Expulsion

“Inertia?! What happened?” they exclaimed in unison.

Dom grabbed me by reflex, and along with the headache came the sting of burns on my wrists, exactly where his hands had pressed as I held my head.

“Ouch... Dom!”

This wasn’t my day. At least the headache had eased a bit.

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to! Water… I’ll get a cloth with water!” he said before running off.

“Inertia, what’s happening? What did he do?” Rei asked, his voice filled with concern.

“He accidentally touched me… Rei, I remembered him… it’s Toby, my dog. How did he end up there?”

I picked up the phone from the floor and placed it horizontally on the table to prevent it from falling again.

“Here, Inertia, press this cloth against your arms.” Dom brought a bucket of water and a cloth to help ease the burning sensation on my skin. As I soaked and applied compresses to my wrists, Rei continued explaining.

“Toby was abandoned inside your house. But despite all that, he might have brought what could be my only clue about you! There’s a number engraved on the tag of his collar. It looks a lot like coordinates; maybe I can find something that will help us.” 

“That’s strange... my parents would never have abandoned Toby like that. My mom loves him just as much as I do. Something’s not right,” I replied.

“I’ll put on my uniform, but I’m not going to school today. I need to find a better place to investigate this.”

“Okay, but Rei… don’t do anything without telling us, and make sure your phone stays charged,” I added.

Wait — what about me? How am I supposed to charge my phone when it runs out of battery?

“Dom, are there still chargers in junkyards, or maybe in some antique shops?” I asked, worried.

“Hmm… let me see your phone. If it uses a cable charger, it’ll be harder to find; they stopped making those thousands of years ago. If you’re lucky, it might charge via induction. Let me test it.” Dom took the phone.

Luckily, the phone charged via induction with the equipment Dom had available, so that was one less problem for us.

“Alright, I’m heading out. I’ll use my earphones and keep the phone in my pocket,” Rei said.

I didn’t have many options but to keep following Rei while Alba and Chefe were still away. Since Dom was kind of stuck with me, we connected the phone to the living room projector.

Rei’s life became our source of entertainment.

***

I stepped out of the house, shut the door behind me, and headed down the stairs

I was in my school uniform, carrying my backpack, with my earphones connected to the phone. My old phone rested in my left pocket, while the pendant was tucked safely in my shirt pocket. I’d already taken a picture of it just in case. I couldn’t risk losing such an important clue.

My plan was to head straight to a cybercafé to research the coordinates or at least figure out what those numbers meant. But as soon as I turned the corner, I ran into Kei. It felt like he had been waiting for me, though he tried to play it off as coincidence.

“Hey, man! What a coincidence! I ended up being late too,” he said.

I was already half an hour late. If I had stayed home… how long would Kei have waited here? What does he want?

“Kei, I doubt this is a coincidence. What do you want?” I asked, suspiciously.

We kept walking toward the train station, but that wasn’t really where I wanted to go… How could I change course?

“Why all the hostility, man? I’m just worried about you. Where were you yesterday? Saori told me you were at the shop,” he said, dodging my question.

Kei and Saori are siblings, so it would be strange if she hadn’t told him.

Both are my childhood friends. We used to live next to each other in elementary school, but they eventually moved because of their parents’ shop. Their new house is still in the same neighborhood, so it could be a coincidence — but I know him.

“I’m fine. I just got held up yesterday and ended up at an arcade,” I replied, using the first idea that came to mind.

“Hmm…” he murmured thoughtfully.

He didn’t seem convinced. Arcade games aren’t really my style, but he decided to let it slide.

“We were worried, you know… when you have a fight with someone, you tend to isolate yourself. I’ve learned to respect your space, but missing school for two days? Of course we’d be concerned. Eri’s worried too,” Kei continued.

“I can’t believe you’re using this clue as an excuse to avoid dealing with your personal issues, Rei!” Inertia said through the earphones.

I forgot they were listening to everything. My desire to help her was genuine; I wouldn’t use it as an excuse.

“No! I wouldn’t do that!” I replied, raising my voice.

“Do what?” Kei asked, puzzled.

My response hadn’t been meant for him, so I had to improvise an answer.

“…just disappear over some trivial argument,” I said.

Ugh… now I had no other choice. Any excuse I gave would only make it obvious that something was off. I’d have to go to class today.

“It’s not like you to let things linger, and it’s not like Eri to apologize either. If you keep this up, you two will never talk again,” Kei pressed on.

His goal was to make sure I was the first to apologize… but I had no reason to. I wasn’t wrong this time.

At that moment, my response to him was silence. We passed through the turnstile and headed for the platform.

“Rei, you know how stubborn Eri is… She was worried. You know what she meant when she said those things… it was for your own good!” he continued.

Kei was determined to make us reconcile.

“Rei, what did you do to the poor girl? Just apologize already!” Dom chimed in through the earpiece.

I wouldn’t be surprised if they were watching this with popcorn in hand.

“She said something she shouldn’t have. Kei, I’m not apologizing,” I said, locking eyes with him seriously.

Enough was enough. Eri had good intentions when she started that conversation, but she chose the wrong words at the wrong time.

“Alright, I get it. I won’t push it,” Kei relented.

We arrived at school and went our separate ways. Kei was the only one in our group who ended up in a different class this year.

Oh, wait, let me explain better. Kei and Saori are twins, and we’re the same age, so we’ve practically gone through school together our whole lives. Eri became Saori’s best friend during middle school and eventually joined our little group. There were four of us, but after everything that happened, I’m not sure if we’ll stay that way.

I walked into the classroom and headed to my desk, which, luckily, was the last one in the row by the window. I could feel their eyes on me, but I chose to ignore them and sat down.

“Rei… we can hear you just fine from here, but we’re stuck in the dark inside your pocket. Let us out,” Inertia said through the earpiece.

Since they were still in my pants pocket, I took out the phone and set it down on the desk.

I wasn’t sure if the teachers would be okay with me wearing an earpiece during class, but I decided to keep the left one in and see how it went. My next purchase would have to be a pair of wireless earbuds.

“...looks like this is a Japanese language class. Hey, Dom, how can you understand our language?” Inertia asked.

I was more focused on their side conversation than on the lesson the teacher had just started.

“How should I explain this... hmm... since we’re directly connected to the network and artificial intelligence, conversations feel like automatic translations in our minds. You speak naturally in your own language, but I can understand it effortlessly, and the same goes the other way.

Right now, I’m actually speaking Portuguese. Another humanoid would get it right away, but since you don’t have the same connection, my system automatically converts it so you hear it in Japanese. The AI picks up the language and handles the translation through my system.”

“Wow, that’s so cool! Right, Rei?!” Inertia exclaimed.

I stayed quiet. How could I possibly answer out loud in the middle of class?

“Oh, I forgot. Rei can’t talk,” Inertia chuckled.

“Can you text him?” Dom asked.

“I’m not sure… let me give it a try.”

My phone started vibrating with messages. To my surprise, they were from the Live App itself. Inertia had sent a sticker of a character holding a magnifying glass, followed by a ‘hi’.

I replied with a 'keep quiet,' and she responded with another sticker, followed by messages like 'we’re bored' and 'when does class end?'

The conversation was interrupted when the teacher came up to my desk, took my phone, and turned it off.

“No!”

Without thinking, I lunged for the phone and protested, my heart racing as I tried to grab it back.

“No what?” he asked in return.

I quickly released the phone.

Damn, I shouldn’t have done that… but leaving the phone in a stranger’s hands was too dangerous.

“Sorry, teacher, I acted on impulse.”

“Step out of the classroom,” he ordered.

Now my phone had been confiscated, and I’d been kicked out of class.

End of Report 09.