Chapter 15 – Route of Exception

Sai Summers

"I'm pretty sure I can get my father to grant you an exception in this case. New Student clause or such." Kid stated. He languished in the open doorway to my bedroom, leaning against the door frame.

I rubbed my eyes with my hands, and watched myself in the plain, oval mirror I had hung up in my room a few nights before. I started to sort out my hair in the back with a red plastic comb, and pull it back into a pair of ponytails – one on each side of my head.

I put the comb in my mouth, and pulled my hair on the left side taunt. "That's the third time you've offered to get me out of the fight. Stop it." I mumbled through the comb. I wrapped a black rubber band around the partition.

Kid crossed his arms across his chest. "There's no reason for you to do this. It's just his ego that started this problem in the first place. And you beat him just yesterday. He should have waited before issuing an official challenge."

I took the comb down and turned on him. "And it was your ego allowed that argument to go on for twenty minutes." I told him curtly.

He scowled and focused his contempt. "He was being an ass. There was no reason to act that way today."

"But in the end he was right. I even called the school to confirm it. Based on the rules, I have to comply."

"That's why I keep suggesting going to my father on this. You haven't officially started the semester yet."

I frowned. "I've read the handbook – I'm enrolled, so it's a moot point. And stop making excuses, it's an ugly trait."

"But…" His voice trailed off, and he sighed.

I was becoming frustrated. "Kid, I had to wait two years to be admitted to Shibusen. I can't afford to screw this up. Even if it means inconveniencing myself."

He stared at me in response. One would have expected to see anger, but it resembled exasperation.

I eyed him in confusion. "What?"

Kid looked nervous, and then hung his head abruptly. "Only half of your hair is up." He muttered.

I sighed, put the comb back into my mouth, and started to pull up the right side of my hair. "Listen, relax." I paused and finished tying it, tossing the comb onto the desk. "This won't be as big of a deal as you're making it out to be. You're inflating the problem. It'll be a quick fight and we'll go on with the day."

He leaned back against the door, and stared at the floor in apparent thought.

"You know, when you were asleep I got a chance to talk to Black Star. He's the kind of guy that doesn't let things go, I think. If its not now, it might be Monday morning. I'd rather get this over with today. Now. I guess…I assumed…you would understand that. I'm sure you know him better than I do."

Kid had no response.

There was a knock on the door frame; Soul was standing at Kid's right, but still in the living room. "You guys okay? Everyone can hear you guy arguing."

I was aware of Soul's presence, but I chose to ignore his question. I sat down on the floor and started to tie on my white ballet shoes. I had opted for something light and with ease of movement.

Something seemed wrong. I cocked my head to the right. "Does this even have anything to do with Black Star?"

Still no response. Kid stood rigid.

"Hold on." I heard Soul say, and I heard him step away from the door.

I started to dig in a cardboard shipping box. I was looking for my black mala (1) beads to tie around my left arm. I was having no luck in finding them.

There was a knock again at the door. Soul had returned, noisily gnawing on an apple. His black and white "Eat Your Soul" shirt looked a little small on his frame.

"You eat too much. You're gonna get fat." I jested.

He chewed. "I'll let you know when that happens." He promised. "Here."

Soul handed me a piece of blue-lined, white notebook paper. On it was a simplified map of Death City done in pencil. Six buildings were labeled with names, and the route lead in a confusing circle of sorts to and from the apartment. More unusual was that every time the route turned a corner, the turn had a circle around the point of conjuncture. The circles appeared to had been counted, and the number eight written to the side of the map.

"Eight?" I muttered. "What's eight? Eight turns…?"

Kid suddenly became animated again. "Isn't it perfect? Eight turns! The perfect route for a day in the city."

Soul eyed him wearily; he stepped around Kid and into the room and sat down at my left cross-legged.

I noticed something off about the map though, but I was having trouble seeing it visually in my tired state. I sat down on the floor and put the map flat. "Hey Soul, grab me a pencil from that little box." I pointed to a ten by ten inch cardboard box on the floor to me right.

He pulled the box into his lap and dug in it for a moment. "Pen okay?" He asked, still looking.

I nodded. "Yeah, that works."

He tossed me a dark blue ball-point pen and I started to trace over the route. I added in the extra turns required if I was going to from the apartment to Shibusen first, and then back into the route that was already planned.

"Eleven." I stated flatly, writing the answer on the paper. "Eleven turns."

Kid's twisted sense of reality dawned on me…hard.

"Going to Shibusen adds three turns…"I paused. "You…you don't want me to fight Black Star today because it'll mean taking eleven turns on today's route?!" I questioned in shock. I waved the piece of paper in Kid's general direction.

Kid threw himself to his knees and started to pound the wooden floor with his left fist. "I tried and I tried! The route keeps coming out to eleven!"

I looked at Soul. He simply shut his eyes, and hung and shook his head.

Kid continued to pound. "The route's all wrong!"

I sat stunned. "I'm not sure I can handle this…"

Liz appeared in the doorway with her hands on her hips, and sighed. Her dark jeans and red sweater seemed more relaxed than her. "What is it this time?" She asked in annoyance.

I pulled myself off of the floor; I brushed off my black pants. "The number of turns is an odd number, apparently."

"I'm disgusting for not being able to make it a proper number of turns! The route is terrible! I wouldn't want to go anywhere with me!" He complained; his voice was muffled by the floor and his thumping.

I tried to avoid being candid, but it was difficult. "I really don't think you have any control over the number eleven being an odd number."

"The turns are all wrong!" He announced, sobbing. "There's an extra left turn! I can't do it! I can't go an extra left!"

"The turns are just fine…your route is just fine…" I started, but quickly realized I wasn't getting through to him. I had to raise my voice over the noise. "Hey, Liz, got any ideas?"

Her lips pursed. "Despite the fit, he's actually somewhat rational in these instances. You'll have to come up with something that puts it into his frame of mind, though."

"I don't think there's anything we can do about the turns, unless he doesn't go with us to Shibusen." I mentioned offhandedly.

Soul dropped his shoulders and sighed. "We already tried that."

"Hmm…hey, wait!" I was taken aback. "You already knew about this?" I demanded of Soul, now shaking the paper map down at him.

"That's why I came in here. I thought that was what you were fighting about, actually." He appeared embarrassed.

Maka appeared at the door, covering her ears. "Hey guys, he's going to damage the floor."

I wanted to comment on the ugliness of Maka's purple sweats outfit, but I figured it wasn't the right place or time.

"Then you figure out how to make him stop." I cajoled of her.

Kid continued to make noise, and it was becoming more than I could handle. The headache from earlier was being stubborn. And while Kid's complaints had become unintelligible, he continued to pound the floor.

I sat down again with my legs propped up, with the map on the floor again. I drew a line between the first number one and the second, physically dividing the number eleven in half spatially. I would be lying if I didn't admit it that seemed to me to be on the childish side.

"The number eleven isn't so bad. Not if you consider you can divide it in half physically." I mentioned, watching the map on the floor.

And it seemed to be more than successful for the moment.

The pounding stopped and the piece of paper disappeared from in front of me with a shuffling noise.

"Why don't you just deal with the number eleven at the moment, and we can deal with the left turns later, okay?" I questioned.

Kid had come up to his knees. He didn't look full satisfied with my answer, but it was enough to stop the fit. He appeared to be scrutinizing the paper, and was silent.

Liz half-smiled, leaning against the doorway. "I'm impressed. You figured that one out pretty fast."

I eyed her with negativity. "What do you mean?"

She lowered her shoulders. "I figured you needed to try and figure it out…by yourself."

I watched Maka made a face of dread and walk from the doorway. I eyed Soul, but he averted my gaze. I was missing something.

"You…you knew what was wrong, but you let him throw a fit anyway!" I realized, balling my fists.

Liz threw up her arms, and started to laugh. "I thought it was important for you to figure out how to fix it! It's an acquired talent! He does this a lot!"

We could hear Patty's voice from the living room. "Kid likes to beat him self up a lot!"

I was so close to losing my mind I couldn't come up with a rational retort. I hung my head in my hands and let go a mildly hysterical laugh.

"So…how 'bout that duel, huh?" I heard Soul mention with a clap of his hands. He then patted me on the back.

Better to do the fight now, I realized. I had no idea if my mind was going to make it to school on Monday. I might be crazy by then.

1 Article on mala - Wikipedia: Buddhist_prayer_beads