It was awfully embarrassing having to listen to the Professor explain how he was supposed to get to the administrations office like he was some lost child but Azil knew better than to go wandering off on his own. Walking through the campus was surreal even then and it didn't help that he felt his mind start to slow down.
After following the instructions, the described door to the office came into his line of sight. It was, however, weirdly inconspicuous for such an important place and surrounded by many gardens. Looking at the flowers while passing by, Azil was vaguely reminded of his room and the view from the window.
He suddenly missed his house but his nostalgia was interrupted when he heard some loud voices from a bit further away. Usually he would have ignored it considering he didn't have the mental strength to go snooping around but one of the voices sounded strangely familiar.
"It must be hard working here and dealing with the students."
"Well most of them are responsible but some of them...not so much. What do you do for work, ma'am?"
"Ha...no need for the ma'am. My name's Neo and I'm a doctor."
"Wow...that sounds tough."
When he turned the corner, he came to see two women standing on the lawn. One of them was dressed lightly in brown slacks, a grey coat and had long brown hair and the other with shorter blonde hair wore a simple white shirt and black skirt. Of course Azil couldn't tell based off appearance who was who but the woman with the long brown hair was definitely someone he had met recently.
"No tougher than any other profession if you work with passion."
"That's an idealistic sentiment, Neo."
Their conversation came to a halt when the woman in the white shirt noticed him and pointed him out immediately. "There he is!" This made it even more difficult for him to think clearly. Now all their attention was on him and he wasn't even fully present.
The woman with the slacks looked at him through narrowed eyes and spoke to the other person. "Thank you for entertaining me Rose, I'll see you later." The supposed receptionist smiled and walked back in the direction of the office, leaving him alone with the person called Doctor Neo. Looking back on it, wasn't she the doctor from when he woke up? Azil's mind was slowly but surely making connections.
"You there, come here." The doctor gestured to him in a way that filled him with inexplicable fear. It was as if she would beat him up if he took a step closer but beat him up even more if he didn't.
He walked closer to her, staring at the grass under his feet.
"Do you think you can just get up and walk off after causing so much trouble?" Her tone was firm but she seemed less malicious close up. She even reminded him of Professor Lyne.
"I'm sorry." He said, not knowing what else he was supposed to say. He still didn't understand most of the world he was in and he didn't think he could figure it out on his own anymore.
"Hey." The doctor frowned, observing him. "Those clothes..."
She was inspecting him like a detective would and he was starting to realize how disheveled he must be. Her mind was definitely making connections faster than he could keep up with so before she could get in another word, he cut her off- "Actually I lost my memory."
"What on earth..."
"I don't know anything but I knew I had to come here so I came here but even now I..." He hesitated, "...still don't know anything."
It was his first time telling anyone about his predicament and he was sure that if he was in a clearer state of mind then he wouldn't have told anyone. The sense of danger and worry was still there but it had been suppressed by his exhaustion and all he wanted was to tell someone the whole story from beginning to end.
"I thought something like this would happen." The look of resignation on the doctor's face filled him with guilt but he pretended otherwise and went back to staring half-heartedly at the ground.
"Well." She put a hand on his shoulder all of a sudden. "It isn't my first time dealing with people like you and I doubt it'll be my last. Let's start by taking you back to the hospital and then we'll figure things out from there."
He was so relieved that someone else was willing to figure things out for him that he just nodded and followed her back the whole way. The rest was a blur but done with amazing speed and precision. His paperwork was completed, he got a spare set of clothes, was given a bottle of water and answered a list of questions pertaining to his memory loss. By the end of it, the doctor had already managed to gather information about his place of residence, past history and his academic situation.
"I knew a little about your life before but this is depressing." The doctor said sitting on a chair that would rotate every now and then. He was in her office and still in a daze.
"For now, forget about school and focus on getting some rest. You look like you're running on fumes."
Azil could only nod in response to that too. The doctor sighed and pointed to the couch that was just a few steps away. "Go sleep. There's no point talking to you right now. It's not the most comfortable but in the meantime I'll try to find out where exactly you live from the college. We still have your phone but I'm guessing you don't remember the password."
"I don't." He said weakly. So many words, his head was spinning.
"Alright just go lie down already." Before he knew it, he ended up lying down on the couch and drifting off to sleep. He didn't dream of anything nor did he see any disturbing flashbacks or memories. In fact, his mind was more relaxed because most of the basic problems he had avoided thinking about were being solved by the doctor on his behalf. Was it his luck that such a good person was willing to help him? Either way, she was a saviour in his eyes.