Skies As Grey As Battleships
- Chapter 23: The Classroom -
Touya woke up with a sore back and rigid limbs, which was essentially par for the course when one's bed was a government-provided couch. Oshawott was snuggled right up against his chin, and as he sat up he gingerly moved Oshawott to his lap.
He wasn't sure what time it was, but if Touko wasn't up yet then it was probably pretty early. He considered trying to go back to sleep, but he didn't want to still be sleeping once people started waking up, mainly because the couch would likely be in demand for seating and he ran the risk of being kicked off anyway. Possibly literally.
A little unsure as to what to do at the moment, Touya decided to go ahead and start getting ready to head out somewhere. Today was one of his days off, so he didn't actually have to go anywhere, but he didn't like the idea of sticking around today - not when Touko was bound to have questions for him.
And even though he was still extremely flustered about yesterday, he did want to see N. He just wasn't sure that seeing N was what was best at that moment. He still wasn't completely sure that he was interpreting things correctly, and if he couldn't even be sure of how he felt, then he couldn't expect N to have sorted things out, either.
But he didn't want N to think that he was avoiding him because he didn't want to see him. Chances were that a little weirdness between them was going to be unavoidable, and Touya didn't want to make it any worse.
After getting ready, he began tidying up the couch. As he was folding the last of the blankets, he heard footsteps. He glanced up slowly, sort of hoping that it was Cheren but doubting that he'd ever wake up before Touko. It was, in fact, Touko, and by the time Touya had put the blanket away she'd plopped herself down on the couch. Seeing her expectant glance, Touya knew that he could either bolt out of the apartment or sit down.
With some reluctance, he took a seat. He didn't want to annoy her, and he couldn't flee the room forever. Though if it came to that, he had strategically placed himself closer to the door.
"Are you going to see N today?" she asked casually. Unprepared for a question - he'd expected at least some form of 'good morning' - Touya had to rush to provide an answer. He still hadn't decided if visiting N today was a good idea or not.
"No," he replied, though he felt a twinge of regret. But it wasn't as if by saying no he'd set his entire day's schedule in stone; he could always change his mind later.
"So then that means you're fine with us having a conversation about what you said last night, right?" Touya was in no way, shape, or form prepared to have this conversation right now, so, no, that did not mean that he was fine with having it.
"... I'm going to see N," he said, picking up Oshawott. He was already closing the door by the time Touko got around to protesting.
Having successfully escaped the building, Touya was now deciding where he should go. He hadn't been lying when he'd told Touko that he was going to see N, but he didn't feel completely prepared to do it right at that moment.
He walked a little further, picking a direction at random. After a few minutes, though, he stopped, realizing that the buildings he was passing seemed awfully familiar. It didn't take long for him to figure out the reason - without being consciously aware of it, he'd started heading towards the Team Plasma building.
Wary of continuing on in that direction and cursing his subconscious, he looked down at Oshawott, who was currently intent on watching all of the passersby.
"Do you want to go somewhere?" he asked. Oshawott nodded, and he pointed one paw towards the piers. Since it wasn't as if Touya had any better ideas - or any at all, for that matter - he walked towards the closest pier.
He sat down on one of the benches near the end of the pier, watching as Oshawott clambered out of his arms and onto the railing. He was a little worried that Oshawott might accidentally tumble off, but he seemed relatively balanced. Besides, being a water type, Oshawott was a great swimmer, so he'd be fine even if he did fall into the bay.
Oshawott seemed content to watch the waves lap at the pier, so Touya decided to stick around for a little while before moving on. He glanced around, but there wasn't anything very interesting going on - an unassuming boat was docked on the other side, and the pier's only other inhabitant was asleep, his back to the boat. Touya wondered if he was supposed to be doing something.
He felt like this pier was strangely familiar, which didn't make much sense until he remembered that this place was where he'd first sat down and spoken with N. It was a little exasperating that nearly everything he'd run across so far in Castelia reminded him of N, but it shouldn't really be that surprising. Other than going to and from work, the majority of his time spent wandering around the city thus far had either been with N or at least related to him.
Touya had the thought that maybe now might be a good time to try and sort some things out. He didn't have to come to any solid conclusions just yet, but he should probably figure out what to say to N. He'd never had to deal with this kind of thing before, and he would have felt awkward about asking anyone for advice.
Since he could only hope that N would bring up the topic himself, Touya knew that he had to have some sort of contingency plan just in case that didn't happen. While his usual way of dealing with embarrassing situations was to simply avoid them, he felt like doing so in this case would only make the situation weirder and harder to deal with later.
Was there ever a good way to approach this kind of conversation, though? Any form of 'we need to talk' sounded ominous and somewhat cliched, but Touya didn't really think that there was a subtle way of broaching the topic. And even there was, he'd probably never be able to come up with it.
Maybe just vaguely alluding to what had happened yesterday would be the best idea. That way, if N wasn't ready to talk about it, it wouldn't be that hard for him to brush it off, and the amount of associated awkwardness would be diminished.
Happy that he'd at least come to some sort of decision, Touya stood up and stretched, glancing over at Oshawott, who was still absorbed in wave-watching. Circling around just a little to avoid startling Oshawott, Touya gently grabbed him from the railing.
It took just under fifteen minutes for him to reach the Team Plasma building. As he waited, he thought about just how much he hoped that it wasn't N who came to open the door. It wasn't that he didn't want to see him, because he very much did, but he didn't think that he was mentally prepared yet for another elevator ride with him.
Luckily for Touya, the person who greeted him was a regular member of Team Plasma.
"Commander N is in an important meeting, so he'll be unable to meet with you today."
At first, Touya was worried that maybe N was avoiding him, but he quickly dismissed the idea, as it didn't seem like something he'd do. More likely than not, he really was just in a meeting.
The man looked at him expectedly, as if he were waiting for a response. Touya's initial thought had been to acknowledge that he'd heard what the man had said and then leave, but he reconsidered, thinking that it might be a good idea to stick around.
Even if he couldn't see N, he was still a member of Team Plasma, so he needed to be attending at least two battle-related classes a week. Since both he and Oshawott were already here, it wouldn't hurt to at least ask if there were any sessions going on or about to start.
"Can I go to one of the battle classes?"
The man glanced at him, seemingly surprised, before he appeared to remember something. "Oh, that's right - you're a member, aren't you?" It was clearly a rhetorical question, so Touya waited for him to continue, squirming a little under the scrutiny. He hadn't really thought about it before, but he supposed that it made sense that N had told other people that he'd joined. He couldn't help but wonder if N had mentioned anything else about him. "Do you know which level you're in?"
"The most basic," Touya ventured, seeing as he'd only had one battle.
"That'd be the beginner's class." The man thought for a moment, then looked briefly back at the elevator. "Alright. Come with me."
Touya quickly followed the man into the now-open elevator. He was a little curious if he'd be going to a floor he'd already been to, like the battlefield floor, or if it would be a new one. The number of the button that had been pressed wasn't familiar, but since the only floor number he could remember was N's, that didn't mean much of anything.
Being only the seventh floor, it didn't take terribly long for the elevator to arrive at its destination. Instead of the sprawling expanse of an arena, the doors revealed a long hallway spotted equidistantly with doors.
He was led to a door near the end of the hall. The man opened the door and gently nudged Touya inside. "You've got a late arrival," he said, looking at a woman at the front of the room. His task completed, the man left Touya alone in the stranger-filled room.
The room that he'd been rather unceremoniously dumped into looked to be a classroom. There were a multitude of desks, each with its own chair and most with a person in it. There was a white board at the front, as well as a currently unused projector hanging from the ceiling.
The people sitting at the desks all looked to be older than he was; some by only a few years, others by decades. It gave him a strange feeling - being in a classroom felt familiar, but the sea of older and unknown faces made the whole situation somewhat strange.
Touya shifted a little uncomfortably, waiting for some sort of direction. He glanced at the woman the man had talked to, who was presumably the class' teacher. She looked to be trying to figure out who he was.
"Are you a new recruit?" she asked, and Touya nodded in response. "How much battle experience do you have?"
"Um," Touya began, convinced that his lack of experience was going to seem rather pathetic in comparison to other members of the class and therefore a little embarrassed, "one battle. With N." Any people chatting immediately hushed, and Touya could see looks of surprise on their faces.
He wondered if it was because battling with N was surprising in and of itself, but it occurred to him that maybe it was because he hadn't used a title when referring to N - to him, N was N, but to many, if not all, of Team Plasma's other members, N was Commander N.
"So you're the one I've been hearing about," the teacher remarked, sounding curious. "What's your name again?" Seeing as he hadn't told her his name yet and she seemed to be at least somewhat familiar with him, Touya guessed that she'd probably heard his name before.
He could understand himself being the topic of conversation maybe once, like when he was admitted to Team Plasma, but it sounded like he'd been mentioned on multiple occasions - though whether by N or someone else, he didn't know.
It could be that people were talking about him and N. It didn't seem like N had any friends besides Zorua, so maybe it was simply the novelty and unexpectedness of the situation that made it worth talking about. Touya hoped that it was only facts that were circulating and not gossip or rumours.
On second thought, though, some of the facts were rather incriminating, weren't they? Touya wondered just how much everyone knew about him and N.
"Touya," he answered. He didn't like standing in front of the class, and he wished that the woman would let him sit down.
"That's right," she said, and something in her expression told Touya that his name had definitely sounded familiar. "Even if your one battle was with Commander N, you're still inexperienced, so you've come to the right class. Please, take a seat; you haven't missed much."
Touya quickly scanned the room, taking in all three of the empty seats and their locations. They weren't next to each other, so he'd have to sit next to someone regardless of the seat he chose. Unwilling to spend any more time at the front than he had to, he picked a seat at random.
Sitting down and setting Oshawott on the desk, he looked up, ready for the class to resume.
A/N: I'm really sorry about this chapter being late. It was on track to be early, but the Thursday before I left was terrible for multiple reasons so I wasn't able to finish. There weren't computers at the hotels like I was expecting, and I couldn't upload anything from my iPod, so I had to wait until I got back.
Apologies to the people who've reviewed recently - I haven't been able to respond to reviews lately, but I'll try and get to them later tonight or tomorrow.
On the plus side, there will be an update this Sunday, thus returning the fic to its normal update schedule.