Futura

Neo, tired of having no answers to his questions, decided to visit the future school, since the brown-haired girl was wearing a uniform from there. If he could find her, she might be able to provide more answers than his teacher. Unfortunately, he couldn't remember the details of his dream, only that she had long brown hair. He walked to the west side of the city, full of doubts and fears, paranoid as he looked around, not forgetting the faceless figure.

He arrived at the future school and saw several students wearing lab coats and formal green and white clothes. The doors were open and it seemed like anyone could enter, especially since their library was open and usually used for research. As he walked through the doors of the school, he was stared at by various people. Neo thought it was a normal reaction to see him in a different school uniform, since it wasn't common for a student from another school to appear there, especially when Hoshi School had its own library.

Neo wandered around the future school, feeling a little out of place. The building had a tall vertical structure with several floors, large windows and glass staircases that let in natural light and provided a panoramic view of the surrounding landscape. The spacious corridors were decorated with interactive panels displaying information about school activities and events to keep students connected and informed. The décor was dominated by greens and whites.

Neo carefully watched every person who passed by, looking for the brown-haired girl. And to be honest, he had already found several girls with brown hair. Since he couldn't remember exactly what they looked like, he wasn't sure if any of them could be the one he was looking for. He decided to leave when he was close to the exit and noticed a banner stating that the Technology Exhibition Week was taking place at that moment. Neo's curiosity was piqued, and he wanted to take a look, as he enjoyed robotics and technology.

The large hall was filled with various booths, well-dressed students, and various projects aimed at improving or making people's lives easier. Neo was particularly impressed by a project by a group of boys who were developing a bionic prosthesis. He was moved by the thought that someone who had been in an accident could have their limb back.

Another project that caught the boy's attention was the EcoCleaner, a robot designed to clean up pollution from rivers in large cities. Although Neo no longer bathed in the river, he was pleased to see the efforts being made to keep the waters of his city clean.

Neo's attention was drawn to a drone flying rapidly through the air at the exhibit. Looking up, he didn't realize that it was heading for a table. He stumbled and accidentally knocked over a glass on the table. Seeing that the glass was about to shatter, he closed his eyes. Suddenly, an alarm went off and Neo heard the sound of motorized wheels, as if several remote-controlled cars were approaching. Opening his eyes, he saw several mini-robots at his feet, equipped with cleaning materials.

A brown-haired girl with braided twintails and round glasses appeared from behind the table he had bumped into. She was smiling. Neo couldn't help but notice that, compared to the other students, her clothes were rather disheveled, her shirt untucked, buttons undone, hair disheveled and glasses askew.

"I do that too," Neo looked confused, not understanding what she meant.

"I tend to trip over things, too," she chuckled slightly as she adjusted her glasses. "If you had one of these, you might never lose your balance again," she said, pointing to a large belt around her waist with a large jewel on the large round buckle.

"What's that?"

"I call it Balancebuddy, a balance assistant. It helps you keep your balance anywhere that is unstable. I have never fallen down since I got it. Want to see it?"

Neo didn't know what to say, so he just nodded. The girl grabbed a small stool and placed it in front of him. She stood on the edge of it.

"Oohh, I'm going to fall," she pretended to lose her balance and Neo prepared to catch her.

"Just kidding, Balancebuddy!" she said, striking a pose on the stool. "It's amazing, isn't it?" she said with a twinkle in her eye. "The Balancebuddy uses advanced sensors and intelligent algorithms to detect changes in terrain and body movement. It automatically adjusts your balance to prevent falls or stumbles. It's like having a friend by your side to help you stay steady!"

She then stepped down from the stool, and Neo remembered the glass he had knocked over.

"I'm sorry about the glass."

Looking at the glass, he was surprised to see it lying intact on the floor.

"It's okay; the glass is part of my inventions, UnbreakableGlass. It doesn't break even if it falls from a great height. It's made of a special polymer. Do you know what a polymer is?"

Before Neo could answer, the girl's arm reached out and picked up the glass from the floor, and Neo was startled again.

"What's that?" he asked perplexedly, swallowing hard.

The girl laughed at his question, took off her lab coat, and showed him her arm.

"No, silly. This is EZReach, a robotic extended reach arm. You wear it like a glove. You know when you want to reach for the TV remote without getting up? It's very useful, especially at work. I forget some tools all the time, and I'm too lazy to get up to get them."

Neo looked around and saw all the gadgets, then looked back at the other students who were presenting only one project at a time.

"Why are you presenting several projects while the others are presenting only one?"

"Well, actually, these devices are what I use in my daily life. What I'm presenting is something else."

"Really? Like what? A robot that cooks for itself?" Neo tried to guess what the girl's invention might be.

"Look! That would be cool. But my invention is this..." The girl pulled a pocket watch out of her pants. "I call it TimeWarp."

"TimeWarp?"

"Yes, TimeWarp! With this watch, I can manipulate time and go anywhere I want."

Neo swallowed hard.

"But that's impossible."

"ANOTHER DEMONSTRATION! Now I'm going to go six months into the future and guess the lottery numbers. When I come back, I'll tell you."

The girl began a countdown, and with each passing second, Neo grew more and more anxious. Could this girl really have invented time travel? That would be a groundbreaking discovery. As the countdown neared its end, she couldn't contain herself and burst out laughing.

"Of course not, silly. Time travel is impossible," she said, still laughing.

Neo was angry that the girl had tricked him and turned away from her, thinking about leaving.

"Hey, hey, wait. No more jokes. My greatest invention is this."

Her arm extended to a table filled with various tools and objects. She picked up an object that looked like an Oculus Rift.

"I call it DreamCapture."

"DreamCapture?"

"Yes! It records people's dreams."

Neo was curious; this device could be very useful, especially for him to find answers through his dreams. He stared at the girl and waited for her to activate the device.

"Unfortunately, I can't show you how it works, since you have to be asleep. In fact, I haven't been able to show it to anyone today."

This was a great disappointment to Neo, and he felt annoyed. The girl then struck a pose and pointed to her table full of things.

"So, what do you think of my inventions?"

Neo looked at everything and was quite amused.

"They're a bit strange..."

The girl felt a little sad at the beginning of his sentence.

"But they're very cool and fun," he said, laughing.

She gave him a big smile.

"Thank you. I have more at home, but they said I could only bring these. Maybe I can show you more some other time."

Neo was already tired; reaching this school was quite a walk, and he would have to walk back to the dormitories.

"I have to go home now; I have something to take care of."

"Wait!"

She took something out of her pocket and handed it to Neo.

"A souvenir for having the patience to listen to me. You can put it in your pocket."

Neo looked at the keychain. It was a metal black cat.

"Thank you. Well, bye..." He looked at the name tag the girl was wearing, searching for her name. "Carolina."

"Bye-Bye, Neo."