Blue Life

“Zain! You made it!” Once the young man made his way to the grand hall where all of Aoba’s students gathered, a pair of boys gleefully waved at him to say hello.

“Was there any doubt?” Zain let out a playful grin as he raised his fist towards Mike.

“Nah, of course not!” Mike gladly returned the fist bump, before turning to the red-haired man next to Zain. “But who’s this?”

“I’m Aoba Academy’s current Student Council President, Yusei Kotaro. From the way you asked about me, I assume you two are freshmen?”

Hearing the introduction caused Mike to widen his eyes in shock as the boy quickly bowed:

“I’m so sorry for being rude, President! I’m a freshman at Aoba, Michael Angelo!”

“I-I’m also a freshman, Lewis Circuit!” The other boy next to Mike also frantically bowed down.

Though he had seen Lewis once when he called Mike on the phone, this was the first time Zain had met the boy face-to-face. A shaggy, messy blond hair resembling a bird’s nest. A pair of round glasses, perfectly hiding eyes as blue as the clear sky. A hint of freckles on his nose and near his cheeks. Everything about the boy screamed a typical smart kid, but other than that, Zain couldn’t see anything too unusual about him. For the first time in his life, Zain was talking to a genuine, normal person.

Meanwhile, the young man beside him was chuckling at the overly stiff politeness of the freshmen. “No need for formalities, you two. Just treat me as any upperclassman you might meet. And just Yusei is fine.”

“O-Of course, Y-Yusei-senpai!” Both bowed one more time, which once again caused nothing but amusement for the man in question.

And he just couldn’t resist the opportunity to somewhat poke fun at the examinee that caused him a hell of a time. “Already familiar with the honorifics, I see… Unlike some other people I know.”

“Oh, right, how did you know Zain, Yusei-senpai?”

“Guy was my proctor for the test,” the one in question gave a light shrug. “Disguised as a fellow examinee and everything.”

“Disguised?”

Before the two pairs of confused looks, Yusei explained. “The tests were individually crafted for each of you. I doubt the three of you even shared a single question.”

“Nonetheless,” letting out a cough to change the subject, Yusei stepped forward and gave an elegant bow towards the three freshmen, “I, as Student Council President, once again welcome you to Aoba Academy. I hope you’ll have the best three years of your life here in our facility.”

“No doubt about it!” Surprisingly, it was Lewis who immediately answered with enthusiasm. “This is only the beginning of our school life! Right, guys?”

“Yeah, you said it!” Mike soon joined in on the fun. Zain, though nowhere near as excited, still gave a nod of confirmation.

“Then I wish you the best of luck in whatever career path you choose,” Yusei let out a satisfied smile before finally waving the group goodbye. “It’s time for me to leave, though, but if there’s anything bothering you, you can come to the Student Council Office any time you want.”

As soon as Yusei left the premises, Zain turned to the blond boy in front of him:

“It’s a belated one, but it’s the first time we formally meet. I’m Zain.”

“Zain Kuroshi, right? I’m Lewis. Lewis Circuit. Nice to meet you.”

“Same here. You’re an old friend of Mike?”

“Yeah, we go way back,” Lewis answered with a smile. “How about you? How did you two meet?”

It was a harmless question, but for both Zain and Mike, it was more than critical enough to put them in an awkward spot. No matter how close Lewis was to Mike, Zain doubted that the latter would reveal all of his connections to the dark side of the world to him.

“Uh… we… met in an NLS local tournament in England!” In the end, Mike was the one who answered, though his panicked expression and loud shouting would only further increase the suspicion. “Isn’t that right, Zain?”

Dude, at least calm down a little! The young man could only silently curse his partner in crime, but still had to show off an awkward laugh in front of the curious boy before him:

“Haha, yeah… Mike and I joined the same local tournament, and we became friends after.”

“Sweet! I assume you won, right?” Lewis, not letting up, continued to ask. “Since Mike praised you so much from that time.”

“Oh, that?” Zain scratched his head, still cursing the loudmouth that was Mike in his mind. “Yeah, I won.”

“That’s awesome! And that also means you’re signing up for the NLS course, right?”

“Uh… yeah, that’s what I signed up for when I took the test,” Zain nodded. “But what exactly is the NLS course anyway?”

“You… don’t know that?” A sign of clear confusion showed on Lewis’ face. “Did you not do any research when applying here?”

“Oh, uh… getting him to Aoba was my idea,” Mike interrupted. “He was planning to stay in England, but after seeing his talents, I thought that he had to come here to further take his skills to the world! But that also meant… yeah…”

“Oh…” Lewis’ excitement level dropped by at least half. He had thought that his best friend would bring a true ace to help him fulfill his dream, but if the young man before him wasn’t even interested in the prospect enough to do research on his own future high school, Lewis doubted that he could be anything too special.

Zain, on the other hand, could easily feel that he was being underestimated. However, at a venue as big and crowded as this one, it would be unwise of him to stand out too much, and not to mention, the only thing he could reasonably show Lewis was his pure strength. The truth about his involvement with Aoba Academy and the existence of Bitleo were secrets he’d rather take to his grave.

“A-Anyway,” Mike, seeing the dreaded atmosphere, once again played the role of facilitator, “as you might know, Aoba has the specialized course system, where each student, after filling out their career path in the entrance exam, will be assigned a specific schedule modeled after the career itself. In other words, none of the stuff you learn will be wasted. Ah, but of course, if you’re interested in anything else, you can still take extra classes.”

The boy then took out his phone and pressed a newly-installed app. Immediately, a hologram of a timetable popped up, ready for any interaction needed. Mike wasted no time swiping through the air with his fingers, scrolling through the list of subjects as a demonstration:

“For the NLS course, this includes things like P.E, Sports Psychology, Occupational English (Sports), Applied Sports Science, etcetera… Oh, right, Zain, you should sign up for this class with me; it’s not part of the main curriculum.”

Mike pointed to a certain class at the end of the list, at which Lewis couldn’t help but form a frown on his face.

“Dimensional Science?” The blond boy showed clear dissatisfaction. “Ugh, that subject is horrible! The teacher is rumored to be a lunatic, and no one understands the content! Why would you want to learn that?”

“Well, I’m very interested in the topic,” Mike, on the other hand, puffed up his chest in pride. “And I know Zain is, too. Right, Zain?”

Before he finished the question, Mike let out a secretive wink towards the young man in question. And it didn’t take long for Zain to understand what it meant, either.

Quickly answering with a nod, the young man said:

“Of course! I love that kind of theory!”

“O…kay,” Lewis, before the attitude, could do nothing but shrug. “But you two are on your own. I’m not gonna sign up for that.”

“Yeah, we know,” Mike nodded.

“By the way, it’s getting late now,” Lewis continued. “We should get back to our dorm rooms.”

“Dorm rooms?” Zain asked in confusion.

“Well, yeah, dorm rooms. Where else are we gonna stay?”

“… Oh, right, you just finished your exam, after all,” before Zain could reply, Mike had already explained to him. “But yeah. Each of us is assigned an AISLE – you know that, right? It’s there in the test with you. It’s now also your personal assistant, sort of like a ‘living’ PDA that’s linked with the smartphone the school provided to you here. For those who didn’t attend the orientation just now, the items are instead sent directly to their rooms, except for the AISLE, which…”

“Is right here, by the way,” a mechanical voice sounded from behind the group causing them to almost jump in surprise.

“Where have you been?” Zain was the first to angrily shout.

“I was following you from the start,” answered the AI, “but you guys seem interesting enough to keep me entertained, so I didn’t say anything.”

“Uh… quite the… colorful partner you have there,” Lewis commented. “I know mine is not like that.”

“Don’t remind me.” Zain could only shake his head in embarrassment and regret.

“Well, anyway, I’ll be heading to my room now,” Lewis, without anything to add, waved goodbye to the others. “I’ll catch you tomorrow!”

“Yeah, see you tomorrow!” Mike replied, and Zain waved goodbye as well.

Finally to himself once more (or rather, himself and the AI forced onto him), Zain turned to his room’s directions according to AISLE – room 416, the final room on the 4th floor.

It didn’t take long for Zain to register his fingerprint to the room door’s automatic lock, and as soon as he entered the room, the young man threw himself onto the comfy bed in the middle.

“Finally… what an exhausting day…” Zain mumbled to himself, but just as he was most relaxed, a shrieking beeping noise came from the robotic partner he never wished to have.

“Pipe down, you bucket of bolts!” Zain shouted in anger.

“Incoming call…” AISLE had completely turned into an actual robot instead of the cheeky AI that Zain knew. And it was enough for the young man to glance at the individual who would call him right after he got into school.

Upon seeing the caller on the holographic screen, Zain knew that refusing wasn’t an option.

On the other side was a muffled, digitized voice that was completely indistinguishable to human ears.

“Good evening, Mister Kuroshi Zain. I can’t tell you my name, but I do believe you’ve known me by my alias S.T. Nice to meet you.”