On the Move

After my short meeting with Isami I headed towards the escalator to make my way out of the mall. I looked behind me as I stood on the escalator to see Isami give a short wave as he left my sight by walking towards the elevator to make his exit through another route.

I wonder what's going to happen now, I thought as I started to dwell on my current objective. Isami not having the items that I needed really hindered the process that I had already thought up, but I guess it can't be helped that he didn't have the artifacts.

I continually thought of different outcomes to what another thief would do and where the artifacts would be now. As the escalator hit the bottom floor, I got a better grip on the multiple bags that I was holding and started walking towards the mall's exit. After leaving the mall and stepping onto the concrete sidewalk, I heard a voice to my right.

"Saburi, hey"

I turned my head towards the voice and let out an inaudible sigh. It was Chikaoka.

I gave a short nod showing that I acknowledged her existence. "Hey" I replied.

The red-haired girl gave me a slight smile showing that she didn't mean any trouble as she walked up to me.

I gave an awkward weak smile as I didn't know how exactly I should act before opening my mouth to speak.

"So uh, how did you manage to track me down from the cafe?" I asked, not really thinking.

Chikaoka raised up her phone showing me the screen. When I looked closely at her screen, I saw a map with a blinking red marker with my name attached which revealed my location. I reached up to my neck to feel the tracking device and felt a little irritated.

"Oh yeah, I forgot for a sec." I looked at where she was standing by the mall's entrance then towards the inside of the mall, wondering why she hadn't gone inside earlier. "Were you waiting out here for me long?"

Chikaoka put the phone she had shown me into her skirt pocket and began to speak. "No, not at all. I was just enjoying the nice weather out here...... and I figured you wouldn't want me tagging along while you shop."

I stared blankly at the girl before me. I guess she can have a level of respect even though she can track my every move.

Chikaoka began to speak again hesitatingly, but got the words out smoothly.

"I-I'm sorry about what Ichimori had said to you earlier. She shouldn't have brought your parents into the conversation the way that she did."

I looked at the girl thinking that I should give her some sort of explanation but me not being a very open person, decided that saying anything too personal would make me feel very awkward and uncomfortable. Thinking that, I decided to give her a little to go on without expanding too much.

"It's fine, I guess I might have overreacted a bit and made a pretty big scene back there. I don't really bring up my parents much so it's kind of something I don't like talking about."

Chikaoka gave me a face that showed slight sympathy but with a kind smile.

"I know that you don't know me too well, but I have some pretty good advice about parent relationships if you want to talk about it."

I waved a hand towards the girl gesturing that I had no interest in what she was saying. It's not that I didn't appreciate the offer, in fact I thought the act was really pure and quite genuine but if she truly knew me then she would know that the whole sharing personal feelings thing is not something I welcome with open arms.

"Thanks for the offer, but I think I'm good."

Chikaoka just gave me a warm smile and said "Okay".

I suppose that maybe this girl isn't such a terrible person after all, I decided to keep an open mind and give the girl some slack by not acting like an asshole to her. With these thoughts I remembered something that Doc had told me many times, "Doing a single good deed does not make someone wholly good. The same is to be said about the other side of the coin, doing a single bad deed does not make someone wholly bad."

In the end I'm pretty sure that Doc was teaching me that there are no good or bad people but that we all are bound by the same opposing choices of good and evil. That means that any given day someone could play the good guy or the bad guy but how he acts in one situation shouldn't define what kind of person he truly is.

Hearing a repetitive sound and an annoyed voice I finally snapped out of my trance. Chikaoka was snapping her fingers and repeatedly saying "Hey" to get my attention.

I realized that I had been staring off in her direction really spaced out to the point that I didn't even hear her until now. "Sorry, I was kind of spaced out for a bit"

"I noticed" Chikaoka said while readjusting the bag she had on her shoulder. "I see you got the clothes and things that you will be needing while you stay at the dorms" she said while pointing towards the multiple bags I was holding in each hand.

I looked down at the bags that I was holding then back to Chikaoka. "Yeah! and I even paid for them too." I let out a laugh as I looked at the girl.

Chikaoka tried to hold back the smile that started to cross her face from hearing my retort before straightening her face again and lightly giving my arm a punch. "Idiot, we should start heading back"

I cracked a grin "Ow! you know that you can laugh around me"

Chikaoka started to walk off ahead of me "Why would I laugh when someone has as bad of humor as you"

I quickened my pace to keep up with the girl as we walked back to the Academy.