Inversion

Chapter 2 – Reality Check

Six letters fell out from his shoe locker on Wednesday. One of them had candy in it that broke upon impact and one spilled what looked like a pile of beach sand onto his shoe. "Oh, come on," Akihiko said. "They do realize I'm the one that has to clean this stuff up, right?"

"Oh, score." Kenichi had already leaned over and picked up the first package, letting his bag slip to the floor. "Sweet, it's guava candy. You don't care if I steal this, right?"

"Knock yourself out." He had class in six minutes. He could either clean it up now and be late, or clean it up later after a couple dozen pairs of feet had tracked it all over the place.

He went and got a broom from the utility closet. "Got a great haul today, man," Kenichi said, mouth already full by the time Akihiko returned. He'd pried open two more of the letters and was scanning the contents, food packages stored in the crook of his elbow. "Let's see. Strawberry daifuku from Anchan in class 3-B… soda hard candy from Haruka-chan in 2-A… oh, nice, mango gummies. This is awesome. You mind if I steal these too?"

"You know the guys call you 'Kentan' behind your back, right?" Where was the dust pan? Whatever, he'd just sweep it out the door. "You really shouldn't be eating that stuff if it's not in the package."

"First of all, they call me 'Kentan' to my face, because gluttony is a life choice and I've already owned it," Kenichi said. "Second of all, what do you think they're trying to do, slip you a mickey? What are they even going to be able to do to you when you're in class?"

"Don't underestimate them." The beach sand turned out to be too fine to be picked up by the broom's bristles and also they were down to four minutes. Akihiko felt the beginnings of an aneurysm throbbing in his skull. "You could help, you know."

"No thanks." Kenichi squinted at the message on the heart-shaped card. "'Dear Sanada-kun. I have been watching you for the past two years and I just can't hold in my love anymore. Please meet me by the fountain after school.'"

"Don't. Just throw them away."

"Look at this one." Kenichi held up a smaller card that was covered with glitter. "'Dear Sanada-san. I can't stand being apart from you anymore. Please meet me by the fountain before I'm consumed by the searing flames of my love.' Dude, this could be an actual showdown. You think they'll let me watch while they wrestle out their differences in the water?"

"Just give it a rest already." A few more hard swipes of the broom had the sand scattered enough to form a film instead of a puddle. Akihiko stared at it in consternation. "Did the one who sent the sand say what it was for?"

"Hold on, I'll check." Still holding the snacks in the crook of his arm, Kenichi stooped and snagged up a small, clear bag with a card stapled to it. "Dude, this one's actually kinda cute," he admitted as he scanned it. "She says the sand is from her beachfront property her dad owns out in Okinawa. She wants to take you on vacation there during Golden Week this year."

"Really?" Akihiko was in the midst of taking the broom back, but at this he paused. "There's some good currents out there. That'd be a great workout if I could work around the crowds."

"Yeah, I'm sure that's why she's inviting you there." Kenichi rolled his eyes. "Have you ever actually said yes to any of these?"

"No." Two minutes left, but Akihiko liked to think his can-do attitude made him a valuable asset. He closed the door of the utility closet, shut his shoe locker, and swept up his bag. "Come on, we can still make the bell if we hurry."

Despite his show of apathy, Kenichi loped after him readily enough, stuffing the snacks in his own bookbag as they started up the now-deserted stairs. "You do the homework?"

Akihiko threw a mystified look over his shoulder. "Why do you care? It's too late for you to copy it anyway."

"Yeah, you're a real charmer," Kenichi muttered. His footsteps echoed behind Akihiko's as he shifted his bag around to rest across the small of his back. "I can totally tell why all these girls are into you."

Akihiko glanced at his watch as he rounded the corner. He hoped he'd turned the sound off on his phone, but it was too late at this point to check. He touched the rail to steady himself on the next turn, taking long strides to push himself up the final steps to the landing.

There was a flash of red and the thud of impact. Caught utterly off-guard by the wrong-way traffic, Akihiko reeled back and flailed stupidly for the wall, only just managing to avoid tumbling back down the stairs. Arisato was already laughing as she skidded across the floor of the landing. "Sorry!" she said, breathless. "Sorry, sorry. My bad."

There were stars going off behind his eyes. Akihiko clung to the rail a while longer, stunned by how much that had hurt. "Are you okay?" Arisato asked. Her bookbag had gone bouncing down the stairs at impact, but the rest of her appeared to be unruffled as she climbed off the floor unaided. "Did I hurt you?"

"What are you doing?" Akihiko finally got out, breathing shallowly around his screaming ribs as he groused. "Class is the other way."

"I'm just running an errand," Arisato said. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have been going down on that side. I just didn't think anyone would be there. It was my fault."

Kenichi came up beside Akihiko, Arisato's rescued bookbag in hand. To Kenichi's credit, he placed a steadying hand on Akihiko's elbow before he started goggling at Arisato. "Thank you." Arisato switched her charming grin to him, taking the bag off his hands without a trace of timidity. "I can't believe it didn't burst open. You must be good luck."

"Uh," Kenichi said. He was rapidly reddening.

"What do you mean, running an errand?" Akihiko dragged her focus back where it belonged. "It's almost time for the class."

"If I don't do it now I'll forget to do it later. It's okay, I'll be back in a flash." Arisato shouldered her bag and sent a wink to Kenichi, who again blanched at her direct attention. "See you after school."

Before Akihiko could stop her, Arisato skirted past them and resumed her descent. Despite her vapid tone, there was a brisk, grim nature to her stride that took her quickly out of their sight, leaving only the echo of her retreating footsteps.

The two of them waited until those faded into silence. "Okay," Kenichi said. "Who the hell was she?"

"Arisato Hamuko." The pain in his ribs had finally died down. Akihiko couldn't tell if he felt exasperated or amused. Mostly he just felt late. He pushed himself from the wall and freed himself from Kenichi's support. "She lives in my dorm."

"Really?" Kenichi jerked. "She's seriously hot, man."

She was seriously reckless. And seriously in need of a reality check if she thought she could get away with skipping class whenever she felt like it. "I'll make sure to tell her you said that."

"Yeah, please do," Kenichi said. "And tell her my name. First and last. And what class I'm in. And tell her I'm into whatever she's into."

"She's not into…" He was about to say 'guys' but that'd have weird connotations, and suddenly Akihiko realized he didn't actually know what she was into. She flirted with everyone regardless of gender, but it tended to be harmless flirting with no bait attached. The way she went on with Junpei you'd think there was something there, but Yukari had vetoed the notion as soon as he'd brought it up.

"You okay, man?" Kenichi repeated, and Akihiko realized he'd been spacing out. "You took kind of a hit back there. Want me to take you to Edogawa's?"

"I'm fine." He brought his attention back forward, tightening his grip on his bookbag and finishing his journey up the stairs.

… something was weird.

...

There was no Tartarus that night, so Akihiko sequestered himself in his room and turned serious attention to revision. He managed to get the introductory statement and first two points rewritten before rising out of his work naturally, stirred by his stomach and a bladder that needed emptying.

He went to relieve himself, squinting into the mirror as he rinsed his hands. There were hollows under his eyes but they weren't dramatic. Nothing a good night's sleep wouldn't fix. There was an ominous tightness at the base of his neck that hinted at a future headache, which meant he either needed to call it for the night or put some food down his neck. Deciding he'd earned the latter, Akihiko dried his hands and headed down to the kitchen, blinking to adjust his vision in the dark stairwell.

He knew the Kirijo company had drawn up its blueprints for the building with a specific purpose in mind, but even being privy to that purpose, the layout of the SEES dorm had never made a lot of sense to him. From top to bottom, the dorm was an exercise in haphazard plotting and – from what he could tell – a metric ton of wasted space. The third floor was a good example, with its huge common room and its sprawling hallway with three doors on one side and one door on the other. One door. Akihiko knew there was plenty of space available in those walls based on the layout of the boys' hall. What the hell was the rest of the space on that side of the girls' hall being used for? Why just one room when there could be three?

He'd read enough junior detective novels as a kid to be tempted to knock along the wall for hidden rooms, but it was hard do anything on the third floor without the girls getting in his face about it. He didn't even like passing it to go up to the fourth floor for their strategy meetings. It was just a double-standard forbidden zone, the way Mitsuru could invite himself into his room but he had to wait outside hers until she opened the door for him.

The worst offender to Akihiko by far was the kitchen. The reception area on the first floor bottomed out into a table and a bar, backed by a cabinet full of novelty dishes that nobody dared to breathe on. The kitchen itself was located through a closed door next to that wall cabinet, forcing people to walk behind the full length of the bar just to access it.

The placement of it struck Akihiko as being inexcusably weird. Why hide the kitchen? It was nothing to be ashamed of. It was easily the most beautiful room in the building. The room inside looked like it didn't even belong in the SEES dorm, with its black marble counters and white walls and chrome appliances and state of the art cookingware. Why make the entrance to it look like a utility closet?

It was late and the community area was empty, so Akihiko didn't expect to run into anyone as he pushed his way through the door. He was unpleasantly surprised to find Junpei lounging against the counter, a half-empty bottle of Skippy and some rice crackers on the counter behind him. The crunching noise of the crackers between his teeth was thunderous in the stillness of the kitchen. "Hey, senpai," Junpei said, muffled.

It was noncommittal enough that Akihiko felt he could get away with a nod. Junpei continued to munch, eyes slanted sleepily as he zoned out at the opposite wall.

Not really in the mood for company but too hungry to wait, Akihiko crossed over to the refrigerator. The rush of cool air and the brightness of the light made him blink. He ducked a little to peer in, scanning the contents of the shelves. Living in community space had rubbed off on them all; most things were packaged, taped off, or labeled clearly. What to have. He didn't feel like heating anything up. Mostly he just wanted to stuff something into his mouth until his stomach shut up and he could get back to work.

He rifled through his stuff and emerged with a miscellaneous assortment. Avocado, three power bars, a protein shake, two slices of bread. He shut the door with his foot and laid them out on the counter, then went to find a knife.

"Woah."

Junpei's voice jolted him. He'd forgotten he had company. He slanted a look over as he slid the cutting board from its place by the stove to find Junpei goggling at him. "What?" he said, taken aback by the intensity.

"You're seriously gonna eat all that this late at night?"

"Yeah, why not?"

"I dunno. Seems kinda…" Junpei broke his stare and shrugged with his wrist, shoving in another mouthful of peanut butter. "Guess I didn't know you were working out again. I figured you'd be taking it easy."

"I'm not working out." He placed the avocado on the cutting board, lined up the knife, placed his hand on the blunt side, and put his weight into it. With two pushes, the knife cut through the core, and the avocado lay in halves.

"Really?" Junpei was back to staring. "And you're eating all that power stuff anyway? That stuff's loaded with sugar. You know that, right?"

"So what?" He peeled the rind off the halves and tossed them.

"You're gonna get porky, man."

"Look, I didn't come in spouting off about the crap you're eating," Akihiko said, fishing around in the cupboard for the soy sauce. He drizzled it over the avocado halves, followed it with a sprinkling of sesame oil, then put the bottles away. He then slid the two slices of bread into the toaster and pressed down on the lever without bothering to look at the setting. "Or the way you shoveled down dinner, for that matter. Don't you ever slow down?"

"Hey, I don't know about you, but I'm earning those calories," Junpei grinned. "You shoulda seen the way we took down those shadows last night. I swear we got two truckloads. We had to leave some of it behind. Hamuko was pretty pumped about it, though. I think she trades off some of that stuff for money. I dunno who'd buy it though."

Akihiko opened up the first power bar and bit into it, chewing the mouthful as went back into the fridge to fish for his water. "Well, whatever floats your boat," Junpei said, and popped the rest of his own snack into his mouth. He then made a show of stretching, scratching his side leisurely, and sauntered off towards the exit.

"Junpei," Akihiko said.

Junpei looked over his shoulder. "I'm not cleaning that up," Akihiko said. "In fact I'm going to put a sign there saying whose fault it is."

"I'll get it in the morning."

"You'll get it tonight or Mitsuru will give it to you in the morning."

Junpei paused. "She doesn't come in here."

"Then Arisato will. You know how she is about the kitchen."

Junpei shifted his weight, looking like he was weighing the odds. Then, with a huff of annoyance, he came back in and grumpily started gathering up his mess. "When are you coming back to rotation, anyway?"

"Probably next month." The toast popped. Akihiko polished off his power bar and went to attend to it. "I'll be ready by then, don't worry."

"Whatever," Junpei said. "We're fine pulling your weight. Who knows? Maybe by the time you come back, you'll be taking orders from yours truly. Seeing as you're so out of practice and all."

"Keep it up," Akihiko said. "Really."

"Hey man, no need to get all defensive," Junpei grinned. He stole the trash bin, scooped the rest of his crumbs into it, and opened the cupboard above his head to replace his peanut butter. He stopped. "Huh."

Mouth full of toast, Akihiko looked at him questioningly. Junpei was regarding something in the cupboard. After a moment he reached in and pulled it closer, and the rustle of paper caught Akihiko's attention.

Junpei scanned it over, then held it out to him. "This yours?"

… so that's where the fifth page of his essay had went.

...

He figured out what was bothering him somewhere between the point Junpei tried to flip Arisato's skirt up and the point that she laughed it off rather than kneeing him in past, present, and future groin.

In general, Akihiko tended to take things at face value. He had better things to do with his time than lie to himself and to others. Mostly it just confused him to discover someone was misleading him, because hadn't people figured out life was easier if you just said what you meant?

Shinjiro called it being gullible and rode him mercilessly about it. Mitsuru was a little nicer, using words like 'uncomplicated' and 'straightforward'. What it really boiled down to was that Akihiko knew exactly what it took to make his own life run efficiently. It was a specific combination of hard work, discipline, and self-awareness. There wasn't time for deception. When he slipped too far in one category, things began to unravel. When he was balanced… memories stayed where he put them.

Something was out of whack, which at the moment seemed to be mostly due to the fact that Arisato wouldn't stay out of his grill. She brought him back a slice of cake from Paulownia on Thursday and he'd turned it down, which was probably rude but also who cared. There were a hundred other people around for her to lavish her attention on. She didn't need to waste money on him.

Afterwards, working on his essay, he surprised himself by suddenly feeling like a bastard. It's true he didn't like sweets, but dismissing overzealous girls usually necessitated forgetting about it afterwards. He couldn't forget about it. Something about her face or her hair or the way she smiled at him even after he'd blown her off.

The problem wasn't that she ignored his rebuffs or even that she came back for more. It was that something in the back of his head told him that, no matter how annoying it was, he was the lucky one in this situation. And it pissed him off.

...

Four more cards fell out of his shoe locker on Friday. Akihiko picked them up and threw them into the trash without looking. One smelled like cinnamon and one left a smear on his fingers that he hoped wasn't poisonous. "That's such a waste," Kenichi said. "At least hand them over or give them away or something."

"You going to practice today?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Do you mind giving this to Taro-sensei?" Akihiko dug into his bag and pulled out a folded sheet of paper. "I want to see if I can borrow some of the team's spare weight training equipment so I can work out at home. All I've got is a bag."

Kenichi took it, folding it up tighter and sliding it into his back pocket. "If you're okay enough to work out, why don't you come back to practice?"

"I have to be approved by Edogawa first."

"Seriously? Why don't you just forge his signature or something?"

"Yeah," Akihiko said. "Pretty sure that would come back to bite me."

"I mean, can't you talk to him? Tell him you're okay? We can always take it easy on you."

"I don't know." It hadn't occurred to him actually. The first check-up had been pretty humiliating, so he hadn't put much thought into going back. He had a hospital check up on the first of May, though, so that could be good news or bad news. In the meantime, maybe a drop-in to appeal to Edogawa's mercy wouldn't hurt.

He took a mental note and gathered up his supplies to head to class. The day passed slowly, the students restless and visible distracted. The window was propped open, the breeze from it a little chilly but fragrant. Akihiko found his own mind wandering a few times, wondering if his supervisor would grant his request. All the sports club advisors were dependent on the reports from the school nurse, so there was a chance that it'd be vetoed. The fact was, Akihiko was getting anxious and, more importantly, was starting to lose muscle tone. Gaining that back would take time, and he'd rather not start any further in the hole than he already was.

When the dismissal bell rang, he quickly gathered up his bag and edged past the stream of students. The door to the clinic was shut as usual, the hallway more or less emptied out by the time he made it down.

Akihiko had never admitted it, but weird ingredients aside, he secretly kind of liked the clinic. Edogawa had made a point to add homey touches on his own time. There was a bright green tablecloth on the table, on top of which sat a vase of flowers. There were bushy, colorful plants on top of the filing cabinet and more by the supply closet. Tons of color with none of it seeming to match, making the place haphazard and oddly soothing.

He made his way through the room, peeking around the privacy curtains, but the room was empty. The kettle was on the hot plate, already starting to breathe out a gentle trail of steam, so he had a feeling Edogawa wouldn't be long. He sat himself down at the table in the middle of the room, sliding off his bag and letting it drop gently to the floor, and waited.

He was up again almost immediately. He wandered restlessly around the room, glancing at the clock, making his rounds until the tea kettle began to squeal. Glancing one more time at the closed door, Akihiko took it off the hot plate and searched around for something to put it on. During his perusal of the room he spotted the scale in the corner, and for some reason that gave him pause.

… now that he thought about it, he hadn't bothered to weigh himself since getting injured. He didn't own a scale at home, and at any rate there'd been no reason to try to make weight while he wasn't boxing. Now that he'd been off for a while, it'd probably be good to assemble his stats so he could tailor his training regimen.

He ended up putting the kettle down on a stack of towels by the window. Figuring he was already intruding and might as well go for broke, Akihiko took off his shoes, made sure the bar was level at zero on the face of the scale, and stepped onto it.

The red hand swung wildly for a time before settling. Akihiko leaned forward so he could read the etched-in numbers.

66.7.

He stared at the number for a long time, displeased, turning things over in his head. He'd only been off for a few weeks. Was there something he'd been—

Edogawa said mildly from behind him, "Lose something?"

He jumped and nearly fell off the scale. Edogawa had already shut the door, several packages tucked into the crook of one arm. He looked to be chewing something. "Oh, geez." Akihiko hastily jumped down, jamming his feet back into his shoes. "Sorry. I shouldn't have used your equipment without asking."

"Far be it from me to chastise an adventurous spirit." Edogawa's coat swirled around his legs as he crossed the room. He settled the packages down on the counter next to the plants and took a glance at the kettle on the towels, but when he spoke it was merely to ask, "What brings you in today, Sanada-kun?"

"Is this a bad time?" Edogawa's demeanor was hard to read. "I can come back."

"I always have time for a mysterious malady, but I'm afraid I have a far more uninteresting staff meeting to attend in a few minutes, so our appointment will have to be brief." Edogawa bent, lips moving as he read the labels on the drawers, then pulled one open and began to search through it. "What can I do for you?"

Akihiko watched him a moment, distracted by the quick, efficient way Edogawa was sorting through his things. It was strange to see him on-task. "I came to talk to you about maybe moving the date up for when I can return."

"Mmm," Edogawa said. He unearthed a file and held it up to the light, then put it back.

"To boxing club." Akihiko waited, but Edogawa said nothing. "My ribs are healing pretty fast and my arm feels good. I figured maybe I could go a few days early, take it easy? You know, mostly supervise? And then get back to real training when the first rolls around—"

"No," Edogawa said.

Taken aback by the blunt refusal, Akihiko stopped. "Sanada-kun, I understand that you're anxious to get back to training," Edogawa said. "And while it's true you've had a speedy – some would say miraculous – recovery so far, you need to recognize that your body needs time to heal. Fractured ribs, even hairline fractures, take four to six weeks to heal. In the meantime they're highly vulnerable to further damage. One careless hit from a teammate could put you out for much longer."

"But I'm fine," Akihiko insisted, alarmed by the calm tone. "I know how to take care of myself, I know how to roll with a hit—"

"You have a hospital checkup on the first of May, don't you? If they send an encouraging report through, I'll give you permission to attend practice. But just so you're aware, I'm not giving you clearance to participate until the hospital fully clears you."

"Sir, I'm really getting out of shape. I'm missing a ton of practice, and with all the meets coming up, I can't afford to take it easy."

"Unfortunately, that's what's in the cards for the moment." Apparently finding the file he was looking for, Edogawa turned his knee and shut the drawer. When he straightened and turned to Akihiko, the light had lifted off his glasses for a moment, revealing a sympathetic but unyielding expression. "I realize it's difficult to hear. I'm sorry."

He could feel the flush on his face. Embarrassed, angry, Akihiko retrieved his bag and stood, tossing it over his shoulder. "Come again after your check-up," Edogawa said. "Once they send me a positive report, I'll put the approval through right away. You won't be able to participate in anything involving physical contact, but you can at least work out with the team."

Akihiko couldn't bring himself to say anything else. As he neared the door, Edogawa said from behind him, "Sanada-kun."

Akihiko looked over his shoulder.

"Be patient," Edogawa said.

...

It turned out that seven other students had capitalized on Miura's deal to resubmit their essays. Akihiko made up the back of the line to turn them in on Saturday, shifting his weight one way and then shifting it equally the other way. "Ah hah," Miura said when he reached the desk at last. "Sanada-kun. Well, what do you think? Was it worth it?"

"I worked hard," Akihiko said honestly. "I think it's a lot better."

"No French?"

"No French."

"I'd say that I hope you learned something, but honestly, I think you knew better from the start," Miura said. "Let's try to keep our heads above water in the future, shall we?"

"Yes, sir. Thank you."

He ignored the glances he got as he sat back down. He was busy.

...

Shinjiro met him at the hospital with an expression of pure homicide. "The hell is this?"

"Sorry to call you here, I just thought—"

"When the fuck did this happen, Aki?"

"Shinji, I told you about this ages ago."

"You told me you got 'knocked around'. That ain't the same as 'got my ribcage bashed in'."

"They're going to kick you out if you keep yelling," Akihiko said.

Shinjiro threw himself down into the visitor's chair by the hospital bed and slid his fingers up under his beanie to scratch his hairline roughly. "Look, I just figured this wouldn't be too out of your way," Akihiko said. "I needed to ask you—"

"How they hell would you know what's out of my way or not?"

Akihiko was one hot second away from kicking his ass for him when the doctor chose that moment to walk in. "If he's not a relative he'll need to wait outside," the doctor said without preamble, still flipping through Akihiko's chart.

"We're foster brothers," Akihiko said, which actually wasn't technically a lie. Also he had a feeling that Shinjiro might disappear out of spite if he made it out the door, and Akihiko really needed some questions answered before that happened.

It was his third checkup in as many weeks, so the exam went quickly. A cursory reflex check, some stretching to test range of motion. There were the usual questions. Did he feel any tingling, any numbness in his arm? Was he having any difficulty breathing? How bad was the pain from one to ten?

Akihiko could feel Shinjiro's sharp eyes boring into the side of his head. "It's really something else," the doctor said at last. "I've never seen a posterior subluxation heal this fast."

"Do I get a good report?" he asked.

"You're well on your way, at any rate. I want you to continue the stretching exercises I gave you last time so we can be sure you get back the full range of motion in your shoulder. The ribs need some more time to catch up."

"I'd really like to go to practice to work out with the team. No impacts, just some weight and cross-training."

"I don't want you weight training on that arm for another two weeks," the doctor said. "As for cross-training, that's really up to you. I'd rather you not swim. Stationary bikes would be fine."

"Running?"

"I can't imagine you'd want to, but I won't forbid it."

It was something at least. "Would you mind sending the report in to my school nurse? He won't lift the suspension until you put it through."

"That I will." The doctor picked up the chart. "You're doing well. I'll see you in here next week. With any luck we'll have you back on your normal schedule by the end of the month."

"Thanks," Akihiko said. "I appreciate it."

"Come out when you're ready and the nurse will check you out at the window."

"All right."

The doctor closed the door behind him. Akihiko reached for his shirt. "Posterior subluxation," Shinjiro said from the corner, still slouched in the chair. His anger seemed to have died down, leaving only his usual intensity. "That's the rare one, right? The hell did that happen?"

"It was pretty stupid." He slid his left arm in the sleeve carefully. The ligament stretches always left him sore. "I found out too late the shadow I was battling repelled electricity. I was standing in water and I threw a zio, and the next thing I knew I was on the ground and my shoulder was out of joint. I guess that's how it usually happens – shock or seizure. I don't know how the Kirijo group spun it."

Shinjiro shook his head. Akihiko put his other arm through and began buttoning up his shirt. "I don't have anything for you," Shinjiro said abruptly.

"Anything you have is more than I've got," Akihiko said. "Look, you have firsthand experience with the Apathy Syndrome. You actually know people that have it, and that brings you a lot closer to it than me or Mitsuru."

"You know what I know."

"I really don't," he said. "The news is more interested in scaring people than it is giving the facts. You've seen how it starts. You know what to watch for."

Shinjiro shifted his weight. He sat like a girl, one leg crossed neatly over the other, which in less serious times would be cause enough for Akihiko to rib him. "I can't name names."

"I'm not asking you to."

"And I've never seen how it starts. No one has." His voice was matter of fact but his gaze was somewhere off to Akihiko's side. "It's like they're just distracted at first. They don't pay attention to what you're saying. They look kind of tired. S'easy to miss at first."

"What changes?"

Shinjiro didn't answer a moment, and Akihiko was forced to remember that while Shinjiro wouldn't admit it, he was probably talking about people he knew fairly well. Maybe even friends. Akihiko closed his mouth and opted for patience instead, finishing up the buttons on his shirt and sliding his vest down over his head, giving Shinjiro time to figure it out. "They start answering questions nobody's asking," Shinjiro said finally. "They look right at you when they talk, but it don't make sense. Words will just be missing for no reason. The sentences get shorter and shorter until they're just making grunts."

"The news said they stop eating on their own." There were probably ways to be more delicate about it, but neither of them had ever been good at pulling their punches. "Do they starve?"

"Dunno. On their own, probably."

"Did they still know you? When they recognize you when you talked to them?"

Shinjiro only shrugged a shoulder. "You mentioned you see a lot of it," Akihiko said. "Have you noticed it happening anywhere in particular? Mitsuru said she wondered if the numbers were different depending on the socio-economic level."

"Yeah, she would ask that." Shinjiro shook his head again. "Far as I can see, money's got nothing to do with it. It's happening everywhere. Guy's more'n girls mostly, but I dunno if that'll change."

He tucked his shirt into his pants and tugged his vest down over his waistband. Finished dressing, Akihiko hooked a finger in the collar of his jacket and slung it over his good shoulder. That done, he stood for a long time, looking at Shinjiro.

Eventually Shinjiro got bored of evading his gaze and looked back up at him. "Where have you been?" Akihiko asked.

"Don't start."

"I mean it. You went off the map. We had to use Penthesilea to track you down."

Shinjiro's voice was both dry and inflectionless in the way only he could manage. "Then you know where I've been."

"You know what I mean," Akihiko said.

Shinjiro didn't answer. Akihiko opened his mouth to pursue it when there came a knock on the door. Keeping eye contact, he called, "Yeah?"

The door opened a crack. "Sanada-kun, there's been an issue with your contact information," the nurse said. "When you're ready, please make sure you come by the front desk. We want to make sure we have the data updated before you leave."

Shinjiro didn't move. "I'll be right back," Akihiko said. "Don't go anywhere."

He was so preoccupied that he nearly drew a blank trying to give them the right numbers. By the time he'd straightened everything out and had returned to the room, he was unpleasantly surprised to see all three juniors standing inside. Impatient and not really in the mood for interruptions, he was a little curt with them. "What are all of you guys doing here?"

"We came to see you!" Yukari greeted him with a genuine grin that faded as her eyes swept him up and down. "But… it doesn't look like anything's wrong with you."

"I'm just here for a checkup." He looked over their heads, caught Shinjiro's eye.

He wasn't surprised when Shinjiro stood up, hands still shoved deep into his pockets. His voice was back down to a monotone. "Is that it, Aki?"

Akihiko gritted his teeth a second, but with the juniors looking right at him, he had no choice but to play along. "Yeah. Thanks."

Shinjiro made a tsking noise in the back of his throat. "I don't have time for this shit."

Akihiko very nearly punched him out. He grit his teeth instead and bullied down the urge, standing ramrod straight as Shinjiro came up to the group. After staring down the juniors until they scrambled out of his way, he walked right past Akihiko, close enough to let him feel the brush of his coat on his elbow. Then he was gone, footfalls fading down the hall.

"Who was that?" Junpei asked, after the silence stretched for a while.

For no reason other than she hadn't said anything yet, Akihiko switched his gaze to Arisato. She was looking intently at the doorway. There was no smile at all on her face, but her eyes were bright and sharp. "Just a friend from school," he murmured, keeping an eye on her. When she finally looked back at him, there was still no trace of an expression. The result was eerie but oddly arresting.

When he came back to the area the next day, Shinjiro had already disappeared.