Rumors about a strange beverage were circling around the school. Apparently one of the other students here, Taya, had been walking out of her workspace with an odd drink. People had reported her being far more lively after drinking it. There were theories that she had used her ability, though no one was sure what that ability was, to create another genius invention. To be honest, Alto was beginning to think she didn't have one. That perhaps, just maybe, she too was teleported to this odd world as well. Unlikely. He continued making his way to his class quietly listening to the conversation happening around him.
"Have you heard of Taya lately? I last heard she was cooped up in her workshop for a while, and when she left she had a magic drink!"
"That kid from class 1-A? Yeah, a friend of mine is in that class. Apparently, she is able to stay up for days on end with a single cup! She also said the drink was very strange with neon colors swirling around it."
"Do you think my nose looks big?"
"I heard she wouldn't let anyone near it. Apparently, the last person who tried was stuck in the nurses' office for three days!"
"I heard about that too, but I thought he was paralyzed?"
These rumors were getting out of hand….Alto mused, but if the drink was what he thought it was… He'd made his decision. It was time to check out her workshop.
The day passed by as normal, classes were boring, kids were dumb, and Alto really wanted his computer back. Damn primitive world, make computers already! Not what he needs to think about! He slapped his cheeks knocking him out of his thoughts before they could spiral. His attention shifted to his current objective, finding out if Taya had coffee, he would have preferred energy drinks, but coffee would do.
He made his way to where he was pretty sure Taya's workshop was. As he neared the area he caught the distant smell of…. That was coffee. He surged forward, nearly running to locate where the smell was coming from. He passed by several doors with various names and designs written on them then slowed as the smell got stronger. His head spun around glancing at the names for a brief moment looking for Taya. He spotted the door to his left. His heart raced as a smile spread across his face. Without hesitation, he opened the door. The smell hit him full force making his mouth water slightly.
"Oh, my gods that is coffee."
"Wait, you know about coffee?!"
"Oh my gods it's really coffee, hold up," His head snapped to Taya, "You know about coffee?" He asked softly and with feeling.
"Yes, do you know about science as well?" She asked, clasping her hands together in front of her hope covering her features.
"Y-yeah, yeah I do, do you know about," He paused for a moment, "Galileo?" He asked, whispering the last part.
"Oh my god, I do." She said with feeling.
"Oh my god." He whispered.
"Oh, my god." She echoed.
"You're like me!"
"Yeah! Oh oh, do you know Darwin's theory of evolution?" She asked, clapping her hands together and bouncing on her toes.
"I do, I do!" He mirrored Taya by bouncing on his toes, "Do you know about the Pythagorean theorem?"
"A^2+B^2=C^2," she replied, her voice wobbling a bit as tears glistened in the corners of her eyes and a grin threatened to split her face. "Do you have moving pictures?"
"Yeah, we have movies. Do you have computers in your pocket?"
"We have those." She said her voice rising a few octaves.
"Thank the gods. Ok we know we are both technologically advanced, now, do you have superpowers in your world?"
"No, no we don't, we do have a lot of books on them tho."
"Aight so we are from different worlds, in my homeworld everyone has abilities, though they do get really weird. I knew a guy whose ability was only activated by going through the whole magic girl sequence, he had to do the theme song and everything" Alto says as he begins to calm down a bit, settling on his feet.
"I would kill to see that, speaking of which, what is your ability?"
"Coding, except I don't think it really got the memo. Originally, I was only able to use it on computers and see the easiest way to code a program, not really a strong power. Now however I can see and edit code, WHICH IS HELL BY THE WAY. Like it's so bad! Sure I enjoy the literal cheat codes I can give myself but have you EVER just looked at a person and recoiled because GOD DAMN that person is old like holy shit how out of date are you?! Because I've had that thought more times than I would like to admit." Alto ranted.
"Oh, that must suck, hey I think I can help you out with that."
"Really? How?"
"I can tell you how I got this coffee," Taya started looking to Alto for confirmation, he nodded his head, urging her to continue, "Right you need to go and hang out in the common room at 11:59 lay on the one nice coach and wait. You'll then be hit by a bolt of white light, the same kind that brought you here."
She paused to make sure he got all that, "You'll be dropped into a place called Lucky Charm, I need you to ask for a bag of the new coffee they have, once you have the bag ask where the game shop is there you can get some computers."
"I would have called you a liar a week ago, but at this point, I'll do anything to get a computer again."
"Oh and one last thing, make sure you have some interesting trinkets, put them in a bag, hell with some weird things if you have to. They don't have currency as we do."
"How do you know all this?"
"Jinx, the owner of the shop, gave me a sketchy tablet. It gives me updates on what is happening in the shop. Also tells me the easiest way to get to her dimension."
"Why does it change?"
"Yeah."
Alto was silent as he processed the information, "Alright."
A few days later it was finally Tuesday. Alto had gone out and bought several odd trinkets he found including but not limited to, a cute cat figure, a can of glowing worms, a nice necklace, and a box of hair coloring that changed with your mood. He put the items into a small backpack and headed to the common room. 11:30 it read.
The minutes passed slowly ticking up to 11:59 as Alto nervously clenched his backpack to his chest, he really hoped this worked… A flash then BAM! He was falling.
Oops, I did it again… thought a random third-year student, zapped another person to another dimension… I'm sure they'll be fine.
Alto hit the floor with a thud knocking the air out of his lungs. "ACk"
He pulled himself up to his feet and faced the counter where a person with blonde hair stood, "Hi can I get a large bag of your new coffee?" He asked, looking around the shop trying to reorient himself.
"No problem." The person said as she turned around to grab one of the bags off the back wall. As she did so another person walked out from behind the wall.
"Oh, I thought you were Taya."
"Close, we came from the same dimension."
"Ah, so that's why the signatures were identical."
Before the conversation could continue much further the blonde handed Alto a bag of coffee. "What did you get?"
Alto pulled out a cat figurine, "I got this thing."
The blonde seemed to think it over, "Yeah that'll do."
"Thank you, Oh! Before I leave, do you happen to know where I could get a computer?"
"Oh yeah there's a place just down the street that appeared just this morning."
"Thank you? What do you mean by 'just appeared'"
"I mean it literally just appeared."
"God this place is weird."
"Thanks!"
Alto left the shop and headed down the street looking around at all the bizarre buildings around it. None seemed to fit in, and none seemed to stand out either. It was odd.
Alto entered the dimension he came from in the same fashion he'd left, dramatically. Clenching the computer to his chest protectively he landed on the couch again.
"You got the coffee?"
Alto snapped his head to look at Taya, "Yeah."