Reaching the hostels, Grey checked his messages. After all, he wouldn't be able to go to the cafeteria without approval from the Labs. The reason he was even allowed to go to class was that they had concluded that he was relatively non-hazardous if he didn't allow anybody to have physical contact with him.
[ You have 4 new messages]
[ From Xxxxx-xxxx-Expand]
[ From Ema-Expand]
[ From Jake-Expand]
Grey's eyes widened as he saw the messages floating in front of him. He had completely forgotten about those two. Looking around himself, he considered that this wasn't the best place to answer them. Gritting his teeth, he tapped the message from the unknown number.
[ Ranker Grey, you've been classified as safe. From the experiments conducted, it's been concluded that the microbes your curse generates can only survive less than 5 seconds away from your skin or without infecting living beings. It's also been concluded that these microbes are only present on your skin and cannot be found anywhere else. You are therefore allowed to attend all public activities as long as your skin is completely covered. Only necessary parts are allowed to be left open. Also, be sure to properly dispose of any utensils used while eating in the cafeteria. It is advised that you handle your curse responsibly as you will be held responsible for any casualty it causes. Click the attachment below for proper guidelines on handling your curse.
File: Handling.phf]
'They really are efficient.'
They sent him the message more than 4 hours ago, meaning they had analyzed his true curse and generated proper methods of handling it in less than 12 hours.
'AI has gotten scary.'
He mused, smiling a little as they had finally reached their floor.
"So are you stopping here? There isn't much time before dinner," Ember said, her neutral voice almost sounding excited.
"Not really. I've been cleared, I think I can follow you to the cafeteria."
"Alright, then what are you waiting for? Let's go."
If he wasn't sure before, he was sure now she was definitely excited. Of course, it was the same for him; just the word "dinner" gave him flashbacks of last night. By the time he looked at Ember, she was already at the end of the corridor.
"It's the second bloody time."
He cursed under his breath before rushing after her. The school cafeteria wasn't anything special; it was more focused on giving them a comfortable and homey feel. Hence, it was oddly reminiscent of a high school one.
The smell of cooked food that permeated the atmosphere of the cafeteria was already making him drool. So, following Ember's footsteps, he collected all available samples of food before returning to his table.
The food was quite simple, as was yesterday's. It was BBQ rice, a serving of chicken soup, with some sauces on the side, and some ice cream for dessert. Even on the rare occasions when Grey ate normal food, he hardly ever found meat in it. This was the first time he had ever seen so much meat in a dish.
Looking at Ember, she had started digging into her food with relish. Seeing this, Grey didn't waste time doing the same. The smoky and spicy nature of the BBQ and the chicken soup fit perfectly with the slightly sweet and savory flavor of the rice. The ice cream just helped to wash everything down with its sweet creaminess.
Grey rested his back on the chair, releasing a satisfied smile before looking at Ember, who was now begrudgingly eyeing the counter.
"Can you actually believe it? They have so much meat here. I heard rumors before, but I never thought any of them were true."
Ember
happily looked back at Grey.
"Yeah, apart from yesterday, I've only ever had meat once before."
Grey chuckled.
"You're really lucky. I've only ever known food paste. I don't know who in their goddamned mind classified that shit as food."
She replied, her face scrunching in a grimace.
His body cringed, remembering the sort of theories he had seen online about its production.
"It really shouldn't be. Nobody even knows what it's made of."
Ember calmed down a little.
"Well, I guess I really shouldn't be hating on it. Without it, almost half of this city would be dead."
"I guess so, even though it can't come from anywhere good. It's basically the lifeblood of people like us."
Grey sighed.
Ember gave him a weird look before she kept quite.
The mood died down as both of them fell silent. Grey was a little surprised, though; he had never heard Ember speak that much about anything.
'Food is really powerful.'
Taking in the surroundings of the cafeteria, he was able to confirm a suspicion he initially had. The students were separated into 3 groups: the nobles and children of rich households, the medium earners and some common folk, and then the poor and the slum rats. The segregation could be seen just by the kind of gadgets they wore and their mannerisms. Although this grouping wasn't absolute, as various anomalies like rich kids hanging with the middle class and middle-class kids hanging with the poor occurred, there was rarely any interaction between the poor and the nobles, with only two of them being part of the noble clique.
Of course, that didn't mean that the poor were miserable. Each group was led by one of the persons Grey saw fight this morning. The rich and noble were led by the noble girl, the middle class (with some rich and poor) were led by Lucius from earlier, while the poor were led by Orion. It was already clear that Orion was the weakest of the bunch, while Grey couldn't determine who was stronger, Lucius or the girl. Grey had already watched enough high school anime to be aware of what such a separation meant, so he wisely chose not to associate with any of them, which automatically made him join the fourth group: the group of people who didn't give a shit about politics. This one was unsurprisingly leaderless and had a good mix of people from different backgrounds.
"Alright, I'm heading back now," Ember's eerie voice broke him out of his thoughts as she slowly stood up.
"I think I should be going too."
He followed her, moving from his seat before walking behind her.
'Besides, it's about time I finally reply to them.'
A grim look crossed his face as he followed closely behind Ember.