Notes from GobHobblin: Sorry about the constant update-deletion I just did for this chapter. was doing something screwy...
The young man stood in front of the board. He glanced over the equations, his smirk comfortably in its place. The gaze wandered up to the words over the board. "Absolute Terror Field," he said aloud. The words were in English, an odd decision, he thought. As he spoke them aloud, the 's' in 'Absolute' hissed and whistled. Fuyutsuki made a face. He waited for Rokubungi to finish his prowl around the room. In a way, it felt like bringing a dog home for the first time. Allow it to explore. Feel the place out. Make itself comfortable. He rubbed an eye.
"Are you familiar with the concept?"
"I've read an article. By you, actually." He turned, still smirking. "I didn't understand a word of it, frankly."
"If that's the one I'm thinking of, it was quite heavy on the math," Fuyutsuki mused. "The one in New Horizons, yes? The third quarter issue."
"It was sandwiched between a treatise on transhuman genetics and something about solar cells and…cockroaches. Something like that." Rokubungi waved a hand vaguely in the air. "It was just the title that caught my eye. I tried to make my way through it, but…" He gave a shrug. "I frankly didn't follow the theory presented."
"In layman's terms, think of it as an intrinsic field," Fuyutsuki said. "Like a…uh…electrical charge that holds a cloud of fine dust together. One charge keeping them bound. When the charge dissipates, the dust dissolves. Floats away."
"You're saying that we're all one false charge away from disintegration?"
"Something like that."
"…Comforting." Rokubungi traced a finger through a patch of chalk in a corner of the board. "It seems a little beyond simple biological studies."
"You're interested, are you?" Fuyutsuki rocked gently in his chair, studying Rokubungi's actions, his behavior. With the phrase "Absolute Terror Field" parked over his head, his actions took on a strange, new light to the professor. It was as though Rokubungi had crafted a personality around a core, an abrasive attitude of arrogance and ego. What was the core of the man? The actual Gendo Rokubungi?
The younger man shrugged, and glanced up from the chalk. "I'm not sure. It sounds a bit too much like noetic theory."
"There isn't anything to noetics," Fuyutsuki stated. "That's pseudoscience. What you see up there is part of the framework of metaphysical studies."
"Metaphysics is simply a term for philosophy. False sciences," Rokubungi challenged.
"Math is science, and the math exists," Fuyutsuki insisted. "The term metaphysics is simply in play because we lack the materials and the tools to utilize the math. Think of it as quantum physics with genetics."
"A terrifying thought." Rokubungi seemed uncomfortable, and the smirk faded.
"Indeed." Fuyutsuki stood up from his chair and crossed the room to the board. He pointed at one line. "See this? It is an estimate concerning a projected AT Field."
"Projected?"
"Assuming we all have this intrinsic field, this basic charge that keeps the physical stuff of our bodies from…collapsing into a puddle of goo…well, that's energy. Energy as a property can be manipulated. What kind of energy is it? Radiological? Electrical? What generates it?"
"I would imagine the same electronic impulses that drive the nervous system," Rokubungi mumbled.
"Yes, within our understanding of the universe at this time," Fuyutsuki conceded. "But what if there is another element that creates this intrinsic field? Something beyond simple electrical bindings?"
"You mean a soul?"
Fuyutsuki provided a smirk of his own to the conversation. "You said it, not me."
"Another attempt to quantify the soul with science? Have you weighed anyone as they died?" Rokubungi made a grasping motion at the air. "Catch the weight of a soul?"
"No, and we cannot prove it exists, either…at least not physically. All it is right now is thought experiments, backed by these equations."
"Ah…so…projecting an AT Field?"
"Let's take your term of the 'soul,'" Fuyutsuki said, wiping chalk from his hand. "It is a form of energy we have not discovered yet, perhaps something that exists in a higher-order mathematical dimension, or even another universe entirely. How does it generate power? How does it regulate it? Does the AT Field remain a fixed, immovable concept, or does it expand and contract?"
"Does it project?"
"Yes."
Rokubungi considered that, squinting at the symbols on the board. "What does that mean? Projecting?"
"It varies. I have a colleague in Denmark who believes that a projected Field could move mountains in the most literal of senses. Telekinesis and all…that." He flicked his wrist in a dismissive gesture, giving a more eloquent assessment of his opinion on such things. "I, for one, do not agree. If we cannot detect an AT Field at this level, there is no reason whatsoever to think that it exists within this dimension. The expansion of an AT Field is probably a lot more mundane than he thinks."
"I fail to see the practical application…"
"There really isn't one, beyond being another avenue for trying to understand the stuff that makes up the universe. More specifically, what makes us tick." Fuyutsuki cocked his head. "Open your mouth."
"What?" Rokubungi lost his mask, his expression flicking between surprise, dismay, and confusion.
"Your mouth. Open it." Fuyutsuki enunciated each word, leaning forward slightly. He was a bit taller than Rokubungi, and pressed in on him with his physical presence. The younger man sulked a moment, sucking on his teeth, and opened his mouth. Fuyutsuki gripped his chin to turn his head this way and that, observing the younger man's teeth. There was still that incisor snapped in half, but it looked like a few more were cracked as well. Rokubungi grunted, half-raising his hands in irritation.
"You need to get these fixed," Fuyutsuki chided, wiping his hand on Rokubungi's shirt front. He didn't need to, but he felt he needed to make the gesture. It had the effect he desired: Rokubungi glowered. It was enlightening to see what was under the smirk.
"That requires finances," Rokubungi said.
"There is," Fuyutsuki replied, marching to his desk. "A really good dentist just off campus. I go to her to get my regular check-ups. She did a good job of capping one of my molars after I broke it on an oyster pearl." He scribbled a note on a piece of paper, signed it, and tore it loose from the pad. "She also set me up with a good oral surgeon when my wisdom teeth needed removal. Here's her address: go see her and take this note, see about getting an appointment."
"I can't pay," Rokubungi insisted, looking irritated. And ashamed.
"Don't worry about that," Fuyutsuki insisted, pushing the note towards him. "Just go." For a moment, the hungry-eyed man squirmed, a strangely child-like gesture. His right hand quietly twitched, like he was trying to make a fist and just couldn't do it. Finally, he took the note, scanning it. He stood still for a moment, and Fuyutsuki could just see the wheels turning, the thoughts running through their little hallways. Rokubungi was trying to think of what to do, what to say. Gratitude didn't seem close to the surface. Fuyutsuki doubted that Rokubungi was used to thanking anyone for anything.
Inside the Absolute Terror Field, am I? Fuyutsuki thought, amused. I'm seeing the real you, young Gendo Rokubungi. What a damaged human being you are.
"The pearl," Rokubungi murmured. "What happened to it?"
"Broke it in half when I bit into it," Fuyutsuki said. "It wasn't a very big pearl, anyway." Rokubungi snickered at that, and Fuyutsuki had to smile as well.
"We…uh…didn't really do any advising…here," Rokubungi murmured.
"It can wait after your teeth have been capped," the professor said. "Give Dr. Mori my regards when you see her." Somehow, Rokubungi knew the interview was over, and he left without saying another word.
For a meeting that had gone nowhere, it had left Gendo in a queer place. He was used to being the one to knock people off their balance, and take advantage of their inherent distrust, confusion, or simple dislike of him. He had determined at a young age that people meant pain, that connections were the ties that cut the human soul. His connection to his mother had cut when she passed. His connection to his father strangled him every step he took. Connections were wires, and the wise man learned how to manipulate those wires to his need. To cut first before being cut.
That being said, the note was something he had not anticipated. The note had made him uncomfortable, set him in an odd place that he was not used to and could not navigate. He wanted a clear course, and he felt robbed of that. Strangely, he didn't feel resentful, but he didn't know what to feel. Random acts of kindness didn't just happen: there was always a catch. A need, a tit-for-tat. He was trying to figure out what Fuyutsuki was wanting from him. What he would want. It wasn't how he planned that meeting.
He contemplated the ins and outs of it as he sat on a bench near the main campus quad. He had stuffed his earphones in and turned his SDAT player up to a volume just high enough to drown the world, if not damage his hearing. He studied students walking by, on their way to classes to learn ordinary skills for ordinary lives. Salarymen. House-wives. Dead living. Gendo thought little of that, and little of people who accepted such a life, a casual existence that rolled in and over itself in tedious repetition. Have children. Make money. Grow old. Die. There's your mark, right there. That headstone. That is the space you have left. The thought filled him with a strange dread he couldn't pinpoint, the feeling that he was in a race that he was losing. Ever since he had heard the first whispers of Seele, the first hints of that group, he had found a way to the finish line. He didn't know how, but he knew it was his path. If only he could get an in.
He had found it, he thought. And somehow, that had led to him to the meeting with Kozo Fuyutsuki. Which had led to a note to dentist for a free-visit. Which was the random act of kindness that left Gendo Rokubungi uneven, drifting. He needed to withdraw again, to put up that necessary barrier…
One of the headphones popped out of his ear. He turned, sneering, and met bright green eyes. They were sparkling…
Gendo was not ready.
"Your teeth are broken, did you know that?" Yui Ikari asked, scrunching her nose.
"Uh…yes."
"When did that happen?"
"…Yesterday."
"Looks uncomfortable," she noted. "How did the meeting with Fuyutsuki-sensei go?"
"It…well, it went," he said, feeling his cheeks burn. She smiled sweetly. Gendo glowered at that, knowing that he was blushing and knowing she smiled because it pleased her. Gendo had always had a way with women, a certain casual-interest combined with a dismissive indifference, mingled in with a dash of wit and charm when he could muster it. It didn't always work, but it worked well enough for the kind of women he targeted, usually because he needed something. He had targeted Yui Ikari from the get-go, seeing her brains and familial connections to Seele as a way in. As the way in. A means to an end.
And then he had spent the entire conversation with her stuttering, backtracking, and generally acting like a fool. That had never happened before. He had resolved to not let it happen again.
He had not yet succeeded in his resolution.
"Did I lie?" Yui said, leaning over to get a good look at Gendo's face. Her hands were on her knees, and her posture was positively impish. He had the feeling she was teasing him, and he didn't like it. And yet he did. Though he didn't. This woman confused him.
"Well, he's smart, like you said, but I still don't get what you metaphysical biologists have in the way of applicable science," Gendo said, trying to take charge of the conversation.
"Oh, I'm not a metaphysical biologist," she said. "I'm a bio-engineer. It just so happens my work and his have enough overlap that we can work together."
"…I thought you were…uh…" Well, damn it! This woman was making him look like a fool! He had done his research on her, read her papers, checked her coursework. She had declared her major metaphysical biology, hadn't she? That was what his contact with the school records had said, at least. It seems he had wasted a good bottle of bourbon on bad information.
"You, I think, should look at the subject," Yui said, straightening up and smoothing her skirt. "It's an interesting field. Mostly a lot of arguing, at this point. That's the only thing you can do when all you have is theory. You'd like it, I think. I've got you pegged as the argumentative type."
"Do you?"
"Oh, yes. The first time we met and you sloped up to the desk all self-assured and cocky. I didn't even need to know your reputation. You like a fight." Yui cocked her head, one ankle crossing over the other and bouncing on the shin in thought. She clasped her hands behind her back, the very model of innocent curiosity. "You blush a lot, did you know that?"
"…I figured as much," he managed.
"Ah. Well, it's endearing. It draws attention to your eyes. They're quite pretty." Gendo glowered for a moment. He felt mocked, and a little insulted.
"Did you just stop by to tease me?"
"Mmm…the thought did cross my mind," Yui said coyly. "I was just wanting to check up on how the meeting with Fuyutsuki-sensei went. Also to hold you to your promise."
"I made a promise?"
"Yes. You were taking me to a movie tonight." For a moment, Gendo found himself in the rare position of panicking. Did he promise to take Yui to the movies? He replayed the conversation in his mind. One awkward moment after the next, but was there a promise in there? She certainly seemed to think so. He thought of Seele, thought of the future. Thought of a life beyond the one he had.
"Yes. I was. A movie. I will take you," he declared.
"Good. There's a re-showing of Charade at the campus theater. Ever seen it?"
"Charade?"
"Cute little American film from the Sixties? Audrey Hepburn? Cary Grant? Lots of devious twists and turns, both members of the couple trying to outwit each other while being oh-so-much in love?" Her attempt at snark was slightly undone by the obvious enthusiasm she had for the film. She grinned like a fool through the summary.
"I'm guessing this is a favorite of yours," he said dryly.
"Just a bit," she agreed. "I'll meet you here at six. You pay for the tickets. I'll buy the snacks. I'm looking forward to our date, Gendo Rokubungi." She smiled brilliantly, spun on her heel, and positively skipped down the quad. Gendo glared after her a moment, before a stunning realization hit him.
"I was just played, wasn't I?" he said aloud, to no one in particular.