Tophro Hitorin, with a box of synthesized food in hand, marched through the school. He appeared clueless and nervous, but there was determination and goal in his step. Undetectable ninjas that we were, we stalked him through the hallways to the center of the academy, a large open area prominent with nature and plants imported from Pyuntia, the homeworld of our race and the Federation.

“Target spotted,” Nick said. Indeed, Ice was sitting at the root of a tree, eating quietly and staring at her tablet. I held up a hand and gestured for us to split up. Nick and a giggling Torch hid behind a stone next to the entrance and Bardo followed me to the tree next to our target.

It was a wonder that we hadn’t been spotted yet.

Hitorin walked up to Ice. A smile formed on Ice’s face as she looked at her tablet, but when her eye twitched up and obviously spotted Hitorin she suppressed that smile.

“She’s suppressing her smile,” I whispered. Nick and Torch heard that as well, connected to me via our neural systems.

“Now that you say so, they are pretty obvious,” Bardo remarked. The tone of his voice sounded like it always did, but there was a tiny speck of enthusiasm.

The conversation began as Hitorin awkwardly waved, his mannerism crude but well-meaning. His accent sounded rather foreign, but above all, it was loud and easy to discern from a distance.

“Heyyy, Aeyn! Those were some very hard puzzles, huh, hehe…”

“Vincent dude. Requesting transcription.”

“Affirmative.”

As the conversation continued, I repeated everything that was said for Nick and Torch to hear.

“They were easy,” Ice answered. Her voice was melodious, perhaps even beautiful, but her tone was as sharp and cold as… Well, ice. Annual comedy awards for me once again.

“For you, haha! I admire how apt you are at these things. Might I join you to eat?”

“Sure.”

“Ahahaha! This is like in one of those romcom shows, you know?”

“Torch galdude, I request your silence.”

“Awww, come on! Call me either one or the other! Vincent, what’s happening?”

“They’re eating,” I answered. “In awkward silence. Hitorin is enjoying his food by loudly-”

“Hmmm!”

“I think you heard that.”

“What an idiot!” Bardo exclaimed, maybe a bit too loud. “If he wishes to make friends, he should be more direct. Or are they practicing a play?!”

“Agreed.”

“Yeah, I figured.”

Bardo looked at me judgingly. I grinned and innocently looked to the side. Meanwhile the one-sided conversation continued. Just looking at Hitorin made me feel pathetic. An aspiring soldier, a protector of the Federation’s ways, reduced to this. As I processed the thought, the pathetic feeling turned to a slight tinge of guilt for looking down on a classmate so arrogantly.

But still, my point was justified.

“Hmmm! This food is really delicious!”

“You made that pretty clear.”

“Y-Yeah…”

“There,” I observed. “She couldn’t have made it more clear to him that this isn’t working.”

“Don’t expect anything of this dude,” Bardo commented. He was right, and I could hear Torch giggle through the hud as Hitorin now started whistling incessantly loudly.

“I’m going to class again,” Ice interrupted. Hitorin’s mind was visibly racing to find a response.

“Oh, uuhm, I’ll come with-”

“Thanks for staying with me, Tophro.”

Ice’s expression didn’t waver and remained as distant as ever. Hitorin widely smiled, not realizing that her saying that was a way of getting rid of him.

“Yeah! No problem, Aeyn!”

Aeyn passed Nick and Torch and walked back into the building. As soon as the door automatically closed behind her, Hitorin held up a fist in the air, and he audibly mumbled under his breath.

“Yes! Another victory for-”

The celebration of his false victory was rudely interrupted when Bardo stood up and approached him, a finger aimed at Hitorin.

“No!”

“W-What? Oh, aren’t you Bardo?”

Bardo closed the distance and stood right in front of Hitorin now, their eyes locked and the silence only adding to the suspense.

“Yes, and I’m going to interview you.”

“Oh, cool-”

“I’m giving a presentation tomorrow, idiots of the universe.”

Couldn’t have said it better myself. Torch was uncontrollably laughing now, with Nick trying to calm her down.

“Are you insul-”

“Yes! How in the world was that a victory, Tophro? You want to talk to her, right? Well, stop acting like an idiot! It’s obviously not working- you need to take action!”

It wasn't my original plan to intervene like this, but I liked where Bardo was taking this. Indeed, Bardo was not someone who watched from the sidelines like Nick and I did- he was a person that took action into his own hands.

“But she said, I mean, she thanked me! I’m sure I’m being a good friend to her! Don’t you judge my friendship!”

Bardo buried his face in his hands and motioned for me to come out of hiding. It was rather embarrassing, but it was fun nonetheless.

“Should we come too?” Torch asked.

“No,” I replied. “We don’t want to overwhelm him and reveal ourselves as the grand stalking brigade we are.”

I passed the tree and extended a hand.

“Greetings. My name is Vincent- the guy always in the back corner of the class.”

“Yeah, I didn’t miss class introductions! Why were you hiding behind a tree?”

“You see, Bardo and I here form the psychology brigade, and we just noticed how helpless you are with trying to communicate with your nominated friend.”

“Hey, I’m no big part in this or something,” Bardo said, in a rather amusing way. “But Vincent here always has big, huge plans to do things right, and he’ll help you talk to be best friends with her!”

“Really? You’ll help me?” Hitorin asked. His voice was quivering but he sounded happy. I myself was just staring at the ground with a helpless smile. Bardo threw me right into this, and there was no turning back. He was slyer than I thought he was.

“You’ve realized that you’re not doing things right, then. Fine. I’ll see what I can do, mister Hitorin.”

“You’’ll do it for free?”

“Do you expect me to run some kind of business in the Academy here?”

Hitorin’s face freezed and, while keeping his fiddly smile, awkwardly stared past me. Iit would be fun to help him. I already had a plan in mind that would benefit me and Nick more than anything Hitorin expected to pay me.

“Well, there you have it, man,” Bardo said. “Now don’t you dare do anything stupid in the meantime.”

He walked away towards the entrance and gestured for me to follow him. I gave a nod to Hitorin and turned to follow Bardo’s example, leaving our confuzzled classmate behind. Torch and Nick emerged from behind their rock, and Torch beamed at us.

“Part one of operation Save the Idiot complete!” Bardo exclaimed. Torch ran up to him and gave him an enthusiastic high-five.

“So, you’ve joined our black market business of spying on people, then?” I asked.

“Yeah, and we’re going to be the enforcers who do all the fishy stuff,” Torch answered. She flung a hand around Bardo and they looked at me and Nick, the bond between the two strongly expressed.

“You two sure are close. Where do you know each other from?”

“Training,” Bardo answered. “She’s got my mean spirit, and yeah, we’re really close.”

“Not close enough to know the truth about Torch gal’s gender,” Nick interrupted. The comment stole the prideful smirk from Bardo’s face and gave Torch and opening to give him a playful elbow. The way the two interacted truly felt like friendship- the way I acted with Caenya around- but I didn’t feel truly at home with them yet.

“Next hour, when we’re supposed to train, we’re hitting the simulator together,” I said. Torch gave me a quick thumbs-up before attacking Bardo again. “And now, Nick, I’ll tell you how we’ll deal with our poor, helpless subject.”

“Wouldn’t making someone helpless rely on others not only render them even more helpless?” He remarked. I thought for a bit before answering.

“In the long term, yes. But we’re not necessarily making him rely on us. We’re just going to give them a push. Let me explain, because you’ll have your chance next break.”

“Me, Vincent dude?”

“Yes, you.” I prodded Nick while he looked down on me. “What reason do you think I have for helping a random student with their problem, if I’ve already confirmed to have no intentions to make friends?”

“Empathy?”

“Haha, good guess, but no! In this case, I thought this would be a fine lesson for you. You see, I think the main problem of this situation doesn’t lie with Tophro Hitorin- he’s an idiot, but he tries hard. It’s Aeyn Chrysante who’s shutting him- everyone in our class- down. I want you to do this on your own, this time.”

He brought his hand to his chin and stopped to think deeply, something rare for him.

“I trust your trust in me, then,” he answered. “I will complete this task without you.”

I shot him my finger guns and in response, he raised an eyebrow and grinned.

“You two done with your fantastic plan yet?” Bardo asked. I scanned the pair and noticed how Torch’s hair was wild and completely messed up after her exchange with her friend.

In response to Bardo’s question, I raised a fist into the air. “Just you wait! Now, shooting practice is starting, and we’ve got a simulator room to claim.”

“And this time,” Torch said. “We can work together! I heard four versus four battles will be a thing soon.”

“Next week,” Nick added. “I reckon we form a team, then?”

“All the more reason to start training together,” I concluded. According to my neural hud, the time had come. We entered the building and marched towards our classroom. Indeed, when you actively participated, the Academy held so many things to do. Four versus four tournaments! Social situations and lessons!

The time to shine and become a better self!