They were still in bed, AZ hadn’t moved since he woke Ray up. Now, he got up and started his morning routine while Ray silently watched with trepidation, imagining worse and worse dystopian scenes. Ray was fretting over his nightmarish predictions, not paying much attention as AZ left his bedroom, went into the bathroom, and stood before the sink to brush his teeth and wash his face.

AAZ889 wasn’t the kind of person who spent time looking at himself, he only spared a passing glance at the mirror above the sink as he turned around to leave the bathroom. But all it took was this single glance, and Ray’s thoughts came to a sudden halt.

Wait wait, back up, back up please, look at yourself for a bit.

AAZ889 didn’t stop and left the bathroom, but still asked disinterestedly, “What for?”

I want to know how you look like of course, what else for? Ray felt pained AZ didn’t turn back. It was only a fleeting glance, he wanted to really look at AZ.

AZ said nothing more as he went to change his clothes, but from the corner of his eyes, Ray could see a full-body mirror. He exclaimed excitedly, There’s a mirror here too! Quickly, look at yourself!

AAZ889 calmly turned his back to the mirror as he put on his uniform, unbothered and unhurried, while listening to Ray’s frustrated whining. A hint of amusement flashed through his eyes, but it passed just as quickly without a trace, as if it was something impossible to begin with on his frigid, stony face. Just a flick of the imagination.

Please I beg you! AZ don’t be so cruel, turn around and show me your face. Although, from the corner of AZ’s eyes Ray had seen the mirror, he couldn’t focus on it clearly, since he didn’t control the body, that naturally included the eyes as well.

Ray was dying of curiosity, but AZ mercilessly left the room without a backward glance. He coldly commented, “I can’t see your face either, so it’s only fair that you don’t see mine, isn’t that right?”

Right my ass! The world isn’t fair to begin with, no point fighting for fairness, so you might as well show me your face. Ray didn’t know how they went from AZ’s face to the fairness and unfairness of the world, but no matter how he tried to persuade AZ, AZ was as unmoved and unfeeling as an icy mountain.

Ray kept wailing as AAZ889 went to the kitchen. He started to have enough of this, so he said frostily, “stop.”

Ray choked on his words, it was like an icy blast of wind froze all his words inside him. He decided it was better not to provoke AZ further. He would surely look into a mirror eventually… surely… Ray sighed in frustration, but he forced himself to focus elsewhere.

Ray knew he was always too lost in his inner world to pay attention to the outside. It was always like that, his thoughts took up too much space to observe anything around him. He realized, that even though he was curious about this dystopian world—Ray had already convinced himself it was a dystopian world—he was too busy imagining it, and then trying to persuade AZ, to pay attention to AZ’s home. What an oversight. So, he finally focused all his attention to observe AZ’s home. It was clean, neat and tidy, but he found the many plants around a bit out of place. Ice and plants didn’t really go well together, did they?

Why do you have so many plants?

“I don’t, plants are everywhere.”

Ray didn’t know what to make of that, but he decided to be patient and observe for now. It wasn’t because he was scared of pestering AZ into freezing him to death, not at all…

AZ took out a cold container from the fridge to heat it up. As he was eating, Ray quietly noted to himself that this microwave was probably not a microwave. Who heard of a microwave heating up food this evenly? As AZ kept eating, Ray’s amazement grew. No matter which part AZ was eating, it was all evenly warm, never too hot, and never cold.

Ray was so bewildered, he couldn’t help himself commenting excitedly, “Is that a microwave? It looks like one, and functions like one by heating up food, but it doesn’t behave like one! How come your food is evenly warm? I’ve never heard of a microwave like that, and you only put it in for half a minute, how is that possible? What kind of godlike microwave is that? It can’t be a microwave, impossible.”

AAZ889 paused in puzzlement as Ray rambled on and on in awe about something weird. He didn’t really understand why the guy was so astonished. He continued to eat as he slowly explained, choosing his words carefully as if spelling out the most obvious, “It’s a food-heater, it’s natural it heats up the food evenly.”

Now that AAZ889 thought about it, maybe Ray was mentally challenged. The guy really must had come from a different world if he was left alive by that AI of his while mentally damaged. He never considered that there might be other worlds out there other than his. Instead of pondering further on it, he dispassionately dismissed the thought. It didn’t matter.

Ray was still upset and went on, “You don’t understand! This food-heater of yours is like the microwave we had where I come from. But microwaves never heat up food evenly, the outer parts are always piping hot, burning your mouth, while the inside is still freezing cold. And then, you have this food-heater, and you act as if it’s all natural, but it isn’t! How come your microwave is this godly?”

“I don’t know what to tell you other than this microwave food-heater of yours sounds lacking,” AAZ889 answered as he finished and put the container away. Ray was still too occupied with complaining about microwaves to pay attention, otherwise he might have had another meltdown.

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“Lacking… that’s an understatement. Let me tell you…” Ray forgot all what he had told himself about not pestering AZ.

As AAZ889 listened, he became convinced that Ray must have come from a severely underdeveloped world.

Meanwhile, Ray changed his evaluation, and became a 100% confident that this world must be a utopia. Also, he couldn’t be so unlucky to have another miserable life, could he? Surely not…

When AAZ889 stepped out of his home, Ray’s onslaught of words came to an abrupt halt. He didn’t really care why the guy suddenly went quiet. He moved to the end of the corridor where he took the lift. After a couple minutes and many stops, he stepped out and went to one of the transport cabins. After taking it, he soon arrived at his destination. It took a quarter of an hour, and all along the way, Ray hadn’t said a word. AAZ889 briefly wondered why that was, but he just as quickly threw away the thought. It didn’t matter.

WHAT IS THIS PLACE! came Ray’s sudden wail.

A barely perceptible frown creased AAZ889’s brows for a fraction of a second as he asked, “What is it now?” He originally wanted to rebuke the guy and tell him to stop making a ruckus in his mind, but his mild curiosity won over his disinterest.

Ray didn’t even know where to start, and was shocked into silence. But he couldn’t take it anymore, and the words burst out of him in an unceasing flood.

This… this place…! What is this place? It’s so weird. We are underground, yes? But it is like a fucking jungle! There are plants everywhere, every-absolutely-fucking-where, and they are all so blindingly colorful. And creepy birds, I feel like they are watching us, it’s like that conspiracy theory where pigeons are the surveillance of the government. And even though there are so many birds, everything is so clean. How is everything so clean? Everything is so bright and well-lit.

And that… calling it a lift feels like injustice! It was huge, and it went up and up for so long, with so many people joining. But it wasn’t huge first, you stepped into a normal lift, and by the time we arrived, it was a giant lift? How did that even happen? And then you took that thing, and swish swish, it was so fast, and we are already here. And there were so many people everywhere, and everyone is so stunningly beautiful and strikingly handsome.

I had thought that with weird names, and looking at you being so cold all the time, everyone was going to be like that, but no! Only you are like this, people seem bright and happy, they talk and laugh. This place seems amazing. I thought it was a dystopia, but it clearly is a utopia, even though we are still underground. Is this whole place underground? Is this your school? I can’t wait to see what’s your school is like and meet your friends.

AAZ889’s eyes somewhat glazed over from the onslaught of words as he distractedly walked to his classroom, and sat down at his desk. He didn’t look at anyone, didn’t greet anyone, he never did.

AZ acted as he always did, yet XZ raised an eyebrow as he followed him with his eyes. XZ dropped in his seat, and turning around to face AZ, he said, “Hey AZ, something good happened? You look lively today.”

What XZ expected as a response was, “XZE322. My name is AAZ889, talk to me properly.” That was what AZ always said, but today, AZ said nothing, and instead, frowned slightly. This frown was so slight, the most subtle movements of the muscles above his brows, that AZ still looked as expressionless as always. But XZ saw those subtleties on AZ’s face. No one else would have noticed it if they were to look at him, but no one ever even looked, only XZ. And only XZ could see.

XZ’s eyes widened in surprise, he was delighted to get a different response today. His smile grew, his whole face lighting up with undisguised satisfaction. AZ’s barely perceptible frown deepened as XZ’s mood soared. XZ was about to say something, when one of his friends slapped him on the shoulder and pulled him away.

Despite what XZE322 thought, AAZ889’s subtle frown was due to the incessant chatter in his mind, not because of him. At first, Ray seemed so scared of him, convinced AAZ889 hated him, that he kept asking AAZ889 to just kill him. But now, not even a day later, this guy constantly blabbered on about the weirdest things in his’s mind.

When XZE322 sat down and turned to him, Ray’s reaction was, Woooaaah, this guy is so warm and bright like the sun. Wait, do you even know what a sun is if you live underground? Well, the sun is like… this guy. What does he mean you look lively? Is he being sarcastic? He must be, but his face and voice sounds so honest, he’s like a puppy I want to pet. Damn, why am I in your deathly cold mind instead of hanging out with that guy? He seems so much more fun. Woah, I didn’t think his smile could be any more lovely, look at him, how can you not smile back? How can you be this unfeeling and unmoved? Quick, give me control of your body, so I can smile back at him.

AAZ889 had enough and knocked Ray out with a blast of icy wind.

Finally, peace and quiet.