Chapter 230: 230 | An Introduction by Way of Apology
We rounded a corner and the dormitories came into view, separate buildings for the different tracks and programs. Sloane’s was further up the hill, closer to the Advanced Track facilities. Mine was lower, sharing space with the standard Combat Operations housing. The physical distance wasn’t significant, maybe five minutes walking, but the symbolism of it sat heavy in the air between us.
"I’ll make the administration regret putting me in 1-B," I said.
"Don’t be stupid. They put you there for a reason."
"The reason is paperwork and bureaucracy."
"The reason is that Steele requested you specifically after seeing your entrance exam footage." Sloane delivered this information like it was obvious, like everyone already knew. "She’s one of the only instructors who can request specific student assignments. She saw something in your performance and wanted you in her cohort instead of Hale’s."
I hadn’t known that. The System hadn’t mentioned it. Diane hadn’t mentioned it either, though she might not have known.
"How do you figure that out?"
"Because it’s obvious." Sloane’s expression suggested that asking should have been obvious. "The moment I saw you in 1-B instead of 1-A, I figured that the answer is that Steele wanted you. Which means she sees something worth developing, which means you should stop complaining about cohort assignments and start proving her right."
She stopped walking at the point where our paths diverged, her dorm up the hill and mine down the other branch. The sunset had shifted into purple and deep orange, the last of the light clinging to the sky like it didn’t want to leave. "Goodnight, Lukas."
"That’s it? Goodnight?"
Her eyes narrowed. "What else were you expecting?"
"Something more memorable."
"I gave you memorable this morning."
"That was hours ago. My memory’s not that good."
She laughed, the real one that broke through her guard, and then she grabbed the front of my new blue shirt and pulled me down to her level. The kiss wasn’t gentle. Sloane didn’t do gentle unless she had to. Her mouth moved against mine with the same intensity she brought to everything else, confident and claiming and leaving absolutely no room for misinterpretation about what she wanted or who she wanted it from.
When she pulled back, her lipstick had migrated to the corner of my mouth and her cheeks had flushed with warmth that had nothing to do with her Aspect.
"Memorable enough?"
"I’ll manage."
"Text me before you go to sleep."
"Yes ma’am."
She turned and walked up the hill toward her dormitory, her hips swaying with the particular rhythm that happened when she knew someone was watching. I watched until she disappeared through the doors, the automatic lights activating as she approached, and then I turned toward my own building with the taste of her still on my lips.
The path down the hill was quieter than the main thoroughfare, bordered by ornamental trees that someone had clearly imported from somewhere expensive. The sky had darkened enough that the campus lighting had kicked on, soft pools of illumination spaced along the walkway at intervals that suggested careful planning. I walked with my hands in my pockets and my head full of the day’s complications, sorting through everything that had happened and trying to figure out what came next.
Steele had requested me specifically. That changed things. That meant the evaluation hadn’t been about catching me in a lie, it had been about figuring out what I could actually do. She already knew I was holding back. She wanted to know how much.
The System had been quiet since the Gacha pull, no new notifications or commentary or sarcastic observations about my life choices. I wasn’t sure if the silence was ominous or just a break in the action. Either way, I’d take it. Constant supernatural narration got exhausting after a while.
I rounded the final corner toward the dormitory entrance and walked directly into someone.
The collision wasn’t dramatic. I’d been moving at normal speed, no real momentum behind it, and the person I’d hit was light enough that the impact barely registered as physical contact. What registered instead was the yelp of surprise, high-pitched and startled, followed by the sound of something hitting the pavement.
"Oh my god I’m so sorry I wasn’t looking where I was going and I was thinking about tomorrow and I should have been paying attention but I was distracted and now I’ve probably ruined everything and—"
The apology came out in one continuous stream without punctuation or breath breaks, delivered at a speed that suggested anxiety as a default state rather than a response to the situation. I looked down at the source.
She was small. That was the first thing I noticed, maybe five-foot-two at most, with a frame that suggested delicate until you noticed the curves that contradicted the overall impression. Her hair was dark brown and styled in a way that probably took time and definitely looked soft, falling past her shoulders in waves that caught the campus lighting. Her face was round and sweet, with big dark eyes that were currently wide with panic and a mouth that kept moving as words continued to pour out of it.
But the thing that made me stare, the thing that my brain took several seconds to fully process, were the ears.
Rabbit ears. Long and soft and the same dark brown as her hair, rising from the top of her head and currently pressed back in what was obviously a sign of distress. They twitched as she talked, responding to her emotional state with an expressiveness that her face already communicated but the ears emphasized.
Branded class. Had to be. A mutation-type Aspect that had rewritten her biology in ways that were permanent and visible and, apparently, adorable.
"—and I just started here and I don’t even know where I’m supposed to be going because the map makes no sense and I know I should have memorized it but there was so much information during orientation and—"
"Hey." I pitched my voice low and calm, the same tone I’d used with Rina earlier. "You’re fine. Nobody’s hurt."
She stopped talking mid-word, her mouth still open in the shape of whatever apology had been loading up next. Her ears shifted forward slightly, attentive.
"Really?"
"Really. You ran into me, not a wall. I’m harder to damage than a wall."
