Apathy Now!: Takaya Sakaki teaches Good Little Children about Doom and Gloom.

[OOC] Global: Takaya Sakaki has set the Scene Pose.
Takaya Sakaki [S] has posed.
A Seminar with Question Hour at the end, ran by Takaya Sakaki. Today’s topic? Apathy Syndrome and Takaya’s upcoming book on the subject: ‘Apathy Now!’ He’s dressed no different from normal, despite repeated urging for him to get into something a bit more proper by the University; they couldn’t let this opportunity pass.

As the Seminar starts, Takaya makes a polite bow to the gathered people. “Good evening.” He straightens himself again, “I am Sakaki Takaya, author of Apathy Now! Which is an upcoming treatise on Apathy Syndrome. It is a delight to be here to give you a chance to get a ‘sneak peak’ on the contents of this treatise.”

“As you all know, Apathy Syndrome is known as a dangerous disease that causes a level of complete apathy in the subject. As of yet, there are no known cures for Apathy Syndrome.” He pauses, letting the introduction settle for a moment before going on. “This is in fact wrong. Apathy Syndrome is no disease, not in the traditional sense at least.”

“Apathy Syndrome is a permanent psychological malady caused by a complete understanding of the fact that life has lost meaning and the implications of this, yet achieved by someone unprepared for this understanding.” He inclines his head in a moment of orchestrated respect, “Unfortunately; this has no cure… and this understanding is getting more and more common.”

“However. On the positive side, for life to regain its meaning. Life needs Apathy Syndrome. As society falls apart due to the increase of Apathic people, the facades and games played by the Establishment will likewise fall.” He pauses again, letting his words settle. “This event, the Fall, is a slow, slippery slope that will sadly cause untold deaths, complete societal collapse, and fortunately will also bring a new level of enlightenment.”

“And this enlightenment will bring a new society. A world in which the Apathic will reawaken, and they; together with those who did not fall into Apathy; will build a new society.” Takaya takes a sip of water. “One with meaning. One with purpose. One where everyone will be able to know that there is no need to despair, for they ARE making an impact.”

“This concludes my seminar.” The young man states, taking another sip of water. “If there are any questions, I am now available to answer any you might have.” He looks into the crowd of gathered people to see if there’s any takers.

Kaede Fujioka [S] has posed.
Wearing a SumarU Sweater, Fujioka was listening and resting back in one of the seats of the hall. Her hood was down and eyes were closed. Oh. Wait. Maybe she slept through the whole thing. Apathy Syndrome caused by this or that? Rubbish. Kaede almost snored as she leaned against the seat.

She knew what caused Apathy Syndrome. And it was delicious.

Yu Narukami [KDA] has posed.
*Clack, clack, clack*
The sound of well-worn leather shoes on marble floor can be heard echoing softly in the hall as as graying young man wearing a white, short-sleeve, button up shirt and a pair of black cotton slacks makes his way toward the seminar he’d planned to attend after Calculus class. Draping a black leather, designer, book satchel around his neck and across his body, the young man idly raises his right arm to stare at his watch.

“…Almost time.” He says, letting his watch arm relax at his side as he begins to scan the corridor for the door to the lecture hall. Finding the iron placard bearing the room number, he grasps the steel handle to the lecture hall… unnaturally warm due to the many hands that had been upon it, and enters promptly; the heavy wooden door closing behind him with an audible creak.

– Some Time Later –

Yu finds himself sitting behind a slightly unstable old wooden desk up on the third row of the hall, staring silently at the lecturer in puzzlement. … Leaning back slightly against the chair of his desk unconsciously, Yu contemplates the doubtless hidden motives behind this appearance. Was Takaya really here JUST to sell a book? No, it was probably a conveinant means for dispensing propaganda as well. Harmful as that is, what Yu would be slightly more concerned about is… would he cause trouble here today?

This unconscious leaning does, however, inadvertently throw off Yu’s thought processes though – as the desk he’d been sitting in starts to tilt backward awkwardly… surprising him. “Ah!”He shouts, loudly enough for the whole hall to hear, and then slams the desk back to the floor with his weight. Realizing eyes will doubtlessly be upon him soon, he raises his and begins to formulate a question… “…Might I ask a question?” … Provided permission is given, he offers, “What research has been done to confirm the cause of Apathy Syndrome?”

Megumi Mushikabe [DS] has posed.
If Megumi had to condense what she thought about this weird seminar down into a single line, the thing she’d say would be ‘depressing as hell’. At least that’s how it came across while she was listening to it. The other thing that came to mind was how jaded and bitter someone had to be to have seminar all about it. The rest with all the new enlightnment stuff reminded her of doomsday prophets.

She shakes her head slightly and is about to turn towards the door when a familiar voice can be heard not far away. When she looks in that direction, she recognizes the one who’s talking almost immediately. If not for what she’d caught him doing that time, she might’ve forgotten about him by now.

Megumi quickly makes her way to behind Yu, but decides to wait until Takaya has answered Yu’s question. After all it -was- a good question.

Takaya Sakaki [S] has posed.
Takaya nods to Yu, “Of course.” And then the question comes that Takaya knew would be coming. Best to get it over with quickly. “Excellent question, I’m glad you asked it.” He says with a polite smile, “Although your way of gathering my attention might have been a tad excessive.”
He scrapes his throat and takes another sip of water from the glass in front of him. “My research team has done extensive background checks on the Apathic whose family members have given their consent to these background checks for us. This was step one to coming to this conclusion, as it gave us a solid foundation to work with.”

He sighs faintly, “The next step was quite gruelling from a researcher’s perspective, I fear.” He takes another sip of water. “We started to subtly monitor those who we feared were coming close to gathering an understanding of the sad state of the world, and in fact it did come to pass for ninety percent of the test subjects.”

“For more detail, and specifics on our methods and the way we drew our conclusions, I’d strongly urge you to purchase Apathy Now! when it is released.” He gazes over the classroom again, “Next question?”

Yu Narukami [KDA] has posed.
Yu looks more than slightly embarassed as Takaya makes light of his means of ‘getting his attention’, inciting brief laughter from the rest of the hall. Forcing his face into the open palm of his hand momentarily, he sighs softly… mumbling to himself… “This bodes well…” Referring to the incident as if might be some ind of portent of how the rest of his day will go. Due to his momentary facepalm, however, he does not immediately notice the familiar teacher standing behind his person.

Looking up after a moment or so has passed, Yu slowly scans the room in a silent manner with fog gray eyes… catching a hint of Mushikabe-sensei standing behind him in his peripheral vision as his eyes end their journey on his left-hand side. Yu jumps, again, slightly, causing the table’s legs to scrape the floor audibly as the desk travels forward slightly. Staring at her for a moment, he says… “Mushikabe-sensei..?” in a surprised but soft manner…

Megumi Mushikabe [DS] has posed.
/So that’s how he came to his conclusions huh? Interesting claims, but I wonder if he can back it up…/ is what goes through her mind as she raises an eyebrow at the explanation the participants are given. It was an argument she’d heard so many times before that she honestly couldn’t stop herself from being cynical about it.

“I see you still remember me Narukami-san.” Says Megumi and grins, thoroughly amused at his reaction to her presence. The number of people she knew that would react similarly could be counted on one hand as a matter of fact. Because Yu here was the only one…

“At least this time I didn’t catch doing something… unusual.” Adds she in a joking tone.

Yu Narukami [KDA] has posed.
Yu just stares silently at Mushikabe-sensei for several moments, lost in something between shock and paralyzing embarassment. A blonde-haired girl with emerald green eyes sitting adjacent to Yu turns her head just slightly toward the pair – eyeing Yu paricularly – and grins in a amused fashion. She then turns her attention from Yu toward the shirtless, vagrant-seeming, lecturer and raises her hand. She then waves it about in an energetic manner to get his attention, smiling a bit. Provided she is given attention then, she stands, dressed in a white floral blouse and similarly colored casual pants, offering, “Would you mind sharing with us more details about The Fall to which you referred earlier?”

Yu, meanwhile, has begun to snap out of his confusion. Turning a light shade of red, he grates his fingertips along the back of his neckline in mild embarassment. What a thing to say, here of all places! “…I.. uh..” He chuckles softly… “Yeah, I’m not translating today. Just listening to this interesting lecture..” The word interesting is tainted by a bit of sarcasm. It was interesting, but for all the wrong reasons. “Can I help you?”

Megumi Mushikabe [DS] has posed.
Megumi’s eyes turns towards the emerald eyed girl when she asks a question, but then Yu seems to snap out of his shock, causing her to turn her attention back towards him. Right now she almost felt a bit sorry for him.

“This would be a bad place to do translations I’d say, but that aside…” She pauses for a few seconds and looks down towards Takaya. That man had been in Port Island the other day when she met Kaede again. Back then he had only stood out due to the way he was wandering around shirtless. One thing was certain about this guy. Her first impression had been flawed.

“… He reminds me of people I keep hearing about the net. Didn’t think he’d be this type.” Megumi tilts her head slightly, pondering something.

Yu Narukami [KDA] has posed.
Yu’s eyes follow Megumi’s as she turns her gaze toward the blonde girl, and then back to him momentarily, in a silent manner. When she mentions this being a bad place to do translation, he offers a slow, solemn, nod in aggreeance… “Yeah, too distracting.” Yu really needed to pay attention to Takaya, and though he was facing Mushikabe-sensei at the moment.. he was listening. He figured he didn’t have to watch him too much, given the situation.

A look of realization dawns on the silver-haired youth, and he motions toward the empty seat to his immediate left. “Have a seat?” He offered, figuring he can kill two birds with one stone if she’s seated next to him. He can engage her /and/ pay more attention to the lecture. That and, it was kind of rude to make a lady stand… “He’s… a very interesting character, no doubt.” Yu adds, pretending for he moment he possesses less knowledge of Takaya than he does. “Looks can be deceiving.”

Megumi Mushikabe [DS] has posed.
“Why thank you Narukami-san.” She offers him a friendly smile before sitting down on the empty seat. Standing had started to get a bit tiresome so this worked perfectly for now.

“Yes I noticed. I met him in Port Island when I was there on an errand. The guy stood out, but you can see that for yourself so…” Megumi wasn’t one to judge people’s clothing, even when it was weird, but the whole shirtless thing was a bit beyond that. Did he walk around like that in winter too perhaps? Likely not. “His views are definitely odd…. and jaded.”

Yu Narukami [KDA] has posed.
Nodding, briefly, Yu offers a brief smile to Megumi as she thanks him for offering her the seat. “You’re very welcome.”
“He does stand out.” Yu agrees, again, with yet another nod. He was also fairly sure it was intentional on Takaya’s part. At the mention of Takaya being odd, Yu thinks to himself ‘you have no idea’. Odd was not a word you would use to describe someone of Takaya’s mental state. It was far too weak of a word for him. “Yeah, is definitely not your average guy…” Laying his hands gently upon the table in front of him, one over the other, Yu leans forward a bit attentively… awaiting Takaya’s response to the blonde-haire girl’s question. “…I wonder if he’s a Doctor..” Yeah… right.

Takaya Sakaki [S] has posed.
“Ahh. Interesting question, indeed.” Takaya answers the girl as he takes another sip; his eyes wandering over the room, and his keen ears noticing the murmering between Yu and Megumi, although he can’t distuingish specifics, he does scrape his throat. “But before I answer that question, I’d like everyone to be paying attention.”

A second later, he starts to answer that particular question. “As Apaths start to outnumber the unaffected people, modern society becomes untenable. Further, it is quite likely that eventually people in positions of power will succumb… politicians, businessmen, judges. And with them falling away, and fewer and fewer people able to take their place, society will become untenable.”

Takaya takes a slight breath, “With society becoming untenable, we will enter the second stage of the Fall… Anarchy. Most people won’t care, because they’re Apaths, but the ones left will start fighting for resources, for a place to sleep. It’ll be a truly Dark Hour in the history of mankind.”

He smiles at the girl who askes the question, “After this stage has passed, humanity will be down to a few hundred million people at least. Worst case scenario we will have dropped to a few million. And this is when societal rebirth can occur, and with it comes purpose as the Apaths reawaken.”

“After all, one can only stand upright after one has fallen.”

Megumi Mushikabe [DS] has posed.
“If he’s a doctor, he sure doesn’t look it…” Megumi narrows her eyes and looks at Takaya. There wasn’t anything about him that’d make her think he was one, but in this region there were a few people who were slightly odd when it came to their clothing. So it wasn’t impossible.

When Takaya asks everyone to pay attention, she closes her mouth and waits for him to finish talking. While listening to what he has to say, a dark thought crosses her mind for a few seconds. The world could after all do without a certain person…

Megumi raises an eyebrow when she hears the phrase ‘Dark Hour’, pondering if that was supposed to mean exactly what it sounded like to her. Though after a minute of pondering, she discards that idea. Still… Now she was tempted to ask about that…

Yu Narukami [KDA] has posed.
The blonde-haired female from earlier clasps her hands neatly in her lap, and bows in a courteous manner toward Takaya, offering a congenial smile. “Thank you.” She then promptly takes her seat again and turns her eyes toward Yu and Mushikabe after Takaya indirectly addresses them. She grins again at the silver haired young man, mischieviously, causing Yu to divert his eyes from her immediately in nervousness.

Somewhere toward the front of the lecture hall, near Takaya, an older man wearing a gray business suit – possibly a professor – raises his hand and waits patiently to be adressed by the speaker. Once he’s been addressed, the older man stands and gazes in Yu and Mushikabe-sensei’s direction. “Putting my young student’s indiscretion aside, I have a question for you myself.” … and turns back toward Takaya. “Your predictions sound rather dire, being a doctorate in psychology myself… I have a bit more faith in humanity’s ability to cope with this ordeal. I would like to ask you, what makes you so certain that this Fall will come and in the exact manner you predict?” Shortly thereafter, he bows shallowly, and offers “Thank you.”

Yu headdesks softly as one of his professors, apparently attending the lecture, speaks ill of his behavior. Bad day indeed. Raising his head, momentarily, Yu then turns his gaze to Mushikabe-sensei and offers knowing look regarding Takaya’s appearance. That’s pretty much all he can do… given he’s been asked to be quiet…

Takaya Sakaki [S] has posed.
“Ah. Abe-Sensei I presume?” Takaya responds to the elderly man. “Well, I’m afraid that time is running short, so I can’t go into too much detail right now. I’ll fill the remainder of this seminar with a brief answer, and encourage you to read the much more detailed explanation in Apathy Now! when it comes out in about a month.”

He finishes his glass of water and looks at the room. “As we all know, if nobody finds a cure for Apathy Syndrome; which according to my observations is impossible, then the amount of Apaths will steadily increase, and it’ll get to the point where there are so few people capable of supporting society’s needs that society will collapse.”

“As for how the results after the Fall. I admit that it is partially conjecture, but I like to be optimistic.” He pauses for a few moments, “The world after the Fall as I feel it would be like is a world that I am unlikely to see for myself, but that would quite likely be a much better world all around.”

Takaya bows again, “Thank you all for attending. I hope I was informative, and don’t forget to pick up the book when it comes out.”

— Shortly afterwards, Yu and Megumi departed… going their separate ways. (Megumi was /tired/.) —