Seen Through the Eyes of Goodwill

Chapter- 13

[A/n: Yes guys. .. its knife once again]

I navigated towards him faster since I started getting a hang of it. As I was looking at the next branch I was supposed to grab, I heard a sharp squeal. When I turned back, Koenji wasn't there.

Jumping down from the tree I saw a small boar with a knife embedded in it's right eye. It was lying down, giving out painful grunts as Koenji's foot rested on top of its spine. Looking at the size of it, it would be safe to conclude that it wasn't an adult boar. Wild boars are ferocious beasts; had the adult been around they would've attacked Koenji by now, but I saw no signs of that happening.

Apparently, Koenji jumped on the Boar directly, in an attempt to deliver a trauma to it's spine.

"If it isn't Ayanokouji." He announced as I approached the scene.

"....."

"I assume you would like to have a talk with me."

I nodded, agreeing to his assumption. Without saying much, he picked up the small boar in his hands and started running deeper into the forest. I followed him silently, and we ran for a few minutes. In his way he would stop by to gather small branches that fell down.

It was better to get away from the hunting site since the owner of those children would soon be there. The face of the terrain gradually changed; the amount of grass steadily decreased as the ground grew drier.

Soon he came to a halt, putting down the boar and the branches he had gathered.

"Your name did ring a bell, however, your presence didn't justify it." He started talking.

"What do you mean?"

"To think you were related to Ayanokouji himself. Even though he disappeared, the name itself holds a power in the upper echelon of the society."

"......." How much does he know?

"Son of Ayanokouji, your existence has caught my attention. Go ahead, you have earned my audience."

It seems like it is futile to run away from the long shadow that man casts. No matter how far, I am still under it.

Koenji sat down and started flaying the boar he had just hunted.

"Why were you there on the rooftop that night?"

"Don't disappoint me," he said in his self-important tone.

[A/n: If you all remember Koenji had interrupted the conversation between Ayanokouji and the whiteroom statistician while serving the dinner, following that lead Koenji stood where he stood that night]

Blessed as he is, Koenji possesses prodigious observation and deduction skills. Running in circles won't distract him.

"Eugenics Association—why would you abandon it?"

The genetic superiority Koenji family has achieved was portrayed in the young man sitting in front of me. Such a merit couldn't be amassed in just a few generations. It wasn't something you can pull from a lottery; a family would've to actively strive to improve their genetics to achieve what stood before me.

The Koenji conglomerate is a firm known widely throughout Japan. At first I had my doubts, but after seeing the Koenji, I was sure that the conglomerate is a part of Eugenics. It wouldn't be out of question if it was the headquarters for the association.

"Fufufu. I see you've been taught a lot in that place. ...what was the name again? White room?" Even when faced with his past, his smile didn't waver. He reflected the question right back at me.

As he talked to me, he lit up a fire, and started cooking the flayed boar.

"Seeing that you know about its existence, did the Koenji conglomerate ever sponsor the project ?" However, this was a chance to see if he had any connections to the place, to see how much he knows.

The amount of money that went into operating White Room is colossal. It is nearly impossible for one man to gather that sum in his lifetime. Naturally, that man had sponsors, to whom the existence of White Room would be known.

"Hmm, out of curiosity. After two successive failures of their 'Generations' project, we withdrew our support and reported back to the Eugenics Association."

"I see."

The existence of White Room projects beside us generations, was unknown to me...

"People are born unequal. Even someone like your father couldn't change that. That's what we concluded and discarded his plan as a fool's crusade, however..."

He took a pause, his smile fading away. One would rarely see Koenji saying sensible things. If it wasn't for my background, I doubt he would speak to me for as long as he did.

"Unstirred by our withdrawal, your father kept going. In the end, his will had bent the very laws of this world: the 'Generations' project produced its first masterpiece."

He looked directly into my eyes. There was nothing more left to say. It won't be hard for him to deduce the identity of that masterpiece after witnessing the events from that night.

The conversation till now had highlighted that Koenji had more information on me than I had on him. Till now he hasn't given me a chance to dig out his past.

"You could've enjoyed the halcyon of your youth, romancing beautiful women, basking in your own beauty. Like me. But you chose to shrink back; a truly pathetic decision by someone dubbed as the 'masterpiece' of the fourth generation."

"Just like you, my existence inhibits the growth of the people around me."

"The actions you've been taking in the past contradicts your statement."

Koenji didn't know about Chabashira trying to manipulate me. Most won't, but he easily traced out the contradiction.

"This school is an open playground, Ayanokouji. You will regret the time you waste idly. We both know what fate awaits you outside the boundaries of this school."

I never gave his words a deep thought until today, but, I will think later about what he just said.

"The empathy you display here is new to me."

"Fufufu, ever calculating. My past won't help you in any way. Reconsider your condition now: You're imperfect; not ready to face me head on yet. The day you're ready to leave your shortcomings behind, come back to face me."

Concluding his pompous speech, he stood up and walked away, holding a stick that carried half of the cooked boar meat on it. The other half was left for me.

I cleared up the remaining ashes while eating the boar meat. I should get out of here soon. The school would send staff to check up upon the smoke that was rising.

I heard footsteps approaching me. Guess I was late. A familiar figure emerged from the woods. Only one person. It's that lady who was from White Room.

"Heh. The lap of nature must feel new to you."

"...."