Page 70 of Pandion

“I could use a cig,” he said. He glanced at Harumine and added, “I know, I know. I quit for a reason.”

“When?” It must have been well before they’d met since Harumine had never sensed him craving one.

“To tell you the truth, it’s not been that long.”

‘He does tend to lie a lot’

“I picked it up for a while again after I ripped off the port, but it didn’t quite taste the same.”

‘He’s really good at it too.’

“I didn’t think you’d approve.”

It wasn’t the subject matter that shocked Harumine. It was that he hadn’t suspected it at all. There were so many times he’d wished Kagesawa had been better at keeping his shit to himself… if he was this good at it, was all that ‘leakage’ intentional?

‘It wouldn’t surprise me if he’s cooked up a sob story for you to throw you off his scent.’

What scent? What was he after? Had all of this been a ruse? Had he used Harumine to gain access to something here on campus? Was he capable of planning something that elaborate? Where had he disappeared to all those times?

For a moment there, Harumine had entertained the thought of giving some of Kagesawa’s lewd suggestions a go, but if that was all just a scheme to throw him off his scent…

How had he not noticed anything before? Something like smoking should have been obvious, even if he’d quit. Had he missed it because of the DEFD? Some sort of an interference due to there being two organisms? What?

“Forget I said anything.”

Could he be that manipulative? Surely not? With a sickening feeling at the pit of his stomach, Harumine traced Kagesawa’s line of sight to the front entrance of the University.

Could all of it be intentional? The dramatics of the port removal to provide a distraction, leaking the information to instigate the recent violence, Yajima disappearing and turning up… Where was Yajima right now?

“Are you sure it’s not already too late?” Harumine asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Are you doing it on purpose, or is it controlling you? Is someone using it to control you? Is it Yajima? Did Takazaki find out? What does it want from us?”

“What? I don’t quite follow. Can you start over?” Kagesawa turned to look.

“Quit the act and tell me.”

“Tell you what? What’s this about?”

He was certainly very good at playing dumb.

“Why did we come here?”

“To find out if there’s something that can be done about slowing down the growth?”

“You’re working on something with Yajima. You’re looking for something, right?”

“What? What does Yajima have to do with anything?”

“I may be slow, but I’m not an idiot. Release the link.”

“Um, no.”

“Release it. If you’ve got nothing to hide, let me feel it. I don’t care how good you are at lying. If I’m looking for it, I will be able to tell.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

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