Opposite poles

Yasu took the bag that the officer gave him and when Ren got up and opened the door they got out of the apartment to Ren’s apartment next door, 935, in there were the same two doors at the entrance and the kitchen made a mess on the left with another door on the left. The apartment was a bit more cheerful thanks to the curtains being open letting the “natural” light hit the room, in the middle was a big pot, a controller and a pair of plates with basic utensils for eating, a rectangular mirror with blurry reflection was in front of it, in the middle of the curtains.

—Come in —Ren extended his hand inside his apartment smiling.

—Yeah, thanks.

Both of them sat down on the floor and Ren took control pointing at the crystal. This started an image, a report immediately but they turned down the volume to hear just a little bit. Ren went to the kitchen and took two new cups and serve coffee on both of them, carry them to the table.

—So you will enter the collectors after all, why not the others? —said Ren as he was taking a sip of his cup of coffee.

—The fighters sometimes just wanna fight, I don’t want that, the explorers tend to spend a lot of time outside and sometimes they’re just waiting for things, no, thanks, the vanguard is just standing to help if something happens, and researches sound interesting but they don’t go that often to the deeps, on the other hand, the collectors goes to the deeps and sometimes they can bring stuff with them —Yasu was talking a lot without stopping having his hand do a lot of movement.

—You sure talk a lot when it comes to these things… but you have prepared a special weapon right? —Ren opened the pot and started to serve food on both plates.

—Of course… oh thanks.

—I forgot the bread, let me go for it

—Oh you got meat this time, awesome, a stew with no meat is not a stew.

Yasu starts slurping the broth of the stew in his plate.

—Don’t complain that much, you know it takes time to process the meat, and wait for the bread, you are not gonna be full if you only eat that.

—I can always eat more stew.

—No way, man, keep your balance.

—Yes, yes, mom, whatever you say.

Yasu took a bite of bread and started making sounds as he pointed with the bread at Ren.

—His! …out ees! —Yasu lean with excitement at Ren.

—Come on, swallow before you talk, what are you? Five years old?... My family got a lot this time, it seems that business was running too fast that they got a lot left so they keep to his own benefit, so they sent it to me to share it with you.

Yasu took sips of his coffee and let out a cheerful sigh.

—That’s good, I’m glad your family is doing alright.

—Thanks.

They continued eating as they were watching the reports and changing channels to different programs.

—Lately there wasn’t anything good on the TV.

—Is that so? I don’t really watch that much.

—Because you have that old thing, I tell you to throw it away.

—Tch, tch ,tch —Yasu moved his finger from left to right —. You just don’t understand the beauty of these things, for example this —Yasu took out of his pocket a rectangular box.

—What’s this? A brick?

—It’s a music player, a portable one with cassettes.

—Cassettes? You mean you play music… on this?

—Yeah, wanna see?

—Ugh… you really collect unnecessary things, I’m not against it but we already have our own music players with more things on it.

—That piece of crystal it’s not even that great, this is an old form of art.

—Whatever you say, man, but if it makes you happy then I’m happy.

—Thanks.

Yasu and Ren continued eating until they got full, they drank their own coffee and watched a program about a silly dude that was trying to make jokes in the most awkward sites until it made someone laugh.

Yasu got up and started to clean the plates.

—Sorry to make you do that, I’m terrible with this stuff.

—Don’t worry, this is what I can do after you feed me from time to time, but you should be a little more organized, don’t let things pile up.

—Yeah, I know.

—If this is how you had your kitchen, I don’t want to imagine how your room is.

—Enough, man

Ren started to laugh followed by a small giggle from Yasu.

—Yasu…

—What's up?

—You really need to go down there, man?

—I didn’t do all that training for nothing, Ren.

—Yeah, I know, I know… it’s just, I can’t stop worrying.

—What? You are gonna miss that someone cleans your mess? —Yasu laughed.

—I’m serious, Yasu, don’t get overconfident.

A minute of silence was made, the only thing that was being heard was the sound of the tap dripping water. Yasu dried his hands with a rag and went to Ren, he gave him a slap on the head and smiled.

—You worry too much. I’m going to be.

—My bad —Ren rubbed his head with his hand smiling with an eye closed —. Anyway, what’s in the bag?

—I thought you would never ask, to be honest, I’m quite curious myself, even tho I know what kinda things are in here thanks to the training.

Yasu put the bag on the table and took out his card where his info was, he waved it slowly in the middle of the bag and this popped out a small square, Yasu put his thumb on it and the bag started to open. Yasu took out a lot of boxes of different shapes, six in total.

Yasu took the smallest one first, a square one, he opened the box and inside was a pin with the collectors' emblem, a bag full of gold and jews that made the floor and on top a man looking at the darkness.

—This must be our personal location pin, we had something similar in the training to track those who were out of the track in the simulacrums.

—Interesting…

The next box was slightly big compared to the other, Yasu opened and there was a watch with a hexagonal form.

—Is a watch…

—Put it on —Ren smiled.

Yasu took the watch out and put it on his left hand looking at his palm, Yasu touched the screen and this one started to run, in there not only the hour and date were seen, but also vital information, heart rate, parts of the body, corporal temperature.

—I think it has more functions…

—Maybe it will work better in the deeps.

—You’re right, but… this thing is way more advance and better than the thing they gave us in training,

—I thought you didn’t like new stuff

—That’s different…

—Right, sorry, I was just teasing you, don’t get mad, let's see the others.

Yasu took one that was large, he opened it and there was a flashlight, he took out and looked at it from various angles. It had the form of diamond, and it could be put on in different places.

—That’s a nice glue.

—I don’t think it is glue… it must be another thing… but this is going to be useful in the deeps.

—Seeing these things made me relax a little bit. I never saw the equipment of a collector, not that they are a lot to begin with…

Yasu just made a small groan and took the next box, this time a big one, almost to the side of the pot. He opened it and there was a gauntlet.

—A gauntlet?

—Sometimes things got rough down there, we didn’t explore it but the trainer said that we would need to interact with almost everything.

The gauntlet was a big one, with plates of metal on top and hard silk down, Yasu put the gauntlet on and moved his fingers.

—It’s softer than it looks.

Yasu took out the gauntlet and moved on to the next box, a large one this time. When he opened there was a bag with a star symbol in the middle in red.

—This is just our first aid kit…

Yasu moved out to the final box and opened it. There was a metallic cylinder with a hole in one of the sides.

—Here it is.

—What's that?

—A laser, a very powerful one, not to take down one of the foes but to make a way out with rocks.

—Nice, just… be careful with that.

—Don’t worry, it takes some time to heat up, so even if I press it by accident we have time to drop it.

—Speaking of foes, where's your weapon? Did you make a special one?

—Yeah, I give my idea to the blacksmiths, they should give me that and my armor and other things then I need when I go on my first exploration to the depths.

—And where is that going to be?

Yasu smiled and looked at Ren.

—Tomorrow.