(??? Pov)
I was sitting in the waiting room, the colour of the space was just monotonous grey , elbows on my knees. I whispered in a very low tone " Shit... Fuck this wait....." I stopped myself scanned my surroundings a little.
They were a few set of people sitting, some looked mundane civilians others looked like those wigheads that run the various corporations. I reminded myself of where I was again. My hands involuntarily by my force of habit running against my temples.
My eyes too were burning and this strange drowsiness was there which i had barely kept at bay after drinking a load of coffee. I am also a bit tired but all the caffeine is just barely dragging my body through 4 days of continuous proscratination.
I looked up at the opaque but clear door above it was a digital counter, 32 showing in it. My number briefly flashed in my mind, 47.
I breathed a little loudly, I again thought of the man I was seeing, A person who was previously a part of SFG and had served too like me but he had prematurely retired after the war has ended. He had then persued in various other things he preferred.
I had only known this much, and somehow the same man is taking my psychological test. A man of many talents. He had also given a lot of interviews, people often asking why he had retired prematuraly and he had simply said to pursue his other interest. The man was also quite young by his appearance he was in his 20s at most.
I bitterly thought of how I was here again. I had done everything perfectly, there was nothing wrong in the way i had done it. I had put down some spies from the other nations hiding in the flooded district at the ground. My mind was in this state where i just wanted to keep going in missions after missions. I just kept going to missions after missions for months, going home was last thought i would probably have until i was deemed unfit for not going home. They said i don't have the proper mental condition to continue and have been dismissed until i go get this mental evaluation done by one of their psycologist " and here i am with nothing backing me up." i scoffed at the thought.
Now that I had some clearer thoughts, I considered the potential consequences if I got dismissed from duty in the field. I might get appointed to some behind-the-desk work. That would be a direct demotion rank-wise.
My thoughts came to a still halt, a chill going through my body. If i get demoted won't me and my family have to move down 3-4 floors down is a minimum and 6-7 can be at most.
This almost made me think of myself.... of my selfishness and what could perhaps lead to the biggest mistake of my life. I couldn't do anything. I have to somehow get through this cleanly and get back to my field work and maybe this time i would be more slack and suppress this feeling from rising again.
In all my thought i looked up briefly to check the number and it just shifted from 46 to 47.
I quickly got up from my seat and walked towards the reception close to the door of the office. I walked slowly towards the lady sitting at the reception. She briefly looked up "Number 47?" I just nodded at that and the door to the left opened and her stretched her hand towards the door signaling for me to enter.
I entered walking with a brisk pace, entering the office what i saw was a lot different. It was spacious, not slightly congested or overly decorated and it was brighter than expected. A glass wall in front, beyond it...the beauty and clean architecture of the canopy district. The greenery and the tall architecture mixed in perfectly, transit tubes crossing between towers all this made me for a moment forgot what i was here for.
I then noticed him, sitting there was the man on a sleek table with lots of tabs and files laying there and was seeing something on his PV. Dark brown hair neatly parted with a thin framed black glasses and the white coat. Aside from where i was he looked too normal like if i met him somewhere else i wouldn't even think of all his achievements.
Behind him, mounted inside glass cases were medals, Certificates, Recognition plaques, Military commendations, Academic awards.
Then he looked at me, his gaze clear but some unknown intent going through his eyes for a brief moment. "Please" he said gently, gesturing toward the chair opposite to him. I took my seat but didn't make myself too comfortable.
He tapped the PV floating in front of him and it was closed. He folded his hands slightly and spoke again almost like a trivial conversation. ""Takeda Haruma ," he said, reading my file once more before looking back at me. "Before we begin anything formal… have you had something to eat this morning?"
The question almost caught me off guard, i was expecting him to ask me what i thought about my family, about my work but he asked something that can be considered the most trivial and unrelated thing but i replied regardless "Well... i had just a bit of coffee and some ration bar nothing special."
He nodded slightly. "Good atleast you had something to eat as low blood sugar levels tends to make conversations unnecessarily dramatic."
His casual talk made me think again whether this was really a evaluation and nothing but just a formality but they wouldn't even send for something unnecessary if there was no need..
He leaned back slighlty "You don't need to think of this as an evaluation, Haruma-san. Just think of this as a session you needed for a long time to take any stress from any where out on someone. You see, sometimes we need someone who doesn't know anything about your life listen in to your own and ask their opinion on that matter and it actually makes you feel a lot lighter."
He had that genuine smile making me seem to be more at ease, but that made me even more attentive as the most twisted people hide behind a smile that seem too real.
" Haruma-san you look quite exhausted and those dark circles are quite telling"
Then he asked quietly "So would you mind telling me how much sleep did you have recently" he asked " if any at all that is.." His smile vanished and his face now had a neutral look
i thought of my past few days again. "I haven't really slept at all after getting off from my field work" i admitted honestly, "How long exactly?" he asked which i replied to " Four maybe five days."
He looked at my face again looking for something "None at all?"
"Not a wink." I again rubbed my temples speaking further " Also, i had this strange drowsiness, just there in my mind like i feel this drowsiness building up, making my eyes all the more heavier each day. I just kept it down by taking coffee or any caffeine i can."
He looked at me again and seemingly deep in thought before he opened a drawer on his table and slid a white card to me. "Here... haruma-san, this is my personal contact data and after this session you should go downstairs and have yourself checked by my assistants for any kind of infection since the drowsiness you mention is quite quirky despite your sleep."
I frowned "You think I'm sick?"
" I wouldn't want to rule out any other situation until it is clear and you wouldn't want to be discharged for long just because of some infection that you may have caught in floodline district."
That made sense since the floodline district is home to many attempts during the war for various biological weapons and what not.
"So, now that out of the way, let's continue our talk."
After that he seemingly asked the most trivial thing like about what grade my son is in, how my relationship with my wife is going on, How i relieve my stress in my free time and all kinds of seemingly meaningless questions. But somehow, by the time thirty minutes had passed, I realized I had told him far more about my life than I had planned.
This session continued for a 30 whole minutes before i deemed me get my full checkup downstairs and if i am perfectly healthy physically he would pass my pscylogical test.
"Okay.. i had a good talk with you haruma-san and i would say you are mostly normal mentally and don't really need to be held off from your duty. Though i would advise you to be more with your family if you have time off duty, lets you have your mind off too deep into your own work, Now you can go on out and ring me in any case you think you have some kind of problem."
(Some time later)
I had completed the full body test and the results would come out by the end of the day which i would get notified on my PV. I was riding a MT to my district down below to the floor 75. The speed at which this was running still kept me wondering of such a wonder the whole thing is. The outside view was just a haze of buildings and large base of each Platform going by. The drowsiness was also weighing much heavier over my eyes making it harder to focus on seeing things.
I arrived in my home, entered silently closing the door behind when a something tackled me, my back on the door barely standing. I looked down to see my son clinging to me "Welcome back... did you bring something back for me" He looked bright eyed seeing if i had anything on me and after seeing nothing he got back. A dejected sound came from him. "Dad...why didn't you bring something back like you have been out the whole day..."
Before he can continue he got a head slapped from behind shutting him up. I looked up to see the person which was of course none other than my own wife. "Welcome back dear" She said trying to sound normal but the worry in her voice wass clearly ozing out enough for me to notice "Why don't you have some tea with me until yasashiro does the errand outside." She eyed the boy which made him flinch and he ran outside of the house avoiding looking in her eyes.
I walked behind her the drowsiness all the more dragging me down now than ever like i was drowning, the feeling was strange enough to make the whole thing suffocating for me. I sat with a thump almost collapsing which my wife caught me."Haruma!"
Her voice rose in alarm "What happened? You look even worse than this morning."
"It's ok, I am just feeling real sleepy..."
I somehow sat again "Haruka, give me a strong coffee really strong or else i don't think i could stay up much longer." She look worried, fear written all over her face but still nodded and stepped towards the kitchen counter.
My gaze slipped to the window, showcasing the view outside. The outside was filled with long complexes and transit tubes built with proper planning, but it was also far more packed almost suffocatingly so . There was almost no greenery aside from a few parks, though even those parks were slowly being replaced to make room for various other things those corporate companies were building, running the whole place like their own playground.
I felt anger toward them, though I was powerless to do anything. The whole system for a few decades had become heavily reliant on those big companies. I thought about how there were now various implants that could be loaned to people based on interest rates—eyes, arms, legs—almost anything could be replicated.
Nowadays anything could be made, but paying the price for it was the heaviest burden to bear.
My thoughts kept running through various things before Haruka returned with a mug of steaming coffee. I took the cup with stuttering hands, almost dropping it, which was saved by haruka steadying it in my grip
"Haruma?" Her worry driven voice towards me "He.... lo.....k a.....t me....Ha.....?" Her words came broken, stretched, like they were traveling through water before reaching me. I could barely make out what she was saying now. The sounds slipped through my mind before I could grasp them.
My fingers tightened weakly around the mug, but even holding it felt like too much effort. It slipped right through my hands and almost collapsed left standing by my wife's keeping me up barely.
The sleepiness was just drowning my brain but before i could, i slipped out the card and outstreched my hand to haruka before i was plunged into the embrace of the dream.
[Aspirant! Welcome to the Nightmare Spell. Prepare for your first trial...]
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Yeah, so guys this is my first time writing and yeah a shadow slave fic, so do tell what i can improve on and any creative criticism is appreciated.
Any kind of thing you may want to see do mention in the comments.
So, that's all for now