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Food and drinks finally arrived at their table, brought over by a short, stocky waitress with tired eyes. Working at this kind of joint must have been exhausting, Kabru thought, especially at peak hours. He turned to the girl, put his hands together and gave a nod of acknowledgement. “Thank you very much,” he said, smiling brightly. The waitress subconsciously returned his smile before she left to attend to the next table, now with a notable spring in her step. Kabru, who had thus far managed to ignore Rin’s elbow digging into his side, now finally swatted it away and rubbed the sore spot through his shirt, furrowing his brow. That was probably going to bruise, he thought dejectedly. He was used to this kind of behaviour from Rin whenever they were out in public together. She simply couldn't believe that Kabru could smile at women without having an ulterior motive, and he'd given up trying to convince her otherwise. He put on an innocent expression as he turned to her. “Ow, Rinsha. Was it really necessary to drill a hole in my side?” he complained playfully. “It would've been impolite not to acknowledge her, you know.”
“Hmph,” Rin huffed disapprovingly, turning away from him, and left it at that. Kabru couldn't help but find it a little disappointing. He would have expected her to hit him a biting remark delivered with devastating gravity and open disdain, something to the effect of: Seriously? You can't even leave girls alone when they're at work? Shameless... In response to which, of course, he would have to assume a defensive position: Come on, it's nothing like that! It was all a part of their usual routine. The fact that Rin didn't wholly play her role within it this time seemed significant. It could mean a number of things, Kabru thought. Was she angry with him? To his recollection, he hadn't done anything to get on her nerves lately – not more than usual, at least – and it was unlikely that him smiling at this particular waitress could have been the straw that broke the camel's back. Perhaps, then, she wasn't feeling well? He studied her face with mild concern, and only noticed the usual signs of exhaustion from her shift at the pharmacy. In that case, the most likely explanation was that she was simply too hungry to waste any more time bickering with him.
Today, his party decided to hang out in a quaint little restaurant close to the train station. The food here was cheap, but perfectly serviceable. After a moment of hesitation. Kabru picked up a steamed bun and took a bite out of it. He would continue to chew that little piece for the next five minutes without realising it, letting it grow into a moist, flavourless lump inside his mouth.
Rin was seated immediately to Kabru's left, subconsciously leaning towards him even as she made a show of ignoring him. Growing up, the two of them were each other's only friends, brought together by circumstances beyond their full understanding. They remained close in adulthood, but certainly not as close as they used to be. For one, they had to go their separate ways for a while. Rin, being older, left for university two years before him. Kabru spent those two years training and studying hard so that he, too, could get into university. Sometimes he would find himself wondering how Rin was doing, all by herself in the big world outside, and he hoped that she was able to make friends without his help. Once they reunited, it became obvious that, despite the distance and the passage of time, Rin was still the same Rin that he knew, far too shy to connect with other people, unintentionally pushing them away with her demeanour. By then, Kabru had already made a handful of friends at university. Introducing Rin into the group was a pretty seamless process, although in most social settings, she would still cling on to him for reassurance.
To Kabru's right sat Holm and Daya, engaged in a quiet chat as they tried to decide what to eat first. Holm was the first friend Kabru had made since he started university, and he later met Daya through him. The two of them had a peculiar relationship, a tentative bond built entirely on the one interest they had in common – gossip, which was, coincidentally, something they shared with Kabru as well. Holm, having been in academia for years, had access to a lot of interesting information, some speculative, some confirmed, made all the more compelling by the fact that one was not supposed to know about it. In the past, he had gotten in trouble for his research, too, but Kabru had yet to learn the details of that particular affair. In short, Holm was a man who knew too much. Daya, on the other hand, was a part of the security team, and quite dedicated to her job. Kabru couldn't help but wonder how she was going to feel about the information he was about to share with all of them.
Last but not least, Mickbell sat opposite Kabru, stacking a ridiculous amount of food on his plate. Every now and then, he would pick up a piece of meat, shift his eyes back and forth to make sure that nobody could see what he was doing, and slip the food under the table, immediately followed by a distinct wet sound that made Kabru wince. Once again, Mickbell had somehow managed to smuggle Kuro into the establishment and instructed him to keep quiet so that they wouldn't be found out, promising to reward his silence with treats. Well, it was certainly effective. Somehow, he'd never once been found out, provided that he got past the initial hurdle of making it inside the restaurant. There were a few instances when he was stopped at the door and turned away, but even then, he would ultimately be let inside after a short negotiation. Mickbell could be persuasive, in the same way that a swinging fist would be. In the case that his method didn't work, Kabru's apologetic, more diplomatic approach usually proved effective. Either way, Mickbell got what he wanted.
Kabru was relieved that all of his friends managed to make it to their weekly dinner hang-out this time. Trying to find any free time in common between five radically different schedules was not exactly an easy task. Kabru's own schedule was amongst the busiest, but also the most flexible, mostly because he did not have to worry about rigid work hours. Of course, he had plenty of university-related responsibilities, but those were usually perfectly manageable outside of the exam sessions. On top of that, the master's program unexpectedly left him with significantly more free time than his bachelor's, which he gladly took advantage of to keep himself busy in a variety of ways. He found his calling as a tutor (it turned out that a lot of people had younger siblings that struggled to prepare for their final exams, and Kabru, himself having been tutored by top scholars, was the right man for the job) and attended all kinds of events around the city, from underground concerts to discussion panels. Sometimes, though not as often as he used to, he would let himself get talked into going out for a drink or two. Living in the basement of a bar for the past three years had stripped the setting of whatever allure it had before, but it was hard to deny the value of alcohol as a social lubricant. Besides, at least he didn't have to worry about finding his way back home.
Finally, Kabru swallowed his food, and took another bite, which he proceeded to chew on while he looked around the table at his friends. By now, everyone had claimed their portion of the food. Was this the right moment to share the news? He couldn't keep putting it off forever, especially since he genuinely wanted to hear what everyone had to say about it. There was no better time to do it. Kabru swallowed his food and cleared his throat. “By the way, do you remember the guy I told you about two weeks ago? The one who was scribbling in his notebook the entire time and ignored me when I showed him the attendance list?” he prompted, glancing between their faces. “Well, I finally managed to talk to him the other day. It was a very brief conversation, but quite informative. Just like I thought, there is something strange going on here.” Kabru paused to take a sip of water before he went on. He took self-indulgent pleasure in slowly building up to the reveal. “For one, according to what he told me, he's not enrolled at our university at all, nor does he have any other authority to attend that class. As far as I understand, he just...” Kabru made a vague gesture, “walked in.”
All eyes were on him now, presumably including Kuro under the table. Holm and Daya exchanged a glance. Rin looked up at him, bewildered, nearly having choked on her food. “What?! What do you mean, he just walked in? He's not supposed to be there!” Her eyes looked into his, large and pleading, and she tugged on his sleeve. “You've got to do something about this! Tell someone!”
Kabru pursed his lips and innocently fluttered his eyelashes, pretending to be considering her proposal. “Well,” he said slowly, deliberately, “I suppose I could do that. After all, I am on really good terms with the dean. I could report the matter to him directly, and get things resolved discreetly, so to say. That sounds like the right thing to do, doesn't it? A clean, easy solution. Unfortunately,” he went on in a casual tone, offering a shrug, “I already promised that I wouldn't do that, and I have no desire to break that promise at the moment. My hands are tied, I'm afraid.”
“What...?” Rin tugged on his sleeve again, more urgently. “What?! Why did you do that?! If you threatened to report him, he would have been too scared to come back...” she seemed to have realised something as the words left her mouth and stopped abruptly in the middle of the sentence, shaking her head as she slowly let go of his sleeve. “No...” she whispered softly.
“Right. That is the exact outcome I was trying to avoid,” Kabru said calmly, but emphatically. “For now, at least. Of course, I understand where you're coming from. My initial reaction was pretty much the same as yours. That's not the outcome I was expecting at all. It's quite a shock, isn't it? A man I took for a classmate is not a classmate at all. Or... is he?” Kabru glanced around the table. “After all, he attends the same class as me, doesn't he? Just like me, he came to learn something, and from what I've seen, that's exactly what he's been doing so far, nothing more, nothing less. He may not be officially enrolled, but as far as I'm concerned he is, in the literal sense, my classmate.”
“How did he even get in, anyway?” Mickbell asked, sending an accusatory glance in Daya's direction. “Whenever I try to pass through, they turn me away!” he complained.
“That's because they know who you are,” Daya explained flatly, without looking at him. “Most of the time, it's impossible to tell who is or isn't a real student. Too many people pass through the gates every day for us to be familiar with everyone, and we don't have the time to stop everyone and ask for their ID. Unless you look obviously suspicious, everybody's going to assume that you're supposed to be there. Obviously,” she added emphatically, “if you told me what he looked like...”
“Oh, he's very unremarkable,” Kabru said innocently, without missing a beat. “Even if I showed you a picture of him, I assure you that you wouldn't be able to recognise him in person.” Though he sounded confident, he wasn't particularly interested in testing that theory. “To be completely honest, I don't see a reason to intervene. Hear me out!” He put his hands up. “According to him, he's done this kind of thing before. He even explained his process to me. He would look up what classes were held at our university, select the ones he was interested in taking, locate the classrooms where they were held, and enter along with the other students, making sure to sit somewhere close to the door so as to be able to leave without being noticed. I fully believe that he's capable of pulling it off, because I've seen how he operates. If not for me, he really would have been able to go undetected for the rest of the semester. Like you said, it is impossible to tell whether someone is a registered student or not. If anything, it makes me wonder how many others have done it before him.”
Holm shuddered in his seat. He'd been clearly overwhelmed from the start of the conversation, but now, having heard Kabru's explanation, he was looking at him curiously, stroking his chin. “That's all well and good, Kabru,” he said slowly, thoughtfully, “but can you really vouch for him?”
Kabru only hesitated for a moment before nodding. “Yes, I believe I can. He was really forthcoming with me. In fact, he volunteered the information about his status completely unprompted after I asked him about the attendance list. It seems like he never bothered to come up with an alternate explanation for his behaviour, presumably hoping that he would never be asked about it. Even if he had an excuse, though, I doubt that he would be able to deliver it convincingly. During our short encounter, he didn't strike me as a particularly gifted liar, I'll tell you that. Although there is a chance that all of that was an act and I fell for it, I really don't think that's the case. You will just have to believe me on that.” He heaved a sigh. “It's strange, I suppose. He seems to realise that he's doing something he shouldn't, and at the same time, he doesn't think he's doing anything wrong, if that makes sense. Strangely enough, I'm inclined to agree with him, assuming that this is the extent of his activities. In any case, I don't believe that he's a threat to any of the other students. If I'm wrong about that, I will take full responsibility for it, but for now, I would like to ask you to leave handling this case to me. I assure you that I'm going to keep an eye on him.”
After a moment of silence, Daya gave a reluctant nod. “All right, Kabru. I'll leave it up to you. It seems like you know what you're doing. For your sake, I hope that you're right.” Her gaze reached him through her thick fringe. “You have to let me know if you find anything suspicious.”
“Of course, of course!” Kabru assured, putting his hand over his heart. “Thank you, Daya.”
“I guess that's it, then...” Holm furrowed his brow, idly stroking his cheek with his index finger. “It's not that I don't believe you, Kabru. If you don't think the guy is dangerous, then he probably isn't. You're always right about these things. The one thing that bothers me, though,” he went on, carefully choosing his words, “is that I don't understand why he doesn't just enrol in a course if he wants to study so badly. It's not about money, is it? You can do it basically for free.”
“Well, that's what I'm going to try and find out!” Kabru said cheerfully, rhythmically tapping his fingers on the table. “To be honest, I've been unable to stop thinking about it ever since he told me the truth. I have come up with a few theories, some more plausible than others, and I have a pretty good guess as to what factors might be at play here. Hopefully I will be able to confirm whether I'm right or not the next time I see him. Ideally, I would like to see if he would be willing to spend time with me outside of class. Perhaps I could invite him out for a drink?” he mused excitedly, stroking his bottom lip. “When you think about it, he's pulled quite an impressive feat! To go through all this trouble just to sneak into a lecture... You kind of have to admire it, you know?”
“Uuuughhh!” Mickbell groaned, rolling his eyes, and pointed his finger at Kabru. “I hate when you get like this! Stop talking like that, it's freaking me out! You're so creepy!”
Holm exchanged a glance with Daya before turning to Kabru again. “S-sure, Kabru. Let us know what you find out. Honestly, you've got me pretty curious about him now.”
Kabru laughed. “Of course, of course! Who knows, perhaps you all will get to meet him one day? That could be fun, don't you think? He's a very interesting person. I wonder... yes, I wonder what you would think of him,” he murmured to himself, stroking his chin with his index finger. His eyes twinkled with enthusiasm. “Well, I probably shouldn't get ahead of myself. I can tell that he's still a little apprehensive, and I suppose I can't fault him for that.” He sighed. “I've been dying to know the contents of his notebook. I asked if I could take a look at his notes, and he promised that he would let me see them later, but I don't think he's thrilled at the prospect. I wonder why... Before anything else, I need to convince him that I'm on his side. That shouldn't be too difficult, I hope.”
“Definitely. You're very easy to talk to, Kabru, and really trustworthy, too. I'm sure you'll get his guard down in no time,” Holm assured him. Daya nodded her head in support.
Finally, Kabru turned to Rin, who had been quiet for a while, idly chewing on her food. When she noticed him looking at her, she shrugged and rolled her eyes. “What, you want to know what I think? Why does it matter? You're just gonna do what you want anyway, like you always do,” she scoffed, lightly shaking her head in disapproval. Kabru sheepishly nodded his head. That was, indeed, exactly what he was going to do – but it was still nice to get a second opinion. “If you want to get involved with some weird guy, go ahead, but leave me out of it. Seriously! Don't you have anything better to do?” She fully turned to him and poked the spot between his eyebrows. “Weren't you supposed to figure out what you're going to write about for your master's?”
That was an extremely pointed remark. Kabru went into his master's programme confident that he knew the subject of his master's thesis. Since then, he had changed it about five times, and it was highly likely that it wasn't the last time he would do so. Unfortunately for everyone who had the absolute pleasure of knowing Kabru within an academic setting, he was chronically incapable of leaving things be. Once he set his mind on researching a topic, it was near-impossible to get him to stop digging his way from one rabbithole to another, lost in the endless labyrinth of intricate connections. There was always something new to be found, a new thread to follow, getting progressively more lost and all the happier for it. It was something of a miracle that he managed to present his bachelor's at all. By the end of the process, his supervisor had to gently ask him to forgo any further research into the matter, for fear that his paper would be three hundred pages long and submitted three years after the deadline. The likelihood that history would repeat itself with his master's thesis was high. For now, he was still in the process of finding an angle that he could confidently commit to. He had to submit a tentative title and summary of his idea by the end of June, which gave him plenty of time to figure it out. Surely, he would have it by then.
“Oh, that? Don't worry, Rinsha,” he said, dismissively waving his hand. “I promise that I haven't forgotten about it. I'll have to start work on it very soon, after all.” The thought of that made him violently anxious, but that was beside the point. “Relax, will you? It's fine. You know I've always been good at multitasking. Besides,” he added with a playful twinkle in his eye, “I get the feeling that this friendship of mine is going to be pretty inspiring. It might just be what I've been looking for. Perhaps I could turn it into a case study, somehow? We'll see, I suppose.”