"Good morning." Hikari greeted Viola as he sat down beside her inside the bus.
"Good morning." Viola responded to him as she eyed him from the side. No changes to his output. He really is holding back to be in the lay low.
Instead of continuing to read her book, Viola opted to just observe her seatmate. His crimson red eyes only contained… nothing. They were empty, void of any life. Viola knows that feeling. She worked tirelessly for 5 years just to find a goal that is her own and not something hard coded into their minds.
"Anything you want to ask?" Hikari looked at Viola, feeling a bit uncomfortable at her staring.
"What is your goal?" she replied bluntly.
"I just want to live a normal human life while also fulfilling my duty." he replied to her with the same bluntness.
Viola internally grumbled at that, but decided to not let it shoe on her face. "Is that really what you want in your life?"
"..." Instead of answering, Hikari decided to just stay quiet and let the question pass by. It didn't.
"I'm waiting."
"Haah, fine." Relenting, Hikari turned to look at his seatmate. "No, it's not. Can I help it though? You know how it feels for people like us."
Viola decided to stay silent at that. She knew how it felt to be made for a specific purpose after all. However, unlike her, she knew the man named Hikari Viator had it worse than her.
The whole ride to their academy went on like that. Pure silence that was filled with understanding. Looking towards Viola, Hikari sighed as he brought out his phone. "Here, type your number in so we can talk as much as you want."
Viola visibly brightened up at his proposal and eagerly took his phone. As she typed down her number, Hikari couldn't help but feel amused at her antics.
'Good thing she didn't end up like me.'
Hikari's mind wandered back to his days at the facility in Veritas as he watched the girl beside him smile happily. Those cold white walls that he used to call his room. His daily diet of bland meals and water. The voices that pushed him to his theoretical limits. The amount of people he…
"Here you go!"
Hikari snapped out of his thoughts when Viola handed him his phone back cheerfully. Taking back his phone, he saw that she already put her name in along with a butterfly emoji beside it. He didn't know why, but he found it quite amusing to say the least.
-x-X-x-
(Hikari POV)
"Yo, Hikari." I heard someone call out to me. Looking behind me I saw Aster grinning happily. "Wanna check out this new arcade that just opened?"
'Arcade huh? I haven't tried visiting one of those.' I didn't even need to think about it deeply, this was a once in a blue moon chance to try something new. "Alright then, shall we go?"
"Sure!"
Aster practically dragged me out of school with his excited gaze. I noticed something about him when he dragged me along. He was strong. Insanely strong in fact. If I'd have to rank him, he's most likely an S Rank at best. Still, I worry for him. I normally won't worry like this, but with my existence here, dangers created by mankind are bound to attack this place. Even he can't survive that long from 'them'.
"We're here!"
"Ah?"
I must have not noticed it due to my thoughts, I suppose I should pay more attention to my surroundings next time.
Entering the arcade with Aster, I… was overwhelmed. Loud noices from here and there were messing with my senses in an odd way. It wasn't pleasant nor unpleasant. I don't know how to describe it in all honesty.
"Is this normal?"
"Yeah! Arcades are places where people have fun!"
"I… see?"
That didn't answer my question in the slightest. Do normal people correlate fun with loud noices? Maybe so…
Then… chaos ensued. We first went for a shooting game. Aster had… really terrible accuracy. Like, really bad. It was abysmal. Even after 20 minutes of trying… he didn't get a single one. He's even worse than Akane…
"Let me try."
"Good luck…"
…Well that's a sorry sight. He looked absolutely defeated right now… Maybe I should get him that prize he wanted.
"How many points do you need for that console again?"
"Huh? Oh… don't bother, it's worth a thousand points."
"Got it."
Just like that, I hit all of the high earning targets, all of which were rapidly moving. It was easy in all honesty, all I had to do was predict the target's movements. After that, all of it came to me enchancing the bullet's speed with some Celest. It might be cheating, but in times like these, using every trick you have is the best answer.
Looking at my score, I was more than satisfied.
"N-no way…"
"I must admit, I'm good at this." I said as I smiled at him, a feeling still foreign to my features. Aster looked like he was about to cry, which was enough to get me to change my expression. "Okay…" I said, slowly backing away from Aster.
I gave him my card containing the points, we got this earlier when we went to the counter, and he went like a speeding bullet to get the console.
I sighed at his antics, opting to look around as he went and took his most wanted treasure.
This place really was big. Not only did it have a lot of games, there were even places to eat. In one such place, I saw a girl sitting alone. If not for her terrible disguise, I would have come to the conclusion that she was a loner. Just the thought of someone like her of all people being lonely made me chuckle.
Deciding not to bother her, I decided to turn away and mind my own business. Well, that was until I noticed a sudden spike in her Celest.
Quickly side stepping, I dodged the small energy tendrils that were just about to trap me in place. Then, using my own Celest, I matched her frequency to cancel any further usage of that specific move. With her moves successfully nullified, I walked to her with no problems.
"Let's have a talk, shall we?"
I only heard her gulp audibly before she nodded. I sat on the chair in front of her as she continued eating, albeit with a flush on her face as she failed to "dispatch" me.
"What are you doing here… Miss Leia?"
Leia Starfall, the so-called Rising Star. Kind of ironic really, with her last name being Starfall and all. The reason for her title was due to her being the most popular up and coming idols out there. However, based on the information I was told within the facility, there's more to her than meets the eye. And it seems that was true.
"Eating, isn't it obvious?"
"Oh? Why did you try to attack me?"
"Vessel. Why are you here?"
At that, I just deadpanned at her. Am I a bargain sale or something? It's only been two days and yet two people already know who I am. So much for being inconspicuous.
"I ran away."
"You WHAT!?" She slammed her hands on the table, almost breaking it had I not reinforced it with my Celest. Ah, I forgot that she's also only second to me in terms of power. "Why would someone like you run away!? Do you know just how much you just messed up!?"
"I do." That much was true. With me running away, Veritas will openly try to search for me. I won't be surprised if they asked for help from the Ten. At the very least, I know Viola won't do anything.
"Then why!?"
This time, before she could even slam her fists on the table, I caught her wrist. Using my other hand, I put a finger on my lips in a shushing motion. "Don't be too loud."
Only after she calmed down, I let her go. This is gonna be one hell of a talk…