Seifer didn't disappoint. By the time we had reached the train depot he'd managed to hit every one of my buttons. Whether it was my driving, my clothing, my way of packing - nothing was off limits to Seifer. I'd managed, somehow, to keep my cool the whole way there, hoping he would get the hint that I wasn't interested in talk, but he must have loved the sound of his voice because he never shut up. If it had been anyone else I'd have chalked it up to nerves, but he was just trying to be annoying. Boy, was he ever good at it.
He'd gotten worse since we'd gotten back, which was saying a lot. Always one to be an instant critic, he'd become both more distant and withdrawn since right after the whole incident. When approached, he'd snap at the person, either in anger or with cutting remarks. His only companions were his long-time posse members Fujin and Raijin, but more and more often I'd seen them alone, with no Seifer in sight. It was almost like he was purposely distancing himself from those around him, but to what end I had no clue.
We left our transport at the depot and headed towards the train station. It occurred to me that Seifer was being really quiet, but I figured he'd finally gotten my point: it sure had taken long enough.
I noticed a lot of faces turning our way as we headed down the platforms, which puzzled me. We were in plainclothes, not dress uniform; we should have fit in. It wasn't until I saw a mother pull her young son away, glancing fearfully towards us, that I realized something was amiss.
I glanced up at Seifer. His face was carefully neutral, but a muscle ticked in his cheek. Schooling my own expression, I glanced around nonchalantly to gauge the situation. What I saw surprised me, although it shouldn't have.
In this large train station, full of people moving rapidly by us, we were a main attraction. While it wasn't everybody, we were garnering stares from people all around us, both fearful and angry faces watching us move. Rather, it wasn't we who had the attention, but Seifer. I glanced at him again, wondering how all the attention was affecting him.
He noticed my look and stared back for a second before once again looking forward. No smirk, no quip, nothing - that had me worried. "Maybe we shouldn't have come through the front door," I murmured to him.
I expected a quip, something along the lines of a sarcastic "Ya think?", but instead he just nodded. I had to give him brownie points, he was taking this a lot better than I would have. Which made me wonder: how much practice had he had in dealing with situations like this?
Had he been dealing with this all along, and nobody had noticed? Or worse yet, had we noticed and done nothing about it?
I was immersed in those thoughts as a man stumbled out in front of us. Surprised, I immediately dropped to a defensive position, then quickly recovered when I saw it was just a normal citizen. Seemingly drunk, he ignored me completely, his total attention focused on Seifer. "Are you him?" he asked, his speech slightly slurred.
Seifer stared down at the man, his face betraying nothing. "What if I am?"
The man's already red face contorted into a gross caricature, and he spat right in Seifer's face. "My brother was among the ones you slaughtered, you bastard," he snarled, shaking in rage.
Seifer reached up and wiped away the spittle with his sleeve, but said nothing in his defense, only stared down at the man. The muscle in his jaw was ticking again, but he didn't move.
Within seconds, another man hurriedly approached and began tugging their questioner away from Seifer. "Renald, don't do this."
"No, I'm not going to let him get off," Renald snarled, fighting off the other man's arms. "He killed my brother, he and that witch of his..."
"Renald, please, not here, not like this," the other man pleaded, finally succeeding in getting a good hold and pulling Renald away towards an adjacent platform.
"You bastard! You murdering bastard!" The raging screams echoed throughout the station, drawing more attention to our position. Never a good thing while on a mission.
Shaking off my incredulity at what I'd just seen, I grabbed Seifer's arm. "Let's get out of here."
Seifer ripped his arm out of my grasp, giving me a condescending look. "What, instructor, are you too embarrassed to be seen with me in public? Don't want me to tarnish your pristine hero-image?"
Leaving me open-mouthed, he swung up his duffel bag again and stalked determinedly down the causeway, people scattering before him.