Chapter 5:The Weight of the Lens

  The stone steps leading to the Inuyama Castle ruins were slick and slippery due to the coat of morning rain.Above,the castle stood like a silent sentinel,watching over the Kiso River.

  “Force….. equals…. Mass… times… gravity!” Kenji wheezed.His face was red and sweaty from the path that led him up,and his glasses were fogging up so badly he was practically blind.He was currently on his fiftieth step-up.his legs trembling like guitar strings,Kenji thought to himself ,he was about to crawl his way up.”Rei,I think… my quadriceps are undergoing… a phase change… into liquid!”

  Rei stood at the end of the path,his figure sharp against the rising sun.He looked down on his stopwatch,his expression was neutral.”Your mass hasn’t changed,and gravity is a constant,Kenji.The only variable right now is your resolve.Ten more to go!”

  Kenji led out a strangled groan and pushed for the next step,a soft,mechanical click echoed through the crisp morning air.

  Rei’s head snapped towards the sound instantly.His trained instincts– honed from years of anticipating ambushes and practicing his martial arts.Ten meters away,a cherry blossom tree,stood a girl.She held a professional grade DSLR camera to her eye.

  The moment Rei’s cold gaze locked onto her,the air seemed to freeze.To her,Rei didn’t look like a student,he looked like a scary Yakuza,his presence heavy enough to distort the scenery.

  “Ah–!” The girl gasped.Her camera wobbled in her hands.

  “Hey,”Rei started,taking a single step forward.He intended to ask if she was a local,but his voice carried a low,heavy sound, similar to a threat.

  The girl didn’t wait for an explanation. She tucked her camera into her bag in a panic.Her eyes were wide in genuine terror.She scrambled backward,almost tripping slightly,and sprinted down the mountain path as if a literal ghost was chasing her.

  Rei watched the dust settle from where she had stood.He looked down at his knuckles that looked deformed from training on the punching bag. He looked at Kenji.”Do I really look that terrifying?”

  Kenji,still grasping for air,looked up with a weak,sympathetic smile.”You… you have the facial.. expression of a person… that would kick a dog….,Rei.Its a lot for a Tuesday morning , can we rest please…”

  The transition from the ruins to the classroom felt like crossing the border into a foreign country.Inyuma Academy was ancient,with polished wooden hallways that smelled of floor wax and history.It was a place of “harmony”,a concept Rei felt he was currently violating just by existing there.

  Rei stood at the back of Class 2B,his hands shoved deep into his pockets.He felt the “friction” immediately.The chatter died down when he entered,and the students looked at him with obvious fear in their eyes when they saw Rei walking down the aisle.

  He scanned the room for his seat,but his eyes stopped on a familiar figure.

  Sitting by the window,clutching her desk as if it were a life raft,was the photographer from the castle ruins.She looked even smaller in her school uniform.When their eyes met,she let out a tiny gasp and immediately buried her face in a textbook.

  “Great,” Rei thought to himself,sliding into his chair.I’ve been in this town for twelve hours and I’ve already traumatized a classmate.

  Throughout the day,he noticed something strange.She didn’t just look at him with fear that he imagined.Everytime he wasn’t looking,he could feel her eyes on him,not a predatory intent of a delinquent,but with a curious and analytical gaze.She wasn’t just seeing the “monster”,she was trying to imagine an “image” of who he actually was.

  The final bell rang,and Rei watched the photographer,Hiyori struggling.She was carrying three massive stacks of documents.The pile was so high she couldn’t even see what's in front of her and crashed into Rei.

  It wasn’t just a bump,it was a full-speed structural failure.Hiyori slammed directly into Rei's chest which to her felt like hitting a brick wall.

  The air is filled with documents and papers fluttering down like snowflakes.Hiyori bounced off Rei and landed hard on her backside,her glasses hanging from one ear.

  “I’m dead! I’ve hit a building! I’ve caused a natural disaster!” Hiyori wailed,not yet looking up.She scrambled onto her knees,bowing her head so low it hit the floor which Rei immediately was shocked.

  “I am so sorry! I’ll pay for the repairs! I’ll move the building! Please don't punish me!”

  Rei stood there,a single paper stuck to his forehead.He peeled it off slowly."I'm not a building.”

  Hiyori froze.She recognized that low and heavy voice.She slowly tilted her head up,her eyes widening in shocked.In front her,was the “ghost” from the castle ruins.

  “K-K-Koga?” She shrieked,her face turning into a shade of red that shouldn’t even be biologically or physically even possible to achieve.”I… I… I’ve attacked a delinquent!My life is over!” She thought to herself.

  “Don't worry,you didn’t attack me.You crashed into me.There's a difference in the physics of intent,”Rei said,unintentionally like Kenji.Rei thought to himself “Wow,I sound a lot like him ,maybe due to his loud obsession with physics.”

  Hiyori felt shocked as Rei seemed to have read her mind.

  He looked at the floor.The hallway was a mess. Without saying a word,Rei dropped down to one knee and gathered the scattered papers and documents.His large,scarred hands gathered it with neat and perfectly piles.

  “W-wait! You don't have to!” Hiyori stammered,trying to help but mostly flapping her hands in panic.

  “If we leave them here,someone will slip and the coefficient of this floor will drop to zero,” Rei muttered,stacking the last of the reports.He realized that Kenji might have brainwashed his brain with random physics facts that he probably shouldn’t have known.

  He stood up ,holding the entire massive pile easily in one arm.”Which way is the office?”

  Hiyori stared at him.He looked terrifying with sharp eyes,intimidating height,and a frown that could stop a heart in a 5 meter radius but he was holding her work as if it were a bouquet of flowers.

  “T-That way,” she pointed,her voice tiny.”Thank you,Koga.You’re… actually really fast at cleaning.”

  “Practice.” Rei muttered,thinking of all the times he had to clean up the “mess” after a fight before the cops arrived.”Let's go.”

  After dropping off the final stack of the papers at the faculty office,Hiyori stayed bowed in a half-apology until Rei simply turned and walked away.He didn’t know how to handle someone looking at him with anything other than terror or malice intent.

  “I need to get out of this uniform,”Rei muttered to himself,tugging at the collar.

  He found Kenji near the school gates,excitedly explaining the trajectory of a soccer ball to a group of confused club members.Rei grabbed him by the back of his collar.”We’re going. I have a job interview.”

  Kenji felt defeated.”Interview? Already?” Kenji said.”Dad said you should take it easy for a week!”

  “Sitting still makes my legs crave for movements,”Rei replied. “I need to do something.”

  They walked toward the centre of the city,where the modern buildings gave way to older,stone structures.The Inuyama Public Library was a quiet sanctuary tucked behind a row of ancient cedar trees.Inside,the atmosphere was cool and smelled of vanilla and old books.

  Rei left Kenji in the science section and approached the main desk.An elderly man with white hair looked up from the desk.His name tag read Tanaka.

  “Im here for the part-time assistant position,” Rei said,keeping his voice low out of habit.

  Tanaka adjusted his spectacles, looking Rei up and down. He saw the sharp jaw, the faded scar near his temple, and the massive frame that didn't quite fit into a standard school blazer. Most people in town would have called the police; Tanaka just leaned forward.

  "Can you climb a twelve-foot ladder without shaking?" Tanaka asked.

  "Yes."

  "Can you carry four crates of encyclopedias at once?"

  "Yes."

  Tanaka pointed toward a group of rowdy middle schoolers in the back who were tossing erasers at each other. "And can you make those kids stop being loud without actually hitting them?”

  Rei turned his head.He adjusted his gaze into the “Ghost” stare,the look that usually meant a fight was three seconds away.The middle schoolers caught his eye,turned pale,and immediately opened their books.One of them actually started reading upside down out of pure panic.

  Tanaka chuckled,”Effective.You start now. There’s a shipment of historical archives in the basement that needs to be moved to the third floor.The elevator is broken,”

  “Understood,” Reizen replied.

The clock on the library wall ticked towards 8 o’clock.The other assistant,a quiet university student with tired eyes,arrived to take over the night shift.Rei finished logging the last returned archives,his muscles aching with familiar fatigue.

  As he began to lock the staff cabinets,he noticed a soft light flickering in the back of the “Local History” section.

  Rei walked over his footsteps silent on the floor.There,tucked behind a pillar,was Hiyori.She was crouching down on the floor,her eye pressed to the viewfinder of her camera.She was trying to capture the way the moonlight hit the dust motes in the dim aisle.

  Click.

  “The library has a no-photography policy” Rei said which immediately startled Hiyori.

  “Uh.. Koga! I-I wasn’t– I didn’t mean to but.. the lighting! It was just… high-contrast!” She scrambled to hide the camera behind her back,her face flushing even in the dark.

  “Mr Tanaka is strict about the rules”Rei muttered,nodding toward the exit. “You should go before he sees you.”

  “Right.Sorry about that.Im going,” she whispered.

  Rei followed her out,nodding to the night assistant before stepping outside.The world outside had changed while he was buried in the books.The peaceful Inuyama evening had turned into a storm.The rain hit the pavement with a heavy sound that made Rei’s chest tighten– it was the same sound he had heard through the car accident.

  Hiyori stood at the edge of the porch,looking out at the dark street.She didn’t have a jacket nor an umbrella. She clutched her expensive camera bag to her chest,shielding the lens from the rain.

  “I forgot to check the forecast,” she murmured,looking defeated. “The walk home is twenty minutes.”

  Rei looked at her,then down at the single black umbrella he had brought from the Sato Household. He remembered his mother talking about his future in the car before the blinding flash of light.He couldn’t change the past,but he could change the “future” of this moment.

  Without a word,Rei stepped forward and shoved the umbrella into Hiyori’s hands.

  “Wait- what?” Hiyori dumbfounded,looking at the heavy handle. “But what about you?”

  “I’m used to the rain,” Rei said,his voice dropping an octave.He stepped outside the porch,letting the cold rain soak his school uniform instantly but he didn’t flinch.”The camera is expensive.Don’t let it wet.”

  “Koga,wait!You’ll get sick!”

  Rei didn’t look back.He started walking down the street,his hands in his pockets.He felt the water sticking to his shirt but the “humming” in his nerve was gone.For the first time,he wasn’t the monster survived by luck,he was just another person who made a good choice.

  Behind him,Hiyori popped the umbrella open.It was large,large enough for two person and she felt a bit tiny underneath it.She watched his figure disappear into the storm.

 She lifted her camera,but then slowly lowered it.Some images were better kept in the mind than on a memory card.

Author's note 

✍️Fun Fact:

In this chapter,notice that Rei mentions the "coefficient of the floor dropping to zero" while cleaning up Hiyori’s papers. This is the first time Rei uses Kenji’s "physics-speak" in the real world. It shows that despite his cold exterior, Rei is already being "infected" by Kenji’s nerdy influence!