Page 76 of Pandion

“Looking at your health assessment here, I’m assuming you haven’t done one for a fair while. If you had, you would have known better than to agree to these tests. It’s irresponsible, not to mention a waste of everyone’s time.”

“You are correct, I apologise.” Satoru sounded like he was fine. It prompted Kagesawa to quickly recheck.

R-red, r-red, r-red, r-red, r-red…

“I’m going to have to interrupt you right there.” Kagesawa would come off as the obnoxious mommy and take the risk that Satoru might not appreciate it, but this was abusive. “Yapping your mouth off and making him feel like shit when you haven’t bothered to understand the full scope of the situation is also a waste of time, so I suggest you shove your opinions where the sun doth not shine.” This did indeed shut the professor up for a moment. He seemed about to protest, so Kagesawa nipped that in the bud. “My apologies. That was uncouth of me, however, my point stands. You’re an empath. Where’s your empathy? I thought he was one of your favourite students.”

“He’s fine. He’s used to this. We teach our students the correct way to receive feedback.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, do I need to spell this out for you? Do you have any idea what’s caused that stress-response you’re so nonchalantly detecting from your diagnostics data?”

“No.”

“Let me recap this for you really, really slowly so you understand.” Before Kagesawa could get into it, though, Satoru grabbed him by the wrist.

“Don’t.”

“What? Why not?”

“It doesn’t make a difference. He’s right. I should take more care.”

“But you were doing it for me!”

“That’s even worse.” Satoru held his head in his hands and sank lower until his forehead hit the desk. Kagesawa glanced at Hase-sensei, whose face was now twisted between disbelief and displeasure. But why? Wasn’t it universally a gracious, good thing to do things for the sake of other people?

“I thought it was unusual when Harumine-san contacted me on your behalf. I wouldn’t have given it another thought had it been any of my other students but him? Highly unusual.” Hase-sensei rubbed his forehead and sighed. “78,7… I guess it’s not a clerical error.”

Confused about what the professor was getting at, Kagesawa hoped he would get a hint from Satoru, but Satoru was still forehead dabbed against the desk.

“What do you mean?” Kagesawa was forced to turn to the professor for clarification.

“He is, was, one of my best students. Do you know why? Because he always put his studies first, his career first. I’ve rarely seen such dedication. His record is exemplary. However, that all comes at a price. He was never one to care much about anyone other than himself. Don’t get me wrong, I doubt he’s wholly incapable of caring, but there’s no time for that when you’re truly focused on self-improvement.”

“Can you get to the point?”

“To distract him, of all people, from that path, it’s not going to be a run-of-the-mill working partner. He’s not going to bepleading for asylum or a checkup unless he’s desperate. He’s not going to do something at the expense of his own health and career unless the situation is that dire. He’s in love with you, isn’t he?”

Chapter 29

Well, Hase-sensei was not too far off the mark, but—

“R-red… r-red… seven…” Satoru vocalising the trash codes made Kagesawa spin around to look.

“What?”

“What is that? Red what?” The professor seemed equally confused.

“He’s reciting trash codes. He’s been doing that since the spyware you people installed on his port failed.” But more importantly, what had caused him to vocalise it right then?

“Can we not—R-red. Not—r-red, r-red, r-right now. I think I have a migraine…” Satoru did not look up. He sounded miserable.

“What do you mean ‘you people’? We do not install any additional port software, and we discourage our students from relying on any unnecessary bloatware.”

“There’s no need to deny it. I got this from the horse’s mouth when I did some digging. The EA admitted to commissioning the install when they reviewed him. But more importantly, Satoru, that question your sensei just asked…?”

“R-red…”

“What ‘trash codes’? What exactly caused it? Has he seen anyone for it?”

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