Chapter 10: Idle Time I

The enhancing effects had worn off a few hours prior. Having spent the previous night reorganizing the Phantoms after their previous finding, the pale girl was now barely able to even stand. She’d slept no more than two hours before waking up for school. Apparently, haema was not nearly as effective in warding off sleep deprivation from teenagers as it was with older adults.

To make matters worse, her careless oversleeping later on had earned her a stern scolding from Kay, also doubling as her backup alarm clock for that morning, which in turn led to her hurrying out of her apartment for her 08:00 A.M. class without even eating proper breakfast, which she was also scolded for, before a small plastic container collided with her head as she tried to rush outside through the front door.

(‘And don’t you dare forget your lunch again, you asshole!’)

(‘Damn it, Kay! I’m already sixteen, you know!?’)

(‘I don’t care! Also, don’t forget to look before you cross!!’)

And like so, she’d wound up on a clumsy trudge across the walkway beside the traffic-filled roads of the Suburban Sector. She’d almost felt like running at first, but all that energy she had was then quickly shot down once she remembered the murder case she was now involved in.

“Stupid sis…” she whined under her breath.

Though it was important for Kay to believe she actually cared, it didn’t really matter to Emily whether she arrived soon or late. It didn’t matter whether they’d be mad at her for being late or not. The girl only really got off bed during the day out of social obligation at this point. She’d given up on the UDS’ so-called education a long time ago.

Well, even if she wanted, she was far too tired to run, anyway.

Her regular, daily use smartphone had been annoyingly vibrating in her pocket for the past minute, and with a groan she eventually took it out. Countless notifications had piled up since the previous day, including weather, news, and random social media pages she’d never even heard of.

The most recent ones, though, had been messages from Armetta.

(Tch… What does she want now, of all times? Some dumb gif… A random emoji with no context… And… cupcakes? Why’s she asking about cupcakes out of nowhere?)

They weren’t really that close, and the only reason they’d exchanged numbers had been for convenience’s sake. She gave a curt reply out of decency, still.

Her destination had finally appeared several meters away. She wondered if she should keep going. Was it really worth it spending a whole day like that again, and with so little sleep to keep her going, to top it all off?

But she knew she couldn’t turn away, because Katherine would hear of it.

***

All lights in the classroom had been turned off like usual, but this time its interior was still visible. The blinds were open, since a special screen wasn’t necessary for general Math classes, and vivid sun rays lazily pierced through the clear windows, reminding the girl that spring would soon be nearing its peak.

“…so then, you may apply the rule of degrees to reduce the expression in the limit so long as it leans towards infinity, WHICH YOU’LL QUICKLY VERIFY IS BY FAR THE BEST OPTION, compared to simplifying it directly…”

(…)

The strong natural lighting had forced Emily to keep her face hidden under the hood even after entering the building, in order to avoid serious sunburns. The jacket she’d worn that day was starting to feel unbearably hot, even though it hadn’t been made for the cold season, and to add to her irritation, the teacher’s odd voice reverberated through the whole classroom, as she disorderly presented piece after piece of random information.

(How the heck is she whispering and yelling in the same sentence? And why’s she doing it!? It makes no sense!!)

“So, if you can prove THE LIMITS BOTH EQUAL… the ordinate, it will therefore be proven CONTINUITY EXISTS!!”

Focusing on whatever that woman was trying to explain had proven impossible for the lazy student in her, so Emily had instead settled for staring into nothing for the duration of the lecture, left at the mercy of her own thoughts.

And even though she no longer listened, the teacher still whispered and yelled away, class moved past without her.

The previous night had been, once again quite unusual, even up to the standard that city usually set. She hadn’t found anything else of note regarding their mystery attacker, so she had instead to settle for simple changes in mobilization.

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Actual adults among the Phantoms were far between, and yet the mystery attacker had managed to target two more. Their corpses were laying about in another alley in the Center. Corby and Malek. Both in their early twenties. They were bastards of the lowest order, having done unspeakable things not even the cleaning crews at the end of the night could erase at times, and she had never particularly cared for them as members of the gang. But since they did, on occasion, prove themselves useful enough, she’d let them be for lack of better choice. Reliable manpower was hard to find, and she had not choice but to look for compromise where she could. And yet, regardless of how reliable she’d thought them, they had likewise been found on the floor, cut into bloody pieces, covered in that same white powder.

Was the killer on their own, or could that have been the work of more than one person? Even compared to his peers, Vince was relatively well built for an old man, not to mention his accumulated experience. There was no way he would’ve been subdued by somebody on their own, using melee weapons of all things. The same went to the other two, though they weren’t quite on his level.

Regardless of numbers, the culprit must’ve clearly had enough power to properly overwhelm them, which should be a rarity, seeing as Vince was known for having been one of the very few haema users to start from their early childhood. Simply put, Vince was strong, remarkably so. Perhaps even as strong as her.

As for the mystery behind that white dust, the answer was still to be seen. After managing to precariously isolate some more grains the previous night, she had ordered Charlie to again deliver a portion to National Research Lab 7 headed by doctor Alvan Sarrif, one of the few underground laboratories the Phantoms had in their pocket. She was expecting results by that evening, but until then they would have to wait, so…

How quaint.

There she was, sitting in the middle of some convoluted lecture she hardly understood, on the brink of another disappointing grade in the next written test, yet all she really cared about was playing gang leader. Or rather, ‘under-glorified guard dog with exclusive privileges’, but eh, who cared about the details? It was still better than schoolwork.

How long would her days remain like that? High school would end someday, wouldn’t it? In the near future, the young girl would no longer be forced by law to balance that daily waste of time with her actual life, the one she’d been working for.

But if so, then why was she even obeying such laws in the first place?

The Phantoms were growing. Each year they slightly increased, in both numbers and territory. A slow, but gradual process, which she was sure would soon pay off.

Raising that street gang back from the ground had been a slow and tortuous process, costing her much time and energy, but in turn it gave her many skills and experience with that imperfect world the board chose to hide.

In spite of that, she had always been average at best when it came to formal studies ever since she could remember, not for lack of trying either.

Socially as well, she could consider herself a complete failure. It was already her second high school year, yet she hadn’t managed to connect, or even properly communicate with a single one of her classmates, or other students in any casual setting. Her unusual appearance alone was enough to earn her a daily amount of sideways looks from whoever passed by her.

However, the main reason behind her withdrawal from others was merely her general attitude towards them. And although she mostly noticed teachers and colleagues alike complain about menial things, barely hearing her speak at school, lack of friendliness, or not being agreeable enough, among whatever else, it didn’t feel like the problem even lied there.

Raising her own voice, contributing in group assignments and basic discussions had never given her problems at all, and anytime someone came to her about a project or other kind of work, interaction and cooperation felt as natural as breathing.

But the moment the subject of conversation was changed from work to whatever celebrity or sports team was trending at the moment, any thought process of hers was instantly stopped in its tracks for some reason. At that point, she was simply rendered unable to converse properly with those people. She just couldn’t relate to any of them or their experiences.

Very rarely did she even remember an instance of actually talk with anyone… Aside from that dumb library girl, maybe? But that one only spoke to her out of pity. Did she even count?

She’d had most of her classmates’ faces and names already long memorized, surprisingly, but by her own fault failed to acknowledge absolutely anything more about them aside from that, despite ol’ SubSec high’s core philosophy of instilling ‘a sense of interplay and group spirit among its students’.

As a result, she’d been dismissed as rude and abnormal, and spent most of her days ruminating in solitude, waiting for the sun to hurry up and set at once.

Meanwhile, during the night, she was all but worshiped by her subordinates. It felt like turning into a different person every twelve hours.

And honestly…

Why exactly was she still going there? Was there even anything left for her on the legal side of the system? It’d be really easy to just leave that bright, boring world right now. Frankly, it would be for the best. But if so, why didn’t she just drop out and go?

(C’mon, ‘mistress’. What’s stopping you? Kay?)

The last thing she wanted was for Kay to realize what she’d been getting herself involved in. She didn’t want her sister to worry. For that, she was willing to put up with any class and any schedule, no matter how tortuously dull they were.

She wasn’t so sure about the long-term implications, though. Once again, for how long would she be able to endure through such an unfulfilling lifestyle? Would Kay really be there forever? Would she be there to lead her straight?

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