The week went by fairly quick and they were on their last day to complete the hacking assignment, Darren and Ito were the only two who hadn't managed to figure it out as of yet, "Its easy" Anya said, "Simple non?" was Jeanne's response. "Easy, and simple, don't help, the most I can use computers for is research and games" Darren stated a little annoyed, Aleksi walked over and handed Darren a small thumb drive "try this" he said. Darren opened the website then plugged the drive into the tablet, a program started to run that showed various information pop up onto the screen moving by quickly till the admin account opened up. "Cheater!" Anya complained, "What was that?" Darren asked, "Its a program for people who lack an affinity for hacking, it doesn't work for everything but for simple security systems its a snap" he responded. Using the drive Ito and Darren were able to finish the assignment, according to Aleksi it wasn't actually cheating since he ran its use by Mr. Semenov before he used it himself. "Jon is going to be back after the weekend isn't he" Ito asked in a somber tone, "He is" Anya said, "I asked my dad about it last night, he wasn't that badly injured but he said they had him visit a psychiatrist till his mental state stabilized." "Also, they're going to remove him from our class, he's going to be placed in with the regular students dad said his attitude isn't fitting for the elite" Anya said.
Darren woke up early as usual and had his morning run with Ito, Anya tried to join them a couple of times but she couldn't keep up and preferred sleeping in or going to the library anyways, "So were you able to get the time off to join us today?" Darren asked. Ito nodded, they planned an outing to downtown Moscow on their day off, Anya suggested it, "I wonder if they sell anything from home" Ito pondered. "Well it is the capital so you never know" Darren said, they were within sight of the dorms now, they could see Aleksi walking towards them, "Heading to morning practice?" Darren asked wiping the sweat from his forward. "Yeah, they asked me to put in an extra hour with the other newbies because of our outing later" Aleksi said, "Don't wear yourself out to much" Ito said, "Seen our glorious president yet this morning?" Darren said jokingly. "Knowing her she's probably still drooling into her pillow" Aleksi said, the three of them laughed, "I'll have you know I've been awake for exactly ten minutes" came Anya's retort from the dorm entrance, "And I don't drool!" "Apparently you don't brush your hair when you wake up this early either" Darren said, Anya's hair was all messy and stuck to the side of her face, she looked like she just put on whatever was within reach before leaving her room. "Your socks don't match" Ito observed, Anya looked flustered, she clearly hadn't fully woken up yet, "Why did you some outside before you were fully awake?" Darren asked. "Imagine what the dorm supervisor would say if she saw you like that" Ito said, as if on cue the middle aged women's dorm supervisor walked into the lobby and saw them chatting "My word Ms. Vasaliev! how indecent there are men present" the woman scolded. No one had noticed yet but Anya had left her room wearing only a long crinkly white shirt, the dorm supervisor half walked her half dragged her back to her room. Anya's loud protestations could be heard for a while from inside the building, they all laughed, "How indecent" Ito mimicked, "Imagine the scolding she'd get if that supervisor heard the way she talks on a regular basis" Darren said laughing.
They all met up around noon at the school gate, Jeanne wasn't there however, "She couldn't get out of the martial arts club for the day" Aleksi said, "That's to bad, we'll have to have her join us next time" Darren said. It wasn't long before they all met up before the transport arrived, Darren, Ito and Aleksi assumed they'd be taking typical paid transportation when a Genetech Corporation vehicle pulled up. "My dad doesn't like me taking public transports" Anya admitted "You're such a princess" Darren teased, "That's not very nice Darren" Ito said, "I'd feel bad for princesses being compared to a perv like Anya." Anya feigned anger well they all laughed "I'll get you back for this Ito" she pouted, The vehicle pulled away from the school and down the dreary road to Moscow, "They really should do something about the countryside" Darren thought out loud, "I know what you mean" Ito replied "I miss the greenery from back home, though if it wasn't for Earthwave i'm sure Japan would look like this now too." "What's Earthwave?" Aleksi asked, "Its a corporation which stresses environmentally friendly energy, they mostly specialize in solar power but I heard they've been working on a new energy source" Ito said. "Isn't solar power kind of weak?" Aleksi asked, "It used to be" Darren replied "Earthwave collects solar energy from space, they have space stations which collect it directly then send it wirelessly to receiver stations in Canada." "Of course the space stations aren't manned, everything is automated, the radiation given off by being that close to the sun would kill off any organic life forms" Darren said.
They arrived at the Siniy shopping mall, one of the few restored buildings in Russia and the biggest mall in the country, a trackless train system ran through its center that could take you anywhere in Moscow in an instant. "Lunch first" Aleksi said seeing Anya and Ito looking at a clothing shop which had all the latest fashions, "Men" Anya grumbled, Darren was surprised to see the size of this mall, the largest he'd ever been in was one in Vancouver which you could fit two of in here. The group headed to the food court Aleksi leading, he grew up in Moscow and knew his way around the mall fairly well. Darren was surprised to find they had options other then just Russian cuisine here, he immediately spotted a shop serving what he wanted, "What should we have?" Anya asked, Ito followed Darren's view and smiled. Ito grabbed Darren by the arm and they ran over to the ramen shop that he was staring at, Anya looked annoyed but Ito gave her a self satisfied look in return, "Rival?" Aleksi asked, "Shut up" Anya retorted.
Anya and Ito dragged Darren around some clothing shops while Aleksi went around getting some equipment for his club, the shopping trip was pretty typical, Ito found a shop selling traditional Japanese clothes. "Try it on, please!" Anya said, "I'd like to see too" Ito pleaded, "Fine" Darren finally caved, Ito had picked out an outfit typical worn by men in Japanese ceremonies including a haori and hakama. Darren had worn a similar outfit during a coming of age ceremony his grandfather was attending back in Canada, he stopped for a moment, his grandfather, why did he have to wear traditional clothes for his grandfather again. As he was contemplating Anya swung the changing room curtain open revealing Darren in his half dressed state "Anya" Ito exclaimed covering her eyes. Anya blushed bright red not expecting the state of undress she had revealed, Darren pulled the curtain shut, finished dressing then proceeded to smack Anya atop the head, "You ridiculous woman, what were you expecting?" he questioned her.
"That was to much even for you Anya" Ito said still embarrassed, Ito gave a light hearted chuckle unusually well behaved for her, she hadn't cracked a dirty joke or made an inappropriate comment since the incident. "Something happen?" Aleksi asked, "Nothing really just Anya being Anya" Darren remarked, "I'll have to be more careful if we do this again" he said mostly talking to himself, they headed towards the entrance where Anya's father had a transport waiting for them.
"So what's the word on that student planned event?" Darren asked mostly to break the tension, "The regular students wanted to have a team battle tournament in the underground training hall, groups of three" Anya replied. "The faculty are okay with it, it just needs to be reviewed budget wise and have some more defined guidelines, we'll be reviewing it after the long weekend," she said, "That sounds fun" Darren said. "We should probably butt out though, we've already been drawing attention in a bad way" he said remembering the incident him and Ito were recently involved in, "Apparently they want us to take part" Anya replied. "Some of the men and women of the regular courses refuse to acknowledge we are better then them without seeing it first hand, they demanded that we participate" she said. "Ugh... they're just going to make us earn even more resentment" Darren complained "I think its a good idea" Ito said, "If we put them in their place they can stop hurling unwarranted accusations at us." Anya, Darren, and Aleksi were surprised that came from Ito, "She's right, when I walk by the regular students I quite often hear them complaining about favoritism because I'm the directors daughter" Anya whined, "I won't be competing" Aleksi admitted, "I hate these stupid conflicts, it was bad enough with Jon." "I don't think Jeanne will either, she told me she didn't feel confident enough to compete again till she improved her fighting ability."
The corporate vehicle pulled up to the entry gate, they got out and walked together towards the dorm building, it had gotten dark, Darren checked his communicator, it was eight o clock, "Wow we were out for a while" he said. 'Yeah, it was fun, we should do this again sometime" Anya replied, "I'll go" Ito said, "Maybe over the long weekend?" Darren suggested "I've got rugby" Aleksi admitted, "But you might be able to get Jeanne to go with you guys to make up for this time" he said. Everyone said goodnight as they parted ways in the lobby and headed off to bed.