3 - Two Friends

The following day, the weather was cloudy. Significantly more cloudy, in fact. The campus was still packed with people, the scenery looked similar to that of the day before. Sakuto felt a little tired, but he made his way there. This day, his classes began later in the morning, closer to noon.

It was the perfect chance for him to skip classes and focus on his objective. And so he walked around the second floor of the large building, peeking into classrooms, his senses sharpened to their maximum.

“Somewhere around here, if I just keep going, I’ll find him.”

“...”

“Today was Aki’s birthday, right?”

He stopped in his tracks, contemplating whether he should make a phone call or not. He didn’t forget about that day, nor had those people forgotten about his own birthday, but he felt that they forgot about him completely.

“They didn’t call me once while the world was killing people like me...”

“Oh well, who fucking cares.”

“They’re soulless anyways.”

He continued walking along the hallways.

“God I fucking hate the soulless.”

“Sakuto?” Jacob called his name from a distance and walked towards him. “What’re you doing here?”

“You’re the one who told me those instructions.” Sakuto replied. “At noon. On the second floor. You felt a dangerous soul presence.”

“Yeah, but...” Jacob said. “You’re...skipping class?”

“Yeah, the lecturer didn’t have any problems with it.” Sakuto lied. “Now do your best and conceal your own presence. I have to focus.”

“Just who the hell are you looking for?” Jacob asked with an anxious little laugh.

“Someone that I’m interested in finding.”

“A friend? Maybe someone you don’t like?”

“All that matters is that I’m interested in finding them. It’s not like I have any details myself.” Sakuto sighed and walked away. “Please don’t skip your classes because of my shenanigans. Don’t overthink it.”

“You’re not here to actually study, are you? Your soul presence, you being dead-set on finding someone...” Jacob asked, taking a step back. “You’re here to investigate us. You’re an operative.”

“Why’d you think that?”

“Well, you seem confident. You’re looking for what I described as a presence that feels dangerous, but you look like you’re not even concerned. Must mean you’re pretty strong.” Jacob explained. “And strong soulfuls like that are usually part of some type of group or faction...”

“Oh for fuck sake, didn’t I tell you not to overthink it?” Sakuto asked. A brief silence later, he was forced to respond, although Jacob didn’t apply any force. “Yes, I am.`Happy now?”

“Are you from the GSC?”

“I’ll do you one better.” Sakuto said with a little pride. He approached Jacob and whispered. “I’m the lieutenant-commander of the Heisei.”

“You’re what?!” Jacob cried out. He quickly got embarrassed, and Sakuto was very disappointed. “Does that mean that...your eye...you lost it-”

“Not exactly.” Sakuto said. “Look, I’m doing a dangerous job. For your own sake, please don’t associate yourself with me.”

“All that I do to people is hurt them.”

“If you wanna be cool with me, sure, I don’t mind. But don’t get yourself involved in my business.” Sakuto said. “It’s dangerous stuff.”

“I can’t trust you either. What if you’re Nacht? What if you’re with someone else?”

“No, I get it.” Jacob said. “But I’m a soulful too! I have a soul expression! Surely I can help you out!”

“What’s your obsession with me?” Sakuto asked, repulsively. “If you care about me so much, which apparently you do, then you’d follow my advice.”

“Well, what if you can’t do your job alone?”

“I can’t? Do you know who I am, though? I mean, screw my rank - do you know who I am?” Sakuto said, taking a step towards Jacob. The latter walked back a little, intimidated. “I’ll tell you this, and I better make sure that you never talk to anyone about it. I’m the guy who killed Diego Solano, I’m the guy who killed Jackal Kagerr, and I’m the guy who killed Otto fucking Richter and ended the war.”

Jacob tripped and fell on his back. He quickly sat up and tried standing up, but couldn’t do so. Sakuto’s soul presence was high, and sure enough, it was just as scary as he described it to be.

“I...” Sakuto awkwardly said. “My bad.” He extended his hand to Jacob. The latter got up without his help and now he looked at Sakuto with not curiosity, but fear.

“I won’t tell anyone.” Jacob said. “I...I gotta go. See you around, I guess...”

“Look, I’m sorry-” Sakuto’s words weren’t heard properly. He looked as Jacob walked away and descended down the staircase at the end of the hall.

“He just wanted to help.”

Sakuto took a few deep breaths.

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“Yeah, he just wanted to be friends with me, I guess. He just wanted to help.”

“And this is the shit I do?” Sakuto questioned himself.

“Why was I even angry at him? Is it because I thought he might be causing problems? Or is it because...” He remembered the scenery of him enjoying a game of volleyball with his friends.

“Why...?”

“It’s because I want him to be like me, isn’t it? Since we’re both soulfuls...”

“Fuck...I don’t want anyone to be like me. What is this? What the fuck is genuinely wrong with me?!”

...

“The presence of a damn fiend...”

“Aleksei, are you gonna do anything about it?” Nacht asked.

“What do you want me to do?” Aleksei, the guy with innocent brown eyes, brown hair and thin lips said. “I’m late to class. I’ve got my midterms soon.”

“You’re being way too careless. He was too distracted to feel our presence.” Nacht added. He grabbed Aleksei by his shoulders. “You don’t have any room for mistakes while he’s around. Conceal your presence.”

“Can you just let me go to class in peace?” Aleksei said, shoving him away. “You’re not helping me at all. You have your own classes too, you know?”

“I can talk my absences out with the lecturers.” Nacht scoffed.

“Well, you can. And I can’t. And unlike you, I want to actually graduate. With good grades.”

“Grades are worthless. You’re somehow not capable of comprehending that.” Nacht sighed. “Why do I even have to tag along with an-oh shit.”

“What?”

“I gotta bounce.” Nacht said, sprinting towards the staircase. They were on the third floor, and soon, another soulful would reach the third floor, and this one was the one Nacht had to avoid at all costs, at least now.

Sakuto walked up to Aleksei, thoroughly inspecting him.

“Um...is there anything I can help you with?” Aleksei asked, confused. “You’re kinda freaking me out, dude.”

“You don’t happen to be a soulful, do you?” Sakuto asked. His eye looked a little wet.

“I am. I’m a dormant soul.” Aleksei said. “Can I help you with anything?”

“How strange. I swear I thought I felt two soul presences, and not one...” Sakuto said. “You know what soul presences are, right? Did you happen to sense an unusually dangerous or scary presence in recent times?”

“No, never felt anything like that.” Aleksei said. “Are you looking for someone?”

“Something like that. Hey, my name’s Sakuto Hitori. If you ever come across anything like that, contact me, alright?” Sakuto said. “If the info is good enough, you’ll get paid for it too.”

“Only soulfuls can sense soul presences. Dormant souls aren’t walking radars but if a presence is strong or unique enough, they’ll sense it.”

“Recruiting radars like this might just be the play. As long as word doesn’t spread too much.”

“Alright.” Aleksei calmly nodded, he was now disappointed and upset, not confused. Sakuto went back to the staircase, descending to the second then the first floor.

“He’s looking for you, isn’t he?” Aleksei asked Nacht, who was creeping up from the staircase leading to the fourth floor.

“You’re surprisingly sharp.”

“Look, I get it, we’re friends, but...” Aleksei sighed. “I don’t wanna be involved in some bullshit like this, okay? I just want to live a peaceful life. I didn’t even choose to become a soulful in the first place.”

“Hey, hey, I understand.” Nacht said, putting his hand on Aleksei’s shoulder, he looked kind and reassuring. “I’m sorry if I’m causing trouble, alright?”

“What’s the deal with him anyways? Why is he looking for you?”

“I’ve no idea.” Nacht sighed. “But...thank you for helping me regardless. I know it’s difficult for you to trust people or to socialize with them, but...thank you for having my back. I appreciate that.”

“Hey, no problem, man.” Aleksei said. “That’s what friends are for. But...still. I’m scared.”

“You needn’t be.” Nacht said.

...

“You know, for a hobby that I made up on the spot...”

“It’s surprisingly peaceful actually doing this. Or at least it would be, if the area was just nature and nothing else.”

“If all of these people disappeared, it’d be such a nice view of the park. They’re all so noisy.”

“Reminds me of the scenery that I saw before fighting Jackal.”

Sakuto rested on the small wooden bench. The park was indeed peaceful, the grass looked beautiful, the flowers were pretty and fragrant, the trees looked tall and wise. He tried to focus on the chirps of the birds, the quiet but meaningful howls of the wind, and sounds of the withering leaves being dragged away, caressing the ground. But instead, he was distracted by talking and laughing.

“I got along with Jackal too. He took a liking to me. I took a liking to him too.”

“I wonder what he’d think if he saw me like this.”

“Hell, I wonder what he’d think of my performance in the war. Or the world as it is right now...he’d probably just laugh.”

He raised his head and looked up into the cloudy sky.

“I should’ve taken your offer back then.”

“We could’ve been together, laughing and slaughtering these soulless trash bags...” He thought, looking at the aggregation of people around him. He was so zoned out he failed to notice one of them approaching him.

“Hey, excuse me...” Lily said, slowly approaching him. “I’m Lily, we uhh...we have a group project together.”

“Oh, hello.” Sakuto replied, snapping out of his fantasies of going on a rampage. “Yeah, I know who you are.”

“We couldn’t get into contact with you, umm...we’re already falling behind the work schedule.” Lily explained. “We’re gonna be holding a meetup at the library on Thursday to work on the project.”

“Right, I’ll see if I can come.” Sakuto said.

“Uhh..alright. Yeah, that’s it.” Lily said, walking away. “Take care.” She went back to her friends.

“Right. You too.” Sakuto waved goodbye with a smile that quickly faded away. He overheard a few chuckles from the friend group as they had left.

“I’ll just make up an excuse and not go. Hell, I don’t even need to make an excuse. I’m an operative, not a student. They can fuck off with their assignments.”

“...”

“She said take care. Well, I mean, she is a nice girl. She’s decent looking too.”

“I’m really letting a ‘take care’ from a random soulless girl catch me off guard, huh?”

He took a deep breath.

“Ichika said those words with a different voice.”

“I don’t think anyone else can say them in the same voice.”

“There’s only one Ichika.”

The last beams of sunlight escaping the fractured cloudy sky were imprisoned by a darker arrangement of clouds, leaving a dangerous gray sky behind.

“And everything fell apart.”