Page 65 of Pandion

“Wow, so you’re what, the sixth?”

“Ooh boy.” Harumine wasn’t sure if it was polite to get into or whether Yajima even needed to know, but considering that some of it might have been avoided had Yajima decided to stick around or at least communicate his concerns regarding the DEFD, it felt satisfying to offload some of the blame. “You really should have had a talk with Kagesawa before you left.”

“What do you mean? About what?”

“Shit, if you thought being linked to him was a bad influence, and you knew about his DEFD, you should have said so, given him a proper heads up. You tapped out like a coward and left him to deal with it alone, fully knowing what he’s like.”

“What should I have done? Get his licence revoked and have him blame me for ruining his career?”

“Honestly? That doesn’t seem as bad.” It would have been devastating at first, but he could have built another career doing something else and probably been better off for it.

Yajima fell silent. He watched Kagesawa on the other side of the window as if trying to determine how he’d changed or what had happened. Harumine in turn wondered what Kagesawa had been like before Shimizu, or even before his first link Ayano-san, or if any intervention at any point could have made a difference.

The scanning equipment was quite impressive. Kagesawa would have loved to take a closer look at all of it. He was tryingto list the relevant symptoms to Hase-sensei, but he was getting distracted by all the tech he was surrounded by.

“Can you move aside your hair so I can take a look at your port?” Fujitani-sensei was holding an instrument Kagesawa did not recognise.

“Do you need the port itself, or…?” Kagesawa popped it off and handed it to her. Both of the professors gasped in surprise and stared at him, which was admittedly amusing.

Hase-sensei took the port and examined it. This being the SEU and their research department having close ties to the EA, they must have been aware of the true mechanics of the port. They were probably also well aware of the recent trend of port removals. Even so, it was another thing entirely to see it in person.

“I modified it a little. It’s banged up but functional.” Whether the scanner would be compatible with the modifications, Kagesawa couldn’t guess, but they would soon find out.

“Um, please re-insert it, and we will see… if, uh…” Hase-sensei handed it to Fujitani-sensei, who took a look at it before giving it back to Kagesawa.

“I’ll need to do some calibrations, but I think I can work with this.” She turned to the scanner and made the necessary adjustments. Then she attached the sensors onto the port and ran the first set of basic diagnostics.

Kagesawa waited, his patience ever so mildly strained. The two professors conversed in short, cryptic sentences that he couldn’t quite parse, but he could tell they were facing some unusual diagnostic data.

“This can’t be right.” Fujitani-sensei pointed out the results she was referring to. Hase-sensei frowned.

“Run the D42 for confirmation,” he requested, then turned to Kagesawa. “Do you mind if we pull up your medical records?”

“Go ahead, but if it’s about the DEFD, then yes, I have it.” It was no use to try to hide it, even if it meant exposing the fact he was still using the link and his port despite not having a valid licence. At this point, none of that mattered.

“But aren’t you linked to Harumine-san? How long have you known?”

“I found out after. Think what you want of me, but I wouldn’t have knowingly ruined his career.”

“The D42 profile does match the projected growth chart. However, it’s at stage forty-five. Shouldn’t it be something around fifteen, twenty max?”

“How old is your organism?” Hase-sensei asked.

“The first one is fourteen.” Kagesawa’s reply caused further stir.

“That’s what I thought. It could be two if you compare the beta patterns, but it’s not a typical response for a double insert.” Fujitani-sensei checked the readings against another chart to reconfirm it. “Considering the state of the port and the output, it’s safe to say the suppression module has failed. With the maximum combined age being under thirty, it still shouldn’t have reached stage forty-five. Something is accelerating it, and the anomalies that we’re aware of do not fully explain the rate.”

“It’s incredible. I’ve never seen one this far developed. You say it’s been repeating Harumine-kun’s input actions unprompted?” Hase-sensei was referring to the spontaneous morning routine Kagesawa had included in his initial list of symptoms. “It seems it might be very close to gaining its sentience,” Fujitani-sensei said. In a gentler tone, she added, “This is why there’s an advisory against neuroatypical empaths. We don’t know exactly what causes it to develop so much more rapidly. It’s possible it has something to do with the balance of neurotransmitters. There was a study on DEFD specifically where the tendency to hyper-focus and prolonged time in a flow state caused sporadicorganism growth, but the EA pulled the plug on that research once it was deemed unethical.” She sighed. “I’d advise you to keep the link as passive as possible; dampen it as much as you can. I’ll have my team look at the data to see if we can stall its growth somehow.”

It was probably sound advice, Kagesawa thought. It just wasn’t what he’d wanted to hear. Keeping the link as passive as possible meant the end of any casual projected conversations with Satoru, but also no more—

Kagesawa dampened the link in an instant and glanced at the mirrored wall. Had Harumine caught that?

“What happens if it develops further?” Kagesawa wondered.

“Based on what we have, we’re leaning towards sentience. There’s no telling what that would do. We’ve seen two instances post-retirement where the mental health of the subjects deteriorated rapidly. It was impossible to prove what caused it, but the Arakawa quotient was immeasurable and the organism had surpassed stage fifty. In both cases, they suspected subclinical DEFD to be the culprit. The end result was disastrous, so our priority is to prevent it from happening to you. Do you have an extension with you? Do you need to borrow one? I’d like to run one full-load test for comparison, and then we’re done here for now.”

“Sorry?” Kagesawa turned back to Fujitani-sensei, who repeated her question. “Oh, yes, sure.” He was barely following the conversation, so clearly this was not the time to be lamenting the loss of a sex-life already on hold due to the present circumstances.

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