All that matters is that he's right.
It shouldn't matter that he's strange or weird or out of place. What matters is that in the practice he's chosen, he's going places, farther than his contemporaries, farther than someone from the same starting point could ever imagine. Ginko's heard about him from friends of friends, told him that the man had been chosen to do an exchange and share his research concerning alternative cures in applied medicine. He's not as intrigued as the others, does not draw conclusions on what the man must be like, what he might look like and such. It is what it is. Ginko thinks. It's just thrilling to know that someone who is studying in the same field as him - is making waves. It's not ambition that's most exciting after all, it's what you do after you're given the right to practice what you've been working so hard for.
It's a little complicated, yet simple unwritten bylaw for doctors. He sets his tray down and unwraps the signature sandwich he ordered listening in on Adashino and the others: They say he's got weird body piercings and tattoos and that he's on the eccentric side. They have a name for him and that the name is not to be taken lightly!
The Medicine Man.
Like a Hollywood Series!
Like something William Hurt would star in.
Ginko wonders in silence if all that's even important, if things should be better off taken as they come, without expectations and prejudices. So what if people are a bit different? So what if people take up medicine but dress up like Mick Jagger? All that matters is that they do what they have to do and that they do it right. He thinks of himself, his own oddities and quirks: Shouldn't matter. Half-way through his meal he realizes that he has not bought any beverage. All this talk about the exchange student's disrupted his own constitution. He wishes Adashino would just quiet down for a second. He adores the man, to be honest, but sometimes he can be a bit too much. He excuses himself from the table (not that they noticed) and lit up a cigarette while walking to the nearest vending machine.
So, there's tea, cola, cold jelly drinks, hot chocolate and coffee. Ginko slips a bill and presses the button for a UCC Mild, waiting for it to drop. But it doesn't happen. The modern world annoys him in the most inopportune times and it is all he can do from kicking the machine. Instead he slaps the side of the machine with his other hand.
"Sometimes all you have to do is push again."
Ginko looks up and blinks with his good eye. The man in front of him truly, honestly seems like he just walked out of Adashino's tall tale, except for the small smile on his face. A pale hand reaches past him, a manicured finger pointing to press the button once more before the loud 'clacking' of a coffee can is heard.
*
It's a little past two in the morning, while the rest of the populace has gone (or getting ready for) to bed, Ginko is out walking with THE sensational student. Ginko thinks that it's okay to walk the new student home and that there is nothing wrong with making sure that he gets there safe and alive. The party they had just come from was held at Adashino's apartment - the nth party the new student was invited to. Ginko is amazed and he's curious how the other man does it; attend so many parties and not really reveal anything about himself. Not even once. He thinks that maybe the new student is used to this kind of thing since he doesn't look quite tired in mornings after. Ginko is mildly baffled and lots amused. "That makes it fourteen..."
Pulled back down to earth by the 'Medicine Man', Ginko looks at him and takes the cigarette from his own mouth so he can speak properly. "Sorry...what was that?"
"I said, that makes it fourteen. The parties, that kind of thing. And you didn't have to walk me home."
"No worries. Going the same way, actually."
They make a turn, past a few stores and vending machines - some of them are empty from the day's sales, while others are still full - like the the one for Red Bull. Ginko looks back as they pass it. Truly, this machine understands a man and his needs. It makes him chuckle and in the process the other man misunderstands. "You find it funny?"
"Oh. No don't take offense. I was chuckling over something else."
A contemplative silence as they reach the residential areas, post-economic boom apartment buildings that sprouted like mushrooms in the 80s. Ginko's always thought of them as stifling, never thought he'd end up living in one, actually. He moves a little bumping shoulders with the other, more enigmatic student.
"Really. Don't take offense."
"It's strange..." says 'Medicine Man'
"What is?"
"People treat me like I am from another world, some citizen from the Planet Genius and yet I think you are the one caught up in another reality, some private space. You're often 'not present' I think."
Ginko wants to be offended, he really does. He wants to be angry or tell him - 'how dare you!' but he couldn't. Because he knows that what the other man says is partly true. Like he's caught up in a dimension not really comprehensible to many. The middle ground of what's real and what's not real. It's not such a bad place to be and he tells the Medicine Man this as well.
"It's not like I will judge you or anything. I suppose I understand the need to get away."
"Where do you go?" Ginko asks honestly.
The new student stops walking and looks at Ginko, contemplating. He gestures, tells him without words that they're in front of his apartment building and that this conversation can either spill over or stop depending on Ginko's answer. "Do you want to come up? I might tell you."
Ginko looks at the other man and then at the night sky - he reaches up to touch the strange markings on the other man's face. It must be make-up, Ginko tells himself. And it does come off when he presses a thumb hard-enough. He wants to accept but the space he's in at the moment is far too comfortable to give up for now. "I sure hope you'll ask me again...when I'm really present."
This time it is the Medicine Man that chuckles. "That will take a while."
*
You open your eyes and realize that you're exactly where you expected yourself to be. There is no mystery, no rhyme nor reason; from the moment you wake til your last class you knew exactly where to go, where your feet would take you. Of course, it is no other than the sensational med student's rented apartment near the university. You also know that he's not home, that he's probably inspiring another class with his unorthodox methods and wild theories on medicine. Sometimes you think that it's all a show and that the illusion precedes the truth well enough to conceal it. You wonder if he ever questions himself, the way you question yourself. And so you wait. Sitting down against the wall opposite the gray door until your eye feels a bit heavy and it's okay to drift off to sleep because you know he'll wake up when he gets there. No matter when that may be.
"You've certainly made up your mind haven't you..."
You open your eye and smile a little when you see him - the sensational, eccentric medicine man - smile back at you. He offers you a hand and soon enough you both walk into his apartment. It's a cold place, strange in a way that he's been living here for weeks now and yet it feels empty, deserted. He never meant to stay like you never meant to come over tonight.
"I thought we could do some readings together. It's not fun when it's clinical..." You meant the readings, he thinks of other things. "We're studying to be doctors, we're supposed to be clinical." He says but does not mean it. "Monkeys don't eat bananas thinking they are expert on bananas." You say with a smile.
But he smiles and you think he's happy, happy because you are there with him and present in the moment. You're not in another world, you're not lost in some parallel universe. You catch him looking at you, wanting to touch you midway but he stops when you instinctively flinch.
"I feel like I need to solve you..." He says matter-of-fact and pulls his hand back.
"I feel like you already have..."
"Are you staying the night, then?"
"I would like to."
"Let me get some coffee started and get my books..."
But you reach into your bag and it's quite full but doesn't have the books you'll need for studying. Instead, you pull out some DVDs and a bottle of vodka. "I was wondering if you could make something out of this..."
"Of course I can. Let me open up a carton of orange juice..."
A few hours later, you're back at the beginning.
You open your eyes and realize that you're exactly where you expected yourself to be. The left arm feels heavy and without his clothes on he feels like a woman, but when you turn, the bumps on his spine and the sharpness of his shoulders tell you otherwise. You slowly pull away but he turns and follows the heat your body gives off. When he's tight against your chest - lightly breathing your skin.
You smile.
