s a fucking nightmare… Unpredictable, it’s my mistake to stay here… On the go and it’s way too late to play… I need a girl that I can train-”
I should really start thinking harder about which songs I choose for my alarms.
Slamming my hand into my phone to shut my alarm off, I completely tumbled out of bed. Ryu’s head slowly poked out from underneath his covers. “Genjo… why’d you change the song?”
“Huh?” I picked up my phone and looked at my recent songs. “Ryu… you actually liked that song?” I asked as I struggled to hold back laughter.
Ryu rubbed his eyes. “Not exactly. It just felt very ‘Genjo’.” I struggled to determine if he meant that as a compliment or not. Regardless, per Ryu’s request, I changed the alarm song back.
I got up from the floor and started to get ready for the day. I took a quick shower, threw on my jacket, put my headphones on and started to walk to the door. “Hey, Ryu, do you need anything while I’m out?”
He rolled over in bed to face away from the wall. “Hm? Where are you going?”
“Oh, didn’t I tell you?” I slid my headphones down around my neck, checking the mirror to make sure my hair wasn’t sticking up anymore. “I still have to go shopping for books.”
“Ugh.” Ryu rolled back under the covers. “I don’t need anything. I’ll be alright.”
I started opening the door. “You sure?”
Ryu grumbled. “I’m sure.”
“Okay… Last call before I go,” I said in an annoyingly cheerful voice.
“Fine. Pick me up some more pens.”
I took out my phone and opened my notes. “Gel or ballpoint?”
Ryu’s voice was muffled under the sheets. “...ballpoint.”
“Got it.” I ran out the door, only to immediately bump straight into Yukio. “Oh, Mr. Ichioka! I’m so sorry about that.” I bent down to grab my phone, wallet and MP3 player off the ground, struggling to get out of the situation as quickly as humanly possible. “I sure need to look where I’m going more often, huh? Well, I’ll catch you later-”
“Genjo.” Yukio’s voice was as gentle as always. I stopped in my tracks. “I was actually looking for you last night.”
I turned around, too nervous to look Yukio in the eyes. It didn’t sound like I was in trouble, but I still felt uneasy. “Oh… yeah. The roommate contracts. I’m so so sorry, do you want me to wake up Ryu? He’s just across the hall.”
Yukio’s voice got quieter. “No need.” He walked towards his room and slowly opened the door. “Come on in, nothing to be afraid of.” I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and followed Yukio into his room.
Considering this is the dedicated RA’s room, it wasn’t much larger than mine. All that the extra space allowed for was a makeshift office desk setup made out of a folding table and some camping chairs. Yukio’s room was simple - he had stacks upon stacks of composition notebooks and journals, binders filled to the brim with papers, and a couple of posters from TV shows about medical doctors. Yukio sat behind his ‘desk’ and lightly tapped on it in front of him. “Sit down.” I followed his order without hesitation.
I nervously rubbed my left bicep with my right hand. “So, about the contract… Are we doing it separately?” My eyes started to wander. “I mean, it makes sense. Some people won’t be honest about their needs or pet peeves around the other person.”
Yukio let out a short chuckle. “Well, yes… that’s exactly how it works.” He reached into his pocket and took out a piece of paper. “But that’s not why we’re here.” Yukio slid the piece of paper across the table until it fell right into my lap. I opened up the paper to read a short log of payments and a record of a series of locations; ‘Room 319.’ ‘Southeast Dining Hall.’ ‘Southeast Dining Hall.’ ‘West Dorm Lobby.’ ‘Room 319.’ …Shit.
He rested his hands in front of him on the desk. “Didn’t know that the temporary ID also keeps a record of everything, did you? When I took you up here two days ago, you were as exhausted as a dog in a desert. So that begs the question - what possessed you to leave?” Yukio started looking down at his nails. “Better yet, you made purchases using a temporary ID? What were you thinking, Genjo?”
I felt a massive wave of panic and anxiety slowly taking over me. “I-I’m s…sorry, I wa-sn’t think…ing at all…” I reached into my pocket to pull out my wallet. “I-I’ll p-p-pay you… back f-for it… I don’t m-mind…”
Yukio reached out a hand. “Hey, you don’t have to do that… I was just trying to-'' He abruptly stopped talking when I opened my wallet, once again revealing the bizarre, fluorescent blue card. I had totally forgotten it was even there. “So my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me that night… Genjo, where did you get that?”
“Huh?” I barely managed to respond as I wiped the tears off my face. “...I don’t know… honestly. It just appeared there.” My eyes were finally able to meet Yukio’s. “I know that doesn’t sound very believable, but- “
“It’s the truth.” We both said it at the exact same time. Yukio suddenly sounded much more calm and understanding again. “Trust me, I know.” He opened his own wallet and took out a nearly identical card of his own.
“Looks like I’m not alone anymore.”