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Wednesday, 4/8/09
Iwatodai Dorm, 1st Floor
Evening
After a comparatively uneventful second day at school and a brief visit to the Iwatodai Shopping Mall, I made my way back to the dorms, only to find Takeba-san sitting on the couch with… another unfamiliar face to her right.
“So, this is our new guest,” he remarked to himself before saying hello. The long hair and receding hairline were one thing, but he had quite a formal jacket on too. Who was this guy?
As if he could read my mind, he began to introduce himself. “My name is Shuji Ikutsuki. I’m the chairman of the board for your school.”
“Nice to meet you… Ikutsuki-san.” There was a slight delay before I remembered to bow in respect, and the second I took to pronounce his name right probably didn’t help. This was clearly no ordinary man, and I had no reason yet to distrust him. I was on my guard, of course; when you get passed around between relatives for so long, you learn to figure out when you can trust the adult you’re with and when you can’t. But while I don’t really know what his position actually means, it sure does sound important!
“Oh my, how respectful!” He beamed. “You know, I am a little surprised you managed to pronounce my name correctly on the first try. It’s a little hard to say, isn’t it? That’s why I don’t like introducing myself. Even I get tongue tied sometimes.”
My response was quick, probably almost too quick. Maybe a bit too loud. But that was because it’s something I felt pretty strongly about.
“Knowing other people’s names is important to me, sir.”
“Understandable! Not a bad quality to have in the least. Please, have a seat,” he invited. I quickly took my place directly across from Takeba-san.
“I apologize for the confusion regarding your accommodations, but it may take a bit longer before you receive the proper room assignment,” he began. Ah, yes, that’s right. I was going to be staying with yet another distant relative I’d never heard of, but two weeks before the school year began, a letter showed up at the orphanage saying I was expected to live in Iwatodai Dorm. It didn’t seem like it was going to be a permanent arrangement; I had only unpacked a week’s worth of clothes and my medication because of that. It seems like I’ll be staying here for longer than expected, though. Not like I’m complaining.
“Is there… anything you’d like to ask?” Oh. I guess I was silent for too long. Well, since he’s offering…
“Yeah, just a few things. First, I’m sorry if this seems rude, but… why did you come here?” I asked. His response was… interesting.
“To welcome you, of course. You don’t mind, do you?”
“N-no, Ikutsuki-san. I was just wondering, that’s all,” I chirped. Seemed kind of weird that he’d be welcoming me if I was only gonna be here for a short period of time. Maybe he meant welcoming me to Gekkoukan High? It’s a big school, though…
“Speaking of which, Takeba-kun, have you seen Kirijo-kun, by any chance?” Ikutsuki inquired. Apparently, she was just upstairs, which made sense. She is my senpai, after all; she probably was taking a tough class that’s already given homework. Ikutsuki-san seemed kind of disgruntled about it, but whatever. I could speak to Kirijo-senpai if I felt like it, which I sort of didn’t.
After that, I asked a handful of questions about the dorm’s accommodations, general information, that sort of thing. I also asked about who else was living here. Apparently, besides me, Takeba-san and Kirijo-senpai, there was only one other person living here: Sanada-senpai, another third-year. It was strange, though. The dorm seemed to have room for about three times as many people as there were actually living here. I wondered why?
“Is there anything else?”
For a moment, I considered ending the conversation there, but I found myself thinking about the black coffins and green sky I saw when I first arrived to Iwatodai. I know Takeba-san said not to talk about it, but…
“Well, when I first got here, I saw something… Odd. Strange.”
“Hm? Something strange? Like what?” Ikutsuki replied, a small current of panic underlying his voice. Something about his response threw me off balance, though it’s hard to explain why. He’d been pretty warm so far, but this seemed to be the first thing I had said all night that genuinely unsettled him or left him confused. It took a bit of the wind out of my sails, if I’m being honest.
“Well, it’s… Ugh, I don’t know how to describe it… It’s pretty hard to believe, so…”
Takeba-san made some kind of tense noise into her lap before Ikutsuki-san finally responded.
“You were probably just tired. I wouldn’t worry about it. It’s bad for your complexion, you know.”
A chill ran down my spine, and I felt my stomach slightly twisting into knots. There’d been a couple of things that felt odd, but that? Nope, I did not like that at all. Something is seriously not right with all of this. Not with him, not with this set-up. I hate it.
He made some kind of lame pun which I ignored before leaving and telling me to get some sleep, and then Takeba-san said she thought I should hit the hay as well; she was going to herself. As weird as everything about this whole conversation felt, though, Ikutsuki-san and Takeba-san were right. While today wasn’t as bad as yesterday, I was still completely exhausted. There wasn’t much I could do about it, and I was honestly too tired to do much else. So, in the end, I decided to listen to them and go to bed early.
I just hope I can get to the bottom of this soon.