Study Session

[halfemptyglasses]

"Oh, good evening, Autor-senpai," Mirai greets when she opens the door to her sparse room. "I'm sorry there's not much."

The plush bed sits unmade, the comforter piled on the end. A small stack of books and papers wait on the low table that serves as her desk next to a few canned juices. Living on the fund for minors provides the necessities but not much else. Still, Mirai can't complain.

"We'll pretty much have to work from the floor," she says, padding over there with stocking feet. "Ah, and please help yourself to something to drink."

Comments

[herr_bookman]

The first thought Autor has is not about the room at all, but that she has cute feet, just as tiny as the rest of her. His second thought--quickly and violently following the first--is that he shouldn't be thinking that sort of thing anymore, even if it is true.

"It's fine, Miss Kuriyama. Your room is comfortable; I like all of the bonsai," the boy says, fighting the blush on his face but not the smile. "Thank you. Ah, should I leave my shoes by the door?"

We're just here to study, he thinks, swallowing. Two friends, in her room, just studying. Yes.

[halfemptyglasses]

"Ah, thank you."

Mirai takes a seat at the low table, directly on the floor, and grabs a juice.

"Whatever you like is fine. You can take your shoes off if that feels better."

[herr_bookman]

Autor does take them off, curling the toes of his socks into the carpet. He'd read that was the custom in Japan, and he doesn't want to offend. He leaves them by the door and carefully pads into the room, over to the desk.

The boy drops gracefully to the floor and crosses his legs underneath the table. "So. Studying. How did you want to go about it?"

[halfemptyglasses]

"I have some information here," she says as she opens her juice. "I've read through it a couple of times. We could try a quiz?"

[herr_bookman]

Autor nods, and picks up out a canned peach juice for himself. "I could read it myself and ask you questions, if you like. My ignorance will probably serve as a quiz of sorts."

[halfemptyglasses]

Mirai passes the information over to him with a, "That sounds like a good idea. I... Well, I don't know how much of this I should explain, but you already know like the most secret stuff."

She thinks back to her chat with the Emcee and her realization there.

"It... I'm not really lying as much about this stuff here."

[herr_bookman]

Autor sets his juice on the table and accepts what she hands him. "Oh, really? What changed?" he asks, and then amends that with a, "I didn't think you were lying about it very much to start. It just seems like you're making a note of it."

He stacks the papers and starts skimming them, ready to pause when she speaks.

[halfemptyglasses]

"I'm not really sure," she answers. She then folds her arms on the table and goes, "Ah, I can't even figure myself out."

[herr_bookman]

Autor sets one paper aside after he examines the contents. "I'm sorry," he murmurs. "We're in the same boat."

He skims another paper, and then straightens his shoulders. "But for now, we can study. What is an Appraiser?"

[halfemptyglasses]

Mirai straightens up, glad for the change and turning to face him with a determined look.

"An appraiser is someone who determines how much a youmu stone is worth."

[herr_bookman]

"What is a youmu stone?" Autor asks, setting the second paper down.

[halfemptyglasses]

"That's what's left when you kill a youmu."

[herr_bookman]

Autor tilts his head. The information she gave him didn't have much more than that, so while he wonders what they are, exactly, she probably doesn't need to know more than that. They might not know what they are in general.

"What are youmu, and where do they come from? Are they dangerous to normal humans?"

[halfemptyglasses]

She pauses for a drink of juice to think on that one.

"Youmu are..." she starts. "They're monsters made of darkness. They come from the darkness in people. They... well, they can be dangerous to normal humans but usually don't bother with them?"

[herr_bookman]

"Wait, really? Wow," Autor says, blinking as he processes that. Negative feelings that create monsters no one can see? It... makes a certain amount of sense to him.

He picks up another paper, skims it, and sets it down.

"What is the name of your organization that hunts youmu? Also describe the hierarchy of each clan, and where you start in the chain."

[halfemptyglasses]

"The Society of Spirit World Warriors."

That part she can answer with confidence, but the hierarchy... How does that go again? She rattles off what she can remember, tossing in that it's usually by age and birth order for good measure.

She probably got some of it switched around.

[herr_bookman]

Autor turns the current page around on the desk. "Close. You missed one and switched two. This might be a good paper to study."

The boy adjusts his glasses. "But you've done well until now. Who do you contact when you move into a new territory?"

[halfemptyglasses]

"Ah, all right.

"That...the clan of that territory has a representative, right? They handle this sort of thing?"

[herr_bookman]

Autor smiles a little, inclining his head. "That's right."

He opens his can of peach juice and gulps some down to wet his throat while he reads two more papers. "Thanks for the juice. What are the Cleaners, and how soon should you notify them?"

[halfemptyglasses]

"The Cleaners are the ones who repair any damage done while fighting youmu and need to be called... it's as soon as it's safe to do so, right? Once the youmu is killed or otherwise gone?"

[herr_bookman]

Autor nods again, and then he launches into musing of his own. "That's right. I wonder who pays them, or how you get to be a Cleaner, too--not to mention what magic they use to restore everything that's been destroyed--but, ah, you probably don't need to know any of that for this test. That'd be a Cleaner test."

He smiles apologetically for the diversion, and asks another question. "


What's the difference between an Intelligence Officer and an Interrogation Officer?"

[halfemptyglasses]

"Ah, that... intelligence is about keeping track of information and interrogation is getting it through questioning?"

[herr_bookman]

"Good," he says, picking up another page.

Autor continues quizzing her in this manner, skimming the papers and absorbing her answers. He's proud of her for knowing her stuff.

He ends with a last question, one that has been bugging him for a while since it was only briefly mentioned and not well defined. "What is the Calm?"

[halfemptyglasses]

"That's a period of time when youmu become weaker. It's almost like a hibernation?"

[herr_bookman]

"Hibernation is the word they used," Autor says, setting the last page on the top of the stack. He leans back on his hands and glances at the ceiling, drawing a breath.

"Well, you've done it. You've answered all of my questions, and did quite well, in fact," Autor says, smiling a little. "Are you hungry?"