Chapter Five
--Ienji--
The two pedaled through the streets of East Siojaton City at a brisk pace.
Actually, it was a bit faster than a brisk pace; Ienji had to pedal twice as fast on his smaller bicycle just to keep up.
Since that awkward moment in the library, when Ienji had offered to let the other use his home phone and they had made introductions, there hadn't been much dialogue.
Whenever Ienji tried to broach the subject of the strange experience they'd both taken part in, Evan merely ignored him. After a while he stopped trying; he wouldn't let his new aquaintance's rudeness get to him.
Ienji had a reputation as a calm, collected youth, and so he saw no reason to ruin it by incessantly badgering the fellow. He would reign in his curiosity until Evan chose to explain the strange events.
A few minutes later both bicycles slowed to a stop outside the apartment complex in which Ienji's family made a living.
As they stepped down off their bikes, Ienji appraised Evan's vehicle, "You know, I think my grandparents have the same model bike as that. At the moment they're visiting old friends who are staying at the local Holiday Inn, as I recall."
Evan seemed to freeze in place before muttering a short word in English. Ienji didn't know much English, but he figured it was a curse word. Half a second later, Evan was moving toward the entrance to the apartment building as if nothing had happened.
Again, Ienji hurried to keep up with him. The two boys went through the double-doors and straight to a lift, per Evan's direction, of course.
"What is your room number?" Evan asked as the doors to the lift closed. "Seven one four," Ienji supplied, taking the initiative to press the floor button.
--Evan--
As the lift slowly rose up the building, thoughts continued to race through Evan's mind.
He'd managed accept the impossibility of the occurence--that this kid, who happened to be, by freak accident, one of the children's Evan had come to Siojaton to see to, and that the kid had been petitioned at an arbitary time, without someone to guide him, yet still survived in this world--but that didn't solve the problem of what to do with him.
Evan knew that the wisest recourse would be to call Amelia, get in touch with the others, try to sort this thing out.
However, he couldn't tell his mind to quit calculating.
Assuming it was an isolated incident, they'd need to run a few diagnostics, sends someone down to make sure everything was under control.
He wasn't sure what to tell the kid, Ienji. He knew what he'd been suppose to tell him, but in the day's happenings, things had changed.
The kid wasn't ready for any of this. No one could be, of course.... and although what had happened in the library was supposed to be a natural occurrence, the times had changed.
It wasn't just a transdimensional petition, it was the bestowing of a curse.
His thoughts were interrupted as the doors opened onto the seventh floor.
Evan allowed Ienji to lead the way. The kid did have a key; Evan could have hooked up his GD to the lock, but there was obviously no reason to escalate the events of the day and potentially confuse things.
As soon as the kid had opened the door, Evan strode in, glancing around the living room of the apartment in search of a phone. He immediately spotted one and walked over to it, picking it up.
There was a low, soft couch next to the phone; Evan took a seat on the cushion adjacent to the nightstand with the phone set upon it, while Ienji took the opposite seat,
He had to employ Ienji's help in making a call to a foreign country; specifically, the United States.
A minute later he'd dialed it, and the phone was ringing on the other end.
--Ienji--
Although Ienji could not understand most of what they were talking about--he could only hear the one side of the conversation, and spoke very little English--what he did understand was enough to make him wonder.
They were talking about someone. [i]Me[/i], Ienji figured. Evan seemed to be upset about something; he was posing quite a few questions to whoever was on the other end, and appeared to be answering just as many.
Several times Ienji caught a tense of the verb "know" used in the context of the pronoun "he". From this, he intuited that Evan was discussing how much to tell him, which Ienji found rather affronting. But, he kept his silence.
Ienji decided that he might as well try to figure out what had happened in the library, himself. How, exactly, had it started? He'd been shelving books, and then he'd been focusing on the memory of that feeling....
At this, the strange contraption--the one he'd seen before--materialized in front of him. Before Ienji himself could react, Evan's head jerked toward the recently-appeared translucent device. He said something brief into the phone, then set it back on the hook with a click.
Ienji's concentration broke, and the device disappeared. He noticed the other looking at him oddly. There was a five-second silence, then Evan spoke.
"I need to speak to you of this," he said.
--Ienji--
The two pedaled through the streets of East Siojaton City at a brisk pace.
Actually, it was a bit faster than a brisk pace; Ienji had to pedal twice as fast on his smaller bicycle just to keep up.
Since that awkward moment in the library, when Ienji had offered to let the other use his home phone and they had made introductions, there hadn't been much dialogue.
Whenever Ienji tried to broach the subject of the strange experience they'd both taken part in, Evan merely ignored him. After a while he stopped trying; he wouldn't let his new aquaintance's rudeness get to him.
Ienji had a reputation as a calm, collected youth, and so he saw no reason to ruin it by incessantly badgering the fellow. He would reign in his curiosity until Evan chose to explain the strange events.
A few minutes later both bicycles slowed to a stop outside the apartment complex in which Ienji's family made a living.
As they stepped down off their bikes, Ienji appraised Evan's vehicle, "You know, I think my grandparents have the same model bike as that. At the moment they're visiting old friends who are staying at the local Holiday Inn, as I recall."
Evan seemed to freeze in place before muttering a short word in English. Ienji didn't know much English, but he figured it was a curse word. Half a second later, Evan was moving toward the entrance to the apartment building as if nothing had happened.
Again, Ienji hurried to keep up with him. The two boys went through the double-doors and straight to a lift, per Evan's direction, of course.
"What is your room number?" Evan asked as the doors to the lift closed. "Seven one four," Ienji supplied, taking the initiative to press the floor button.
--Evan--
As the lift slowly rose up the building, thoughts continued to race through Evan's mind.
He'd managed accept the impossibility of the occurence--that this kid, who happened to be, by freak accident, one of the children's Evan had come to Siojaton to see to, and that the kid had been petitioned at an arbitary time, without someone to guide him, yet still survived in this world--but that didn't solve the problem of what to do with him.
Evan knew that the wisest recourse would be to call Amelia, get in touch with the others, try to sort this thing out.
However, he couldn't tell his mind to quit calculating.
Assuming it was an isolated incident, they'd need to run a few diagnostics, sends someone down to make sure everything was under control.
He wasn't sure what to tell the kid, Ienji. He knew what he'd been suppose to tell him, but in the day's happenings, things had changed.
The kid wasn't ready for any of this. No one could be, of course.... and although what had happened in the library was supposed to be a natural occurrence, the times had changed.
It wasn't just a transdimensional petition, it was the bestowing of a curse.
His thoughts were interrupted as the doors opened onto the seventh floor.
Evan allowed Ienji to lead the way. The kid did have a key; Evan could have hooked up his GD to the lock, but there was obviously no reason to escalate the events of the day and potentially confuse things.
As soon as the kid had opened the door, Evan strode in, glancing around the living room of the apartment in search of a phone. He immediately spotted one and walked over to it, picking it up.
There was a low, soft couch next to the phone; Evan took a seat on the cushion adjacent to the nightstand with the phone set upon it, while Ienji took the opposite seat,
He had to employ Ienji's help in making a call to a foreign country; specifically, the United States.
A minute later he'd dialed it, and the phone was ringing on the other end.
--Ienji--
Although Ienji could not understand most of what they were talking about--he could only hear the one side of the conversation, and spoke very little English--what he did understand was enough to make him wonder.
They were talking about someone. [i]Me[/i], Ienji figured. Evan seemed to be upset about something; he was posing quite a few questions to whoever was on the other end, and appeared to be answering just as many.
Several times Ienji caught a tense of the verb "know" used in the context of the pronoun "he". From this, he intuited that Evan was discussing how much to tell him, which Ienji found rather affronting. But, he kept his silence.
Ienji decided that he might as well try to figure out what had happened in the library, himself. How, exactly, had it started? He'd been shelving books, and then he'd been focusing on the memory of that feeling....
At this, the strange contraption--the one he'd seen before--materialized in front of him. Before Ienji himself could react, Evan's head jerked toward the recently-appeared translucent device. He said something brief into the phone, then set it back on the hook with a click.
Ienji's concentration broke, and the device disappeared. He noticed the other looking at him oddly. There was a five-second silence, then Evan spoke.
"I need to speak to you of this," he said.