There was a high-pitched sound, and he opened his eyes suddenly.
It took him some time to figure out the sound came from the alarm clock in the night table, just at the side of his bed so that the noise would be too loud for him to ignore. It took some more time to remember he had set the clock too high for him to lazily turn it down from the bed.
Cursing his own cleverness, he rolled in the bed, unwrapped the cocoon of blankets tying him from hands to feet, and sat on his bed. Yawning, he stretched his arms as he mentally prepared himself for the stressful hours to come.
"It's time to work, Lawrence..."
Slapping his cheeks, he slid his feet in his best pair of fluffy slippers and picked himself up, abandoning the comfortable warmness of bed. What followed was his typical, day-to-day routine. Change his pajamas for some clean house wear, go downstairs, make some coffee.
He had a busy day today. The deadline for the project he was working on was drawing near, and those cyclical functions wouldn't program themselves up. And he still had to fill up the appliance form for that Monthly OtaQuest site he'd seen the other day. Sometimes, he just wondered how was it that he hadn't heard of things like this before... But what was he thinking? He had to take his breakfast fast. A minute he spent idle was a minute adding up to the all-nighter schedule!
He drank the rest of his coffee in a hurry. This would be his only food for the next twelve hours or so. If you could call a cup of black coffee "food".
He went to the bathroom, brushed his teeth, went to his studio and turned on his laptop. Random thoughts about the weather, the bitterness of coffee or the comfortableness of his work chair all vanished from his mind as he opened the Lisual Rstudio Mode, and thoughts of new APIs development, code debugging and mostly the juicy pay to come took their place.
As a 21 year old freelancer programmer, Lawrence's life was an easy one. Boring, but easy. And all the game-novels-manganime content in the world was there for him to wash that boring part away. His life consisted of three basic periods: the "my-time" period where he'd behave as if having some vacations; the "runnin out of cash" period where he'd have to hunt for a job before money started to, well, run out; and the "corporate drone" period, where he'd bust himself out working like a slave to finish the job as quickly as possible and get back to the start of the loop once again.
Currently he was doing the third. Though this was, hopefully, his last heavy working day. After getting done with this final part of the code he'd just have to send it to his partner, who'd edit some parts and point out some imperfections, and then the rest would only be shaving off those imperfections. Then he could go back to his normal, time-wasting life of buying the newest deluxe edition waifu wallpapers and staying awake till 3:00 AM hunting down some event boss with his game mates.
He sighed deeply. "What am I doing with my life...?" This wasn't a strange question for him. From time to time he'd ask himself the same question, and think of a way to change. Then he realized this kind of life was way easier than the effort needed to change himself, and buried those feelings in the bottom of his list of things to think of later on.
It wasn't a bad life, either. He had everything he currently wished for, he spent only half of the year working and the other half would be for himself...
"Not now. Focus. You've got to finish this by today if you want your happy life to keep on."
And so, he turned the switch of his consciousness, becoming completely unaware of everything but the screen of his laptop.
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"Haaaah..."
It took longer than expected, but fifteen hours and a couple of Chinese food cups later, he was finally done. It was already pretty late on the night, about 10:00 PM or so, but the joy of finishing the hardcore part of the job had erased all desire for sleep.
"Let's see... What should I do now?" Suddenly finding himself with a lot of free time and just about nothing in mind, he walked around the house, stretching and doing calisthenic exercises from time to time. After he felt like he was in the best shape (taking in consideration the fact that he'd just spent more than half a day in a chair in front of a computer with nothing but a zip of coffee and a couple of noodle cups inside his stomach) he decided he'd go outside and jog for a bit. Before doing that, though, he remembered he hadn't seen today's news. So, he got back to his laptop, browsed the Worne Times and lost himself in the boring topic of today's fashions, the newest visits of the Worne YK major to hospitals and orphanages, and so on...
One article did catch his mind however.
"Increasing acts of villainy related to Wakening Season"
Over the past few days, villain activity has grown stronger in the streets of Worne YK. Acts of vandalism, robbery, damage to property and more severe law infractions like kidnapping and even attempt of murder have been appearing in every corner of the city, and while the police and the LHU claim they have the situation under control, it's getting harder and harder every day to handle this effervescence of terrorism. One of our anonymous sources inside the LHU claims that the cause for this increase of criminal acts is Wakening Season, an event the masses have been excitedly waiting for a long time now. And I quote:
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"The problem is simple. Villains are a minor quantity. They have it hard enough fighting against each other, and small villain or even plain criminal associations are always in risk of being either absorbed or wiped out by larger rival groups. Usually, they lay low and stay on their territory, to avoid drawing the attention of big fishes. This is what keeps the "balance" in the streets, leaving only big time bands causing trouble. But, in Wakening Season is different. Every new villain is looking for a gang to team up with, and every old gang is looking for new powered members. The first gain protection, the second gain power and influence. So they have to make noise to be noticed. Plus, new and old groups who suddenly find themselves with powered cannon fodder sometimes let it go to their head, starting new territorial wars..."
Wakening Season, that time each five years where people of all age all around the world wake their meta-abilities (hence the name) is not only a cause for happiness, but also a cause of concern for some people. In total, damage equal to 3000000 dollars or more to private or social property, 200 mugging or assault cases 50 kidnapping attempts, 17 murder attempts and over 200 recruiting attempts are some of the consequences of the event...
"Wow..."
He decided to stop reading. It was pretty late already, and if he wanted to go out for a walk he shouldn't take much more time. Taking the keys of the house, he headed outside, checked the door was closed alright (just in case, that newspaper article had disturbed him a bit). The fresh air of Worne YK hit him straight in the faces, making him close his eyes half shut. Taking a deep breath, he set up to walk the cold, dark streets of the city.
But still. It was normal that Wakening Season brought some problems, but he wasn't expecting this. Even so, the fuss would be over soon. Wakening Season started June 1st and ended the 21, the day of summer solstice. Which was tomorrow. After that, things would eventually settle.
As for him, he didn't think too much of Wakening Season. After all, he had gone through four of those now, and he had learned to be real. Besides, being one of the few people who took the Meta-Society course in the university, he knew that the chance of actually getting one was of approximately one in two thousand, and he was never a lucky person to start with. He actually pitied a bit those who got excited over it just to be let down later on...
"Hey!" Suddenly, something crashed against his shoulder. Or rather, he crashed against something. Being a tall person and being concentrated on something else wasn't too good to walk around...
"Oh, I'm sorry." The person who crashed with him tripped and fell, splashing loudly on the ground. "Here let me help..." Getting down on his knees, he grabbed her (it was a girl) by her arm and stood her up. She looked around her 18's or so.
"You should really pay attention when you're jogging, you know?"
"I'm sorry, miss... Er..."
His silence wasn't because he didn't know her name... But rather because the clothes she was wearing. It was a big, green... Err... Caterpillar hoodie. Literally. The hoodie was segmented like a caterpillar and the hood had a couple of blue antenna on its sides. And two big, cartoon-esque eyes. She was also wearing some loose jeans with a couple of bright-red sport shoes and a red-and yellow scarf that reminded Lawrence of a certain glasses-wearing boy with a scar. It covered her mouth, so her voice came out partially muffled.
"...uh..."
"It's Mika." She took the silence as a request for introduction. "Well then, I'd love to stay and chat, but I've got to go!" And just like that, she dashed away.
Lawrence stood there, doing nothing, looking at her silhouette until she was gone. Well that was some hardcore otaku alright. Not even him would do... That.
Anyways. It was time to head back.
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"It was a long day, today..."
Now in bed and prepared for a night of full rest (and probably half of the next day too), Lawrence rolled himself back into a blanket cocoon, closing his eyes and thinking of today's events. It had been a long, long day indeed. Fifteen hours of programming is no joke, no sir. Plus, today's news were a bit on the shady side. But, well, besides from that... It was probably on the tiring kind of long day. Nothing too eventful. Well, besides that meeting with Caterpillar Girl. That was something he would wouldn't forget in a while...
His eyelids became heavier, and his consciousness was starting to fade away in slumber...
Tomorrow was the last day of Wakening Season. Huh... It was going to be a long day too. Not just because it was summer solstice. A lot of hopes would be broken. Those fervently hoping to be different, looking for a change in their lives... Hoping that the last day was the day they'd finally get some cool power... Their hopes would be mostly in vain...
Speaking of which, he also was one of those persons, once upon a time.... Wishing for something to differentiate him from everyone else... Once upon a time...
When did he truly give up on powers? To be honest, he never did. As much as he wanted to claim that he was realistic and he knew the chances were slim, he always had the hope, deep inside, of waking one day and discovering he was linked to the Root and he could use powers. So, yes...
... I want to get powers too...
And thus, fate, coincidence or even the greater forces themselves answered his half-unconscious plea.
Successfully established a link with Lawrence Lakewood. Congratulations, Lawrence Lakewood. Your meta factor has reached critical levels. You have been granted a meta-ability and alignment.
Acquired "Criminal Mastermind"
Your alignment is Villain. May the Utmost Evil give you strength.
Three Feats left before ranking up.
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There was a high-pitched sound, and he opened his eyes suddenly.