Manga, Machines, and Misfits

Cody was breathing raggedly as he entered the room to see all his roommates, whom he hadn’t met yet, at their bunks. The alarm was going off in the background, muffled by the door he shut behind him.

The twins eyed him, and as he held their gaze this time, they stood up. But the calm, graceful one with the ridiculously long ponytail and the palest skin said, “Perhaps he needs medical attention. Come here, Cody. I’ll rewrap your head bandage.” She waved him over as she pulled out a miniature box.

Cody looked at her and smiled, matching the same warm smile she offered.

When Ashley complained about how old Cody was before he left, he remembered Stephanie saying, “You’re too mean, Ashley.”

“And you’re explaining too much to a dead man. As his file claims, it’s his first pilot run. How—”

“He could be a prodigy? They’re not so uncommon; we have two already in our squad,” Stephanie interrupted.

This made Ashley pause. Just before Cody left, she said, “Yeah… those two… but a squad is usually balan—”

The twins must be itching for a fight. Two prodigies. Cody guessed it was them. Those with power usually flex it indiscriminately, and he wasn’t in the mood for another fight. As he got older, he healed slower. His back hurt.

“My name is Cody,” he offered to the ponytail-wearing graceful one, who looked the oldest besides him.

“I know,” she said as she put a cotton swab to his cheek. It stung like hell, but he refused to grunt, showing no weakness to the twins.

The shortest one, referred to as Tiffany, asked, “Green or red?”

At first, Cody was taken aback, but remembering the slang used by Ashley and Stephanie, he realized he’d never heard red mentioned once. He shrugged and said, “Green… I think?”

The twins suddenly high-fived each other and sat on their bunks. Tiffany seemed pleased as well, making a checkmark with her finger. To Cody’s surprise, the tip of her finger glowed, leaving an afterimage of a white line trail that stayed in midair for a second before fading away.

Cody shook his head in disapproval and remembered a time he’d borrowed AR goggles from his old roommate. The AR (augmented reality) showed his normal wall transformed into a screen. Watching the news, he kept in touch with major events. Technology made his hometown seem stuck in a World War II era—or regressed even further.

Body augmentations (B.A.) had made humans fused with machines a reality back in 1964. It was called cybernetics by most, though B.A. was the scientific name for it. The concept was pioneered by Norbert Wiener, who was born in 1894 and died in 1964.

“Do you really think this is a victory? Ashley has lost a lot of money, as well as Tod. I think we should remember the last time Ashley lost—her tantrums are quite—”

The door burst open, and Ashley walked in, all smiles. “Guess… what.”

The twins held out their hands, waiting for payment. Ashley rolled her eyes and walked over, pulling out a chip from her cubby—a compartment under her bed. After entering some kind of code, she handed it to them.

“Don’t spend it all at once,” she said, handing the same to Tiffany.

But to everyone’s surprise, she was still all smiles. Tod and Stephanie came rushing in but, upon seeing Cody, sighed.

“Squad 1009 was pulverized. Ariana got beat with a weapon, they say. Her bruiser has his neck broken, along with two broken arms. Guess where Ariana was hit.”

The only one not surprised was the medic bandaging Cody, who never stopped smiling. “That pretty little face of hers?” Tiffany said monotonously.

“Nope,” Ashley squeaked.

“Her ginormous boobies that you lack, making you seem overly boyish?” Tiffany added.

Ashley almost lost her smile but regained it to answer, “Her fat butt! Says her bruises won’t allow her to sit without wincing. We swung by medical to identify Cody’s body but found them instead. Two girls also had welts on their heads. Though it was from them headbutting each other—either dissent among the ranks or someone’s squad humbled that strategically placed fat on that whore.” Ashley finished cheerfully.

Cody nervously looked at the floor, pretending not to listen anymore.

“That might be a problem,” the medic whispered, just for his ears.

“Oh?” Cody replied.

“If you can’t hit girls, you’ll die on the battlefield.” Cody didn’t answer at first. “It’s not that. It’s just… the big guy kicked me in… it was personal with him. Ariana grabbed my… me during the fight, so I punished her for her unladylike behavior.”

“You must be far in the West to have such outdated customs like a gentleman. Very sexist, one might say.”

Cody frowned as he felt her push slightly on his stitches. He yelped from the pain but frowned deeper and said, “So what if I am?”

“Have you ever even been in a suit?” she asked casually.

Cody looked her in the eyes and said, “Does it matter?”

She just smiled slightly bigger, turning her head downward. She began shaking, which made the entire room silent.

Then she started laughing. “Heather?” Tiffany asked—or stated her name; it was hard to tell with her emotionless tone.

Heather—that was her name—couldn’t stop laughing. Covering her mouth seemed to return her to her normal calm, graceful look, as if she grabbed her laughter with her bare hands and put it away for later.

Tiffany then said, “Your laughter is quite beautiful, yet strangely, I find it… unnerving.”

Ashley went to her bed after paying Stephanie, grabbing a manga, and saying, “That’s because no one hears her laugh except when she’s on the battlefield. And to be close to her means you’re on the front lines. That’s where she plays.”

Tod went to his bed and grabbed a manga as well, turning his back to the group and staying quiet after grudgingly paying Stephanie a chip.

Stephanie stretched and casually said, “Yes, time for equestrian education. Night, guys.” She hopped onto her bed, assuming the same position as before, with her book open on her nose, covering most of her head.

The twins glanced at each other and nodded, returning to bed as well.

Ashley giggled. “You should have seen Ariana. I want to kiss the squad that showed them their place.”

“It was a single individual, not a squad,” Heather claimed.

Ashley turned, wide-eyed, and looked directly at her. “You’re kidding, right? Heh… should’ve guessed.” She turned her back and said, “Our local prodigy. Once I heard there was a weapon, I should have known better.”

Cody glanced at Heather, who just smiled back. But somehow, though her face was the same, her eyes narrowed slightly, giving the impression of a knowing smile.

“I do look forward to tomorrow. The Vatican is most persistent. Are you religious, Mr. Cody?”

 “Not particularly, no,” he replied, slightly embarrassed.

A simple “Huh,” was all Heather said. Somehow, everything Cody saw her do was now in a new light—when he found out she was the child prodigy. But who was the other?

Looking around, he noticed a laptop in Tiffany’s hands. It was a model far more advanced than anything Cody had seen. The keys never made a sound as she rapidly tapped away, screens popping up only to close moments later. Upon closer inspection, he realized something. She, too, was reading manga.