Mr. Fujisaki

The floor is caked with dust and littered with wires slowly falling suit. Touko travels farther into the room, minding her steps, peering at the man through dismal lighting and stray hairs. Her jaw is set tight, and there’s an odd feeling seizing her chest the closer she gets— it’s not quite fear, not like seeing an apparition… but it’s uncanny. The resemblance, the passion.                                                                                   ( and who could forget the n a m e  ? ) "…Three minutes… is an improvement…      But it’s been… a week—!!         Do you have any estimate on a timeframe…?” The screens in front of him illuminate the world in angles— it hurts her eyes, now, although it wasn’t so long ago the light was comforting, and perhaps it is still comforting— but not within the presence of ghosts. A question is at the tip of her tongue, but now is not the time.

"An estimate...it may be possible to get up to ten minutes by the end of this week, but...I can't really make any promises. If anything, I can at least get to...six minutes. Anything stable may take, well, longer." He sighed to himself. "Maybe even a month..." But would he even be around by then? It seemed like he was pressured into just being successful for the time being. Of course, he knew what he had to do and didn't want the others to fail due to being selfish. He only wished time wasn't a problem.

"A dove? I believe I might have seen a bird fly around here a few minutes ago. Though, I didn’t pay much attention to the type of bird it was. If you need help finding her, I’d be more than happy to help. I do know the direction it flew off to, so thats a start…"

"Ah, yes, that could be a great idea. Oh, maybe she has a favorite spot outside this building? Or something she likes around here...maybe she was attracted to that sort of thing." He was just throwing out suggestions, unsure of the bird's likes and dislikes.

【 真相 】⋙  ❝ Studies have been faring well. I assume you are waiting for someone from the academy? ❞  

"Thats very good to hear! I'm glad that there are no problems. And yes, I'm waiting for my child...I'm not sure if you know them or not, but...maybe you do. Does the name Chihiro sound familiar?"

"I am 21," he muttered to himself, "Not that it really matters, but…"

"I apologize...I didn't know...although I'm sure that does matter, right? At least for certain things it should."

The programmer turned away as his friend breathed in that horrid smoke. "I see you still smoke...will everyone be doing that in the bar?" He could handle smoke from one person, but from a whole room...maybe not.

"It’s n-not a problem a-at all." she said as she shook her head, "I mean, i-if you were leading the way t-then it wouldn’t make much sense for you t-to need me to take you t-there right?" she pointed out as she lead the way up the stairs. And it didn’t end up taking very long to reach the floor the office was on, heading down the hallway until she stood in front of the office door. "The o-office is right here." she said as she gestured towards the door, turning around to face him. "Though, if you e-ever have any problems with finding a-anything else in the school, I don’t mind l-lending you a hand a-again." 

"Haha, you have a point with that. I suppose it was silly of me to say such a thing." He laughed it off. Yet, was glad she didn't mind him saying such an obvious thing. A slight mistake on his part, that he ignored as he followed the student to the office door. "Ah, thank you very much, Tsumiki. You did help me a lot today...and thank you for that offer as well. I don't want to continuously bother you, but I will remember to go to you if I ever need help when I return here." Taichi smiled at the girl as his hand went to the door. "Well, I hope I didn't interfere too much with your duties, and have a great day."

He always needs more time; it’s a common complaint amongst the resistance, a phrase readily disposed and resting at tip of their tongue— a phrase she has only thought, never verbalized, because meeting deadlines was the of upmost importance before the world became muddled and her inspiration ran dry—                                                                                ( as did her audience, her safety, her pride— ) …but she concedes, albeit with disappointment written in knit brows and across dry lips as she picks at dead skin. "…How long was it, then…?!      I need…something else good to report back, so I d-don’t look like a fool—!!”

"Well, compared to before, this time it could last a full three minutes. Of course there are still times when theres an interruption, but I think we can manage to hold a very quick conversation with that...Thats something good to report back, isn't it?"

The information was all but useless, but there was no point in saying that. She might as well have him believe that he sincerely helped her.

He had found the information quite informative, even if he wasn't the gambling type, it was easy to decipher certain codes with a computer. Taichi was just happy to be of help to her.

"That can’t be mine!" *He tapped his back pocket to make sure it was there, and luckily it was.* "Open it up, what does the ID say?"

"Oh, its not?" He never thought to check the contents of the wallet. It felt like he'd be looking into another person's 'personal' life. But it wouldn't be a crime to check and find out who the owner of this was. "Lets see...it says...Ibuki Mioda...? Do you happen to know who that is?"

"Thank you. I just want you both to truly succeed! Which I'm sure you'll do. And I'm glad I could help out in some way, you know?"

"Anyway, what are you going to order there? I'm curious to hear what you want to drink. Is it going to be any kind of fancy named drink?"

"S-so then, shall we head up to the staircase?" she asked as she headed towards the door. 

"I suppose it won't take that long either way. Well, I won't hold you back for too long." At least they were only going upstairs and not across the whole campus. It really wasn't asking too much, Taichi was just worried about her position as the stand in nurse. He'll make sure to make this a fairly quick trip. "Yes, lets head over there immediately. I'm sorry that I'm going to have to be following you for most of the time though." Even with some idea of how the first floor was laid out, it was best to trust someone who knew it better than him.

"Chihiro is very fortunate to have a father like you."

"Oh, its nothing special. I'm certain anyone with coding abilities could do something like this, Chihiro is no exception. I just hope something like this really helps when you decide to take another chance with your talent."