Sokila was alone, this time, sitting in a crouch with knees bunched against her chest.
"Are you doing okay...?"
Her yellow eyes stared at him unblinkingly.
"You seem to be doing a lot of stuff..."
She lightly traced shapes in the ground, looking somewhat downcast.
"...I wish you'd visit more..."
Her eyes took on a plaintive air.
"...please?"
The faint haze of blue began to brighten-
xxxx
/Wednesday: June 24, 2015/
/Courtyards, Hakone Academy/
As Shinji Ikari walked along towards the Junior High branch, he overheard two students speaking in front of him.
"-seriously, I wish the teachers would be more forgiving," groaned a lanky boy.
"Come on, seriously?" replied a studious-looking girl, her tone rife with annoyance. "This Academy has a reputation to uphold."
"Fair enough...then again, given our principal, you'd think the teachers would be more terrifying."
"Principal Lorenz is perfectly fine...he's just kind of stern."
"Oh come on, you admitted getting the heebie-jeebies the last time he gave a morning assembly speech."
"...you can't prove that."
"I took a pic of your face when he first started talking, it was priceless."
"...okay, so just because he's intimidating doesn't mean he's bad."
"Yeah, I think that kind of went out the window when he decided to wear a visor that made him look like a death-dealing cyborg."
"You don't know what kind of vision problems he may have, that's rude!"
"Death. Dealing. Cyborg."
As the two continued their back-and-forth, Shinji thought back to his 'deal' with the man in question. Huh...maybe that visor could be something he could change? His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a light shove on his shoulder: enough to startle, nothing more. "Wha?"
"Yo," said Toji Suzuhara, a rather vexed look on his face. "Just gonna tell ya now, the Cap won't take any excuses for skipping today's Track Club meeting. You're going."
"...okay? Did...I do something wrong?"
"Not really, but after missing three straight meetings since your first, he thinks any continued absences will give the track team a reputation for being a newbie crusher. Kind of a bad thing for an athletic club to have, ya know?"
"...I guess?" It's not like it had been intentional. "I...guess I'll be going to the Track Club after school today?"
"Not 'guess', 'will'."
"I...will be going to the Track Club after school?"
"Good answer. Had to make sure I delivered the message, cause I won't be around to drag you to the track today."
"...why?"
Toji grimaced, a complicated expression forming on his face. "Got a more pressing appointment, you could say."
And so they continued onward towards Hakone Academy.
xxxx
As classes ended, and Shinji found himself heading towards the Track Club, he wondered what exactly Toji Suzuhara's 'appointment' was about...but before he could put more thought to it, the Class Representative pushed a bundle of scanned papers in his direction. "Horaki-san?"
"They're notes for you and Suzuhara-san," answered Hikari. "Copies of mine."
"...thanks?"
"Well, you seem to have been rather busy lately, and given what little I know of your...job...I have a feeling it will be detracting from your concentration with finals coming up. As for Suzuhara...well, he probably wasn't able to focus today anyway..."
"...does it have something to do with this...appointment of his?" Because he had no clue. At all.
Hikari stared at him quietly, a look of concern and...something else...crossing her face. Finally, she relented, saying, "well...it's not my place to go into all of the details. Let's just it involves a trip to the hospital to see a family member. You'll have to ask him for more information." She mulled over her words, briefly nodding to herself. "It might even help him out."
"...the hospital...?" Who would he be visiting?
"Anyhow, if you have a club to get to, you should hurry and get to it."
"Okay...thank you again for the notes!" Because he honestly was not in any position to turn down help. Now...hopefully the Track Club won't be as hard as last time...
Spoiler alert: it was just as hard.
Fortunately, the Captain at least had enough sense to make him stretch and warm up before proverbially (and, in one particular incident, quite literally) running him into the ground.
xxxx
/Kobayakawa Memorial Hospital, Tokyo-3, Japan/
Beep-beep.
Toji Suzuhara sat silently, staring at the occupant of the bed with a forlorn expression. "...I know it's been a while, sis."
Beep-beep.
Sometimes, he liked to pretend that the various machines were his little sister responding to him. "School's been crazy...and a lot of other stuff's been happening. But...it's just an excuse."
Beep-beep.
Being here...it hurt, sort of like how thinking about Tomochika used to, but in a different, deeper way.
("TAKE YOUR SISTER AND RUN!" Those were the last words he heard his father yell before a complete stranger burst through the walls of their home, a murderous look upon his face.)
"...they keep telling me about all sorts of 'progress'. About the stuff they're learning about the soul just by looking at you..."
Beep-beep.
(They got separated, somehow, he couldn't remember why, so much was happening! When things finally began to settle down, he scoured the forests surrounding his hometown, finally coming across a traditional onmyōji fending off a trio of Ghosts. His sister was lying motionless on the ground at the man's feet.)
"...doesn't really do me any good though, because you're not getting better," he bitterly said. Scratching at his dark hair before standing up, Toji slowly reached an arm over the hospital bed, gingerly caressing his sister's pale cheek. Her brown hair was limp and lifeless, but otherwise, she simply looked like someone asleep. Such was far from the case, alas; he glanced at one of the largest monitors, displaying an orange outline shaped after his sister's form.
(The jargon being thrown out by the doctors was way above his head, yet his NERV-appointed custodian appeared to grasp what they were saying. "To summarize," she would later explain, "Sakura Suzuhara isn't in a coma as we understand it. Her brain and neurological system are perfectly fine. However, whatever those Ghosts did, they crippled her soul on a fundamental level. To put it another way...your sister can listen. She can understand. She can think. And yet, she cannot manifest the will to act.")
That orange body had various holes all throughout it, evoking the image of cloth rotting away in patches, or perhaps a corpse that had been haphazardly devoured by scavengers.
Beep-beep.
"...course, you're probably just thinking of me as being an idiot. Or a jerk. Either one'll do." Slumping back down on his chair, older brother looked upon younger sister with a forlorn look. "Anyhow...I'm probably boring you with my moping. You know how last time, I told you about what happened to Tomochika, my old roommate? Well...we got a new roommate: a transfer student by the name of Shinji Ikari. And boy, he's a bit of a strange one..."
And so Toji continued to talk until visiting hours were over, hoping that in some way, his own life - as pathetic as it was - would make up for the fact that Sakura had been denied hers.
He wasn't naive enough to truly believe that, though.
xxxx
/Room 23, 2nd Floor, Izanagi Dorms, Hakone Academy/
"...man Ikari, you look beat."
Kensuke's comment elicited a weary groan from Shinji; raising his head from his desk, he answered, "track was...a little rough." At least he had made it back to the dorm room under his own power this time. That was a positive, right?
A seraphic chuckle came from Kaworu Nagisa's part of the room. "You sound unsatisfied. Did you not join because you wanted to?"
"...well...yes..."
"Then embrace that challenge, Shinji-kun; that is the mentality I take with me to the Boxing Club." With an exaggerated flourish, he raised his right hand, cracking his knuckles. "It has served me well thus far!"
"...thanks...?" he blearily said, not quite registering Nagisa's 'advice.' Mostly because he was still trying to fight off the sweet siren song of sleep. Even though he still had homework to finish...ugh.
It was at that moment that Toji Suzuhara finally walked in, a stern grimace on his face. "M'back," he called out, tossing his book satchel over on his desk. With a dramatic hop, he leapt onto his bunk bed, forcefully stretching his limbs. "Gonna hit the hay."
"...you know, you could get some studying in," remarked Aida, a knowing look in his eyes.
"My head wouldn't be in it."
Shinji took this opportunity to pipe up. "...um...Suzuhara-san?" When the jock glanced lazily in his direction, he said, "um...Horaki-san provided some notes for you. Copies from today's classes."
"...you can leave em' on my desk."
"...is...did everything go okay?" Inhale. Exhale. He kind of wished that Aida-san and Nagisa-san hadn't gone so quiet, because now this only seemed awkward. "...did the trip to the hospital go all right?"
Toji's lazy glance sharpened into something more suspicious. "Who told ya?"
"It was the Class Representative. She didn't tell me much; she told me to ask you," he blurted out in a hurry, in a rush to avoid any further offence. "Um...?"
The glare slightly softened, becoming something...wary, yet a little bit more understanding. "...I'll think about it." It wasn't a yes or a no, but the boy rolled over in his bead, decisively ending the conversation there.
...well...I guess it's something, thought Shinji, turning back to the notes on his desk. If nothing else, Toji's antagonism was reduced...which was a good thing. Yes. A good thing...man he was tired. I...I don't think studying any further will help me. "I think I'm going to turn in as well."
"BOO," grumbled Kensuke, playfully slumping over his desk. "But what if I have questions?"
"You could always ask me, Kensuke-kun."
"Yeah, but you'd already know the right answers, I want to see how wrong Ikari and Toji could be!"
Shinji blinked tiredly. "...wouldn't that defeat the point...?" No, never mind, there was no time to think about it. Kensuke was just being...Kensuke. Yes. I need sleep. Quietly putting his books away, Shinji grabbed his SDAT player and a few cassettes before slumping into the bottom bunk. With genuine lethargy, he tried thinking about which tape to play...
xxxx
Another time. Another place. "Two weeks..." he murmured.
"Huh?" Someone else.
It was place of hardship...and yet there was joy...? "In two weeks it will be one year."
"One year since...?" Someone...but who?
xxxx
...and quietly grabbed the blue DAT cassette, slipping it into the player. After sticking the earbuds in, he pressed play...
xxxx
...and awoke in the Velvet Room, sitting in the metal folding chair-
"YOU CAME BACK!"
-and then he wasn't, falling over onto his back, barrelled over by a plucky little girl. "Ow!"
"Oh, sorry!" Sokila hopped to her feet, her billowy sleeves flopping cartoonishly as she waved her arms in a panic. "I-I didn't mean to hurt you, I was jus' so excited, please don't be mad...!"
"...I'm not mad," murmured Shinji, slowly sitting up. My head hurts though. As the piano and wailing woman echoed through the auditorium, he briefly wondered why he could even feel pain in this place. Hadn't Mister Igor said that this place was 'between' dream and reality, mind and matter...?
"Welcome to the Velvet Room!"
Speaking of the man in question, Shinji looked past the silver-haired girl towards the auditorium, where the long-nosed man was sitting with his ever-present grin. "Hello, Mister Igor."
"Have you come to avail of our services, this evening?"
"...not...really?" That was sort of awkward to admit. However, looking down at the yellow-eyed girl by his side, he felt an odd conviction. "I...guess I came to visit Sokila-chan..."
The little girl positively beamed. "Yay! What are we gonna do? We can share stories, or play tag, or maybe find some crayons and make this place look all pwetty!" She suddenly paused in her jubilation, as if catching herself. "...pretty. Pretty. Big girls don't say 'pwetty.' Gotta be a be a big girl." As if pumping herself up, she clenched her fists excitedly. "Yeah, we'll make this place all PRETTY!"
...Shinji couldn't quite lie, but the girl's precocious energy was kind of endearing. "...that reminds me..." He glanced around the auditorium; weren't there more spotlights shining on the stage than the last time he had been here? "Mister Igor...is there a reason that Sokila has to stay here?" He wasn't quite sure, but he seemed to recall a strange impression of the girl...wanting to leave...?
"The nature of the Velvet Room is nebulous and ever-changing, manifesting to reflect the inner 'heart' of our guests. In like manner, my assistants, as the attendants for these guests, are bound to them as well." Igor's bloodshot eyes seemed to peer directly into his soul. "Such is the same with Sokila and you. My past assistants were...older, and more secure in their power; they were able to maintain their existence beyond the bounds of this Room. By contrast, Sokila is young, and quite inexperienced."
"...s'not my fault..." grumbled the little girl, bashfully kicking a foot against the ground.
"However...because of her bond with you, her strength will grow alongside yours! So continue to advance, young fool; before long, our dear Sokila may be able to join you in the waking world."
This announcement made the silver-haired girl positively giddy. "Yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes!" Yellow eyes wide with excitement, Sokila dropped to the ground and began doing push-ups. Or tried to; her form wasn't that good. "Come on...you...gotta...get...tough...!" Her hand slipped, and she promptly crashed into the ground. "...owie..."
Sighing, Shinji grabbed the young girl; with a motion that felt strangely practiced, he hefted the young girl up with a grunt, placing her upon his shoulders. "Well...we can start slow? I've kind of done a lot of running today already..."
"Yeah, we can do that! Lots of laps! And then, we can do some drawing...but not too much! I gotta make my crayons last..."
Shinji felt strangely invigorated by the little bundle of energy as he walked about the auditorium, passing the time away.
Igor said not a word, seemingly content to let them have this time to themselves.
He appreciated that, even if he couldn't quite articulate why.
xxxx
END OF 6/24/2015