Elvira lay in absolute darkness, half burried under a pile of cushions on her living room couch. Not Even the dim glow of the digital clock remained, as it had been snuffed by a pillow. Well, that, or she’d managed to break it by repeatedly throwing things at it. She wasn’t sure, and didn’t care. If Li was mad she could find some solace in the fact Elvira was certain to be on the first ship out of there.
It had been five days since she returned from the practical exam at Monte Aldé, and if her performance there had been adequate—it had not—then her results on the written exams were an unmitigated disaster.
Elvira knew her roommate for the last seven months was very even tempered, but still hoped this would be the last straw. Then Li could put her out of her misery.
“Here’s to hoping.” She raised an arm in toast.
Before she could start imagining all the colorful ways the Nova instructor would dispose of her, there was a mechanical click from the entryway. The door slid open, flooding her sanctuary with cursed light from outside. She didn’t hear anyone step in, so Elvira raised her head enough to see.
Three people stood in silhouette. One was quite tall, standing up front. Almost directly behind them was a shorter body. A third was poking their head in from the side, long hair shimmering like a sheet of stained glass in the sun.
The one in front was pushed forward, and the door slid shut once more. Elvira sat in silence with the intruder for a moment, before they finally stepped forward and spoke.
“Hi, Elvira,” Hitori said. “How are you feeling?”
Elvira groaned in response. Hitori continued forward, taking a seat on a chair near her spot on the couch.
“So, not very well then.” He didn’t say anything else, but after a moment Elvira heard him pick up a stack of papers from the table between them and pat them neatly into place.
Elvira’s perfect darkness was interrupted by a bar of pale blue light. After a second her eyes were able to focus and she saw it was Hitori’s sword. He’d drawn it part way from its sheath and was using the glow to read the papers in his hand.
Elvira watched him work for a minute or so. He had a thoughtful look as he shifted through the report on her final grade.
“Are you sure you wouldn’t rather turn on a light?” Elvira said. “Or are my dismal grades too shameful for your eyes?”
Hitori hummed. “Good to know you still have your sense of humor,” he said.
Elvira rolled off the couch, hoisted herself to her feet, and shuffled down the hallway to the door, where she turned the lights on. She returned to the couch to sit down in the position nearest Hitori. He put away his sword, but continued looking through the report.
“Sorry,” Elvira said.
“For what?”
Elvira groaned. “For the tests you jackass! I failed everything!” She jumped to her feet. “Every fucking subject!” Hitori looked at her, his eyes considered her face. She slumped backed into the couch.
“You did about as well as I expected, to be honest,” Hitori said. Elvira winced. “And you didn’t fail everything. Varzhish gave you good marks for teamwork.”
Elvira huffed. “Oh, so you expected me to fuck up. Thanks for the warning, I guess.”
“I couldn’t decide if knowing would help you do better or worse.” He shrugged. “So I opted to trust you to do your best.”
No one spoke for a moment. Elvira fidgeted with her hair, looking away from anything in particular.
“Anyway, you didn’t really do that bad,” Hitori said. “Reading these comments it looks like we didn’t get you enough practice, which is understandable given the time constraints.”
“Practice?” Elvira said. “What the hell do you mean practice. I didn’t only fail the practicals you know!”
“Yes, yes,” Hitori said. “I know. What I mean is, you got all your facts right, but you laid them out like, well, a research paper.”
“Wha— ? I don’t…”
“You see, for us delivery is as important as content, maybe more so.” Hitori canted his head and hummed. “You know, I might owe you a little apology.”
“Why?” Elvira gave him a bewildered look.
“I hadn’t considered the written tests,” Hitori said. “Somewhere in my mind I know other schools aren’t like Nova, but it never occurred to me to share that with you. I bet with a little bit of prep work you could have passed at least half of these. I mean, you got plenty of seventies and eighties already, so you didn’t need much of a bump.”
“What!” Elvira yelled and snapped to her feet. “What the hell do you mean ‘seventies and eighties!’ In what fucking world is an eighty not a passing grade! Give me that!” She started pacing and mumbling as she sifted through the sheets. “What kind of psychotic, perfectionist…” She trailed off into a growl, then whipped her gaze at Hitori. “What are you grinning at!”
“Sorry, sorry,” Hitori said, but continued to smile. “I like it a lot better when you’re mad at someone beside yourself.”
Elvira dropped into her seat, turning from Hitori and grinding her teeth in relative silence. Her team captain waited patiently for her to cool down, a pleasant look on his face. Eventually, Elvira said, “I think you need to explain yourself better.”
Hitori started reeling his hand while he looked away. He hummed a moment, then started, “Okay, what it comes down to is we aren’t teaching you things about history and culture and such for the sake of it, you know?”
“More Nova brand pragmatism?” Elvira said. Hitori nodded. “I don’t see the connection. What does the political climate three centuries ago have to do with fighting monsters.”
“Ah, but you see,” Hitori said. “Nova isn’t in the business of fighting metafauna. Hells, strictly speaking, we aren’t in the business of fighting anything, not if we can help it.”
“Sure could have fooled me.”
“Well, alright, what do you think Nova’s most profitable contracts are?”
Elvira hemmed, a wary look in her eyes. “Killing those, uh, praepotent things? Titan hunts, I guess?”
“Nope, most Titan Hunts are handled by mid-level mercenary companies. Guys you’d never hear of. Not that they don’t do good work or anything like that.”
“Then what is it?”
“Bodyguard,” Hitori said. Elvira noticed a hint of a dismissive shrug.
“Like, on a battlefield or something?”
“Nope, for the most part in parties, or stuff like that. One off events and such.”
“Parties?” Elvira went rigid in her seat, and her voice elevated. “Who the hell hires a mercenary to go to a party?”
“Rich people,” Hitori said. When Elvira looked at him expectantly, he continued, “People who are like, ‘Oh! Look how important and wealthy I am, so powerful my dastardly rivals surely want to assassinate me! Won’t somebody please come and take these hundred full-marks to keep me safe?’ Or whatever.”
“One hundred full-marks!” Elvira jumped to her feet. “That’s— I can’t— How? Nobody….” She sat back down, a dazed look on her face.
“That’s more than most people make in a lifetime? I can’t believe anyone would pay that much? How can anyone afford that? And… nobody should have that much money to throw around?” Hitori offered with a shrug. “Is that about what you were trying to say.”
“Yeah, basically.” She didn’t look up.
“Well, the answers, in order, are: Yes, that’s about right, minus two full-marks; It beats being dead, I suppose; Owning land and businesses; and finally, I don’t know what ‘should’ has to do with anything.”
“Oh. I see.” Elvira sat quietly, her face marking the journey of her thoughts. Eventually, she said, “So, are you saying…?”
“We’re going to get filthy rich?” Hitori offered with a suggestive glance. Elvira nodded gently. “No, not quite. I mean, Nova mercenaries do alright, but it’s not every day you see someone offering to throw around a hundred full-marks for a mission. And, if you do see a job like that, well, let’s say you’ll be real glad you learned how to fight.
“Anyway, that won’t matter for a while yet,” Hitori continued. “If it ever does. You’ve got to have at least ten years experience to even see a mission like that on the board, let alone take one. Hells, odds are you and I won’t have the opportunity.”
“Why’s that?” Elvira asked.
“Because the bottom ranked teams get the last pick of station assignments,” Hitori said. “That is, we get to work out of Nova East. That’s not exactly rich socialite central.”
Elvira hummed, then gave Hitori an amused glance. “I think we got side tracked.”
Hitori laughed. “Ah yes, my revenge is complete!” He smiled, and Elvira pushed him in the head. “But to actually circle back to the point, the reason we learn all those seemingly academic things is so we can schmooze at parties. We’re the luxury mercenary bodyguard of choice for the discerning noble, if you will.”
“Kind of takes the romance out of it,” She said flatly, with half a grin.
Hitori chuckled. “A bit. But anyway, with regards to your grades, don’t worry about them too much. I expect you’ll be running drills with the veterans wherever we’re posted, and I’ll help out with your training too, of course. As for academics, I’ll drag you into as many conversations with Protius as I can. Should give you plenty of practice, and you’ll learn stuff too.”
“What about Gordon and Chandra?”
“They’ll do in a pinch,” Hitori said, then he rolled his eyes. “Though with Gordon you might be the one helping him. It’s annoying, actually. If you can get him interested he’s surprisingly insightful, but he barely passed the written exams.” Hitori shook his head. “Chandra is easy to talk with, so that’s nice, even if she’s sometimes a bit noncommittal. I can’t complain though, she passed everything easily.”
He shrugged, and let out a slow breath. “Anyway, enough problems for the future. For now I think we should focus on figuring out what’s going on with your brother.”
Elvira tensed, catching her breath in her throat for a second. “Y-yeah… right.”
Hitori smiled at her. “I know you haven’t had much free time to, you know, process things, but now will probably be the best time to look into it for a long while.”
“Oh?”
“There’s a week long break after graduation, so we’ll even have enough time to visit the Eastern continent and talk with Varzhish if we need to. Might not be a bad idea anyway, given how likely it is we’re posted there.”
Elvira looked around the room and hummed. “You know, I guess it makes sense Gustaf put Newton in here.” She wiped her eye and looked down the hall towards Li’s room. “I’ll kind of miss it though.”
“It’s not like you’ll never have time to visit,” Hitori said. “At least after your first year.”
“Why only after a year?”
“Our education doesn’t end now that we graduated, even if we had somehow managed to all get top marks. Your first year as a mercenary, at least, is spent running every mission the company throws at you, often with a veteran to assist. It’s only after that you start picking missions from the board.”
Elvira hummed, then chuckled. “Seriously.” She shook her head. “Every conversation. More questions.”
Hitori laughed. “You’ll get the hang of everything eventually. For now, let’s focus on your brother. Yes, yes, I know, you need a little time. I’m not saying you gotta get out of your pajamas this instant.”
Elvira looked at her clothes. She had, in fact, forgotten she was wearing her fuzzy, rainbow colored pants and matching button down shirt. It was too late to be embarrassed.
“You relax and, uh”—he looked down the hallway towards the front door—“spend time with Ms. Athens. I guess she was worried about you, or something.” He said the last part softly, perhaps worried the woman herself might take offense to the idea.
Elvira grinned at him and rolled her eyes. “I don’t get why everyone’s afraid of Li. She’s a real softie when you get to know her.”
Hitori eyed her skeptically. “The last casual conversation I had with her was about how easy I would be to murder.”
Elvira laughed. “Well, okay, you work through those talks first, but she’s not trying to scare you or anything.”
“If you say so.” Hitori said, standing up. “Anyway, I want prepare some things for tomorrow, so I’ll leave you to your roommates.”
“Alright.” Elvira joined him on her feet, and walked him to the door. “Thanks for coming by.”
“Any time.” Hitori stepped outside. Ms. Athens and Newton were waiting a respectable distance away. They gave Elvira a relieved look and joined her inside.
Hitori stepped through the front door of the Nova Dormitory, holding it open a few seconds so a fourteen year old boy could scurry through. Seeing him reminded Hitori of back when he was that age this time of year. Halfway through the longest break of the year, running around at a furious pace trying to make the most of it.
Though, thinking about it, Hitori supposed most of his Kosmiches were spent in the Training Center, same as all his time off. He hoped the kid had at least a little fun. He shrugged, problems for later, for now he needed to make plans for helping Elvira with her investigation. Bringing an accused murderer into Nova was very strange.
Varzhish would have to be absolutely convinced, and convincing, about Drake’s innocence for her to be working with him, which was comforting. More than that, Hitori got the impression she knew a lot more about the situation than even Drake. Elvira was almost certainly caught up in something big, and right now she was totally clueless. And he was too.
Hitori sighed. “Life’s really got to be all red sands and black suns, huh?” he said under his breath, pausing in the middle of the path.
“Not like you to get lost, kid,” a voice said from behind.“Ah, Mr. Hassan, sir,” Hitori said, turning to face the speaker. It was Hassan Ahmose, a Nova Instructor who was also the man in charge of the Park.
Hassan looked to the side and grumbled, “Lived with me for seven years, doesn’t have to be so formal.”
What does this stupid wimp want?
“What’s that?”
He coughed. “Nothing, nothing. Wondering why you’re clogging the walkway. Got a lot on your mind or something?”
“Ah, yeah, maybe. Nothing I can’t handle,” Hitori said with a smile.
“Good, good.” Hassan gave Hitori a long look, then wandered off with his gaze. “You, uh, need anything, I’m always, you know”—Hassan trailed off, then coughed loudly. “Anyway, got a message for you from the Headmaster. He’s looking for ya, think it’s some kind of mission.”
“A mission?” Hitori said. “Like, right now?”
“Don’t know the details, to be honest, other than he’s a right black sun about it.”
“Alright, thanks for letting me know. Is there a particular time he wanted me by?”
“No, just said for you to come as soon as possible.”
Hitori frowned, then sighed. “Great. I guess now’s as good a time as any.”
“Yeah. Sorry.” Hassan shrugged. “I’m sure it’ll be fine. I hope it doesn’t take too long though, I was planning to invite your team over during Kosmiche.”
Hitori smiled at him. “That would be a lot of fun. I’ve got to introduce you to the new girl at least, but I’ve got a feeling it might be a year before we’ve got time for it.”
Hassan chuckled. “Busiest kid in whole school, you are. I don’t think even your mother worked as hard as you do.”
Maybe, but she was a try-hard too, for all the good it did her.
“I suppose,” Hitori said. “But anyway, have a good rest of your day.” They parted ways, Hitori changing course for the main office.
