Chapter Text
Your alarm blared like a storm siren cutting through moonlit fog. Except, when you sat bolt upright, what you saw peeking past the edges of your curtains wasn’t moonlight, it was sunlight. You quickly pressed the button to shut off the hellish beeping and, once the room was quiet, you breathed a sigh of relief and stretched your arms. You could never get those people who just turned off their alarm and then laid back down and slept on like nothing happened. How could they do that? …Maybe your alarm was just too loud.
Regardless, you got out of your bed, pulled open the curtains and took a moment to gaze out the window. It was a rather nice view, which was honestly one of the best things about this apartment. The location on the tenth floor, coupled with the building itself sitting on a hill, meant that you had a wide view of the Gensokyo University campus and the larger hills in the distance. Plus, the campus was close enough that you could walk to your lectures in ten or fifteen minutes. Rather nice, indeed.
You watched the university buildings and the tiny-looking cars passing in front for a few moments, until your thoughts were interrupted by a “pling” from your phone, which lay on the dresser next to your bed. Looking over, you saw a bunch of new messages appear from your friend Rinichi. Urgh, what gave him the right to be so energetic in the mornings? At least you didn’t have to room with him.
You sighed – you were going to read his messages but, despite how quickly you had gotten up, your head still felt a bit fuzzy, so you realised you should take a shower first. Fortunately, you had a bathroom of your own in your apartment – a lot of the student flats had to make do with shared ones, and you were pretty grateful you could avoid that. Grateful to your parents, that is, since they were the ones paying for you to stay here and not in one of the cheaper places.
After you were done showering, you looked in the mirror as you dried your hair. There you were, all fresh and clean, ready for a day of studying at Gensokyo University, the wonderland of learning. Ready to take in knowledge and wisdom. Then again, weren’t you always? It was even right there in your name. Oh, what was it again?
[ ] Tomo (智)
[ ] Toshi (慧)
[ ] Tetsu (哲)
[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.
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.
[X] Go ahead to the performance.
After thinking about it for a moment, you began to walk. If you waited here and missed the performance you and Rinichi had been planning to go to, then this whole endeavour would’ve been pointless! Plus, standing around at the fountain while everyone was walking past you would make you look a bit silly, wouldn’t it?
As you approached the sports fields, you began to type a message to Rinichi to let him know where you were going. However, just as you were about to hit send, someone ran past you and knocked your elbow aside, sending your phone flying out of your hands. You dived to catch it, but you could only brush it with your fingertips. Still, your efforts were to enough to make your phone land in the dirt instead of hitting the concrete of the path, and you narrowly managed to catch yourself to avoid scraping your knees on the same.
Irritated, you turned to confront the person who had slammed into you, but they had continued running towards the rotunda, and they were already far enough away that you could only make out that your assailant was a black-haired woman who was carrying something in her hands. How rude! After brushing the dirt off your hands, you checked your phone, which was thankfully undamaged, so you sent the message to Rinichi and went on your way.
When you arrived at the edge of the fields, it appeared that the organisers of the performance had not provided any chairs for the audience – or at least, not nearly enough chairs, as everyone you could see was either standing or sitting on the grass. You still did not see Rinichi anywhere, though you did spot the purple-haired girl from earlier, who was wiping her face with a handkerchief.
There was a sort of raised, grassy dike that separated the sports fields from the university buildings, and this was where you decided to sit for now, as it would give you a clear view of the performers in the rotunda while also allowing Rinichi to easily see you if he did arrive. Said performers were a duo playing traditional music from the Gensokyo region, one of them with a biwa and the other a koto. The music was gentle, melodic and surprisingly elegant for a student performance.
Or at least, it was elegant until it was interrupted by a loud buzzing above your head. Gazing up, you saw a quadcopter drone, coloured a bright purple, with a camera mounted below it. You looked around, but you could not see who was controlling it. The camera was, at least, pointed at the rotunda instead of at you, but the noise was aggravating enough that you had begun contemplating ways to knock the drone out of the air by the time the thing finally flew off to another part of the crowd, allowing you to focus on the music again.
A few minutes later, you heard loud footsteps behind you and turned to see Rinichi. He approached you at a sprint, and when he reached you, he nearly doubled over, panting heavily.
‘Phew, I made it!’ he managed to say, leaning forward with his hands on his knees. ‘Sorry I’m late.’
‘Are you alright, Rinichi?’ you asked. ‘What happened?’
‘Yeah, yeah… huff… I’m fine.’ He turned his head towards the rotunda. ‘But first, is this really where you want to sit, all the way out here? I think there’s room closer to the stage.’
You looked in the same direction. If you moved closer, you would be able to hear and see the performance better, but it might be a hassle navigating through the crowd, and you did already have a comfortable seat here on the dike.
[ ] Move towards the rotunda.
[ ] Stay where you are sitting now.
[X] Move towards the rotunda.
‘Okay, let’s go.’
After you voiced your agreement, the two of you began to walk. As you did, you chanced to look behind you and saw that a blue-haired girl with a rather ratty-looking sweater had been standing directly behind you. What was that about?
You didn’t get much time to think about it, as now you had to deal with the people in front of you. Despite the ongoing performance, the half-sitting, half-standing crowd was still a bit restless, which at least meant you and Rinichi could move about without causing too much of a disturbance. Fortunately, the crowd was a bit more spaced out in the area directly in front of the rotunda, so there was space for you two to sit, as long as you did not mind sitting on the grass – which you didn’t, given that you’d been doing it already just before now.
‘That looks like a good spot,’ Rinichi said, pointing. You nodded, and the two of you sat down.
‘So, why–’ you began, but you immediately discovered a downside to sitting this close to the musicians: the volume made it rather hard to hold a conversation. With a soft shake of your head, you decided to hold back your questions for now and just enjoy the performance. Your enjoyment was only slightly hampered by the purple camera drone that continued buzzing around, as well as a woman who kept running back and forth in front of the rotunda, taking photos with a professional-looking camera. Looking closer, it was actually the woman who had bumped into you earlier as you were walking. She really was rude!
After a few minutes, the biwa and koto duo finished their song and, after a round of applause, stood up and left the stage. One of the organisers, a student wearing a GenU branded sweatshirt that looked uncomfortably hot in this weather, announced that the event was not over, and more student groups would be performing next. However, it was clear that some preparations still needed to be made, as various staff members entered and left the rotunda, carrying instruments and sound equipment.
This gave you an opportune time window to talk to your friend. You turned to him and returned to your earlier question. ‘Hey, Rinichi, how come you were late? Did something happen?’
‘Well, I had to finish an assignment that’s due… right now, actually,’ he said, looking contrite as he scratched the back of his head. ‘It was for that engineering class. Marisa also had some trouble with it, so we worked on it together. And we got it done, you know!’
That made sense. Rinichi and Marisa were a lot like each other in that regard: not very good with time management, or responsibility in general, but when they sat down and actually focused on something, they could be pretty competent. It was no wonder they’d been friends for so long – though, of course, their family circumstances had been the original reason for that. Frankly, over the years you had expected them to get together and start dating at some point, but that had not yet happened, and these days Rinichi certainly had a… wider interest in the fairer sex than just Marisa. Nonetheless, you wouldn’t rule out that there was still a chance for something between them.
Chuckling, you said, ‘I told you you’d have a hard time with that kind of course without any prior experience.’
‘Yeah, well, it was what the career advisor recommended to me…’
Rinichi still hadn’t decided what exactly he wanted to major in, though he did know that, like you, he wanted to do something with science. So, for his first year, he was taking a very broad array of introductory science courses, in everything from biology to engineering. He did share one physics class with you, and there was some overlap between the first-year physics and engineering courses in general, but you weren’t in that particular class with him and Marisa.
‘Anyway,’ Rinichi continued, ‘we weren’t the only ones still working on the assignment. There were a bunch of others trying to get it finished, sitting up there in the engineering department where the hand-in box is.’
‘Was that all, though?’ you asked. ‘Or was there another reason why you ended up behind on your assignments?’
He shrugged, but then a grin slowly appeared on his face. ‘You know how it is with my life. When you’re friends with a lot of women, you keep getting hassled…’
Before Rinichi could elaborate further on his “friendships”, the next act, apparently called the Prismriver Sisters, appeared on the rotunda’s stage. The three girls looked surprisingly professional for a student ensemble, wearing brightly coloured costumes consisting of skirts, vests and pointy hats that reminded you of marching bands. Unlike a marching band, however, they each wore distinct colours, with one having a black costume and blond hair, another a pink costume and light blue hair, and the third a red costume and brown hair. Despite the different hair colours, their faces did look similar enough that you thought they could be sisters.
…Now that you were paying attention to their faces, you noticed they were actually quite pretty. A glance beside you revealed that Rinichi already looked enraptured, even though they hadn’t started playing yet.
Regardless of that, another strange thing about the trio was their instruments: one stood next to a synth keyboard, while the others held a violin and trumpet, respectively – a far cry from the traditional Gensokyan instruments of the previous act. You had no idea what to expect from their music, and as they began to play, it certainly sounded surprising.
The three instruments initially sounded mismatched, as if they were out of tune with each other. Gradually, however, the bright melodies of the trumpet and the sombre tones of the violin were balanced by the chords of the synthesizer, and as the volume picked up, the whole thing began to sound electrifying. Almost literally, as you felt tingles run across your skin.
Some movement to your side drew your attention, and you saw that next to you and Rinichi sat a green-haired girl with a long, pale pink jacket, who appearing to be filming the performance on her phone – though, you wondered if the quality of her recording might be compromised by the way she kept cheering and trying to sing along with the music (which was instrumental, mind you). As you watched, she even stood up and began jumping and pumping her fist to the rhythm of the music.
Weirdly enough, her enthusiasm was actually a little infectious. Coupled with the strange energy of the music, you felt tempted to join in with her actions. You weren’t entirely sure why, which was somewhat disconcerting, but you were starting to feel an urge to get up, to dance, to move.
[ ] Join in.
[ ] Refrain.