Chapter 14: Tier 2 Restoration Pill
The bell rang and I started packing up.
Two of my five slots were filled, the other two would land in my lap whether I wanted them or not, and the next move was Monday. There wasn’t much more to do with this room. I slid my tablet into my bag, slung the strap over my shoulder, and stood.
Kira didn’t stand.
That was unusual.
My observation of her said she was always one of the first three people out of any classroom. Door, exit, gone. Today she was still in her chair, her bag halfway zipped, her hands flat on the desk in front of her.
I stopped at the end of her row.
"Venn."
She looked up.
"You usually clear out before the bell finishes ringing."
"I know."
"Then?"
Kira closed her bag the rest of the way. She glanced past me at Tom, who was hovering two steps back with the patience of someone who didn’t want to interrupt but also didn’t want to leave, and then she looked back at me.
"Shouldn’t we make a plan?"
"A plan?" I asked tilting my head.
"For the gate." She gestured at the empty front of the room where Soren had been ten seconds ago.
"There aren’t many E-rank gates near the academy. Maybe fifteen, if you count the two on the eastern district that flicker between F and E. We have a week.
We could study all of them. Figure out the worst-case scenarios for each one, the beast types that show up, the terrain. So when the assignment lands on Monday, we’re not walking in blind."
I raised an eyebrow.
"That’s a fair point."
I glanced back at Tom. His expression had changed somewhere between surprise and eagerness.
He nodded so fast his bag strap bounced.
"Library, then." I gestured toward the door.
The academy library was on the third floor of the main building, a long room with high windows and rows of stacks that ran the length of the wall.
The gate atlas section was on the second tier, accessed by a narrow staircase that smelled faintly of dust and old paper.
Kira knew exactly where to go.
She pulled three volumes off the shelf without checking the spines, dropped them on a table by the window, and started flipping through the first one before Tom and I had finished sitting down.
For the next hour, we worked.
Kira read fast. She’d skim a gate entry, mark the key data points with a pencil, and slide the page across to me to verify.
Tom took notes in a small spiral notebook in handwriting that was neater than mine. By the end of the hour we had summaries on all fifteen of the nearby E-rank gates, ranked roughly by difficulty, with the three worst flagged for deeper study.
Kira printed the summaries on the library’s communal printer and slid the stack across the table.
"Memorize these." She tapped the top page. "All of them. By Monday."
"Yes, ma’am," I said.
Her phone buzzed, gaining her attention. She glanced at the screen and her face changed instantly.
The corners of her mouth tightened. The color drained out of her cheeks in a single beat.
Kira read the screen a second time, then a third, then she stood up so fast her chair scraped backward and knocked into the stack behind her.
"I have to go."
"Kira."
"I’ll see you tomorrow. We’ll do a deeper session another day, I’m sorry, I, something came up."
She was already shoving her books into her bag. The pencil she’d been using rolled off the table and onto the floor.
She didn’t bother to pick it up. She grabbed the strap of her bag and turned toward the stairs, and I watched her go for half a second before the System chimed in the corner of my vision.
[CHOICE A: Follow Kira. Her brother is dying. Reward: Tier 2 Restoration Pill.]
[CHOICE B: Ask if she needs help. Reward: +1 Charisma.]
[CHOICE C: Let her go. Reward: Kira’s brother dies.]
I picked A before the screen finished loading. Choice A was always most rewarding, but usually the most daring and difficult.
A Tier 2 pill on a dying person was a life. The other two options weren’t options.
I grabbed my bag off the back of the chair.
"Tom, I’ll catch you tomorrow."
"A-Alright, take care. See you later."
I caught up to her at the bottom of the staircase.
Kira was already through the main library doors and into the corridor, her bag clutched against her side.
I fell in behind her at three paces. She didn’t notice me for the first ten steps. Then her shoulders went tight, and she half-turned her head without breaking stride.
"Ash."
"Hi."
"Stop following me. I’m not in the mood for your games. Please, leave me alone."
"No."
She turned a corner and I turned it with her. The corridor opened into the main entrance hall, students filing out in clumps toward the front gate.
Kira cut through them like a knife, and I stayed on her heel, and she half-turned a second time with her jaw clenched.
"I said stop. I don’t need your help. I don’t need anyone’s help. Go home, Ash."
"Your face changed when you looked at that phone."
"Ash—"
"Don’t do something you’ll regret." I caught up enough to walk beside her, matching her pace down the front steps. "I’m here for you. Something’s wrong. Stop being so closed off to the people trying to help you."
She stopped.
It was only for a second. Her foot hit the bottom step and she froze there, her hand tight on her bag strap, her dark hair falling across her face as she looked down at the pavement.
Then she started walking again. From that moment on, she didn’t tell me to stop following her.
I smiled softly as I followed behind.
She ordered a taxi and we both slid in. Once we arrived at the hospital, I paid the taxi before she could.
Kira was about to reprimand me, but chose not to. Clearly saving it for another time.
We entered the main reception, and she headed straight to a room, clearly having been here before.
’Seems like her brother is a regular here...’
