Page 92 of Pandion

Right. He was obviously not right in the head. Was he in shock, or was this now the permanent state of things? “Who did this? Are we in danger?” Was he supposed to try to force Kagesawa back on his feet and flee or…?

“I need a moment. Hurts.”

“Are you injured? Should I call someone?”

“Not now.” He took a deep, laborious breath and continued to lie over the table.

“I’m going to go get help. Wait here.” He didn’t seem like he’d run off in that state, so Harumine hurried out and to the lifts. Once on the ground floor, he heard a scream.

Chapter 34

The police officers were of course polite, but the kindness they offered was unexpected. One sent someone to fetch a bottle of ice-tea for Kagesawa, and the other prepared a cooling pad and held it on the back of his head where the site of the port still throbbed from the pain.

The two of them were asking him questions, completely ignoring that his hair was soaked in blood, probably assuming it was his own. They were gentle and careful and detained him only for as long as it took to recount what little he could offer them.

At least with the dozen or so similar incidents around the campus, Kagesawa was treated as a victim and a witness, not a suspect, so he was free to go when the officers were done with him. All he wanted was a shower.

Satoru was waiting for him at the lifts. With the link currently cut off, it felt odd to see him there without sensing him. Satoru didn’t look too distressed, though, so presumably his end of the link was fine. Hopefully this meant Seimei was also doing all right.

Kagesawa pressed the cooling pack firmer against the back of his head. It’d be a pain having to sort this mess.

Obviously he couldn’t go on referring to the organism by the name it had chosen, but he hadn’t had the heart to call it ‘organism’ after what he’d said. As a consequence he’d sounded like an outright lunatic. He glanced at Satoru, unsure where to even begin.

“Did the school nurse look at you? What did she say?” Satoru moved the cooling pack to see the damage. “Are you supposed to hold this right against it?” He pulled out a handkerchief to set in between.

“It’s fine, probably.” Whatever Fujitani had done had tensed his muscles until they ached. The nerve pain had been severe while it lasted, but now that he’d managed to limp around a bit, the worst was starting to pass. It felt about as bad as if he’d done an insane workout the day before.

Re-accessing Seimei worried him since he couldn’t be sure what damage it had sustained from the prodding, but other than that, he was fine. He probably owed Yajima thanks for inadvertently saving his life, even if the sight of said rescue had been disturbing enough to haunt him for a while. He pushed it out of his mind for now.

“I need a shower.” He also wanted his own clothes back. He’d had enough of the suit.

“Yes, sure.” Satoru looked a little lost and seemed grateful for some direction. He marched into the student councillor’s office, leaving Kagesawa outside the door to save him from what sounded like some unusually rough words.

After a while, Satoru came back out with a keycard, but instead of heading for the communal showers, he led Kagesawa aside to a separate building with the faculty accommodations.

He stopped on the fifth floor at Hase-sensei’s apartment. It did not feel right to barge into another man’s apartment, but Satoru assured him it was all taken care of.

“He’s in the lab until ten o’clock. He offered it himself when I was asking for alternatives.”

It was quite a generous offer, but then again, if they left a mess, the brunt of it would be borne by the campus cleaning service.

Kagesawa stopped caring at the sight of the bath. He clambered out of the suit, tossed it aside, rinsed off the worst of the blood and climbed into the hot bath that was almost drawn to the top by the time he was done washing up.

He hadn’t meant to ignore Satoru, but with the link silent and his mind preoccupied, he’d been soaking for several minutes before he’d realised Satoru wasn’t there.

Of course he wasn’t there. Why would he be? It was a little silly to expect him to stick to him like glue everywhere he went.

Kagesawa tried to relax. Staring at the ceiling of such a luxurious bathroom was bizarre after what had just happened. It was difficult to catch up to where he was. When he closed his eyes, he could taste the blood. The pain had eased in an instant. The sounds had lingered a while longer.

First, the sound of a blade slicing through flesh. Mostly unidentifiable noises from mouths, thumps of dead weight hitting the floor, shuffling, a plea cut short. Then, the words, “Not on the list,” with the instruction that followed, “Stay down,” as if Kagesawa had been able to move from where he lay.

His body finally relaxed, submerged in the warmth, but as it did, fear wrenched at his stomach, and he jolted back up. He tried to relax again, but it seemed impossible to let his guard down fully. His muscles ached at the verge of cramping each time he jolted.

He gave up and sat up straight so he could at least enjoy the warmth. In an upright position, he was able to reach a vegetative state where he could empty his mind if he stared intently at a drop of water dangling from the end of the tap. It was for this reason that he almost had a heart attack when Satoru entered the room.

“It’s me. Sorry, I thought I’d ask if you needed something.” He left a towel on the counter. Kagesawa took a moment to calm himself before answering.

“No, but thanks for asking.”

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