That morning was relatively normal. The horrible feeling Akira felt had disappeared, but even then he was still cautious.
Today was a new day, and also a second chance to do things right. The routine needed to be kept, and today he would take no risks.
He got up, had breakfast, and took the sonic train, just as his Routine demanded him too. As he walked past the bank which was unsurprisingly getting robbed again, Elodie tried to greet him, but instead Akira walked straight past him.
"Don't ignore an officer of the law, asshole!"
The other standby officers chuckled while commenting on his unprofessional speech towards a citizen.
Since Akira had no lectures that day, he went straight to the study hall. Just as planned. Unfortunately, he would meet someone annoying there too.
Just as he was studying at a desk, he could feel a detestable presence come up from behind him. Even though this was meant to be a quiet place, Germaine shouted,
"Akira! Let's study together!"
"..."
Germaine quickly sat down on a chair the opposite side of Akira's. He quickly prepared his study material implying his stay would be a lengthy one. Akira considered moving, but he was sure that Germaine would just follow him.
50 minutes... just gotta bare with it...
"So Akira! which topic are you studying? Anatomy? Pathology? Surgery!? So many options! or would you like to talk about our pass times instead?"
Pain. Everything this person said was pure pain. Just him opening his mouth made Akira want to cringe. At least that's what he personally thought.
Eventually the disturbance his loud mouth caused warranted some attention. A group of angry girls who were nearby, stormed over to the two.
"Won't you shut up!? Can't you see we're studying here? This is meant to be a quiet place for god's sake!"
Germaine suddenly stood up, asserting himself which made the girls uncomfortable. He then struck a flamboyant pose while softly blowing a kiss.
"
A heart shaped puff of wind slowly flew in the wind. Until it hit one of the girls in the forehead. In a matter of seconds, they were all fawning over him, seemingly already forgetting how much of a nuisance he was.
Akira was just disgusted. How does that even work??
"Now now girls! One at a time, everyone can have a piece of me~ Even you Akira."
Akira just nervously checked the time on his watch, and was disappointed to see not even five minutes had passed.
This was going to be a long day.
The crowd of girls continued to grow until they had caught the attention of a nearby professor. Very quickly they had all been kicked out for causing a ruckus, including Akira. Since he was associated with Germaine, he got caught up in it too.
He just stared blankly at the expanse of the green field, shell shocked at the destruction of his routine once again. Germaine stood next to him, also admiring the view.
"It's a beautiful day isn't it?"
Akira's rage then reached it's boiling point. First his routine was destroyed due to his own incompetence, but now it was annihilated by someone who he didn't even like. To him, this was the equivalent of lending you handheld to your friend just for him to break it 2 minutes later.
"What the hell is your problem!? Every fucking day you keep coming up to me and spout bullshit in French! I have no clue what your saying half the time, nor do I care. Is it so hard to understand that I want nothing to do with you!? Nada, zero, zilch! Leave. Me. Alone."
Akira stormed off into the distance. Hoping to find another quiet place to study. Germaine who was hurt by this, was too saddened to follow him, or even speak up for himself.
He just slowly extended out his hand as he said,
"But... your the only one.. who could possibly understand me... Can't you see that?"
A couple hours later, Akira went to the Royal Babel city hospital. It was not only the first, but the most highly rated hospital in all of Babel city. Since it was made, all of it's treatments had revolved around the use of Aether, making it one of the most advanced hospitals in the world.
Since Akira himself was student at Rudveck university, a sort of sister to the hospital, he got a priority emergency check up.
He went through an intensive X ray scan of his body, and even had blood work done on his blood. Thanks to the technology, it took no longer than 2 hours for everything to be completed.
Half way through however, the doctor who was initially helping him through the procedures, had been swapped out for someone else. He wore a white lab coat and a blue nurses outfit underneath. His eyes were baggy from work, and he had straw like hair, and walked around in slippers.
The ID on top of his breast pocket said, Dr. Kyobi.
Akira was sitting on a hospital bed, while the doctor sat on a chair next to him. He was looking through his notes on a clipboard.
"So when did you start feeling like this?"
"Yesterday. My stomach aches disappeared, but I'm scared it will come back."
The doctor continued to keep writing down notes, before giving his diagnosis.
"Your body scans were normal, but your blood sugar level was a little low. If you start feeling hungry again, take these pills. They're a type of insulin that's made for digestion, so you should have no problem with it."
'Insulin... aren't these for diabetes?? I'm diabetic???? Huh???'
"Make sure to visit my office once a week so I can check your progress."
Akira was quickly dismissed, leaving him to contemplate about his life.
As he walked out the hospital however, staring at the yellow bottle of pills, a girl in the distance took a good photo of him.
**
Wooden double doors swung open as Germaine burst through. He entered the hallway of a stupidly large mansion, with a pair of perpendicular curved stairs going up to the second floor. The moment he entered, rose of maids and butlers immediately lined up for him quickly bowing to show their signs of reverence and respect for the young lord.
"Hilda? Where is mother and father?"
The maid closest to him on his right answered,
"Your mother has left to go speak with the council, and your father is up in his study, Master Germaine."
He made a slight face of disappointment as he walked across the hallway and up the stairs. All the servants quickly dispersed, however Hilda looked at his back with some sadness.
Every single day he asked this question when he returned, only to find out that only one of his parents would be home.
As Germaine walked across the grand house, he walked past several photos and paintings. One of the most noticeable ones, was of Germaine as a child sitting on his mothers lap, while his father stood close to the two. They all had warm smiles on their face. That was the last time he could remember them all being together.
Eventually, Germaine stood before large wooden double doors much like the entrance, with intricate patterns and gold engravings carved into them. He slowly pushed open the door, and entered a dimly lit room.
All the walls were covered in old books, all seemingly ancient from several hundred years ago. His father was sitting on a chair, in front of a lit fire place, reading one of his many books.
Just by taking one step inside, his father immediately spoke,
"You didn't even knock, boy. Have you no manners?"
"Father.. I.. I need help.."
His father slowly rose from his chair, walked up to the fire place, and threw the book he was reading into it. Germaine seeing that, was a little frightened. He didn't expect such unpredictable behaviour from him.
Without ever looking away from the fire, he spoke.
"What does it mean to live? It's to make a series of choices before our lives ultimately end. Since we die, life is fleeting, much like that book I just burned. Since life is fleeting, then the choices we make are fleeting too. We are insignificant, yet we can find pleasure in those insignificant choices."
He slowly turned around, revealing his grey hairs and dead eyes. They had no regard for anything anymore. He began to walk towards Germaine, while continuing to speak.
"That means that the purpose of life, is to find pleasure in the insignificant choices. You asked for my help? That means the choices you made, your quest for pleasure has taken a difficult path, and despite how much money I have given you, you require assistance to do that?"
Germaine just silently nodded. He was scared, too scared to speak. He had initially come to ask his father for advice on talking to Akira, but it had turned into something much worse.
"Then answer me this... is the pleasure that you and I seek.. the same? Are you even aware of what I desire?"
Germaine shook his head. With a sigh of disappointment, his father simply said,
"Get out."
Germaine quickly ran out of the office, as a stream of tears quietly flooded down his face. He sprinted past Hilda who was waiting outside for him, and she was forced to be left behind once again.
Hilda walked into the door way of the study, blocking Germaine's father from shutting the doors. Very boldly she asked,
"Master Antoine, don't you think that was too harsh? As his father, shouldn't you have at least heard him out?"
With those same dead pan eyes, he stared at the maid. In that moment, she too could only feel fear. Something had changed about him these last couple days.
"Who gave you permission to get involved? You may have helped raise Germaine while he was young, but you are not his mother. Make no mistake, I am not discouraging him. He knows very well what his pleasures are, and you know that too."
Germaine had a wicked secret. Despite how he tried to hide it, most people in the house knew, but never cared to report it. It was the influence of Antoine that prevented them from doing so.
As Germaine ran through the corridors, there was only one person that he could think about.
"Akira, why?? WHY???? WHY WON'T YOU TALK TO ME!? EVER SINCE THE DAY I FIRST SAW YOU, I KNEW YOU WERE THE ONLY PERSON WHO COULD UNDERSTAND MY LONELINESS! AND NOW I KNOW YOUR EXACTLY LIKE ME! SO WHY? WHY WON'T YOU ACCEPT ME? WHY WON'T YOU BE FRIENDS WITH ME?"
As he bursted into his bedroom, he quickly opened his walk in closet, and scavenged for something he had shoved into the very back of that place. A black trench coat with a hood.
He tore off his designer clothes, and changed into a completely black outfit. As he put on his hood, his entire face became masked in a shadow, keeping his identity hidden.
"A friend-.. I need..- someone to talk too..-"