Skies As Grey As Battleships

- Chapter 43: Documentation -

Cheren turned around, presumably to head back to the apartment. It wasn't until Touya actually reached headquarters that he realized that he'd completely forgotten to ask Cheren about what he'd started to say earlier - the reason why Unova ended up entering the worldwide war. He mentally filed the question away for later.

When he arrived at N's floor, no one was there - which was what Touya had come to expect given how busy N was lately, so he wasn't really surprised. He went ahead and set the books down, swapping them with three books from the pile that Touya recognized as containing the books N had shown him earlier.

Overall, the number of book stacks had dramatically decreased, causing Touya to wonder if N was one of those people who cleaned and organized things when he was stressed.

He waited around for a few minutes, not really optimistic about getting to see N. So when the elevator pinged open, Touya practically jumped out his seat.

He was definitely disappointed when he realized that it was only Zorua. Oshawott immediately hopped down off of the couch he'd been resting on and energetically tackled Zorua into a hug. Irritated, Zorua kicked Oshawott away. There wasn't any real bite to the kick, though, so Oshawott was probably entirely undeterred from future attempts.

It took Touya a second, but he noticed that Zorua was holding something in his mouth. Zorua walked over and sat down in front of him, making it clear that Touya was supposed to take it. It was a slip of paper, and Touya smiled widely when he saw that it was a note from N.

Touya,

I am currently occupied, but it is quite possible that I will have a few hours of free time at one point next week.

Therefore, would you like to come over for dinner? Though I cannot promise much, I would be more than willing to make an attempt at cooking for you.

- N

Touya was pretty sure he was blushing, and he was suddenly glad that he'd been able to read the letter in relative solitude. Though he obviously would have liked to see N earlier than sometime next week, he was absolutely thrilled by the invitation.

"Can you tell N something?" Touya asked, kneeling down and addressing Zorua, who nodded.

"I'd be happy to come. I might not be able to make it if it's early in the week, though, because of the fingerprinting thing." Zorua made a noise - presumably some sort of confirmation that he understood - and then hopped into the elevator and disappeared from sight.


Because it had grown somewhat late, Touya had avoiding going to a class and had simply stopped by one of the arena floors for a practice battle. It was clear that Oshawott was improving - he'd even learned a new move - but there was still no way that he'd be able to win against a Pokemon like Zorua in a fair fight.

He entered his apartment, noticing fairly quickly that Touko and Cheren appeared to be watching television. Touko had claimed the couch and was currently sprawled out over it, whereas Cheren had taken the floor. Even though he hadn't been there when the seating arrangements had been decided, Touya was pretty sure that Cheren being on the floor was not due to any sense of chivalry.

"So it looks like you ditched Cheren," Touko remarked. Though her tone was clearly joking, there was also a hint of curiosity in it.

"I - I didn't ditch him," Touya objected.

"Touya's correct," Cheren said, not even glancing away from the television screen. "I had work to do on my computer, so I left early." It was a smooth and convincing lie, and Touko seemed to buy it without suspicion. She shrugged, indicating that the subject was effectively dropped.

Touya moved to leave the room, but Touko interrupted him before he could get very far. "Wait, you should probably come see this. A few minutes ago, they interrupted the news for an announcement about the DNA thing."

Since the next age and gender group was almost definitely going to include him, it was probably fairly important that he actually listen to this announcement, so Touya walked over and sat down on the floor, using the couch as a backrest.

The announcer was in the middle of saying that the processing of the current group of people would be finished tomorrow. He went on to say that the next group would be expected to report for documentation beginning on Monday.

"The next group due for reporting consists of males aged fourteen to fifteen. If you fit these criteria, you will be required to appear for documentation every day until your DNA and fingerprints have been taken. Soldiers are exempt from fingerprinting, as…" the announcer continued to drone on; Touya's mind was still stuck on the age range - fourteen to fifteen - so he'd stopped paying attention.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Touko asked, leaning over to get a good look at Touya's face.

"N is sixteen," Touya blurted out before he could enact some self-censoring.

"I see," Touko said slyly, and Touya tried extremely hard not to blush, an attempt which was only partially successful. "Well, at least you'll have Cheren to keep you company, even though it obviously won't really be the same."

Cheren looked like he might have been vaguely amused, and Touya had no idea why. Sure, Touya was currently slightly uncomfortable and Cheren had more than his fair share of schadenfreude, but it wasn't enough to warrant his reaction. "I won't be reporting during that section."

"… Why not?" Touko asked, confused. "Is it because you'll be out of Unova?"

Cheren shook his head. "Think about it." Touko and Touya both dutifully did so. After a moment of contemplation, Touko appeared to have arrived at an answer, whereas Touya was still at a loss.

Touko, taking pity on him, decided to explain. "Remember how Cheren got into the army?"

"He went into the government databa - oh." Touya felt a little stupid for not realizing it earlier; Cheren's age was listed as being sixteen, as he'd changed it in the government records in order to join the army.

"It appears as if I'll have the chance to talk to N after all," Cheren remarked, seeming pleased.


Sunday had essentially been business as usual. Touya had gone to work, stopped by the Team Plasma headquarters for a class - unfortunately without seeing N - and then returned home. It was now Monday morning, and Touya was feeling uneasy about the day ahead of him.

Possibly the only remotely fortunate part of having to report for documentation that day was the fact that he'd been able to sleep in. He was going to miss work anyway, so he figured that he might as well get some more sleep. Touko had left for work a few hours ago, and it looked like Cheren was still in bed.

He'd gotten directions since Saturday as to where he should go, but was understandably worried about whether he'd actually get there. He did have a map, but it felt kind of pathetic for someone who'd been living in Castelia for a month to have to rely on a piece of paper to navigate the city.

Touya was about to open the door to leave when he noticed Oshawott trailing behind him. Frowning, he turned towards his Pokemon. "Sorry, but you can't come with me. Pokemon aren't allowed in the documentation area."

"… Sha," Oshawott said despondently, making Touya feel even guiltier. He wouldn't feel nearly as bad if only he could bring Oshawott to work - as it stood, he had to leave his Pokemon at home far too often.

Touya quickly petted Oshawott's head before waving goodbye and heading out the door. The sooner he left, the sooner he'd be back. Even if he somehow got out of there before work ended, there was no way he going into work when he had a free pass for the day.


It actually hadn't been terrible finding the building where the documentation was taking place. He'd swallowed his pride - in regards to finding his way around places, he basically had none left, anyway - and taken a quick look at the map, finding a few landmarks and working off of their locations to arrive at his destination.

He was, however, more than a little horrified at the amount of people within the building. The building was, in a word, enormous. It wasn't necessarily that it was far larger than its neighbours; it was just that the entrance area was just one huge, wide open space with long walls that bled into a very faraway ceiling. There wasn't much furniture, either - from what Touya could see at his position in the very back of the line, most of the existing chairs and tables had been pushed up against the wall, presumably to create more room for people to stand.

Touya realized that, since he hadn't come with anyone and therefore had no one to talk with, he really should have brought something to do. It would have been easy to grab a book from his apartment and bring it with him, and, really, it would have made this whole thing far more tolerable.

But he was already in line and he'd managed - somehow - to find the building, so it seemed like an enormous waste of time to make the trip back to his apartment. Touya was not going to leave until he was done.

It took him almost an hour before he reached the fingerprinting counter. There were about twenty of them set up in a line that ran roughly across the middle of the room. The process took about ten minutes, though Touya had a feeling that it could have gone faster. The person taking his fingerprints was very particular about getting prints that were absolutely perfect, and Touya was forced to redo two separate prints that apparently weren't up to par.

He left the fingerprint station and joined the single line on the other side of the row of stations. It seemed to filter into just one room, a fact which would make sense only to people who knew the actual reason for the documentation process.

This line was moving far more slowly than the previous one. While understandable, considering that only one person was being seen at a time versus twenty, it was pretty disheartening, particularly for someone who was already bored to tears.

Three hours later, Touya was almost to the front of the line and fervently regretting not running back to his apartment when he'd had the chance. It didn't just seem like four hours he'd spent in the building - it seemed like the entire day, which made it weird to think that it was only one-thirty.

He'd since noticed that the people who were entering weren't exiting on the same side. Most likely, they were being let out the back which, given how crowded this part of the building was, was actually a very sensible decision.

Come to think of it, the lengthy wait time was probably somewhat reduced by the fact that the people exiting didn't have to wind their way through the massive line that snaked around most of the building. Though, the idea that no one in the building would realize if he never came out was a little -

"Hey, kid!" Touya nearly jumped a foot in the air when he looked to find the source of the voice and realized that he was being stared at impatiently.

"Y-yes?" he stammered, suddenly aware of the fact that there was no one ahead of him and that he was almost definitely holding up the line.

The guy sighed, as if this incident were just another difficulty in a long string of problems. "Go through here," he said, gesturing in a bored manner towards the nearby door. "Someone'll be on the other side."

Touya nodded and practically bolted through the door before he could embarrass himself any further.


A/N: In case you're wondering why N has enough time to organize books but can't get away to see Touya, it's because when N has free time, it's usually after all the reasonable people have fallen asleep, so he's faced with either continuing to work alone (which he definitely still does), doing something else, or sleeping. So, basically, the point is that it wouldn't really do to have Touya come over at three AM or something.

The whole Cheren-is-fifteen-but-actually-sort-of-sixteen thing was what I was talking about a few chapters earlier when I mentioned that Touya had gotten a fact wrong. Looks like N and Cheren are (finally) going to meet.