Room ∞-1

[path_unprepared]

Himemiya-san had been most helpful in answering his questions. The bar -- strange to refer to an object as if it had some sort of sentient power - had given him a glass of ice water on his request, and had also provided him with a room key with a tag attached. Engraved on the tag was...not precisely a number.

∞-1

But he had taken it regardless, and after a moment's pause to observe the movements of the bar's patrons, he determinedly followed one of the patrons who seemed to be heading out of the bar and up a flight of stairs
(the gondola is far less tiring)
to a corridor lined with a series of doors. Individual rooms. Rather like being in the dormitories at Ohtori once more, back when he was in the elementary and junior schools.

He could barely remember when he had last slept in a dormitory. It felt like an age ago.

The numbers did not seem to be entirely in sequence, and so he had to walk down a few corridors before he found the door with the plaque duly labelled ∞-1. The little key worked in the lock, and so he opened it and stepped inside -- keeping the door slightly ajar, lest another door close and disappear on him without warning.

The room was well-appointed, by his standards, in a modification of the traditional style. Muted colours on the walls and furnishings, solid wood floor instead of tatami matting. A single bed, a desk with a reading lamp, two chairs, an empty bookshelf, a closet of sorts concealed by a sliding shoji screen, a smaller door that most likely led to a private toilet and bath. The room had also given him a pair of slippers to replace his regular shoes, and he had no doubt that there were toilet slippers waiting for him behind the closed door. Useful, without ostentation, everything designed to be comfortable but not overly so. It was the sort of room one could quite easily stay in for an extended period of time.

Not that he intended to. He had not been able to see the door in the bar, true, but he was quite certain that once he had rested and fully recovered his wits he would be free to depart.

Gingerly, he sat down on the bed, testing the springs. Comfortable, but not overly so.

All in all, he was rather thankful that Himemiya-san had been the first person he had encountered. She was from Ohtori, after all. She knew who he was. And he had certainly seen her
(how many lifetimes has it been since I saw you last?)
before, even if he could not place the when and the where. Quite a few of the younger students were like that - familiar-looking faces, but there were so many of them, and unless he had invited them to apply for his seminar at some point he honestly could not be bothered to recall each and every one of their names.

Though you certainly had enough difficulty recalling your own name. How terribly careless of you.

He stretched out on the bed. His head had started to ache slightly, and it throbbed in time with the ache in his chest and, strangely enough, an ache that had settled in his left shoulder. He had not felt that pain before, but like the headache and the slight chest pain it could be attributed to stress and an unexpected shock.
(why shock?)
He closed his eyes, and let the world fade around him.


With a soft squeak of hinges, the door to his room clicks shut. Hanging from the doorknob outside is a little paper sign that had not been there a moment before. In English, it would most likely be labelled 'Do Not Disturb'. But this one has three kanji neatly printed on it.

使用室
Shiyoushitsu.
Room currently occupied.