28: A FRIENDLY PAIRING

//

5:36 P.M. // 10 - 28 - 2023 // Arc - Club Streets Auditorium

Starring Avil Daniase

Featuring Serene Goldwin and Junseo Park

//

Ced’s girlfriend made her way off the stage with swift resolution. She was dressed in a fitted black top that highlighted all of her curves, an excessively large white boyfriend’s button up hung low on her arm and tied neatly at her elbows and waist falling behind her like a make-do cape. The baggy grey jeans added another element of some vibe around her going, ‘look at me’.

Then there was the lump by her hip; I was pretty sure she had brought along her gun.

Serene disappeared behind the stage entrance stairs.

At school she was already infamous for fragile ego and tempered mannerisms, and in combat she held nothing back which left her to train with professors rather than her unawakened peers. The sole heir to Goldwin, ranked so high she surpassed many Awakened kids, hateful towards every word that came her direction, and worst of all according to the rumors, two-timing on Cedrance Manamune with another pretty boy. If she shot that gun, what other rumors would pop up? I glanced to my right and was momentarily blinded by the guy beside me.

It was almost no exaggeration that Jun’s face made the straight in me want to slightly curve. It similarly was no exaggeration to say it looked like he belonged inside the TV, as there was no way someone so strikingly handsome was sitting next to me. The eye-catching pink hair fading at the roots sold such an authentic expression of a K-pop idol who had time to go to school, and his face wasn’t the cherry on top but rather the whole cupcake—way too sweet and way too perfect, from the defined jaws and brows to the sparkling eyes and lips. The amount of occasional head turn towards my direction just for a peek of Jun was scarily high.

I wondered what he thought about all of this.

As Serene reappeared and walked back to her seat, the Travel Club president Henry grunted for everyone’s attention. He shifted uneasily on the stage as murmurs of what had just happened began to quietly circle around the large room.

A check… from the only daughter of one of the largest technology tycoons in all of the world?

To do anything in the chosen country?

If Serene cared at all about the way everyone was staring at her at that moment, she didn’t show it. Her poised figure was tall in the seat, tapping around on her watch in a furious sort of way as if she was playing a video game. She pushed some hair out of her face with a delicate finger and then went back to the tapping war.

“Well,” Henry finally said, his face changing from an off-neutral to a struggling confusion, “you guys heard it from Goldwin herself. So, who would like to really start us off with a travel destination?”

I scoffed. His shiftiness was tacky as he flusteredly glossed over her massive statement, but understandable too. But it still bothered me anyway, even as I stood up again and raised my hand as high in the air as I could, on my tippy toes. No one noticed me as now two more kids had grown a pair of nuggets to raise their hands into the air.

Naturally, being taller and in the front, they were called up first.

A girl made her way up onto the stage the long way, which sort of bothered me the same way Serene had done so. She wore a prominent sailor-like white-button-up blue-blouse school girl uniform that I had seen in literally every single school-related anime ever. Her ebony black hair fell to her shoulders, straight bangs across her forehead, and the large circle lenses of her glasses made my assumptions crawl even further. Henry made space for her up on the stage as she took the center, and he nodded the go-ahead as everyone realized that the people beside them were quieter than they were.

“Hello, my name is Jennifer.” Her voice trembled as she spoke, but Henry nudged her shoulder and gave her an encouraging nod. Even from my point of view he was being too nice compared to how he was with Serene; I didn’t get it. She adjusted her glasses with her ring finger, “Uhh, I-I would like to propose that we go to… to Japan.”

Yep, I knew it.

From that point, Jennifer began to mumble, and even though there were a few people who agreed with her I was quick to lose interest. Something about cosplaying, anime, J-pop, bullet trains, pet cafes, blah blah nerd and geek culture, blah blah.

My eyes strayed over to Serene, who looked like she was clearing a Dark Souls run.

“So our first option is Japan!” Henry called out, and then began to lightly applaud as she walked off. The others in the crowd began joining as well, though without enthusiasm.

Round two.

My hand flew into the air, and I reached, reached for the ceiling, as high as I could get.

Henry nodded thoughtfully on the stage. “Wow, a couple more people this time, huh?”

I waved to try and get him to look at me, but he pointed over to the other side of the audience where only two hands were raised. “You there, with the hijab.”

True to his words, a very pretty girl with a light brown hijab made her way up and onto the stage by way of the stairs. Other than her very obviously middle-eastern heritage, her outfit was rather plain but sophisticated, consisting of a plain brown sweatshirt and jeans, which also worked pretty well to move the focus to her face. Strong cheekbones, smooth and shiny tanned skin, she looked really beautiful.

If not for the dump of makeup on her face.

“I say we should go to Egypt,” were the first words that came out of her mouth, before she introduced herself as Darya. Her accent was heavy and off-putting, though not to the degree as the sass in her voice that annoyed the hell out of me. And how was she gonna convince anyone?

“It’s cuz my family lives there,” she glanced at her nails, and then spread them in front of her where the lighting was better, “and this stupid school won’t give me permission to go visit them.”

I rolled my eyes, and as soon as her shoes touched down onto the ground off the stage my hand shot into the air, so fast I heard something crack in my shoulder.

Two, four, five people in my side of the room raised their hands. The remaining boy on the other side raised his own, but less high, and I could sort of see why, as the kids there gave him odd looks.

Whatever, just choose me!

Henry!

“Blond-and-blue haired guy, you, come on up!”

Are you kidding me?! And also, what kind of multicolored-a** bulls*** did he just describe... bro how is that even a hair color at all?

The guy’s hair was, as Henry had said, gold and blue. He was so skinny it wouldn’t have been a joke to call him a spaghetti noodle, knobbly knees, bulging features that frankly gave me the heebie jeebies. What he hadn’t mentioned was the psychedelic gold and blue of his different colored eyes.

What. The f***?

“Name’s Phil,” his voice was raspy and very punk-ish, so different than what I had expected from his mish-mash of hair and eye colors. “We’re going to New York, anyone got a problem with that?”

I couldn’t hold in the groan of cringe that also came out of every sensible person in the room, the one that said no one believed the ‘cool and tough guy’ act.

Without any response from the crowd other than a resounding dismay he walked off the stage with the same strut he had had walking on stage, and it hurt every fiber of my body.

Round four, motherf***ers.

“Big purple jacket!”

“Let’s go to Thailand!”

NO! With the dungeon outbreak going on over there?! Have you idiots read the news? Stop clapping!

Serene was tapping so intensely I could see sweat breaking on her neck. She had dropped any sort of proper act she had going on earlier and now was doubling down on the full gamer side.

Round five, goddammit!

“Rainbow girl, you over there!”

“I’m not a girl!” He shouted, standing up, sounding and looking very much like a girl wearing a sports jersey that was so gay it made the iffy tug on my chest towards Jun seem like the calmest thing ever. “And I’m not a guy, either.” They slapped away another person’s hand that had reached their shoulder with a small tap. “How dare you assume my gender, I—” was going to kill someone if I wasn’t chosen next. Over at the front, Serene groaned, the small hologram in front of her had a large “You Died” on it.

Round. Six.

“Cargo pants and cargo jackets guy. Uh huh, you with the big cowlick.”

“Have you guys ever seen a magic show in Singapore?”

“I’m going to kill someone.”

“Avil, are you okay?” Jun whispered into my ear as Henry and the Mike dude or whatever his name was kept yapping, and as he caught the backhand that I had sent at him reflexively I realized if I had been noticed doing this at all I could have been mistaken for being in the middle of taking a s***: my back humped and leaned forward far while my legs were spread so wide, head slumped and held up by two fists on my forehead.

“O-oh,” I quickly returned to normalcy, or at least as normal as normalcy was to me. “My bad, Jun.”

“Nah man, I get it,” he huffed as he too looked back up to the front. “It hurts being in the same room as so many crazy people.”

I blinked at him and got a better look at his face, but then he turned to face me and gave me a devilish smirk. “Calm down. It’s a joke.” I spotted a small bit of shine on his chin as a drop of sweat plopped onto his shirt. So the perfect Jun had pores and relatability after all.

“Funny,” I said blandly as I raised my hand into the air.

“You, with the blue sports shirt.”

Who was it this time?

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

A moment passed, and nobody stood up.

Jun bumped me.

“What?” I said. His face looked halfway between shock and catharsis.

“He’s talking about you.”

I looked down at my blue sports shirt.

“Yeah, you!”

Baffled for a second, I finally realized what was going on. “Please quickly come up onto the stage.”

“Avil, just get the idea out.” I locked eyes with Jun, who gave me a reassuring nod. “I’ll do the rest.”

From anyone else those words were distasteful arrogance. But for someone who was so clearly a main character, someone like Jun, it was simply plot.

I stood up, and after shimmying myself out of the row I walked over to the stage, hopping on and pushing myself up without any problems. No one batted an eye at that, but instead an immediate sense of discomfort overtook me.

“Who’s this kid?”

“Oh, remember—”

“—Ben, Ben Roswell, you know?”

“—bring-your-kid-to-work day, is it now?”

“Yeah, so he got punched—”

“I heard he just got out of the ER.”

“—man, when is he gonna start?”

“So!” I yelled out, projecting my voice over the crowd. Maybe it was the volume or maybe it was the conviction that caused everyone to quiet down, but eventually I had their full attention. I was in control.

“My name is Avil! I would like to introduce a—” I paused for a moment, taking a second to gather my thoughts, assess what my next words would sound like, and calm the adrenaline pumping through my blood, “—a rather overlooked state in the U.S.”

Feeling the embarrassment latch onto my cheeks, I forced a bit of a smile as I spread my hand out wide to my side, trying to make myself look bigger and more agreeable. “You all may have seen the posters and flyers around the school…”

I dug a little in the crevices of my mind, now starting to regret not bringing up a script. “Which state boasts picturesque views at National parks teeming with wildlife and nature?” My eyes swept across the room, to Jun who nodded his head, to the others who looked at me with a mild interest. “Great seafood and seaside housing, clean and gorgeous beaches, and a cool escape from the heat of Arc?”

Though I hated these meaningless adjectives, the research I had done just this morning aided me greatly as I could see a few nods in the crowd. “A Funtown Splashtown, historical museums showcasing many Artifacts from weapons of war to class-A dungeons, and even some of the top 100 guilds are based in this state!”

I breathed in, blind to the audience in front and well aware but unresponsive to the growing pink on my cheeks, the ridicule of saying everything out loud and so loudly, “There’s no other state I could be talking about than Maine!”

Pausing to catch my breath, my focus returned back to the room, and I could see all of the people in front of me again.

Laughing.

To the left, three guys, a bag of fast food fries in one’s hand, cackled shamelessly. Darya looked away and shook her head in annoyance. Four girls giggled to each other and said something I couldn’t hear, and then burst out again. Here and there, a choke on the sudden death of my hype. Jun only nodded, and I couldn’t understand the face he was making other than the fact that the look in his eyes seemed even more intense than before.

To the right, a couple hand in hand howled with laughter. Jennifer clapped politely, though her focus was more towards the ground than me. Cheerleaders and pep rally performers hooted in amusement and pity to each other. A few stared at me wordlessly, including Serene.

I stared right back at her, and almost jumped as Henry put a hand on my back.

“That was a great presentation you gave there,” he nodded, taking his hand off noticing my agitation. “Our next option is for Maine. Give it up for Avil, everyone!”

It was so hot in the room, my face was probably redder than a tomato from the rush of embarrassment that swarmed me as I walked off the stage back down the stairs and through the door. Taking my seat dizzily, the little awareness left in me noticed that my hand and lips hurt, and I realized I was squeezing them really tightly.

I tried to loosen them, but looking at my hand, there were already marks and indents there.

“You did a good job,” Jun said. Again, I turned to face him, but his eyes betrayed no pity. Rather he seemed genuinely happy with what I had done, or that was what I gleaned from his immaculate smile.

“Uh huh,” I only nodded my head, whirling my head away. I didn’t want to look at him any longer.

But then as my ears perked up to Henry’s voice again, I felt someone scooting past me into the aisle. Another few moments passed and I had a strange thought, like everything was way too quiet.

Wait.

I concentrated on my hearing.

No, I wasn’t going crazy. Everything really was quiet.

“Hi everyone.”

I looked up and saw why.

“My name is Jun.”

//

2:23 P.M. // 10 - 27 - 2023 // Arc — Mall

Starring Kali Lapuz

Featuring Regan Yglesias

//

“Didn’t we sit here, like, a week and a half ago?” Regan said awkwardly, clearly and desperately trying to break the ice. “It feels like the practical exams were ages ago.” The bench wasn’t the most comfortable seat in the world, but it would have to do. The tree above shaded us nicely, and a warm wind blew across my face.

“I found out who wrote that giant article about me,” I muttered dully, looking at my fingers. The flecks of sunlight that peered through the leaves didn’t warm my cold hands. I felt so pathetic in front of Regan.

“Oh, really?” She feigned interest, and I could sense her eyes on the side of my face as I stared forward at the students traveling place to place, store to store all around us. The mall wasn’t so busy at this time of day. I wished there were even more people so I didn’t have to feel so alone. “Do I know him? Or is she a girl? Hmm?”

“You met him earlier.”

She gasped with a more realistic shock, “What? Zendolyn Ato?”

I exhaled a short note. “Never would have guessed in a million years as well.”

“I mean, it was all praise, right?” Regan nudged me but noticed my recoil and pulled back, and then paused. “Ya know, if he was really the one who said that, then I think I like him.”

I glanced over at her with a raised eyebrow.

“I agreed with everything he said,” she said gently, staring into the store in front of us, a karaoke building. “Kali, I haven’t given you enough compliments yet, have I?”

She grunted, and then changed her voice into something similar to Zen’s, “‘With a delicate balance between agility and precision, Kali frequently demonstrates her ability to carry out her thought provoking and original plans.’”

I interrupted her, “You sound like a goblin,” but she kept on going.

“‘She similarly demonstrated the willpower to follow through on seemingly cruel acts with tender care for the victims, though still with the same accuracy as she showed in every second before. The moment of relative silence where she entered into the house not only showed her ability to stay silent and relatively professional even in the emotional scene of a family at peace.’” She stopped. “Do I need to go on?”

I gave her a strange, intrigued look. “H-how did you even remember that?”

“It’s because that practical exam response mirrored my own thoughts about you exactly.”

Regan turned to me and smiled. We finally made eye contact, and I was the first one to break it in my embarrassment.

“You’re being too mushy.” I mumbled, my fingers relaxing by my side on the bench.

“Pfft!” Her hand clasped over mine, and she pulled me in towards her with a sudden strength that made me slide across the bench with a confused and surprised yelp.

“You might also know that this is kind of a benefit of Awakening,” she teased me as I struggled to break free from her grip, which she allowed me to do. I automatically stood up, but my mind told me no, so I sat back down. And I stayed next to her.

“Is it the fact that you’ll never go to the gym again with me?” I said tentatively.

“Hmm?” Regan giggled, “If that’s what you’re wondering about, I still need to stay in shape. What, do you think my strength stat is just magically capped out?”

“Oh.” I looked up at the leaves. “Okay.”

“Kali, ask me anything.”

Huffing, I looked back at her. “What do you mean?”

“Like that,” she said smartly, and booped my nose. I poked her back in annoyance, and she said playfully, “We’re even now.”

An instinctive groan left my throat. Maybe she would entertain what I had to ask. “So then, what are your classes like now?”

She mimicked my groan, “Boring as ever. Except now the practical stuff every day is a lot harder. I have to face off against the likes of… you know, Cedrance Manamune—of course you do, number one kid and all, plus you fangirl hard on him—”

“Hey!”

“Anyways, he’s in my homeroom now, which isn’t that full. So when you become Awakened, fingers crossed that you get into my class again!”

Rolling my eyes, I asked, “What are your abilities?”

“Oooh, interested, aren't cha?”

“Just answer the question.”

“Well, we’re technically never supposed to reveal the full word for word descriptions and all for safety reasons, buuuuut you’re an exception.” She chuckled, which was unlike her. “I trust you not to reveal my secrets.”

“Maaaaybe…”

“What was that?”

“Nothing!”

She flicked my head. I could hear some music and singing from inside the karaoke house.

“So my Innate tells me that being positive is in my nature,” she started thoughtfully. “And not being positive actually makes me feel terrible. Which I’ve noticed.”

“Isn’t that the one everyone is born with?”

“Yeah.” Someone hit a high note. The smell of baked goods hit my nose.

“That kinda sucks.”

She laughed. “At least I’m not such a pessimist like you.”

I thwacked her back, and almost immediately she bumped me in return. “We’re even. Keep going.”

“And my Passive is that I’m really fast, and I’m also immune to mind games and stuff.”

I gasped, “You’re a Speedster, then!”

Regan scooted in closer. “Obviously you’d know niche subclasses like that.”

“What are you trying to say about me?”

“Nerd.”

I punched her lightly, and she took it. “And I think it’ll be easier for me to show you my first Active.”

“What is it called?”

“Multi-Zapshot.”

“That sounds like—”

“Yup. It fits right in with my Passive and Innate.”

“I have one last question.”

“Yeah?”

“Being Awakened. What is it like?” A Visionaire song was playing, the same song that Regan had played the day we were sitting exactly where we were right now.

She rested her head on mine.

“It’ll be exactly the same as before, as long as you treat me the same, Kali.”

The hand on my shoulder was warm.

“You know, you’re crying right now.”

“Shut up.”

“You know this looks so gay, right?”

“I said shut up.”

“Okay, I will, jeez.”

“Hey Regan.”

“What now?”

“You’re stupid.”

“Huh?”

“Thanks for being my best friend.”