Noir, let’s have some fun!

Summer, 16:30

Location: National Highway 32, Earth;

“Sigh... I’m exhausted. That was way more tiring than it looked,” Leo groaned, stretching his arms in the backseat. “Man, installing all those machines and wires... and here I thought I’d be gaming right after.”

“Good work! We are done on our part, too— ”

“What the hell were you guys even making in that basement? Twenty GPUs? Ten CPUs?! The hell! I might not be a tech guy, but what are these for? A supercomputer? How much does all that even cost? Is any of this even legal?” Leo cut in angrily.

“Why are you fussing so much?” Theo replied, fiddling with the car display. “Even if it’s illegal, you’re in it too… Uh, where was I? Victor had already completed all the designs, and I had also adjusted the mechanisms and features that would be added. Now with the hardware in place, we will begin production next week when we come back!”

Leo groaned, “Ugh... by the way, what were you guys even making?”

“Haha... Our Superhero masks!” Victor turned and grinned.

“Huh... Superhero costumes? Already? Well, it’s better to be prepared than to be caught unprepared later on.”

“Not costumes! Only masks, we are not superheroes.” Theo corrected. “Besides, I don't think any of our uncles told us that ‘power comes with great responsibilities.’”

“Hahaha, you are correct. Besides, I don't think getting powers is the whole picture here—after all, nothing comes for free. Lastly, Theo doesn’t have any uncle,” Victor said with a serious face.

“…”

“Yes, so we should be prepared for something that will happen soon, and I am truly not convinced that we are the only ones with these powers... Noir is the best example,” Theo said as he switched on the music system and lowered its volume.

Leo adjusted his position to get more comfortable, “Now that you mention it, it’s true that we may not be the only ones, even though there is no news of anything unnatural. Still, that bird or whatever near the shopping mall, and the animal incident that happened, are suspicious as hell... Yeah, what happened to that?”

“I checked everything I could, but did not get any leads... That area may be a little remote, but it is still under gov control. Wildlife and other things are maintained there, so I don't think it will be an apex predator.”

“Later, I deployed some drones, too. You guys might not know it, but other than a few more corpses in different areas, I didn’t get any leads. The DNA sample shows rat, but these are common rodents. Lastly, I am not adept in this field.”

“But is it wrong to assume any apex predators? I mean, you saw the corpses; we can tell that all it took was one bite, and the head was snapped off, and lastly, only the head was eaten. The corpses range from all sorts of animals, so I don’t think size matters.” Victor analyzed the whole thing while rubbing Noir's belly.

“Purrrrr…”

“…”

Theo nodded. “Well, I don’t know, so to be careful, I informed all my neighbours (there are only two) and informed the wildlife bureau.”

Now, both Victor and Leo raised an eyebrow. “When did you do all that?”

“Himitsu~”

“Secret my ass!”

“Just use your brain. I mailed everyone that night with some pictures… anyways, let’s leave it at that now that things are getting weirder, we will have to improve our network and AI too.”

Leo sighed. “I don't get it. Why are you guys so tense? I mean, sure, things aren’t looking great, but I don't think the scale of things has gotten that huge; if it was, wouldn’t it be all over the news?”

“You really think the government wouldn't catch on first?” Theo shot him a mocking look. “They might be slow, but they’re not blind. I bet they even know about the thin energy traces in the atmosphere; satellites might have already picked up on it by now.”

“Uh… are you guys serious? I mean, I get it, they have so many things under control, but…” Leo was a little shocked.

“Don’t underestimate them, Leo? Why do you think we are going all the way to make a new AI, a new private network, and everything from scratch? If I am not wrong, they might already be searching for the source.” Victor clicked his tongue.

“Uh…”

“Victor, it’s okay, I think his brain might not be able to take the reality if you speak more… AI-Chan, log any unusual news that you get, priority— any news of missing persons or objects,” Theo asked.

“Yes, Master!”

“Ugh…” X2

“You guys don’t understand the novelty of these small things.” Theo shook his head in disappointment.

***

It seems Victor's words deeply affected Leo, so much so that the whole car was quiet with some occasional noises from Noir and the gentle rhythm of music.

“Cheer up! We are only 20 kilometres away!” Theo’s voice broke the silence in the car.

"Finally! So short yet so long, Man, this weekend was fun, especially the part where I beat you guys up… it was refreshing! I hope the summer vacation is also this much fun.” Leo laughed like an old man reminiscing about old days.

“Fun! fun my ass!” Victor gave Leo a middle finger.

“Hehe fun! You are really positive, huh? How can you think of fun sitting on a ticking time bomb?” Theo spoke with irritation.

“Uh… Don't be so grim, it might not be that bad, and even if you're gonna die, it's better to die with good memories than bad ones.” Leo hesitated.

“As long as you are happy!” Victor laughed.

“Now that I think about it, do you guys have any homework?" Theo changed the topic.

“Theo, you fucker! Always ruining the mood, but I will forgive you because I have homework, and its submission is on Tuesday, so no pressure today.” Leo replied with a smirk.

“I have a submission tomorrow, but I have completed mine already, so no pressure!” Victor checked his phone as he said, while patting Noir’s head so that she would remain asleep.

“Oh! Here we are..., but I will drop you guys home directly.” Theo spoke as he checked the GPS.

“Whoa, you still have some humanity left in you, huh?... Did something change?... I don’t remember hitting your head during the spar…” Leo asked in shock.

Theo looked at his friends in annoyance, “So, you want to head home walking, right?”

“Oh, you are handsome as ever! Why didn’t I notice it earlier, huh?” Leo immediately began flattering him, which made Noir almost puke.

“tsk”

***

Summer, 10:45;
Location: Sahara Desert, North Africa;

“So, this is where we lost contact with the expedition team, huh?” A bald head immediately captured the reporting soldier’s attention.

“Yes, Captain!” the soldier spoke nervously.

“What was their last message?" the Captain spoke as he shifted his head, reflecting the light to the reporting soldier’s face.

“Sir, they were talking about finding an ancient tablet, supposedly older than anything that humanity has discovered so far.” The soldier spoke nervously, enduring the direct light on his face.

“Huh? I know about the tablet part, but where did the ‘older than anything that humanity has discovered so far’ part come from?” The captain raised his head as he went outside the tent.

His bald head gleamed under the desert sun. He raised his almost non-existent eyebrows as his tone became sharp, causing almost everyone in the recovery squad to sweat buckets, even though all their jackets were using coolants to keep their temperature down.

He was Mark Juma, a veteran military officer in this sector. The one thing he hated the most was when someone exaggerated any reports to him; to him correct report means a correct solution, and exaggeration either wastes resources or lives.

“Sir! We received the new report this morning. It’s supposedly a delayed report; the verification department took a lot of time, so we just received it now.” The soldier wiped his non-existent sweat from his head the forwarded the report from this tab to the captain's tab.

“Dismissed!” Mark said as he waved his hand, indicating that everyone should continue their work, and began to carefully study the report.

After 30 seconds

“Call that soldier once again!” Mark ordered as he kept staring at the tab in his hands.

"Yes, sir!"

“Yes, sir! Juke reporting!” Juke immediately came as soon as he heard his name.

“When did you receive the report?”

"Sir, a few minutes ago!"

“Hmm… Is this the area where the team went missing?”

“Yes, sir, all their equipment is here too, except for the tablet that they were speaking about!"

“All these teams always have some travel cameras that constantly record each move. Are those found and recovered?" Mark massaged his head, a sign that something was not looking good.

“Yes, sir! We recovered them. They were scattered, but they only had the footage until the moment they set up camp and were observing the surroundings and the tablet.” The soldier wiped his forehead.

“Hmm... this case might not be so simple, contact the higher-ups and ask for permission to lock the borders… Code Black Dawn!”

“What! I… Sir, are you sure?”

As the words ‘Code Black Dawn’ came out of the captain’s mouth, everyone began to lose their composure. This code is a high authority code that cannot be used casually. This code is specially for a group of terrorists who are more like a cult.

They caused a lot of destruction in the past, and one of the reasons behind the world’s government union. So, if this case really involved this code, the whole rescue team would be in danger. In this era where peace is more prevalent, even soldiers are a little cowardly in the face of death.

“Yes, and tell them to involve more search and advanced squads too, we are not enough!”

Turning back to the soldier who was reporting to him, he added, “Your name was Juke, right?”

“Yes, sir!”

“Send the footage to the analysis team, and see how much information can be extracted even from the corrupted videos, and… were there any pictures of the tablet found?”

“Yes, sir, I have already forwarded it to you!”

"Good! Hurry up, everyone, get moving!"

As everyone in the squad began to work with double efficiency, the captain began to check files with a grim expression as he muttered to himself.

I hope I am not right this time…

***

Summer, 9:45;
Location: Victor’s house;

“Nope, you can't come with me!”

“Maaw!”

“Nope, those eyes won't work, and why the hell do you even want to come with me? I remember that today you were going to binge-watch the recently completed anime that you were saving for months. What happened to your inner cataku?”

“Mew!”

“Just why?”

“Ugh”

“The campus doesn't allow pets! You have to be inside the bag! It will be suffocating!"

“Mew!”

“What do you mean by ‘daijoubou’? It's suffocating and not ‘daijoubou’ at all!” Victor sighed with a troubled expression as he scooped Noir into a hug and started rubbing the freshly groomed spots to piss her off, but that clearly didn't work. He glanced at the clock.

Well, let’s take her then… I am going to be late if I wait any longer here…

“…Fine. But you’re staying inside the bag and no noise.”

Noir nodded her head to indicate that she understood and then climbed gracefully onto his shoulder, adjusted her body, and wrapped her tail around his neck like a scarf to stay in a comfortable position.

“Sigh… Can’t win any arguments against you, huh!”

“Where do you learn how to argue?... Is it from my mother?”

“MAAW!”

“Uh… okay, don’t tell her.”

After locking the doors and windows and rechecking everything five times, Victor, along with Noir on his shoulders, went to get a bus, although it’s more costly than trains, but his hypersensitive senses will suffocate him as trains have a lot more people.

“Hmm... I think I am getting the hang of my enhanced senses... let’s see... umm... at this rate, I will be able to walk without masks from this Thursday or Friday.”

“Say, lil’ Noir, how do you manage to cope with your enhanced senses?... if I am not wrong, beasts, especially felines, tend to have strong senses, especially their hearing and smell.” Victor poked her belly as he asked her curiously,

The belly poking clearly irked her, but she let it slide, as it was Victor and not Leo.

She is a cat with her priority straight!

“Maw... Mew new ewe ewe eew!”

“Uh… so you are saying that you adjusted pretty quickly and can even decide up to how much area you can smell in a particular range?”

“But is it just that? I mean, as I am adapting to my senses, I realised that I can control it similar to what you said and can distinguish different textures, minute vibrations, different types of smell, even minute changes in wind direction.”

Smack… smack… smack

“MAAW... Mew new uwu mew!”

“Ouch, sorry—sorry! I am not belittling you. It’s just the effects you told me about are similar to mine, but shouldn't there be some differences as animals?”

“Mew… mew—mow, mew ew new!”

“Oh, so the effects I am telling you are something common to you from the beginning, and that's why you didn’t mention it, huh. There are new effects, but you are not sure about that, huh… don’t worry, we can discuss this in detail and see what the new effects are.”

“Mew”

The duo continued their conversation as they waited for the bus to reach their destination, while passengers looked at them with weird glances, but nobody said anything.

Mental stress and problems are common these days, so people murmuring to themselves are also common; severe cases are diagnosed at hospitals, but this case, where even the cat is responding, is something cute and normal to most people.

And so, they continued towards their destination under the weird glances of people, while most of the females were attracted to Noir as she is super cute and stylish, and pitch-black fur attracts a lot of attention too, while Victor, with his new, improved physique, didn’t attract much, as these types of fit physiques are common these days.

***

Summer, 10:45;
Location: Allec College Campus,

“15 minutes early, huh… it seems I will not be late today!” Victor adjusted his bag.

“Let’s go, buddy. Remember to keep chill and not get caught!”

The bag rustled in agreement. He had already put Noir in his bag while on the road so that the security would not notice.

Hmm, why’s the classroom?... I have a bad feeling about this…

Ring… ring…

“Yo! Bastard, where are you? Why is the class empty?”

“Empty…? Impossible, check carefully, I bet Jk is present!”

“Yes, Jk is present, but he doesn’t count. Why is there no one here? The unofficial group didn’t mention anything.”

“Ohhh… right. You missed the group call. Since vacation starts next week, everyone agreed to skip non-practical classes. hehehe… we made this decision and didn’t use the normal group cause last time someone leaked the chats, and we got punished, remember?”

“So, where did you guys decide? Why didn’t I know about it? And why is this bastard only there? Didn’t you guys involve him?”

“It was decided on a highly confidential Vroom meeting, which you didn’t attend, even after calling you so many times. We didn’t bother him—we know he’d come even if the Earth exploded.”

“Shit!... I slept like a dead body last night.”

“Hahahaha… have some fun chat with Jk… hahahahaha.”

Tot…tot…tot…

“So, what to do now?” Victor muttered as he checked his phone.

They held a meeting at 2 A.M., huh… unhealthy bastards…

So, the nearest pet park is a 5-minute walk, huh…

“Noir, let’s have some fun!”