Page 4 of Pandion
“I don’t care about the money, I just want to live my life like I’m living it now, in peace,” Kagesawa finally said.
The laid back exterior might have fooled anyone else, but a heavy scent of melancholy was now unmistakable through the link. Harumine was taken aback by how painful it felt: it was as if someone had banged his chest with a mallet. Apparently, Kagesawa wasn’t as immune to criticism as the initial impression had suggested.
Usually one would take care to not let strong emotions through without at least a bit of cushioning, but the man didn’t seem to care. Maybe his previous partners had had such lousy links they’d never complained? Or perhaps he’d forgotten how bad this could feel through a properly functioning link?
“Fine, I’ll try my best, but I can’t recall when I’ve last scored anything higher than seventy-five. Because it’s your first link, we might reach an average of eighty-two, eighty-three at most, if the stars align.” Kagesawa leaned back and tossed the crumpled piece of paper he’d been shaping. It landed short of the hat on the floor at the other end of the room.
As for the calibration the following morning, the data analysis gave Harumine and Kagesawa a success rate of 78.7%. Kagesawa seemed in good spirits, but despite a lengthy inner pep talk and multiple attempts of attitude adjustment, Harumine was brooding, seething even. He’d never in his life imagined getting such a low score in anything, much less when it mattered the most!
78.7% was nowhere near enough to find a decent apartment in this area, not unless he pushed for maximum overtime. Kagesawa would never agree to it. In fact, it would be a miracle if he could be persuaded to work the standard hours.
“I really don’t mind us living together. I’ll empty the second bedroom for you and try not to get on your nerves.” He was being unexpectedly courteous and accommodating, but considering the situation was so clearly all his fault, any amount of kindness or remorse after the fact seemed disingenuous.
Harumine returned to the apartment and started clearing out and organising the rest of the common areas. If he was going to be living here full time, he had no choice but to make it livable for himself.
“It’s not a bad score. I have a friend who can bump it up a few points if it makes you feel better. It’s fine. You did great! How about a pint down at the pub? Let’s celebrate!” Kagesawa patted Harumine on the back.
“I don’t drink.” Harumine was also very much not in the mood to celebrate a colossal failure. His former classmates would have died from either laughter or secondary embarrassment had they heard. The only saving grace was that the scores were confidential.
“Well, do you mind if I go for a bit? I won’t be long.” Kagesawa had mentioned wanting to go for a pint from time to time the past week, but despite his whining, he’d been decent enough tostay and do the exercises instead. It hadn’t translated to much, but he’d made an effort.
“Sure,” Harumine said, though only because he wanted to be left alone for a while. He’d clean the place up and go to sleep early. Maybe with a proper night’s sleep he’d figure out a plan to either reform Kagesawa or, if that proved impossible, file the request for a partner switch.
In any case, it would be a while before he had something positive to write home about. His family were probably expecting to hear from him, but wrapped up in this depressing fiasco, he’d have to delay that correspondence for as long as he could.
Chapter 4
Ahalf an hour after Kagesawa had left, Harumine turned his attention from the living room and hall to the disaster zone that was Kagesawa’s bathroom. He swept the layers of dust that had been bothering him since the first time he’d set foot in the apartment. The bathtub was in dire need of a good scrub, so he sprayed it and got stuck in.
Shortly after, he realised something about him felt vaguely amiss. At first, he wondered if he’d messed up the correct concentration of the cleaning solution and the vapour wasmaking him light-headed. Then he realised the culprit was, of course, the link.
He sighed and ran the tub’s automated rinse cycle a couple of times. It wasn’t as clean as he would have liked, but frankly, he couldn’t be arsed to care.
Being linked to an idiot with a pint was screwing up his concentration, so he put away the cleaning supplies and sat down on the sofa in the living room. He probably should have grabbed a bite to eat, but he didn’t really feel like it. In fact, he didn’t feel like doing much of anything. How unusual.
Come to think of it, Harumine realised he had absolutely no experience of what it was like to be drunk. He’d never had the time or interest in drinking. He could only guess how this compared to experiencing it first-hand but had to admit observing and experiencing it through the link was intriguing.
Purely from a scientific point of view, of course.
The closest thing he could compare it to was the wooziness caused by his migraine medication. Was it dangerous? Should he be worried? He couldn’t recall this scenario ever being discussed at school, and if it was unprofessional or problematic, surely they would have mentioned it. Since he wasn’t even drinking anything himself, how much harm could it be? At least, so long as Kagesawa didn’t drink enough for another hangover...
Trusting this reasoning, it didn’t even occur to Harumine to dampen the link. Instead, he lay back on the sofa and watched the ceiling to pass the time.
After a while, he found himself feeling mellow and carefree enough to allow himself to relax for the first time since establishing this cursed link. He congratulated himself for drawing the long straw, not having to go down to a noisy, crowded pub to enjoy these benefits. They weren’t much of a perk, but he figured he’d dwelled in his misery for long enough now that it was time to give a more positive outlook a good oldcollege try. Maybe he’d make this work. Maybe it wasn’t all bad. Perhaps he could even enjoy it from time to time?
Kagesawa had been chatting with two of his neighbours—his closest friends Takazaki and Nishimura—and wouldn’t have minded staying at the pub for a while longer, but he couldn’t afford to test how far this new leash would stretch.
The link was crisper and more stable than any as of late. With so many botched attempts under his belt, it was a miracle there was a link there at all. The score they’d reached was not bad, all things considered, and Harumine was still tolerating him even if there was the occasional snappy projected comment. Things were going better than expected.
The beer helped with the nerves, but since Harumine had reacted poorly to the hangover before… Well, it was best to err on the side of caution.
Three pints were enough to allow Kagesawa a mild buzz and some light-hearted conversation with his friends, and considering the direction his vices had been heading lately, perhaps it wasn’t a bad idea to rein this in and call it a night?
“Not sure when I’ll have time again. I’ll probably need to focus on work for a while,” Kagesawa told his neighbours. They seemed understanding, though perhaps a tad unhappy about it. He’d had trouble following the conversation again, so they were probably right to be annoyed.
“Keep in touch, though. It’s his birthday in April.” Takazaki referred to Nishimura who was turning fifty. “At least reserve some time for planning that, all right?”
“Yes, of course! Just let me know when, and I’ll see what I can do.” Kagesawa stood up, paid for his friends’ next pints and took his leave.