The Unknown

Ch. 1 - Choso

You'll be on your own for dinner tonight. Love you! Have a great last first day!

You glanced down at your cell phone to find the text from your mother. Sighing, you slipped your phone back into the front pocket of your hoodie. She probably has another date with that guy she keeps droning on about, you thought. She had been dating the same man for about two years. You had met him a handful of times but not enough for any type of lasting impression or to even call him "Dad" should he end up marrying her. You rolled your eyes to yourself and began typing notes from the required reading. It was something that you had neglected to do the night before.

It was the first day of classes at the University of Tokyo. You were beginning your senior year, more than ready to be done with school. You were too busy tapping away on the keys of your keyboard to notice how quickly the classroom had begun to fill. Eventually, you found yourself having a neighbor seated next to you. You tried to look at them out of the corner of your eye only to notice a relatively familiar stranger. From the blurry corners of your vision it looked to be a student who you had been in previous classes with throughout your college experience.

You stayed quiet as the professor entered the room, the other students also falling silent save for small whispers before class was scheduled to start. When you were finally able to get a better glance at the man seated next to you, you tried to take a mental snapshot before turning away to see if you could specifically remember his name. He had nothing on the table in front of him, not even a notebook or pencil. He sat with his arms at his sides with an uncaring look on his face. Or was it fatigue? You weren't quite sure.
He had especially prominent purple marks under his eyes which could very well just be eyeshadow considering the thick, black line that covered his nose as some strange form of makeup. His black hair was done up in two ponytails, short locks wildly darting in different directions. His eyebrows were thin and his jawline prominent as he stared straight ahead. Any other attributes were still foggy from your mental snapshot.
You struggled to search your brain for the name. You could've sworn he was in one of your previous classes. Was it Eso? No...no...I think that's his weird younger brother who's a junior, you thought, what was Eso's brother's name?! You nearly punished yourself for forgetting something that should come so easily having met him prior to the current moment.

"Hey," his eyes lazily drifted your way, body and head unmoving. His voice was very deep, sounding as if it came from the very deep pit of his chest rather than his voice box. It was quiet, too, as everyone focused on the professor who was hooking up their computer to the projector.

"Oh...hey," you whispered back, barely noticing that he had greeted you. You were then allowed to focus on his face to really jog your memory. It clicked. "Choso, right?" While you finally got his first name right, you couldn't remember the family name. It didn't matter anyway.

"Yeah," he answered, keeping any type of phrasing short. "Do you think you could send me a copy of the notes after class?" He asked, still in that low, groggy voice. So that's what he wanted...you thought, he's a slacker who just wants the credit for attendance...

"Uh, sure," you reluctantly answered. You figured it was his loss if he didn't take anything from the course. At least if he wanted the notes it meant he was doing studying at some point.

"Cool...piece of paper, pencil?" He asked again, eyes darting to your backpack that sat on the floor between you both. You squinted your eyes at him in slight annoyance but ripped a sheet from your notebook anyway. "I just need a small piece." He interrupted. You let out a loud sigh and tore the corner off.

"This small enough for ya'?" You handed the piece to him, expecting him to say he actually needed the larger piece instead.

"Yeah," he answered casually, taking it and the led pencil from you. He began writing something on the sheet and then handed both back to you. "My email."