Page 96 of Pandion

“You’re being very polite.” Kagesawa put on his coat.

“I hardly know them…! Oh.” The impression through the link changed as requested. It was easy to tell how tired Kagesawa was, but thankfully, other than the slight dizziness, he seemed fine.Thank you. I appreciate your cooperation.

Kagesawa snorted.

“What?”

“Nothing.” He was smiling as he exited the apartment.

Satoru finished plaiting the left half of Kagesawa’s hair. Kagesawa yawned.

I think I’m going to fall asleep.He sat on the bed with Satoru sitting behind his back.

The donation portal was up and functional. The dorm had quieted down as people went to sleep. It was a few minutes past ten in the evening. Some of the students were leaving tonight, and Satoru had promised to be on call in case he was needed. If their departures ran smoothly, there would be no more disturbances.

I don’t mind if you do.Satoru tied off another plait. Kagesawa couldn’t quite understand why he was doing them, but he was also too tired to care.

What did you say to Ayase when you thought you were projecting to me?This wasn’t the optimal time, but he was worried he would forget to ask if he left it to the following day.

I was a little… distraught. It seemed like I’d… like you were, like… Let’s just say I wasn’t taking it well. I was upset. It’s scary when the impression through the link doesn’t align with what I’m seeing in front of my eyes. There was a lot of blood. I wasn’t sure if it was yours, and you seemed to be in pain…Satoru was still waffling when he tied off two more plaits.

Ayase, tell me what he said. I’ll be asleep before he gets to the point.

I can confirm his explanation matches my impression of it. As for the words he was using, he was calling you names. I let him do that for a while because he didn’t seem to say them seriously. I told him to pipe it down when you were chatting with the nice police officers.

You’re almost as bad at explaining this.Kagesawa lay down on Satoru’s lap, too tired to care where this was heading.

“I was really afraid I would lose you.” Satoru ran his fingers through some of the last loose strands of hair. “I said, I think I—”

Chapter 35

Aweek and a half from their arrival, and with the last of the leaving students escorted out and on their way home, Harumine heaved a sigh of relief.

Kagesawa had organised a maintenance team for the donation portal consisting of some of the remaining research students and members of faculty still living on the school premises.

The thousands had dwindled into a few hundred students and there was no telling if the SEU would ever stand as tall and proud as it once had, but at least what remained was now a functional entity. They were even utilising the empty dorms bytaking in empath refugees who needed help getting their lives together after losing their jobs and their savings.

Oddly enough, Yajima had carved himself a comfortable space amidst all of this and seemed to be thriving, helping with server security and giving technical advice. It didn’t really matter whether he was trying to reform his ways or covering up his tracks so long as it was keeping him out of trouble.

“What do you want to do now?” Kagesawa asked Harumine on the morning of the eleventh day.

The political climate was still volatile and the streets couldn’t be described as safe, but they’d grown more used to the situation and started to accept it as the new normal. It didn’t seem like it would resolve any time soon, if ever. Harumine would have to figure out what to do outside of the future he’d imagined for himself. What he’d been aiming for had long since turned out to be a pipe dream.

“Everyone’s heading home. It’s been a while, so maybe I should do that, too. What about you?” Harumine had received some worried messages from his family, but he’d only replied once or twice to say he was fine and not to worry.

Kagesawa was packing up his things and getting dressed.

“Do you still want to be linked to me? Do you want us to stick together or would you rather do your own thing?” he asked instead of answering. He was preoccupied trying to find a sock, but Harumine got the impression he was intentionally keeping busy to detach himself from the question.

Sometimes having a conversation with him felt like trying to wrangle a wet bar of soap. He was yet to grasp quite a lot of things Harumine had been trying to tell him recently, even when he’d tried to leave no room for misinterpretation.

“I want you to come along with me, but I was wondering if we should go see your family first. You don’t talk about them much. Do they live close by?” Harumine asked. Takazaki and Yajimahad mentioned Kagesawa’s parents, so it was safe to assume they were alive somewhere. Other than that, Harumine knew nothing.

“My parents live in Aoyama. I haven’t seen them in years.”

“Are you not on good terms?”

“No, it’s nothing like that. It’s just a hassle to arrange because they’re never home.” Kagesawa found his sock and put it on. Then, realising his palm reader wasn’t in his pocket, he started to look for that instead.

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