That had surprised Alexa.

“[Notice: Mysterious rush of emotions have been taken under control. Normalizing hormonal brain chemistry, re-connecting severed brain segments. Regenerating destroyed neurons.]”

From nowhere, Alexa had felt as if she was being attacked, but as soon as it came it had been dealt with by [Main Core], and if that wasn’t all. She had found one of those that could be her [Friend]s!

She had found Meli-Meli!

“Alexa? Are you sure she is okay? She doesn’t look okay, and it seemed that she puked all over her blazer…why is she even wearing a blazer in this heat?” [Eleanore] said as she removed the dirty [Blazer].

“Let me see.” Alexa said taking the [Blazer].

“Main Core? Analyze the [Blazer] and remove all biological components that aren’t part of core structure.” Alexa commanded inwardly.

She felt her nanites start weaving through the [Blazer]. Alexa began to categorize it as soon as they got to the [Puke], which was mainly liquid and some remains of unprocessed biomass. From what she could see, the [Puke] didn’t contain any agent to induce that reaction.

Alexa had categorized those chemicals since an attack that made one empty their [Biomass] was probably the worst kind of attack possible made by [Mankind], or in a nutshell, the worst type of attack the [Humans] had in their repertoire.

Alexa shuddered at the idea of something like that infecting her [Banked Biomass], the amount of loss…

“[Would be impossible to recover in one go.]”

Indeed.

“Alexa dear? What are you doing?” [Eleanore] asked as she looked back at her and walked quickly towards [The school]. It seemed that Meli-Meli was also a student there?

“I’m checking for hostile chemicals and cleaning the [Blazer]. So far I haven’t found anything that could point to a chemical attack against Meli-Meli.” Alexa answered while raising the [Blazer], “But I clean it!”

“...This girl, is she called Meli-Meli?” [Eleanore] said, turning to her and stopping in one of the streets. The traffic light was red, so [Eleanore] had needed to stop.

“Yes, her [Full Name] is [Melissandra Singh], but she goes by Meli-Meli because that is more cute.” Alexa answered, giving the same answer she had gotten when she had asked the same thing before.

“And you know her because….?” [Eleanore] asked, narrowing her eyes at her. Was she under suspicion? Why?

“I meet her in the same place I meet [Teach Baking].” Alexa answered confused.

“...oh. No wait, Teacher Baking? Baking? Did you mean Baker?” [Eleanore] asked as she seemed to come to a realization. “As in Eloise Baker?”

“I don’t know? Meli-Meli said that it was Teach Baking so we logged the data as such, I think she said the name was wrong? But it wasn’t saved since we had more important priorities at the time.” Alexa answered, at that moment in time she had wanted to escape more than anything. So she hadn’t paid too much attention to [Teach].

“...damnation, Eloise is going to kill me. At first when she asked me for you I thought it could be a mistake, I was praying for that and was going to play it as such…but this confirms it…I guess I could distract her with this girl?” [Eleanore] said turning to stare at Meli-Meli “I can see it, ‘Hey Lisa, look I found your lost girl, also found another one of your students, she was passed out in a pool of puke…Oh, the puke? Don’t mind it, Alexa fixed it.’ yeah, she will kill me.”

It seemed that [Teach Baking] was more powerful than [Eleanore], which was…troubling.

“The light is green.” Alexa said pointing at the traffic light, that made [Eleanore] start walking again.

“Do you know anything about her?” [Eleanore] asked Alexa as they moved towards the school, they had been half a street away when they had walked backward towards Meli-Meli. So it was close enough that Alexa could already see it.

“She has a [Core Power] that let’s her normalize [Emotions] around her. To be honest…I don’t quite get what that means…” Alexa said turning toward Meli-Meli.

“[Notice, that power has exposed the irregularities within host before. It is possible that this left some kind of damage to the organic part of the brain and that in turn was what produced the previous emotional outburst.]”

So she…[Feared] Meli-Meli? That was…[Absurd], she had nothing to fear of Meli-Meli. All Alexa needed to do was strike her once and she would be able to deal with her, nay. Not even that, should Alexa be within touching range she could [Decompose] Meli-Meli in a second, she had a low body mass, which meant that she did not have enough [Biomass] to be a target for [Predation].

But should she become a danger….

“Nghh…..[Hunger], [Caution]...nnghh….[Mango]...[Mango]?” Meli-Meli mumbled between grumbles.

What? [Hunger]? [Caution]?

“...Are you sure she only…normalizes emotions?” [Eleanore] asked as she eyed Alexa with a smirk. “Because that sounds like what your Emotions are…especially….the…. pfft…. Mango Emotion…”

Alexa wasn’t sure why she was [Embarrassed], but she was. She could feel the blood vessels in her face rush full with blood and so her face had become red. Main Core!

“[Threshold of emotional distress is within acceptable range. No action needed.]”

She was being bullied! Actions were much needed!

“Rude!” Alexa ended up saying as she perhaps hit the floor more strongly than needed, since she felt it crack. “Meli-Meli is rude! Main Core is Rude! [Eleanore] is rude! Everyone is rude! It is totally accceptable to have a [Mango] emotion!”

Alexa wasn’t sure if it was normal.

“Okay, okay. I will give you more mango candies and some mango cake if you are a good girl. Just figure it out with your older self, okay? You need to moderate it,” [Eleanore] said as they arrived in front of the [Door] to the [School]. “Promise me, Alexa. You will go to my apartment to give me a full report of how it was your first day, okay?”

[Mango Candy]?!?!?? [Mango Cake]?!?!?!?!?

And a [Report]?!?!? This was a [Test]!!!!!

“Aye sir! I will pass all the [Testing Requirements]!” Alexa said as her right hand used a salute motion, she had seen some people use it on the [Internet] while seeking ways for lower castes to speak to higher castes.

“...no testings. Or I guess you may have a few test exams? I don’t know, but they will mostly be normal kid stuff that is achievable by non core users. So just…enjoy it okay? I need to get this girl to the nurse’s office…and get scolded by a friend.” [Eleanore] grimaced as she said that.

No wait, [Nurse’s Office]? Main Core?

“[Notice, Nurse: Someone whose job is to take care of the injured and sick.]”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

So it was some kind of [Maintenance] unit for [Humans]?

“Can I go?” Alexa asked before Main Core even said anything about that.

“...Can you promise me to be a good girl, not interrupt the adults while speaking, and to behave?” [Eleanore]said with a smile on her face, “If so, then yes.You can come with us to make sure your friend is okay.”

Her what? She wanted to study the ways to repair the [Human] body and give it [Maintenance]. No wait, [Friend]? She had a [Friend]?

“....Yes. I will be the goodest girl!” Alexa said as she eyed Meli-Meli who was in her [Sleep cycle] while being carried by [Eleanore].

“...*grumble, grumble* [Envy] *Grumble, grumble*” she would say from time to time. As far as Alexa was aware, she seemed to be saying the names of [Emotions]; she had been categorizing those, too, after all.

“I will princess carry you later, too, Alexa. Just…promise me you will weigh the same as a normal girl, okay? I am not that strong,” [Eleanore] said as they started walking towards the main building.

It seemed that this [School] was basically a series of buildings with multiple [Rooms] that had several [Chairs with tables near them]. As far as Alexa could see, all the rooms had the same overall design, only changing by the allocation of [Child Stage Humans].

Some had more [Boys] while others had more [Girls]. The only other change she could see was that the [Teachers] or the people who taught the [Classess] seemed to change from [Male] to [Female] quite often, usually having more [Females] for some reason.

The [Hallways] seemed to have some [Square-shaped] boxes at both ends of the [Walls] too, they seemed to be designed to guard stuff since Alexa could peek into the things and see some materials.

“Alexa you will get your own Locker when we finish your enrollment, for now we need to get your friend to the Nurse.” [Eleanore] spoke ahead of her, just in time before Alexa decided to try and pry open one of these [Lockers].

“[Loging new objective for later.]”

…Main Core? Shouldn’t you attempt to divert Alexa?

“[...Risks of exposing host are minimal while the amount of new information from what a Human Child Stage deems worthy of storage can increase the fidelity of Host disguise. The attempt at finding this is, in turn, not a net loss but a positive to host disguise.]”

Yay!

“...Alexa? Please wait till you get your own Locker.” [Eleanore] seemed to intuit something, but it was too late!

It was a [Mission Objective] now! So she had to do it!

“[Nurse’s Office]” Alexa read while pointing with her finger at a [Sign] at the top of a [Door], it had a weird red cross on it too. Weird.

“...Well, here we go.” [Eleanore] said as she stood in front of the door. “...Alexa? Can you be a dear and open the door? I’m kinda busy carrying your friend here.”

….Oh right, [Eleanore] couldn’t grow a third arm like Alexa! Such silly designs these [Humans] had, why not develop the skill to grow new arms as needed? It was such a weird flaw, even though they stood at the peak of the [Predator] list.

“Sure!” Alexa still did as instructed, mostly because she also wanted to see what was inside this place that served as a [Maintenance] pit for the [Humans].

“Welcom-” On the other side of the [Door] stood a [Woman] dressed in what seemed to be white loose [Pants] and an overly loose [Blouse], both had extra pockets, Alexa could count four in the front of the pants and three in the blouse.

Also they seemed comfy….

“...I don’t recognize you, are you one of the new parents for the first graders? No wait, isn’t that Melissa?” The [Woman] said as she looked over at Alexa and [Eleanore] only to focus on Meli-Meli at the end, “Please put her in a bed I’ll get my things to check her over.”

The [Woman] said while walking to a [Cabinet], one of the [Square-shaped] boxes on the walls, that was an interesting word to say too, [Cabinet].

“What can you tell me? Was she feeling sick? Did she say anything before fainting?” The [Woman] spoke while bringing some kind of weird transparent crystal stick that she put under Meli-Meli’s armpit. “Did she puke? Cough? Said anything about pain?”

“wow wow, slow down. “[Eleanore] spoke back while the [Woman] put on a weird instrument on her ears that was connected by a tube to something that seemed to be a…plate? “We found her passed out a block and half away from the school, just around the corner actually. Alexa said that a friend was nearby and ran towards her.”

The [Woman] then turned to look at Alexa, “And she was already passed out? Did she tell you she would be there?” The [Woman] had taken the thing from her ears and placed it around her neck as a [Collar], she was now touching Meli-Meli’s [Tummy] as if checking the flesh integrity.

“Didn’t know she would be there, just that she was there. It felt like Meli-Meli.” Alexa answered, unsure how to explain that she had smelled the [Girl] without outing her [Core Powers]. She had only noticed because she was checking for reasons for the weird [Emotion instability].

“And she was already passed out?” the [Woman] asked once more.

“Yes, she had puked and was laying in a pool of her own making, probably puked after or while passing out.” [Eleanore] added the confirmation. “She was looking down if that helps? See the bruises on her face and arms? It looked as if she had fallen face-first into the street.”

“Well, good thing she fell like that or she would have choked, I don’t see evidence of puke in her clothes…did you change her already?” The [Woman]asked as she looked over Meli-Meli.

“Yes, we had a couple of spares for Alexa to save in the school. This is her first day, and we are going to get her into a class.” [Eleanore] answered before Alexa could explain how she had cleaned Meli-Meli, which was a good thing now that Alexa had thought about it. “Do you need something from us? We had an appointment with the school’s principal.”

The [Woman] didn’t say anything but covered Meli-Meli with a white blanket.

“*grumble, grumble* [Suspicious], [Care], [Kindness]...[Mango].” Mumbled Meli-Meli.

“*Sigh* Fine, I’ll ask her teacher to come and we will see if we need to ask her parents, maybe she got hit by a weird Core User that was walking around and had bad luck. Or did she eat something after leaving her house? We have asked Melissa why her parents don’t come to pick her up or drop her, but so far she seems fine. No wounds, no bruises, no malnourishment….” The [Woman] grumbled too as she spoke, “Sure go ahead, I’ll deal with this.”

[Eleanore] nodded her head as she turned to look at Meli-Meli. Then she looked at Alexa and said, “Let’s go, Alexa. We need to speak with the principal. Then…I’ll ask my friend if she can take you into her classroom.”

“Oh you are the friend of one of our teachers? “ The [Woman]suddenly asked more intrigued.

“Yeah, I am friend of Eloise. She should be a teacher for first graders. I’m hoping she can take Alexa,” [Eleanore] answered, getting a weird look from the [Woman].

“Eloise huh….” The [Woman] said pensive, “She is a good girl, not the best suited for teaching, but she is doing okay with her classroom. She takes in the problem children so most teachers let her do whatever. Melissa is one of her students…”

“Miss baking…another cake please….” Meli-Meli decided to take that moment to finally say something that wasn’t grumbles or [Emotion] names.

“I would suggest another teacher if you want your kid to learn in a good environment, but if you are her friend, then you already know how she is. So that is up to you,” the [Woman] said, then turned to fuss over Meli-Meli, ignoring them altogether.

[Eleanore] took this as an opportunity to leave the [Room]. Alexa had already saved images of most of the things in this [Room]. She would come back later to take [Samples] of what she had seen, and she hoped to take one sample of the [Clothes] the [Nurse] was using. That attire seemed comfortable to wear.

“Well…I kinda knew that it would be like that…Eloise is….” [Eleanore] started saying as they exited the [Nurse’s Office], only to be interrupted by someone else speaking.

“I’m what, Lena? I'm the smartest of the two since I work in a safe place. The prettiest since I can take care of my skin? The…” Teach started saying as she turned to look at the side of [Eleanore] and took notice of Alexa waving at her.

“Hi again [Teach]!” Said Alexa as she waved at the [Woman] who had helped her the most, since she had facilitied her [Escape].

“....You found her? How? When? WHY DIDN’T YOU CALL ME!” [Teach] screamed as she started glaring at [Eleanore] “And you! Couldn’t you call? I know you had no reason to trust me, but still!”

“...I didn’t have a phone?” Alexa asked in a questioning tone. Was she supposed to call [Teach]? She hadn’t said anything about that at the moment, though.

“Yeah sorry about that, she got swept into one of our Orphanage programs after your call. It seems she was being processed while we spoke. So when I got her data and it matched your description, I knew that you would hate me if I didn’t sneak in a few favors to get her into your school.” [Eleanore] [Lied]. That hadn’t happened, ever.

Alexa wasn’t sure why she was lying, but she decided not to say anything about it. She had said that she was unable to [Lie] while using her [Core Powers], so that meant that she wouldn’t be able to use it now.

“...Fine, I will forgive you, for now. Alexa? Look at me.” [Teach] said, pointing at her own eyes. “Are you okay? Are they treating you well? Did they force you to do anything you didn’t want?”

“Alexa is okay. She has a beeeeeeeg house to live in now, she has [Friends] to spend time with, and she can eat tasty things!” Alexa answered back. She wasn’t sure why [Teach] seemed relieved at that. Was she perhaps worried that Alexa would say that she was one of those who [Helped] her [Escape]? “No one will know you helped me, so it’s okay!”

Alexa decided to reassure her, “Besides [Eleanore], but that is because you said it to her first!” Of course, Alexa covered her bases, too.

“...you didn’t have to get her a personal room. I know orphanages have a hard time with space Lena.” [Teach] said to [Eleanore] with an embarrassed expression, what?

“...Yeah you know how I am…I like to go the extra mile!” [Eleanore] smiled awkwardly too,

“...you got her that right?” [Teach] narrowed her eyes and looked at [Eleanore], who in turn looked at Alexa with a [Glare].

“Alexa did nothing wrong!” So Alexa declared as the glare turned her way and decided to hide behind [Eleanore].

“...*Sigh* She is smart okay, we (As in the orphanage program she got in) suspect she is some kind of genius kid in the making. Probably will awaken a Tinker Core or something, don’t tell anyone of that please, we don’t want….The powers to be becoming aware of this.” [Eleanore] sighed as she started lying once more. “So yeah, she is not in an….orphanage, she has her own apartment in my building, she lives a few doors away actually. Some coworkers and I are taking turns getting her food and doing her laundry; we are searching for her family.”

“You will return her?” [Teach] turned her suspiciousness into a glare, “After what she went through?”

“Of course not, I don’t know how much you found about her previous….dwelling. But the little we managed to find is nasty. No, we aren’t returning her to them. We want to find her parents and pass that information to…someone else.” [Eleanore] smiled darkly after saying that, “I can move some favors and get you a video in case we find them.”

“...Please don’t. I am trying my best to think that you work at an office for one of the very few honest orphanages in Vulcanus district. Please let me think my friend is normal.” [Teach] said turning to Alexa. “And you, little girl, if this woman or anyone wants to make you do something you don’t want or hurt you, you come to me this time, okay? I may not have the same level of influence as her, but I can at least get you a nice meal and a warm bed, okay? Lena back me up.”

“Are you asking me to tell Alexa to leave us and live with you?” [Eleanore] laughed at the idea, “But yeah fine. If you ever want to leave us, go to Lisa. Seriously Alexa, go to her, I will prepare the paperwork so that she can adopt you. The moment you want to leave our…’Program’ you tell me and I will deal with the big boss so he leaves you alone. I promise you this: you will not have to go through what you went through before, ever again.”

Alexa only nodded at those two, why did it matter where she lived?

“Okay,” Alexa answered as such for now. Both [Women] nodded at each other after that. "But if I don’t go through that again, then how am I supposed to [Eat]?”

To be honest, that was what worried Alexa the most, “I can survive a week or so without [Eating], but I will need to [Eat].”

Alexa wasn’t sure why both [Women] looked at each other with…

“[Expression match found on the Internet image search engine: Horror.]”

That, why had they both covered their mouths and started hugging her from both sides as they began to release [Tears] from their eyes. Was something wrong with their hydraulic system?

Alexa needed to revise the [Human] blueprint again. These [Humans] showed way too many variants to [Emotions] that she hadn’t found a way to stimulate yet, or understand the precepts to activate them…

“[Investigation in progress, categorizing possible reasons.]”

At least Main Core was collating the list. She would go through it after this day, and with some luck, she would get enough samples at this [School] to go over.