The group of six was currently gathered in the dorm room that Rylan, David and Lylith were sharing – all of them fairly dishevelled after their daring infiltration. They could still feel their hearts pounding from anxiety and excitement, although the rush was dying down.

“I still can’t believe we did it,” Lylith muttered, as she slowly ran her fingers through her long brown hair, sweat covering her fingers as she did so.

“Yeah.” Thomas breathed, wiping his brow, a line of sweat coating his hand.

“I think we should’ve showered before meeting back up. We all smell.” David blurted out, gesturing towards his and Rylan’s trash-stained lower bodies, the smell casually wafting around the room.

Internally, he was grateful for his mask’s filters, and not having to suffer like the rest - their noses subtly scrunched in disgust at the smell of garbage and sweat.

“Yeah, now that you mention it…” Valus said timidly, twitching as his body dissipated heat. His antenne swished around violently, trying to evade the stench that was permeating from the four humans in the room.

“Alright. How about this? We'll go and wash up, and then come back when we’re clean.” Rylan grimaced as he looked at his trash-stained trousers, which were moist from an extremely unpleasant smelling substance, its greenish-brown hue disturbing to the eye.

“W-what is that?” Valus asked, mildly concerned.

“Well, David got stuck in the Headmaster’s- oh by the way, did you guys know his name is Van-kun?” Rylan exclaimed, butchering the magistra’s name.

“Vancun.” David clarified.

“Right. Well, David got stuck with the guy, and so he had to make a hasty escape through the trash disposal chute.” Rylan chuckled, a mischievous glint in his golden eyes.

“He can fit in there?” Valus said, amazed. But before Rylan could continue, David muttered something in German under his breath as he stood up.

“Give me thirty minutes.” The boy said, standing and walking over to the bathroom.

“What do you need that much time for, David?” Rylan smirked, an obvious undertone in his words.

Lylith spat out the water she had been drinking, choking as she attempted to remain composed. Thomas barely managed to stifle his laughter, his hand coming up to cover his mouth with a fist as he vainly attempted to cough instead.

Javqua seemed to get the gist of the innuendo as well, barely seen in her dark corner of the room, where she was cooling down with an ice pack held firmly to her chest.

Only Valus didn’t seem to understand Rylan’s words, the vinsal looking around the room, in no small amount of confusion.

In response, David flipped them the bird, before shutting the bathroom door.

“I’m assuming that’s meant to be offensive.” Javqua questioned, looking between the door and the remaining humans.

“Very.” Rylan chuckled.

“Alright, well I’m going to go shower too. Be back in a bit.” Thomas stated, focusing his words more to Javqua then the others in the room.

“Hey, why not go with him?” Rylan said to Javqua, once the Britannian was out of earshot.

“Huh? But I don’t sweat,” Javqua replied confusedly, as Rylan facepalmed.

“Nevermind.” The boy said in humorous finality, a light smirk barely hidden.

With that, Thomas left, leaving the room in an awkward silence. As the minutes passed, Javqua couldnt help but reflect on a few things. Nothing really big or out there mind you, just little thoughts here and there, mainly on things she hadnt really had time to think about until right this moment.

“I’ve…I’ve been thinking of this for a little while now - why was your first plan to sneak into the headmaster’s apartment?” Javqua asked, now sitting next to the others, sufficiently cooled down. “Is this just a human thing? You were all…very eager to infiltrate the headmaster’s residence.” She intoned.

Lylith and Rylan exchanged a glance, and for a moment, Javqua was worried that they didn’t trust her, or were even offended by her words.

But then she realised that they were just seeing who was going to speak up first - the mini-standoff ending when Rylan gestured to Lylith to go ahead.

“We’re going to be honest with you, Javqua.” Lylith said, taking on a serious expression. “We humans have caused a lot of problems across space, besides breaking furniture and shocking Xenos with our history.” It looked as if she was going to elaborate further, but she seemed to stop herself.

“Our governments warned us about the potential xenophobia and prejudice that we could experience, and so they told us to record any ‘incidents’ and report them. And, well, the headmaster gave us a perfect opportunity.” Lylith explained.

“Yeah, she basically summed it up. And, err…although I guess we did kinda overstep, considering what he did was… illegal, our governments will understand… well mine will, not sure about the rest of you lot.” Rylan said sheepishly, earning a shrug from the resident Canadian. “Besides, that was probably the most fun I’ve ever had in a while.”

Fun?!?! Valus wondered. “A-are you sure they’ll be fine with what we did?” He chittered. “A-and that they’re secretive?”

Lylith smiled reassuringly. “Well…yes, for the most part. Most are secretive. Rylan’s and my nation should pretty much be on the same page, due to the proximity of our home worlds and same style of leadership.” She explained, a thoughtful expression on her face.

“Though, going back to what Rylan said, I'm not too sure about the Britanians and Germans. Both of them are quite militaristic and sticklers for rules… but in this case, I think they’ll look the other way. But if they don’t…well, that’s not my problem.” She stated, her words making Javqua and Valus stare at one another for a second.

Somehow, her words didn’t sound all that reassuring to Valus, Javqua holding the same sentiment.

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“Oh yeah, and, umm…Lylith?” Rylan cleared his throat. “Just - thanks. You saved my ass.” He said earnestly, his statement seemingly coming out of left field.

“No problem. Just…be more careful next time, eh?” Lylith said, smiling tiredly, the thought of losing one of her new friends at the forefront of her mind.

“Of course.” Rylan beamed, a bright smile making its way onto the boy's face.

“So, are y-you going to send the files to y-your governments now?” Valus timidly questioned, still not entirely sure how to feel about the situation as a whole.

“I’m assuming they will once the others have returned. Everyone helped with this, after all.” Javqua said. “Why, having second thoughts, Valus?” She asked pointedly, her blue eyes narrowing as she turned to look at the vinsal.

Valus flinched, freezing up as everyone turned to look at him. “No! It-it’s just that all this was really sudden! And we vinsal are n-naturally i-inclined towards following a-authority… so this whole s-situation is going against my i-instincts as well…b-but I still want to do this… it's the right thing.” He stammered, his voice becoming more determined towards the end.

Seeing her blunder, Javqua sighed. “I’m sorry – I got caught up in the moment. I should have remembered that fact from biology class. And it wasn’t fair of me to judge you like that, especially after all you’ve done for us.” She apologised truthfully.

“It-it’s okay. I understand if you all don’t trust me yet. I was working for the headmaster after all.” Valus whispered, guilt running through his mind as his body slouched.

“Don’t worry. We trust you, bro. We couldn’t have done this whole thing without ya!” Without a moment of hesitation, Rylan walked over and hugged Valus.

The insectoid remained frozen for a few seconds before returning the gesture. It was…uncomfortable, to say the least, but… he appreciated the action. Besides human nations, Valus had done enough research on humans to know the meaning of the embrace.

“A group hug it is, then!’ Javqua exclaimed as she walked over to join the embrace, before quickly pulling away. “By the seven streams! Rylan! You still smell like a swamp kran right now!” She complained, covering her nostrils with her clawed hand, gagging at the sudden proximity of the smell.

“I'm going to need to scrub my exo-skeleton after this… aren't I?” Valus monotoned, his antena as far away from the American as possible.

“Good thing I didn’t try to join in.” Lylith snorted, an impish grin making its place known.

It was at that moment that the bathroom door swung open, and David strolled out - having finished showering… or shall we say purging.

Wearing only his mask and a towel around his waist, the massive chunk of cloth dragging against the ground as he walked, seemingly oblivious to the fact that half the group was staring at him.

The small boy entered one of the bedrooms to change into fresh clothing, before exiting a few moments later.

“Y’know, you could’ve given us a little bit of a warning,” Rylan muttered, making sure to be heard.

David just shrugged shamelessly, just as Thomas entered as well. “Did I miss anything?” The Britannian asked, looking around the room.

“Nothing. Nothing at all.” Lylith answered curtly, a little faster than she had hoped.

“Alright. Well, I’m going next. You can use the shower in Thomas and Javqua’s room, right, Lylith?” Rylan questioned, looking over to the room’s aforementioned users.

“Go right ahead.” Javqua confirmed. “ Me and Valus don’t sweat anyways, nor did we get covered in trash.”

Rylan then grabbed his clothes and went to his dorm bathroom, as Thomas handed Lylith the keycard to his and Javqua’s room.

“You know, I wonder why the headmaster hates us.” Thomas pondered a little while later, a thoughtful look adorning his face. “Hatred takes time, and a reason to develop. I would know.” He muttered at the end, quietly enough so that no one would hear.

“I don’t know, because I honestly didn’t really expect specism to exist. Plus, this is different from human racism. It’s not who’s inferior or superior or some crap - it’s who’s a threat to the galaxy.” Lylith spoke up.

“Well, he’s part of the PHA. He must’ve heard of it and then got radicalised.” David said, glancing towards the dorm’s bathroom. Rylan was still showering, and showed no signs of stopping anytime soon.

“Well, like I said. Something or someone made him search for it and join it.” Thomas mused.

“Maybe he was just raised in a speciest household?” Javqua suggested.

“The headmaster as a child! I can’t imagine that.” David chuckled, struggling to imagine the middle-aged magistra as a newborn hatchling.

“But then why w-would he become a t-teacher?” Valus pointed out.

“You’re right - he wouldn’t take a job where he has to see virtually every species.” Thomas realised, his face scrunching up in confusion.

“So he became radicalised while he was working as a teacher.” Lylith concluded, a light frown etching her brow.

“But how and why?” Thomas said, to no response.

It was strange thinking of the headmaster as an actual person - imagining the avian as a…decent being, or even a good one, with family and friends, after all the anxiety and strife he had caused them.

“Does it matter? We’re wasting our energy thinking about him.” Javqua grumbled, as she rubbed her temples - a minor headache forming.

“Yeah, you’re right.” Thomas sighed. “I wonder what’ll happen next…do you think our governments will pull us out of Clevin 4?” He asked Lylith and David.

“Who knows? They obviously won’t be pleased about this.” Lylith sighed. “Regardless, it’ll definitely sour the relations between humanity and the Galactic Federation.”

It was then Rylan exited the bathroom - his wet hair dripping all across the floor, an excited expression on his face. He was, luckily, fully dressed.

“Guys! I - I just had this shower thought, okay? Just - hear me out for a sec.” Rylan said, his eyes shining.

“I’m not trying to defend the headmaster, but…it doesn’t make sense that he just…hates carnivores and omnivores for no reason, right?”

“So! What I realised was that something probably happened to him, that changed him for the worse, since nobody’s just…born speciest. And since he wouldn’t take a job that requires him to work with a wide variety of species if he was speciest at a young age, whatever happened, happened while he was working at the school!” Rylan was panting by the end of his dramatic explanation, waiting for the others’ reaction.

“Well, what do you think of my theory?” He breathed.

Met with silence, the other five in the room just looked at each other, wondering who was going to tell Rylan first.

----------------------------------------

“Great minds think alike. So what?” Rylan grumbled, as he was informed of the group's earlier epiphany.

“If this was an academic conversation, you’d get an F for plagiarism.” Lylith said bluntly.

“What we just discussed doesn’t matter. Are we sending the files or not?” Javqua demanded.

“Relax, relax! I am.” Rylan said, fiddling with his holo pad. “Okay, so - I’m going to send this to all of our governments. We just gotta…think of a good explanation.” He said.

“Should we leave out the part where we hacked into the headmaster’s account, impersonated a staff member, and snuck into a restricted building?” Lylith asked seriously.

“I genuinely don’t think what we did was bad.” Rylan challenged. “He was doing illegal stuff, and so did we. We were just fighting fire with fire. Seems fair to me.” He shrugged.

“Alright. Who’s got the best writing skills here?” Thomas spoke up, looking around.

Hesitantly, Valus raised a manipulator.

“I wrote some of the school’s a-articles,” he said.

“Alright then. Uhh…where should we begin?” Rylan said, turning to the group.

“With Valus’s confession, I suppose?” Lylith suggested.

“Good idea. Valus - you wanna be named anonymously?” Rylan asked. The vinsal shook his head.

“Well, here. The message doesn’t need to be fancy or anything. Just…formal, I guess, and as straightforward as possible.” Rylan handed Valus his holopad, the insectoid staring at the device.

“I’m not f-familiar with this layout,” Valus admitted a few seconds later. “A-and I don’t think I can p-properly write on this anyways.” He added, which was true - the device was far too small for him.

“Oh. You can tell me what to write then.” Rylan said, reaching out to get his holopad back.

However, Valus suddenly paused. “R-Rylan, is this the right file?” He chittered nervously.

“Huh? What do you mean?” Rylan asked.

“J-javqua and Thomas were watched in the tea shop…two days ago…but this file’s date is from y-yesterday, and all the footage is just the school’s hallways…” Valus mumbled quietly, shrinking with every word.