First Night

“What are you working on with these?” Shohei asked.

“Nutrional supplements, for now. But you know these have various useful side effects, even if used only as supplements.”

Shohei nodded to himself. But… “Wasn’t my job description to be your research assistant?”

“That’s right. But since these mushrooms are my main area of study, it all lines up. Come on, our lab is just next door.”

Surreal. There was no other way to describe it. Shohei followed Kyourin through another set of doors into a large room, which was indeed set up as a lab space, with room for an office on one end. Kyourin explained the space to him, and told him that someone would help him get his bearings around the place for the first week, before he had time to familiarise himself with the ongoing work.

And then, he was left alone, leaning against his new desk. On one side the well-stocked lab, on the other the view into the jungle greenhouse, several termite mounds easily visible from his vantage point.

“This is insane…” he whispered to himself.

If he’d known that Kyourin Laboratories was working on this, they'd have been his first choice. He’d have been vocal about it in the interview. How had he gotten only rejections until now, just to accept this goldmine of a position? What had looked like a temporary stepladder turned into the most suitable place for him on the planet.

Shohei reached for the Omamori in his suit jacket. It must have been a god’s work, there was no way around it. Fate pulling at the strings. And Kyourin was nothing like he had imagined. To be honest, nothing was. Everyone was super friendly, the place was amazingly well equipped…

“Snap out of it,” Shohei said to himself. “You’re just used to the idiots at university. Just because they were all self-centered assholes doesn’t mean the whole world is like that.”

With fresh resolve, Shohei shrugged out of his suit jacket and hung it on the back of the office chair. A combined office and laboratory… He had never seen the like. But it was so practical. There was already another desk in the area, clearly lived in. Did Kyourin also work here? It certainly seemed like most of the space was in active use. Shohei took a walk around the room, looking into shelves and cupboards, observing samples in various states of being processed. Likely all termite mushrooms. Shohei couldn’t contain his excitement. What kind of different experiments would he be able to run with fresh samples? The possibilities were endless. Looking out over the jungle outside, he resolved to make the best of this fantastic opportunity.

—

The first day rushed by in the blink of an eye. The bubbly Ito had been assigned to getting Shohei settled, showing him around, introducing him to many of the other people in the facility and making sure he got a rundown of how the whole place functioned. Many of the processes were so automated and just needed occasional human oversight. It made more and more sense how everything could run with so few people.

When Shohei returned to the lab to pick up his things, it was already evening. Spring was on its way, but the sun still set early, yet the greenhouse was lit up, its light spilling into the laboratory, illuminating Kyourin himself, sitting at one of the long tables, crushing something in a mortar, slowly and methodically. The contrast between the high tech facility around them and the noise of stone grinding against stone was like whiplash.

Kyourin looked up from his work, his face hidden in the shadows cast by the light from the greenhouse. For a moment, Shohei froze. Then the grinding noise started again, loud and abrasive against the gentle, electric hum of the machinery around them.

“I’ll be taking my leave first,” Shohei said.

Kyourin just hummed his approval, clearly absorbed into whatever he was doing. Shohei walked past him through the long room, navigating the strange twilight, stepping through the shadows the trees cast into the room. His bag and jacket were exactly where he had left them. He packed the few items he had and turned to leave.

“Matsumoto.”

Shohei let out a shriek and dropped his bag as he heard Kyourin’s voice directly behind him. He turned, shrinking back when the man was close enough to be touching him. His heart was beating a mile a minute.

“Yes?” he managed, the word a semblance of speech.

“I had them put your lab coats and other personal equipment into the lockers behind your desk.”

“Ah, thank you.”

Kyourin inclined his head. He was still close enough for Shohei to detect the sickly sweet smell clinging to the doctor’s clothes. From the corner of his eyes he saw the man raise his hand, but the movement disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared. Shohei’s heart rate didn’t.

“Mhm. Don’t mind me, I’m in here more often than not. That over there is my desk. If you don’t touch anything I’ve laid out anywhere, we’ll get along just fine. No cleaning up behind me, you hear?”

“Yes, understood.”

“Good man,” Kyourin said and turned away.

How had Ito described the doctor? Eccentric but harmless. Shohei hoped that was the truth.

“I’ll be leaving first, then,” Shohei said.

Kyourin just hummed in acknowledgement, so Shohei picked up his bag and hightailed it out of there.

—

“Just the light, just the light…”

Shohei muttered to himself as he exited the building, the front desk unoccupied at this time, which was just as well. There was no convenient public transport to this remote corner of Tokyo Bay, so he had elected to come by motorbike. Parking was an unassuming lot with a protective roof, like a school bike shed. There were still some cars around, several bicycles. Shohei tried to unlock the luggage compartment on the back of his bike and… failed, his hand shaking enough to scratch the plastic with the tip of the key.

“I’m just gonna turn on the light next time. Yes. How was he even… In the dark…”

Shohei swallowed nervously and took a big breath of the fresh sea breeze to steady himself. Wouldn’t it look pretty bad if he had an accident on his first way home, for absolutely no reason at all?