Chapter 10

Today was an unbelievably annoying day for Shikina.

It left him feeling a vast array of feelings, ones he thought he had rid himself of by now.

Ranging from fear and anxiety, to the embarrassment you would feel when someone makes an advance on you.

Confused as to why his life had come to this, he was muttering to himself on his way back to his home.

Taking fast-paced steps, with a bag of instant ramen in his right hand, he looked at the floor.

A pool of sweat had built up on his hands and back, as a result of being flustered.

With his left hand covering the lower half of his face, he said:

"Remember Shikina, you commanded entire battalions, what the hell's happening to you."

Forcing himself to recover, as he walked, he found that his breathing had slowed down.

The thumping and rythme of his heartbeat had muzzled and relaxed.

He brought his hand down to his side, clenching it; however, this time it wasn't enough to dig through his skin.

"No… I'm still the same as I was then."

It took a while, but after completely calming down, he stopped in his tracks, and realized what he did.

Grabbing both handles on the bag, he opened it.

Looking into it, he talked to himself, with disappointment.

"Well, Christ almighty. There goes 2000 fucking yen.."

Now, resuming his route home, his eyes were sharp, as they darted around, intaking as much information as possible.

Billboards for new animes and movies appeared over the horizons of small, prefabricated family homes.

Skyscrapers scaled and punctured the blue sky.

Fondling and playing with his cap, he remarked to himself.

"Still human."

With that encounter over nothing of interest happened to him for the rest of the day.

By the time he got home, he was quickly lounging around his kitchen-living room hybrid eating snacks and using his laptop to read PDF versions of technical manuals and old books online.

That was his normal, because for him, the pursuit of knowledge never really ended.

Shikina went to sleep late today as he enjoyed his newfound freedom, escaping from being forced to sleep and wake early.

Now, he laid, curled up under multiple blankets, with his dark purple hair tousled and unruly.

His breathing never rose above a whisper.

Long pillows laid to his left and right.

His sleep attire was a pair of black shorts and a short sleeve shirt of a band he liked to listen to.

Tonight, it was Oasis.

Occasionally, he would say something in his sleep.

Most of the time, it was:

"Kitty… kitty… meowmeow…"

His military-styled cap sat next to his bed, on his metal, easy-build end table.

And, at the foot of his bed, were his plush rabbit slippers.

The school's uniform was hung up on a hanger in his closet, without a crease to be found on it.

The curtains to his room were open, as privacy wasn't necessary.

His apartments was on the fourth floor, making peeking and spying nearly impossible to do.

Moonlight casted gentle shadows on the furniture in his room.