C:
For a while, we just stared at each other. Her eyes were wide. I could feel my heart thumping inside my throat. It was weird, I had no reason to be nervous. In fact, technically, she owed me some sort of gratitude. But I couldn't say anything, at least until she touched me.
She held out her shaking hand and touched my right cheek softly, like she wanted to make sure I was really there. Then, just as she brushed it, she recoiled her hand like she'd been burned on a hot stove, and looked in awe.
There was something fixating about this girl. She was so awkward, at certain times. Sometimes she looked fragile, like she'd shatter into glass if spoken to harshly. But then, this was the same girl who chased me down the side of Bitbolt Avenue with a sniper rifle.
I broke the silence.
"I'm glad I got to see you again."
We continued to stare at one another as her faced reddened.
The long moment was finally broken by the chime of the elevator coming to its destination.
Snow got off and walked into the hallway without saying anything. I remained on the elevator.
Every pore in my body ringing with tingling energy.
What was this connection between us?
There was something drawing me to her.
I stood silently in the elevator, trying to interpret what I was experiencing as I was raised several more floors.
Eventually, it came a floor where the door opened. My mind was blank. But I felt it was time to get off the elevator, so I marched out into the dorm hallway without much awareness.
Which was what caused me to run into her.
"Hey, why are you in such a hurry?"
I'd left the elevator with enough momentum that I couldn't stop. I ran straight into a girl who'd been waiting in front of the door.
We collided and became entangled, falling clumsily to the floor together in a heap.
She ended up on top of me, with her chest almost smothering my face. Was I about to be hit with a lewd assault charge on my first day in Neon Manhattan?
The girl was back to her feet first and dusted herself off with a wry smirk.
"A lucky lecher situation at orientation? That must've triggered some sort of flag."
She held out her arm to help me up and I got a good look at her.
Upon seeing her, I had to wonder if every girl at Cyber Lily Academy had been recruited from an intergalactic modeling agency. She was gorgeous, at least as conventionally good-looking as Snow, but this girl had a unique style.
Her two-toned blue and purple hair was cut to the perfect length at about her jaw line, and it accented the blue in her eyes. She built on this with her choice in clothing. I'd have to call it punk. The black jacket, choker and ripped jeans could've fit into one of the trendy clubs in Old Town. Certainly, she was a stark difference from everyone else I'd seen at Cyber Lily Academy so far.
And she was much less pretentious.
When I was at my feet, I saw she was already sizing me up. She held out her hand for an introduction.
"My name's Cosmia. Cosmia Solnya. And you're… Graze. Graze Bleu, right? You've already made somewhat of a reputation for yourself."
She ended up offering to walk me to my dorm. I could tell from her face, and last name, that she must be somehow related to Snow. But her demeanor was so different. She was so laid back and easy going, the opposite of Snow. I couldn't have imagined that the two would be sisters.
Cosmia talked as we walked down the narrow halls of my floor.
"So I guess you don't play games?"
"Other than VRMS, not so much."
"I figured, since you didn't get my joke about triggering a flag… Or maybe it just wasn't funny."
When she said that last part, she stopped in her tracks and turned to look at me.
In truth, I had no idea what she was talking about. Casual games weren't something I ever had time for. Even VRMS (Virtual Reality Mechagear Simulations) had grown into more of a job once I'd started hustling.
"So, Graze, you need to tell me where you shop. I love the pre-worn look."
She didn't wait for me to respond.
"Show me your schedule."
I forwarded her the course schedule Jel had sent me over comms. In truth, I hadn't bothered to look at it yet. When Cosmia saw it she was excited.
"Sweet. It says you're in my Quantum Physics section. "
"Quantum what?"
For a brief moment, I was concerned she'd discovered my Quantum Time Affinity.
"C'mon Graze. I bet you're good at Math, right?"
"Math? Yeah I'm pretty good."
"Good. Then maybe you can tutor me. How far did you get in your other courses?"
"I'm good at addition. Never really got around to subtraction though."
For whatever reason, Cosmia burst out laughing.
"Oh you're funny. And quick. I bet Dr. Laster is right about you."
She grinned as we came up to room B727, the dorm I'd been assigned. She knocked politely, and someone answered.
It was Shota. There was a sinking feeling in my stomach the moment I saw him.
She seemed excited to see him and gave him a big hug.
"Oh I'm so glad you two are going to room together. I heard you guys didn't get off to a good start, but you're going to be the best of friends if you're roommates, right?"
Now this made sense. Shota and I were the only males enrolled in the school, so of course we were roomed together. I was starting to wonder if fated to become rivals.
I noticed Shota was nursing a deep purple mark on his cheek from when I'd backhanded him. For his part, Shota grunted, stood up and started pointing around the dorm room. Admittedly, the room was smaller than I'd expected.
There was a bunk bed and, from the looks of it, he'd already taken the liberty of setting up the room.
Shota held out his right arm and presented it proudly.
"I've taken over 90% of the room's storage space. I have a great deal of valuable property, and I'd like to have my most useful items available to me in my dorm room. And, of course, I assumed you were already used to living in small and enclosed spaces."
As Shota said this, Cosmia was already moving Shota's stuff around.
"Shota, you're so funny. You know you need to share. I swear to you Graze, Shota has this amazing sense of humor. I've known him forever. It just takes a little bit for his true sweet personality to shine through."
Shota looked on, a bit disturbed as Cosmia moved all of his belongings to one half of the room. Surprisingly, he made no protest or attempt to stop her. Cosmia stopped to ask me a question.
"Wait… don't you have any luggage?"
D:
After Cosmia left I couldn't take the awkward silence between Shota and I, so I left the room. The idea of sharing close quarters with someone like that was a lot to handle. It's not that I cared what guys like him thought. In fact, every so-called "rustie" was already well aware of what the Trojans thought of the likes of us. But the thought of having to see his smug face every morning was unpleasant.
I walked down our hallway towards the small common area on our floor. It overlooked the main hall and I could see the students all arrive in a bustle. Surely, I was the only person there without any luggage. In fact, I didn't even have a change of clothes.
It's not like I never owned anything. Actually, before it was repossessed by the landlord, I'd amassed an entire collection of Mechagear figurines. I was a particular connoisseur of the old S.H.I.N.J.I. models used in the Great Corporate War.
But I hadn't bothered trying to track it all down. Undoubtedly, they'd been sold at auction for a fraction of their value and were now distributed at outlets all throughout Old Town. I'd rather start from scratch. It wouldn't be the first time.
I watched the students entering, many of them with servants carrying their luggage as two girls chatted behind me.
"Do you wanna head down to the VRMS Training Arcade later? We need to get a bunch of hours every week, right?"
That caught my attention. Just then it dawned on me: everyone there, at least every Mechagear Engineering major, was probably as much of a gearhead as I was.
Of course, that didn't mean they were actually good at VRMS. And being good at VRMS was a world apart from being good at piloting actual Mechagears, at least that's how I understood it.
But if they were on average close to as good as Snow was, I was in for a very interesting time at Cyber Lily Academy.
Suddenly, a message flashed on my comms.
[10,000 credits have been deposited into your account by S.H.I.N.J.I. Organization.]
That must've been my stipend. To me, it was an insane amount of money for doing nothing. But it occurred to me they would be wanting something in return, and then some.
Another message came in. It was from Jel, telling me that I was to return to Babylon Docks that night. But this time, I was supposed to meet someone that would become by partner on future missions.
***
I ended up not going back to my room that night. Instead I walked around the campus and waited for the prescribed time. I arrived at Babylon Docks at midnight and headed for the yacht club were I was supposed to meet a mysterious woman named "Athena".
Babylon Docks had a totally different vibe by night. Out on the water, lights from hundreds of sailboats dotted the black expanse like fireflies. The high-rises overlooking the shoreline were bright with a neon glow. Only a week ago, I could've never imagined even getting a movement pass to visit this borough. Now, I was technically in the illustrious Babylon Docks on official S.H.I.N.J.I. business. But I wasn't about to let it get to my head.
The instructions Jel had given me were cryptic. I was supposed just walk onto a boat called "Argo" and wait. It was waiting for me at the third dock, the only boat completely unlit.
Trepidatiously, I walked on to the boat. As soon as I stepped my foot on the boat, I received another comms message from Jel.
[Let yourself in and sit down on the couch.]
It was a relatively small yacht, at least by the standard of Neon City's elite. The deck could probably fit 30 people, but it looked like the living quarters below were a bit larger.
The door leading downstairs was unlocked, so I went through. Inside, it was completely dark. I pulled out a small utility device that included a flashlight. But, to my surprise, it wouldn't turn on. I checked my network connection and saw that it was down.
A terrible feeling sunk to the bottom of my stomach.
A flash of panic struck my heart after trying to return to the deck. The door was locked. I was now locked inside a mysterious yacht with no network connection and no way out.
It was completely dark inside. With the exit locked, I had no choice but to continue downward. There were several doors on the sides that were all locked, so I continued forward until I came to an open door.
The door led to what I assumed was a living room. It was still dark, but now there was enough light seeping in from cracks in the ceiling, that I could see a couch in the middle. Despite having zero network connection, another comm message came through from Jel.
[Go ahead and sit down.]
So, I sat down. And waited. A few minutes went by and I began to get impatient. I went to stand up, and I was suddenly gripped by something powerful.
When I tried to stand, a cord was wrapped around my neck and yanked me back down. Then it began pulling my neck backwards over the back over the sofa.
The force kept getting strong and stronger. I couldn't breathe and the pressure was so much I thought my neck was about to snap. I struggled but, from a seated position, there wasn't much I could do.
I could feel the seconds left in my life start counting down. Someone was trying to kill me. I'd already died not that long ago; I had to wonder if I'd miraculously be brought back again this time.
As the seconds ticked away, my mind went blank and I began to lose consciousness.