Aurora Over a Dead World

Chapter 25: Something Almost Casual

Today’s class was "good." All the students are really training what I taught them, though not out of respect but necessity!! Incredibly, Rouge made absurd progress in just one day of training.

But she tried to fool me in class. While the other students didn’t show great progress, Rouge managed to alter the atmosphere and air currents around her to "defend" herself from the water I was throwing at her.

And she really did manage to stop the water from getting her wet, but that’s not what I asked for. I asked her to defend herself from the water by reducing its impact. The difference is that this "atmospheric barrier" is fragile.

Any strong attack would pass right through, while the defense I taught works even if the attack is absurdly strong. An example of that is Nemesis herself; one of her punches would take my life, and even so, I was able to block and withstand such punches.

Unfortunately, she got quite irritated when I criticized her creative but foolish idea. But I care very little about that. Until they learn to defend themselves this way, they won’t be fit to face anything absurdly strong.

Tanya is another one who did something I didn’t ask for, simply making the environment a few centimeters around her so hot that the water evaporated. Another defense that wasn’t what I asked for.

Of course, they aren’t useless defenses, but it’s a type of defense that should only be used after they have already learned what I talked about first!!

As class is already over and I’ve already returned home, I started to grab a few things to go give Eirwen her tutoring in the city. I leave the house already completely ready and head to the square near the academy, which is where I arranged to meet Eirwen.

"Hmmm..." I’m sitting on a bench waiting for her while I cross my legs, my tail letting out a slight metallic click because of the change between the day’s heat and the night’s cold.

Since Aurora is an island that flies during the day, it’s relatively warm, but at night it gets quite cold, which naturally influences the atomic expansion of my metallic parts.

’Good thing the adjustment system in the metallic models prevents these clicks when I’m on a mission.’ My arms and tail have a system that detects whether I’m casual or "serious," mainly using my body’s behavior to define which mode it’s in.

"Professor Zenith... what kind of outfit is that?" Eirwen appears and the first thing she says is that question. I look down at my clothes.

It’s a very simple pair of short shorts and a black T-shirt with a skull graffitied with red, pink, white, and green streaks, along with a very stylish black jacket.

"Casual wear, obviously."

"...You look like a delinquent. Aren’t you a little old to be wearing that kind of outfit?"

"You want a punch? Look who’s calling me old!! Besides, why the hell are you in a dress? And that gaudy dress, no less? Go take off that crap." I toss a bag to her. I already imagined she would come in attention-grabbing clothes.

"What?"

"Take. Off. The. Outfit. You understand now? Change out of that stupid outfit and into what’s inside the case. The case has shorts, a casual shirt, and a jacket, mostly black clothes."

"..." She looks at me like I’m strange.

"Just do it. Once you’re changed, I have a place to take you." I say to her, picking up my phone and looking at the list and map Nexus made. There’s a place around here that interests me quite a bit.

"...This outfit looks like something a whore would wear... why are the shorts so short?" When she says that, I look at her with disgust.

"You’re being really nasty now, Eirwen. Do the short shorts bother you that much? These are the clothes that people who aren’t rich kids and don’t have an academy that pays for everything wear! Did you know that clothes aren’t cheap?"

"Get real, girl. Not everyone has an academy paying for every piece of clothing you wear just because you study there." Since resources are limited, even a simple set of clothes is expensive, and whoever is poor has to buy what is cheapest and lasts a long time.

This ended up creating this situation, where poor people’s clothes aren’t large. A pair of pants costs almost 10 times more than a pair of short shorts. For women, buying a dress is almost 50 times more expensive than buying these shorts I’m wearing.

It’s not that I couldn’t buy something more expensive. The reality is that I simply didn’t see the need to buy something expensive. These simple casual clothes are something I’m used to because of the past.

"Okay... sorry, I didn’t think-"

"It doesn’t matter. Change your clothes already. We have a tight schedule. I still have to sleep as soon as I finish training with you." I say to her with a wave. She looks around and goes to a nearby restroom to change while I wait.

"Tsk... delinquent... what an idiot. I don’t look like a delinquent..." I murmur complaints, looking at my clothes again.

’At least with this, I know Eirwen’s life wasn’t that poor. She must have been at least middle class, since she has no idea how expensive clothes are compared to the earnings of the poorest people.’ I stand up, grabbing a lollipop while I crumple the wrapper into a little ball and toss it into the air.

My tail smacks it, sending it with perfect aim into a trash can while the sweet flavor gives me a good sensation.

"..." Eirwen comes back with a flushed face. The clothes fit her well. Eirwen is naturally beautiful, but she always wears reserved clothes that cover a lot. These tighter clothes of now highlighted her beauty.

"You should open your eyes more. They’re beautiful. Walking with your eyes closed shows that your spatial perception of vectors is good, but it hides a useful advantage." I say to her, and she turns her face toward my lollipop.

"Sweet stuff again? You’re going to get diabetes eating so many lollipops. In the classroom, you easily eat more than 10 to 20 lollipops in 5 to 8 hours of class..."

"Don’t criticize my vice. Just let’s go." I start walking in a direction while I raise one hand high and cross the other behind my head, stretching a little.

"Professor... why is your spine exposed?" Eirwen asks a strange question, mainly because it’s not a question about how I lost my limbs and my spine.

"My spine is exposed because the metallic fixation structure is too big to put inside the body. The internal part alone already takes up all the space there is. It’s physically impossible to put it further in, so unfortunately, it stays outside."

"Although it has the advantage that adjusting or repairing it is easier, since it avoids the need for surgery for repairs. At most, sometimes I have to clean the inside because blood, flesh, and other body fluids can damage it over the years." I answer her without interest.

"You’re not... ashamed of it? Or to talk about it?"

"Never. Why would I be ashamed of what allows me to walk? These beauties here are my salvation. Without them, I would be useless for everything." I can’t imagine a life without these prosthetics. Someone like me wasn’t made to be stuck in a chair or a bed.

"It’s still going to take a while for us to get where I want to go. Any more mind-boggling questions?" I speak with not-so-subtle sarcasm, leaving room for her to ask if she really wants to.

"...Why are you so rude?" Her question sounds more like an insult than a real doubt. It makes me laugh.

"You’ll learn that politeness is useless when you’re killing monsters or leading soldiers. Down there, things are crazy. If you try to be polite and aren’t firm or tyrannical, nobody obeys."

"Besides, I didn’t have the same educational opportunities you probably had in childhood. After all, city rats aren’t seen well and don’t have money to study."

"City Rats?"

"...That’s what people usually call orphaned children with no money, no home, or means to keep themselves alive other than stealing."

"Y-You’re a thief?!"

"Not now, but in childhood, yes. Although it was mainly food. After all, I had to take care of that idiot crybaby Nadir."

"Surprised? Is your professor having once stolen so shocking?" I look at her, raising an eyebrow.

"...Stealing isn’t right. You took from people who got those things honestly." She says another moralistic phrase. This naive moralism is almost comical.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. But do you know why I told you this truth about myself? Simple. It’s because it’s common. Why do you think the term [City Rats] exists? Obviously, it’s because kids like that are common."

"Most only steal food and are harmless, so it ended up becoming an unresolved social problem. After all, there are few orphanages on this island and many children who constantly lose their parents."

"Plus, because of this island’s shitty laws, every ’ownerless’ resource belongs to the island, but every ’private’ resource belongs to the person’s descendants."

"This means rich people receive money, houses, and luxury items from parents who died, while when poor families die, they have all their assets confiscated even if there is a child heir, and the assets are only inherited if the ’child’ is already 18 years old."

"S-Seriously?! W-What an absurdity." Eirwen speaks as if she didn’t know this.

"Yes. It’s not like the laws are widely publicized. This island is more rotten than it seems. But hey, at least the government does a good job defending this island."

"They really make an effort, and look, I hate the government. You won’t see me praising them like this again. Even though I know they only want to save themselves and that’s why they make an effort, since if this island falls from the sky, everyone dies. They’re bastards. But they’re competent bastards. Hahaha."

"It seems we’ve arrived..." I stop talking to her when I see we’ve reached a poor neighborhood. Here, we have what we need for her training. Besides, there’s another interesting thing for me to show her.