[X] Tetsu (哲)

Yes, your name was Tetsu, with the character that meant “wise” or the concept of “philosophy”. You truly had been consigned to a life of wisdom and intelligence since the moment you were born. Then again, maybe your name wasn’t the only factor contributing to that. In any case, now it was up to you to live up to that potential.

And actually, you thought you’d been doing a pretty good job of that so far, considering how you had gotten to the place you were now in Gensokyo University. Still, “staring into a mirror and navel-gazing about names” probably wasn’t all that useful when it came to realising your potential. So, with a slight chuckle, you moved on and got dressed.

After you had poured yourself a bowl of cereal, you grabbed your phone to check the messages Rinichi had left.

<Rinichi> hey tetsu
<Rinichi> did you hear about the new restaurant that just opened at the food court?
<Rinichi> they have weird things on their menu, like eels and stuff
<Rinichi> sounds pretty cool to me
<Rinichi> wanna go check it out at lunch today?

You smiled. You didn’t usually eat at the university food court – you preferred to bring your own lunch, or even just eat at your apartment if you had a long break between lectures. On some days, your schedule in the middle of the day was so packed that you wouldn’t even have time to order at the food court before the next class began. But today you had a free hour at noon, so you had time. And, even if you may have preferred your own lunch, you were certainly willing to make an exception for Rinichi.

He was one of the few people from your class in high school who were also going to GenU, and he in particular… well, if you had to call someone your “best friend”, it would be him. In fact, he’d been part of the reason you had decided to attend this specific university in the first place, as he’d been really enthusiastic about it because of his family. So, you were happy to spend your lunch hanging out with him.

Just as you were about to send him a reply, however, a thought crossed your mind, and you hesitated. You had no classes at lunchtime, but wasn’t there something else on today? Leaving your breakfast for the moment, you walked over to your computer and checked your emails. After clicking through a few newsletters, you found what you were looking for: today at noon, there was going to be an open-air performance from some of the university’s student ensembles.

You liked music, but you had never exactly been impressed by what passed for student ensembles at your high school. Still, this was a university, and these were people who were actually studying music rather than just doing it to fill time, so the quality would presumably be higher, and you’d figured it would at least be worth checking out. The location wasn’t close to the food court, though, so if you went to the restaurant first, you wouldn’t have time to go to the performance before your next lecture. Then again, there was no reason you couldn’t invite Rinichi to come with you to the performance, was there?

[ ] Accept Rinichi’s invitation to go to the new restaurant
[ ] Invite him to come to the student performance instead

[X] Invite him to come to the student performance instead

The more you thought about it, your alternative suggestion sounded like the better idea. After all, the restaurant would be still be there tomorrow, but the ensemble event was only being held today.

<Tetsu> Thanks, that’s a nice idea! But actually, I have something else planned for lunchtime today.
<Tetsu> The university is holding an event where some student ensembles are going to be giving an open-air performance.
<Tetsu> Would you like to come with me? The restaurant sounds interesting too, but we could just go visit that later this week, or some other time.

You set down your phone and went to continue eating your breakfast. Only about a minute later, Rinichi replied, allowing you to have a conversation with him in real time.

<Rinichi> sure, could be fun
<Rinichi> i’m in
<Rinichi> where is the performance?
<Tetsu> At the university sports fields.
<Rinichi> alright
<Tetsu> It might be crowded there, so do you want to meet up somewhere beforehand?
<Rinichi> sure, maybe at that fountain?
<Rinichi> you know, the one on the path from the student centre to the sports fields
<Tetsu> Yeah, I know where that is. Let’s meet at noon, then?
<Rinichi> sounds good, see ya later!
<Tetsu> See you!

Satisfied, you put away your phone and went to make a box lunch, since you wouldn’t be going to the food court and you weren’t sure if there would be food at the event. Once you were done, you grabbed your bag and set off for the campus.

You actually didn’t have a lecture in the first timeslot in the morning, but you’d set your alarm at the usual time anyway, as you reasoned that if you slept in today, it would be more jarring when you did have to get up earlier. In any case, that left you with some free time, so you walked to the university library and found a desk in one of the study rooms. Then, you went to work on one of your assignments… or rather, you slacked off for a while by browsing the Internet on the tablet you took with you for taking notes, and then you went to work. It was fine, though – you had read through the assignment questions earlier and found them simple enough. And, true to your initial assessment, you managed to complete the work you’d intended to by the time you had to head off to a lecture.

Said lecture was for an introductory course on atomic and nuclear physics, taught by Professor Genjii, who was one of your favourite lecturers so far. On your first day, you’d overheard other students whispering bad things about him – about how boring he was, how stern – but you hadn’t really found those rumours warranted. Sure, he was an odd-looking figure, with the combination of his short height, bald head, long white beard and green jacket. You could get why, thanks to the colour of Genjii’s jacket and how slowly he always walked to the lectern, some of the others called him “the Turtle”. But you actually found that he was very good at explaining things, and you liked that he didn’t have the arrogance that some of your other lecturers had. Plus, contrary to the rumours, you had noticed that he did, in fact, have a sense of humour, if a subtle one.

It probably helped that you liked the subject material, too. Every now and then Genjii would ask the students a question, and most of the time you knew what the answers were, but you still felt a little shy about speaking up in front of so many people. Not that you really needed to bother, at least in this particular class.

‘Now, take a look at this periodic table again. How many neutrons would titanium-45 have?’

‘Ah, I know, Professor Genjii! It’s twenty-three, along with twenty-two protons! But that’s not enough neutrons for the nucleus to be stable, it would undergo decay!’

‘Indeed, that is correct.’

The guy sitting to your right groaned. He had raised his hand when Genjii asked the question, but the girl had gone ahead and answered without waiting for the professor to pick someone.

‘Every single time,’ the guy half-whispered to his friend beside him. ‘Why does she have to answer every single time?’

He was exaggerating a bit, but you had noticed that this girl spoke up more often than anyone else in this course, and today in particular she had answered more than half of the professor’s questions. Her oddness was further emphasised by her rather loud speaking voice, the strikingly large ribbon she wore in her hair, and the fact that she sat in the very front row of the lecture theatre, while most of the students – yourself included – had chosen to sit at least a few rows back, since the room was far from full. In fact, today she was only one of two people seated in the entire front row, the other being a red-haired girl who seemed mostly engrossed by the notebook she was writing in, only occasionally glancing up at Genjii – and even she sat half a dozen seats away from the odd girl.

‘She’s such a show-off, too,’ the guy next to you continued, spinning a pencil between his fingers. ‘The professor didn’t even ask about the protons or the decay!’

‘I know!’ muttered someone else. ‘Why can’t she just shut the fuck up for once?’

You shook your head and tuned out their grumbling, focusing your attention back on what the professor was saying. That bit of tension aside, it was actually an enjoyable lecture, and by the time it ended, it was almost midday.

[-] To be continued.

You packed up your things and climbed the stairs to exit the lecture theatre. As you left the building, you were met by a pleasant breeze. Coupled with the partially cloudy sky, it made for pretty ideal weather for an outdoor event like the student ensemble performance, and that lifted your spirits as you made your way across the campus.

Professor Genjii’s class had run a little past when it was scheduled to end, and that, along with the time it took you to walk the relatively large distance from the science buildings to the sports fields, meant that it was a few minutes past noon when you arrived at the meeting point you’d decided upon, a modest but elegant fountain surrounded by a circular path.

Despite your slight delay, however, Rinichi was not standing there, waiting for you. In fact, when you looked around, you could not see him anywhere in the open area surrounding the fountain. Had he gone on ahead without you?

You walked around the fountain to get a better view of the band rotunda at the near edge of the fields. The performance had not yet begun – you could see some people moving equipment around in the rotunda – but a small crowd had already formed. You couldn’t see Rinichi there, either, but there were enough people that some of the ones farthest from you were hidden from your line of sight, so you couldn’t be sure.

Frowning, you sat down on the fountain’s edge and called Rinichi, but he did not pick up his phone. Weird. You sent him a text message asking where he was, and then looked around again. There was still a steady stream of students heading towards the sports fields. One of them, a purple-haired girl, suddenly changed directions and walked to the bushes lining the path, where she launched into a violent coughing fit. For a few moments, you were torn between wanting to ask her if she needed help and a desire to stay away in case whatever she had was infectious. Thankfully, though, the girl managed to get a hold of herself on her own, and brushed herself off and kept walking as if nothing had happened.

There was still no sign of Rinichi, though, and he hadn’t replied to your message, either. As you stood back up, you could hear music beginning to play at the rotunda. The performance was starting!

[ ] Go ahead to the performance
[ ] Keep waiting for Rinichi at the fountain