Chapter 11: The Professor's Mentor

When the Professor woke up, Zenobi had already left. He was a little disappointed, but not in any way surprised. It was around 11 am by the time that he got up. He wanted to thank her in person for watching his house, but that was no longer an option.

The Professor took out his cell phone and called his mentor. It had been quite some time since they had spoken, not because anything was wrong. They were both just very busy with their research and left little time for much else.

“Hello,” a soft male voice on the other end said.

“Hello, Kumotsuki, it has been quite some time.” Professor Thelete stated, a little sad at how long it had been since they had spoken to one another.

“Jared san? Is that you?” Kumotsuki said in a hopeful tone.

“Indeed, it is. Listen, I was hoping that you would want to meet up for lunch. I have a lot going on right now and could really use your help. Not only that, but it would be great to see you again.” Professor Thelete said.

“Yes. I would very much like that. Shall we meet at our usual place, in say about an hour?” Kumotsuski said with great joy.

“Absolutely!” Professor Thelete said with a grin on his face.

“Great. I will see you there.” Kumotsuki said with glee, and then hang up the phone.

An hour had come and gone, and the Professor was just pulling into the parking lot when he saw his mentor standing by the entrance waiting for him.

Kumotsuki was an elderly Japanese man in his late fifties to early sixties with long white hair flowing down to his back and was mostly a very traditional Japanese person. He was Professor Thelete’s mentor when the would-be professor was working on his doctorate’s degree.

Kumotsuki had gotten his doctorates degree in mythology as well, specifically for his research into his homeland’s ancient belief system of Shintoism. This is probably why he likes this restaurant so much because it is a Japanese place that specializes in sushi and has artwork depicting the Kami (gods) of his homeland.

“You chose a good day to want to meet up. It is all you can eat sushi day for only $20 dollars!” Kumotsuki said with great delight. “It is good to see you again. I already spoke to the staff and got us an area with the boats that go round and some green tea, of course!”

(It is good to know that some things never change.) Professor Thelete thought to himself.

“Why don’t we eat first and then afterwards we can talk about what is going on,” Kumotsuki suggested.

“It is good to see you again, too. And, yes, that will be fine. Please lead the way to where we are seated.” Professor Thelete said, glad to see his mentor again.

The Professor and Kumotsuki sat down and began to choose an assortment of various sushi and sashimi rolls from the miniature boats that were making their way in a circle delivering food to the various patrons.

Kumotsuki poured both himself and Professor Thelete some green tea and then said “itadakimasu” before digging into an unagi roll.

After both of them consumed copious amounts of sushi and sashimi, the Professor caught his mentor up on everything that had happened to him in the previous 24 hours and even showed him the note that Zenobi handed him that a certain Hypatia Valemiya wrote.

Kumotsuki listened intently, only stopping the professor every once in a while, for the sake of clarification on one point or another. Kumotsuki waited patiently for the professor to discuss the governmental agents, the woman from the secret society to protect Atlantis, Zenobi, the Billionaire and the proposal meeting.

“I see why you are concerned and wanted to see me,” Kumotsuki said pensively. “Yesterday, for you, was definitely a very strange day indeed.”

“What do you think that I should do? Do you think that I should continue down this path? If so, do you think I should do so with the billionaire or with one of the governments that approached me?” Professor Thelete asked with bated breath.

“Jared san, you put too much on the line for you to just give up on this completely and you have a real chance to not just study mythology but to be a part of it, not only that but potentially rewrite history.” Kumotsuki said.

“Wouldn’t it be wonderful to prove that all of your research was worth it, not just to the naysayers, but yourself as well? I think that you should continue pursuing your dreams. With that said, you should also take great caution. Clearly there are a lot of others who are interested in your research.” Kumotsuki continued.

“I know nothing about this secret society that you speak of, but if they are at odds with the governments of this world, it would be wise to not add another reason for them to stop you. I would suggest choosing to work with the Nathan Bauer instead,” Kumotsuki concluded.

“That is an excellent point,” Professor Thelete noted.

“Furthermore, I would suggest that you dig into this society a bit more and see if you can find anything out about them. I would be more than happy to help you look into them. As for the strange characteristics of the house sitter, I have seen them before.” Kumotsuki added.

“What do you mean you have seen them before?” The professor asked, completely puzzled.

“Many decades ago, when I was a small boy, I saw a being that I believed to be a Kami (god) when I was visiting a shrine with my family. The Kami (god) matches your description almost perfectly except the hair color and it was man instead of woman.”

“I was so enchanted by what I saw I spent the rest of my life researching Shintoism in order to discover the truth of that day. Jared san, I cannot say for sure, but I believe that the being you saw is indeed a Kami,” Kumotsuki said excitedly.