Page 34 of Pandion

“Why? The margin of error is negligible. It’s been added to my record. There’s nothing I can do.”

“Didn’t you say you had a friend who could fudge the scores? Can’t they do something about this too? There has to be something.”

“Let it go. It’s over. I took it off for a reason.” Kagesawa had no interest in continuing the conversation, so he ignored whatever else Satoru tried to say and made his way out of the building. He was done.

Harumine followed Kagesawa to the apartment in a state of confused disbelief. There had to be some way to fix this, but Kagesawa started packing his things, refusing to listen.

“Where will you go?”

“I don’t know yet. I’ll figure it out.” A curt reply but a reply nonetheless.

“At least tell me what happened! I thought we were going to figure this out together!” Harumine grabbed Kagesawa’s wrist.

“You’re really that determined to squeeze something out of me to give to the EA?”

The acrid statement brought chills down Harumine’s spine. Kagesawa glared at him and shook his hand loose.

“You’ll be fine. They’ll be satisfied with me out of the picture. You can stay here for as long as you’d like while I’m gone. I won’t bother you. I wish you all the best, but you need to leave me the hell alone and move on. Goodbye.” Kagesawa gathered his bags and headed for the door.

Harumine was too much in shock to do anything but watch him go.

Chapter 14

After a month or so of semi-aimless loitering, Kagesawa was starting to miss his neighbours and his little corner of tech stuff. He had no use for half of it now with the port and organism gone, but there was still something he could do with the other half.

Having had this time to himself without any outside demands, he felt refreshed and well-rested. After a month, his apartment must have been empty, and he’d be able to get back to his old routines.

One look into the apartment and he could tell a month hadn’t been enough. The thought of closing the door and turning back was tempting, but so were the drawers full of unfinished projects he was itching to get to. He’d collect some of his things and be on his way.

Satoru was in the living room, lying face down on the sofa. He seemed to be breathing steadily, so this was not as disturbing as it could have been.

The place was clean. At a glance, the clutter had been cleared from the spare bedroom, and it was spotless. Maybe the housing situation was even worse than he’d thought, and Satoru needed some more time to find something suitable.

Kagesawa stopped next to the sofa. There was no reaction. Was Satoru that fast asleep? His arm and hair were covering his face, but Kagesawa could tell his eyes were closed. What an odd, unexpected, private moment to be able to watch someone familiar, yet unfamiliar, sleep so soundly and so unguardedly right in front of him.

You didn’t stay and wait for me, did you?He was about to chuckle at himself when Satoru bolted up and nearly fell over from the fright.

“Sorry, it’s just me. Didn’t mean to startle you,” Kagesawa said and scratched the back of his head.

“Did you say something?!” Satoru leapt forward and grabbed him by the shoulders. In an even more bizarre twist, the man started to grope through Kagesawa’s hair to find the spot where the port had been. There was still a hole there roughly the size of the port, though some scar tissue had formed around it.

“I said sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you,” Kagesawa repeated as Satoru backed away with the sort of frown that was reserved for either intense constipation or deep thought. Kagesawa was hoping for the latter.

Before that!

“I didn’t say anything.” However, as he said it, he joined Satoru in the frowning. “No, wait, what?” The both of them stared at one another in equal dismay.

“I’m not asleep, am I?” Satoru pinched himself.

“Wait, wait, wait! Didn’t they give you an expedited removal? A new link?”

“There’s really no port in there?” They were both ignoring one another. Satoru dove back in to check the back of Kagesawa’s head. Kagesawa had to forcibly pry him off of himself.

“Dude, it’s not in there. I doubt the organism is even still—” There hadn’t been any particular symptoms, though. A mild headache at first, but nothing he’d bothered taking prescribed medication for.

“How much can it do?” Satoru started bombarding him with the different types of projections. His words weren’t nearly as clear as before when the port had been in, but Kagesawa could tell he was putting in a lot of effort. Emotional states were very faint, almost nonexistent.

“There’s something coming through, but it’s not great. I wonder if it’s possible to improve it with something?” Kagesawa could come up with a few ideas on the spot but stopped himself before he got too excited about the prospect. “Ah, haha, what’s with me… was there a delay in the removal process? Didn’t they think it was a priority?”

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