Keep me in distant sight

Chapter 9 : Quiet Dusk Coming Early

"Akaashi. Starting tonight, you will have a roommate."

The sentence fell like a bright and shiny guillotine on a culprit's neck, delivered swiftly by the man in front of him. The supervisor of his building was an impressive man in his forties, gigantic - he was easily towering at 2 meters tall, a feat since the wars and the Great Famines of the past centuries. He was also incredibly muscular, another exception to the rest of Humanity. If someone was to ask Akaashi what he thought of his supervisor, he would say he was built like the tanks you could see in History's books. In his mind, Akaashi was sure this man was a part of the special forces, the ones responsible for the safety of President Dharia. Or rather, he was to be a part of the special forces, got lost on his way and ended up in their training facility. He must have stayed there out of sheer embarrassment. Since everyone had to work, he must have accepted the position of supervisor, meaning he has every power of the pupils of the center, as well as the cleaning schedule. What a downfall from the over-respected special forces. Of course, Akaashi hadn't voiced any of his thoughts, nor written them - Mr. Supervisor's hands were easily the size of Akaashi's face. He wanted to protest and refuse this intruder but the man in front of him was, technically, his boss and an adult. He was a mere 14 years-old, after all.

"Yes, Sir. Do I need to prepare the room?"

"No need." He sighed dismissively, barely blinking when he heard Akaashi referring to his bedroom of five years as just a mere room. "Adam is doing it as we speak. It will teach a lesson, or so I hope..."

"May I inquire why, Sir ?"

"Always so polite, Akaashi. As you may know, he's a cunning little shit and he runs away every other night to do Earth knows what. I can't get a hold of him and so he pays when he comes back. I wish some of your comrades followed your example, it would save me some white hair..." The giant sighed again.

"Thank you, Sir." Akaashi replied blandly, impervious to compliments from a man who wouldn't hesitate to kill him if he was to discover his secret.

"Your new roommate is a boy older than you, but it doesn't matter that much. I believe he's fifteen or something. He's coming from the East Center. Already displays a lot of qualities in various subjects but is a bit talkative. I think you can balance each other out since you're a quiet kid who ought to talk and work a bit more. You could be at the top of your class, if you wanted to be." Mr. Supervisor said, looking at the kid in front of him pointedly.

Akaashi didn't reply. All the staff knew he was bored with his lessons (finding them too easy) and therefore didn't make the slightest effort to level up his grades.

"I'll try to do better, Sir-" Began Akaashi.

"Yeah, yeah, I know the song. Be on your way and help him settle."

Akaashi nodded, rising up from his chair quickly to escape the stuffy atmosphere of his supervisor's office (he couldn't remember his name for the life of it. Mr. Smith?) to go back to his room. At least, it seemed like Mr Supervisor liked him well enough to spare him the chore of remodeling his room to accommodate the intruder. And, if he was honest, Adam had it coming, sneaking every night and coming back at dawn just to meet his lover - well, not that anyone knew about it except Akaashi, since Adam used an exit that he, Akaashi, discovered one day. At least, Adam was keeping a pretty secret, unlike Akaashi.

For the past few days, he had woken up with a chest full of hand-painted yellow symbols. After two months of silence, his soulmate had manifested themself again, to the great dismay of the human. Thankfully, he was always covered from head-to-toes, even during P.E. Well, especially during P.E. His teachers didn't mind it at all, since he could link it to the future Starship Life Course and the mandatory uniform they would wear out there. So all in all, during the day, he was safe. However, at night, he had to change in his room, meaning that having a roommate would leave him vulnerable. Granted, he had a private shower, because he was a good student despite not trying at all. And he had managed to avoid this peculiar problem of a roommate by choosing the tiniest bedroom with the tiniest bathroom he could have in the building. He was well-behaved enough to be micro-free in his private space. And now, everything he had done to ensure his safety and a freaking break was for nothing.