Sometimes students just disappear. He had recalled that little encounter quite well. He had chased her down, even use a node on her. While he could use his abilities through them it was more of a way of tagging a student that he would have liked to revisit seeing how he could sense the node and thus get guided to it.

But that sense went dead for a bit. It was not unusual he learned in his days here that students would disappear for a time. Some, like Nell, had mental brakes. Others were reconditioned or experimented on in some way before being rotated back in and today he found that signal returning to him.

There was an immediate stirring within him. His edict memory kicked in and he recalled all the sensations and experiences from that time. Chasing her through the jungle, even blocking the path with trees.

He was crude then, more direct though he had pondered how to approach welcoming her back to the school which he was bound to do in short order. Just how had occupied his thoughts. Did he invoke a darker memory? Did he try seduction of some sort? Setting the scene for a bargain? He wished to have a bit of time with thinking matters through though he realized that he was not limited to one option here. He could return again and again as necessary but there could only really be one welcome back occasion.

“Huh?” I had missed what was said, too busy staring out the window in a day dream of sorts though now the class was packing up. A quick flick to the clock indicated that my class was over and the professor had to repeat what she had asked.

“Oh, sure,” I responded to the request. Hazel eyes darted to the girl who had just been introduced back today. She was an attractive girl, the glasses gave her a brainy appearance. Not that I was dumb or anything though my interests were tough to grab. Well, certainly that was not the case here though I came to the school for the sciences to assist Armand better there was something to be said about all work and no play.

Of course there had been hours upon hours of watching films mostly older ones on You Tube prior to my moving to China but science and movies were among the only things that could grab my attention as quickly as it was diverted to the new/old face.

I packed up, smiled at the girl then approached.

“Hi, Saira was it? Midori,” I extended my hand in greeting to her.

Saira peered a bit at Midori, surprised at being greeted so soon and personally. In fact, in general she seemed surprised that anyone noticed her at all, which was probably silly - As international as Shokushu might be, it was an English-speaking school, and its (alleged) position somewhere in the pacific got a lot of Japanese and other East Asian students too, but... the darker skin tones like hers were still not super common, so Saira should have expected being noticed.

But enough about that. "Yeah, it's Saira." She said gently, if a bit surprised by the sudden talking. "Something up, or just trying to say hi...? I mean, not that you need an agenda to talk to me, er." Awkward.

I smile. I can understand being a bit awkward around people. True I dealt with them but often I had been busy assisting Armand or watching movies … well there were the darker times but I tried not to consider them much. It was more a that was then, this is now scenario.

“I'm not the only one guilty of spacing out,” I grin to show that I am not offended. Really those notes were a convenient excuse to begin a dialogue, not that I needed help though I would have probably given it about a week otherwise just to assess the situation a bit better.

“The notes? I could catch you up. My dorm, your dorm, the library or cafeteria. I can catch you up a little on what's going on now and if you have any other courses where we share a professor I can bring up to speed in those.

“So you've missed a lot of classes? Umm … don't suppose you want to speak about why,” I added the last as a bit of a rhetorical matter. It was none of my business and there were things we all wished to forget especially here. It could be as simple as her getting sick or hurt though I can't recall seeing a single injured person and for that matter when was the last time I came down with something? Maybe in my first week. I never could recall all the times I checked out and during one of them I might have taken ill, who knew. Definitely not I.

"Oh, and it's Midori encase you're wondering."

Saira blinked a few times, looking at her notes. "Well, uh. You actually already said your name, Midori? ...But uh. I don't actually remember all of it that well. Something about a coma I think?" Well, okay, that was the explanation she got for the missing years, but... "But I'm not sure I've really been here before now? I was going to be, but then it sorta... fell through with an accident." Clearly, whatever her line was, it was fed to her on that kind of angle of 'you never attended anyway'. Whether Midori figured that there was foul play was anyone's guess, though.

"I guess we can do your dorm though?"

“I did? Sorry, a bit scatterbrained today.” It was too early to mention that I saw things and had been viewing a rather distracting spirit or trans-dimensional. If I could see through them then they were still on the other side. All my life I had been seeing them, I never realized others didn't see them for the longest time.

I still had not found the source as to how they were crossing over here. “But that sounds … uh, a coma. That must have been scary waking up to find that time has drifted by. It wasn't long, was it?”

Many of the other students had already bled out of the room and it was tough for me to focus on the notes when there were so many interesting things. That and the mere prospect of being alone with her in my room. I had not seen any signs of any sort of interest other than an academic one so I wasn't going to rush into anything. If something happened it happened and if not, then oh well. I was sort of ce la vie about such things though and tended to be spontaneous with that sort of stuff.

If the coma was a few days, weeks or months that certainly beat years. I could just imagine the shock and fear of missing such a large chunk of time.

Our destination was set and I would quickly seek out a time and date that she was available. The sooner the better but first I would allow her to address the matter of her coma if she cared to do so.

And address it Saira did, if cursorily. "They said a few years... That they were worried about whether or not I'd even come to. ...Mnn." Before she got too wrapped up in that, though, she soon shifted to setting schedules and destinations, once Midori was given the opening to do so. In fact, Saira had some free time today...

“Years, that's nuts. A lot can happen so getting atop of current events can be difficult. If I can help let me know.” And I thought I was a bit older than most of the other girls here though in my case it was a late start. My adolescence wasn't exactly stellar. Still, Saira didn't appear to be older or if she were it wasn't much older.

Though soon talk shifted to schedules and times. Great, it seemed that she had some time today and we set it up. After class I cleaned up my room a bit, not exactly a neat freak but far from keeping the place cluttered either.

Afterward I fixed some tea use to having some on hand ever since my time with Armand. Not aware then that I would be receiving two visitors rather than one I made sure everything was tidy enough where I wouldn't be embarrassed and thus simply waited for her arrival reading some science magazine I checked out at the library. It was old, written at a time when Pluto was still considered a planet, gosh, those were the days.

I was mainly flipping through the pages looking at the illustrations though as I sat on the couch lifting my head as I thought I heard someone approaching and straining to listen after looking at my watch, it was about that time.

It was indeed about that time, the sound of footsteps vaguely audible through the hallway. Saira didn't exactly 'dress up' per se, but she was still in a somewhat better outfit, nicer pants, an orange and light blouse... And of course, a few study books slung over one shoulder in a messenger bag! She was soon knocking on the door. "Hi, Midori! I'm here now."

“Come in,” I smile in response after opening up the door. She wasn't over dressed but had changed since class let out and looked even better than before. That was an unusual bag that she had, or rather not unusual but uncommon.

I bid her to take a seat. The place wasn't too big though, just a small kitchenette, bathroom, bedroom and living area. It was a two girl room though I had yet to be assigned a roommate. I never had one though I had been assigned one at the start that had never made an appearance. What had happened to her I could not say.

“Can I get you something to drink?” Should I say something about what she was wearing now? Though the moment had passed, I didn't want to be too forward about matters, yes this was an all girl's school but I wasn't about making her feel uncomfortable either.

Saira soon sat as asked, putting the bag on her lap, and looking over to Midori calmly. "Yeah, like... a soda, or tea if you have it, would work out pretty well." She had no idea that she made an impression with the slightly less casual clothing, instead... seeming to busy herself with piling books from the bag onto an end-table to try to get the ostensible study date going. There wasn't immediately much to be said, though how much studying they'd get done with that foreshadowed third guest coming, is debatable...

I opened the mini fridge that all the dorms had and looked over what was there. It was the sort of fridge that you'd find in a typical hotel. “Cola alright?” I called from the kitchenette area. Taking whatever drinks we settled on I had returned seeing the pile of books.

Moving closer I read the title off the cover of the top most book, well looked at it was more appropriate since it was the class text book I was already familiar with and thus there had been no need to read the title since that knowledge sprang to the fore of my mind.

I whistled setting down our drinks as I sat beside her on the couch. “You weren't lying about being out so long. Are they having you do all that work straight away or sticking to a few classes at first.”

I guess she had a lot of catching up to do, perhaps they were not all text books or she had yet to narrow down the additional courses she wanted to get back to.

I could help with many of the sciences though limited to having notes in some of the other course I was taking. Science was what I was here for after all.

“What do you want to begin with, Saira?” My hazel eyes regarded the stack of books skimming the titles on the spine to get a better idea as to the materials she brought.

Saira shook her head, choosing mostly to respond to the studies-related questions. "Yeah, plain cola's okay. And... mmmn. They're just 'resetting' my attendance plans. I'll catch up with where I was, and, like... just act as if I had signed up new now. I mean, I don't remember much of the course material, and, like. I hadn't even been there all that long." Or, rather, she kept flaking out for spooky reasons that meant she largely didn't have enough time for more than maybe a semester or two. And the memory wipe. That one's pesky. But she stacked the books a bit, pushing them to be more 'aligned'.

"Ehh... I think we should start on calculus. If only because if I don't understand it now, my physics course'll die and I was sorta counting on that to satisfy my physical science requirements."

“Calculus ...” I considered the subject. I wasn't too strong in that realm but I managed to pull in passable grades. Physics I would have done better with though Saira's explanation of her courses and what not seemed sensible as to how to approach things.

I had wondered why she had not been transported home if she were out for so long. Maybe she was and just returned when she had recovered, that seemed to make the most sense to me so I hadn't questioned it. It wasn't as if we were on an alien world or something, right. Yeah, we were isolated. No returning home even during the summer, no visits or even phone calls out. Not that I wished to visit family. My father was an ass and my mother no longer drew breath. Still, it would have been nice to spend a little time with Armand but there were always the letters which would have to do.

So I helped her with Calculus. It was more involved then I remembered and there were a few times I had to look ahead or back to refresh my mind on a few things. I never took in at the college level but had some experiences with it from high school which helped. When we did move on I had to get my notes and book.

Though it was sort of strange, looking back on it I would be aware that it was that thing guiding me to act but at the time I could not explain it. It just seemed to be a good idea though later I would expect the truth. I could hear my question too though it felt as if I had not been the one uttering it.

“Are you attracted to women?” Yeah, real subtle there. I had been confused by the words I had just uttered yet at the same time I had been interested in that answer too. The look of confusion must have been on my features.

“Sorry, I didn't mean to -” well yeah, eventually but not so blunt.

For much of the duration of Midori pondering things, Saira was making what amounted to smalltalk as she started to set up note-taking booklets, the textbook, all that. "I was thinking though, that I really should try to get in with social groups better. I was working on gymnastics team try-outs, but maybe swimming might be more interesting. And there's this exploration club that sounds really interesting too, and I think I-" Then, given how she felt compelled by an outside force, Midori asked that question. Saira, for a good while, just... stopped cold. Eyes wide, face slowly flushing redder and redder. In another history no longer remembered, she actually was introduced to that side of sexuality here, through simple persuasion. But this time it was raw, direct.

She wasn't quite ready. But it was still something she could do - after all, Shokushu's 'chosen ones' were often bisexual (or lesbian), and probably intentionally so. Saira was no exception. "I d-d-don't... know... uh..." She was starting to cold-sweat, and it became progressively more and more awkward. But the way Saira was embarrassed, with sudden increased attention to Midori, and obvious shyness?

That was not the behavior of a fully-straight girl in this situation.