Page 20 of Pandion

Status: Expired

Expedited Removal Request, reason: compatibility issues

Link #10:Harumine Satoru[12m05]

Status: Active

Harumine had seen this list before. It was included in the files they’d given him at the assignment meeting. He’d found it too shocking to peruse, so he’d merely skimmed the gist of it. It was only now that he realised he was looking at a person’s life and not just a reprehensible track record.

Kagesawa was about to start from the top but was left tapping his finger over the first name. Harumine was abruptly overcome by a relentless sense of sadness that tightened his chest and made it difficult to breathe. He hurried to dampen and took a deep breath before projecting something calmer through the link.

“I… I’d better not start with this one. It’s a bit much.” Kagesawa moved his finger down to the next entry and cleared his throat. “She lasted four months. It took two months to terminate the link.”

“‘Personal health reasons’?”

“Depression. In hindsight, I should have taken time off. I feel awful for subjecting her to it.”

“What about this link failure? Is it for the same reason?” Harumine pointed at the next entry.

“No, I was linked to Yajima for four or five years. He was a little rough around the edges, but we got along fine. I don’t know what happened to him. One day, he and the link were gone.” Kagesawa shrugged.

“Shady.”

“Indeed. We did all sorts of less than reputable things back then. Who knows what he got himself into. I was pulled into another review because of it.” The EA only conducted these performance reviews as part of larger, more serious investigations, and they could result in various disciplinary actions or even loss of one’s empath’s licence. Before Harumine could probe further, Kagesawa hopped forward to link number four. “Retired, that’s self-explanatory. Not a great link, but he didn’t care so long as we got the work done. Number five…” He hesitated. “That was my third review.”

Third? Having seen Kagesawa the night before, Harumine had already guessed the reason for the ‘removal from duty’ could be no small transgression. A review didn’t seem surprising under those circumstances. But if this was the third, what else had he been reviewed for? Did it have something to do with the first link he’d skipped as ‘a bit much’?

Kagesawa pushed his breakfast plate to the side. “The rest of this clusterfuck was me freaking out over being linked, trying to figure out what filters I could use to make it bearable, and my partners understandably losing patience having to deal with me.”

“Sounds rough.”

“Yeah, I’ve caused a lot of trouble for a lot of people.” He sighed.

“I meant for you, stupid.”

“Oh, right.” Kagesawa fell silent. It seemed like he wasn’t going to bring it up himself, and Harumine considered letting it be, but not knowing something this important about the person he was linked to seemed like it might cause issues later.

“I’m a little hesitant to ask, but… the ‘organism replacement’?” He’d never actually met or heard of anyone who’d needed it before. It was only done when all other options had been exhausted.

“It was forced on me when I refused to let go.” Kagesawa sounded strained, so Harumine turned to look at him. Grief descended over them like a thick, heavy veil. “That was all I had left of Seimei.”

Kagesawa collapsed to lean on his elbows on the table. He supported his head with his hands but bent down slowly from the weight of it. As his tears hit the surface below like in so many melodramatic film scenes, Harumine felt first-hand the likely reason why all those previous links had called it quits before him. It was excruciating. He was sucked into it, helpless, without anything left worth offering through the link.

“Stop,” was all he managed to say.

Kagesawa reached to turn the dial at the back of his neck, and along with it, made a feeble attempt to dampen the link. Seeing him make this effort made it worse somehow. Harumine started to cry.

Chapter 9

Exasperated with himself for causing trouble again, Kagesawa stood up, apologised and dashed out of the apartment. He hoped the distance would make it a little easier for Satoru and that the fresh air and exercise would force his mind off of Seimei.

The wind chill was harsh enough to deter most people, so the nearby park was empty. Was this far enough, though, or were his thoughts still audible despite the distance? His past self hadn’t had to worry about such things since the link had been barely functional, but this thing was terrifying; Satoru picked up thingswithout him even projecting them. Who knew what the range was? He upped his pace to take his mind off of it.

After a half an hour run around the park, Kagesawa was back at the front of his building. A few raindrops dotted the pavement, and the weather seemed to be getting worse, so he stepped inside, but instead of hurrying home and facing Satoru, he climbed the stairs and rang Takazaki’s doorbell.

“Oh, it’s you. What’s up?” Takazaki opened the door to let him in.

“Not much. Are you busy?”

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