A Farewell to All Futures

Second Saviour

Mikado tuned them out, putting his arms on the desk and laying his head upon them. He technically wasn't required for this conversation because his input wasn't needed at this time, but he had to come along anyways. He sighed internally, looking up at Sora. Though he enjoyed her company, she wasn't as subtle at hiding the 'rehabilitate the feral wizard' plan that the girls of his dorm seemed to have. Setsuka wasn't very good at hiding it either, so Mikado had just stayed silent and tolerated their plan.

Deep down, Mikado was grateful that he was brought to this pointless meeting. Due to sharing a room with Kokoro, who could practically read minds, he had to conceal his feelings so that he wouldn't be constantly psychoanalyzed. It didn't help that Sora had learned a lot about psychology from her, so he had to keep his feelings hidden from her as well. His difficulty at showing facial emotions calmed him down a little, but it really wasn't enough. Now that he was in this meeting and not being paid attention to, he could think and ponder freely.

What the biggest pressure on his mind was right now was Nikei Yomiuri. While he was tipsy, he had a startling revelation about him. He had seen the journalist before, but he wasn't sure where from at the time. When he became sober and could think without a clouded mind, he finally remembered where he had seen Nikei before. While the students around him shared their pieces of paper with each other, Mikado let his eyes become half-lidded as he began to space out and recall that fateful day.

***

It was a cold autumn evening, and the trees were completely barren. Mikado had taken out the dirty blanket that was in his backpack and wrapped it around himself, shivering more than usual. He was curled up around the exhaust pipe of the restaurant building, taking in the heat and rubbing his various body parts to keep himself warm; even his feet, which hurt so much that he couldn't even stand on them anymore. 

He was glad his powers weren't sealed and he didn't have his glasses so he didn't have to lose them, but he knew that he could only do his mana in short spurts. He looked over at his plugged-in laptop, under the roof and far away from the elements. He would be missing another online class again wouldn't he? He was about to bemoan his circumstance when another flash of pain passed through his head again. He curled further into himself and groaned, trying to resist his nausea. 

His body felt hot and painful, and he couldn't even make it go away. The last bit of money that he stole using his self-taught hacking abilities was spent on a grilled cheese that lasted him a good two and a half days. He was really hungry, but what could he do when he couldn't even move?

He heard a few voices, but he couldn't make out their words. From the sounds of their voices, there were about three, no, four people? He couldn't tell. But he could hear footsteps coming towards him. Did they want money? He didn't have any...

The one who stopped in front of him had a fuzzy appearance and he couldn't tell their gender, but he knew that they wore a long coat and a hat on. They also seemed to be his age. They tried to speak to him, even yelling few words at him, but he just couldn't understand what the figure was saying. Finally the figure just reached into their coat pocket and took something out, putting it under a rock to make sure it didn't blow away. The figure then left him in the alley, rejoining their group before leaving.

Mikado slowly crawled towards it and picked it up from under the rock, holding it close to his face and squinting and blinking again and again. Finally, he realized that it was a $50 bill that the figure had given him. Grasping it tightly in his hand, he put his things back in his backpack, put it on, and dragged himself to the nearest pharmacy down the road and bought himself fever medication. Because of his saviour's generosity, he had survived his bought of fever and lived another day.