06.05

Ellie had breakfast with her friends in the cafeteria. It was the usual group of four girls, including her, from class A. I had been early into the room before her to check if she was doing anything suspicious. Nothing. A few minutes later, she came into the table and they soon followed. Their topic of discussion… not important. It was something about ‘magic words’ to turn down a boy when they hit on you. The talkative blonde said, “If there’s a guy who approaches you, and you don’t want to bother. Just say that you have a boyfriend. It works!” Or so I heard.

They had a nice chat and a meal while waiting for the 7AM physical activity routine. At 6.40 they left the cafeteria to the girls changing room. Of course, I couldn’t approach or investigate since my neck and integrity were at stake.

07.25

We began our routine by running on the track field. It was exhausting, but it seemed like the students were already getting used to it. Ellie however as I remembered our first day our two were different. She didn’t seem to get easily tired like most of the others. The other exception would be Rocco and his two friends, Utsman and Xian. Also, the lioness looking girl, Felina. Me? I was tired due to the boredom instead of the physical activity itself. Aunt Penny had trained me for a long time, and this was actually slightly lighter than her menu.

Still, Ellie seemed to pretend that she was actually tired. Either to be considerate of her group, or to hide her true abilities. She preferred to stay within that group jogging pace. I bet she could run faster and longer if she wanted to. By the end of the routine, there was nothing else to take a note of.

09.45

Tuesday was the schedule for Mr. Zibrani's class. He was the green-haired man, an expert in weapon technology. The class introduced us to the theme of projectile weapon versus laser. How to deploy them effectively, the cons and pros of each category. The velocity of a firearm and how air manipulation might be used to create a mirage and divert a laser. And also some other stuff related to them.

As usual, Hanz was in front of the row and asking many questions. Sometimes unnecessarily. He seemed bright, but when the lecturer asked back, he went completely silent. Mr. Zibrani then asked several other students to see our average knowledge on the subject. And that day, Ellie was one of them.

“So, how can an expert in air or gas manipulation block an incoming laser attack? Miss Yuri?” Mr. Zibrani asked. Ellie raised her eyebrows and looked into the ceiling. She looked like someone who tried to remember a past experience. A few seconds later, she answered. “I don’t think you can block a laser with gas EM, sir.” That sentence opened the lecturer's eyes wide. “How so?” He pursued another question.

“Another story if you tried to divert it with a mirage. But to a laser completely, I think it was impossible. Especially since a laser is basically a weapon traveling at a light speed. The moment your opponent pulls the trigger, you are already hit. In order to avoid getting attacked first, you have to…” Her explanation continued for another minute, Mr Zibrani nodded with a grin.

“Excellent, it was as if you have experienced getting attacked by a laser before. But that would be impossible, wouldn’t it?” He then chuckled a little. Ellie cocked her head in confusion. She didn’t seem to understand what was funny, but then tried to appreciate the humour with a forced smile. “Yes, sir. No way.”

Everyone was impressed by that. I had a hunch that was a trap question, and yet she answered it perfectly. It was impossible to understand how the weapon worked since we had no practical training until we completed the theory class. Unless you have experienced it before, huh? Interesting.

12.15

Lunch time. Ellie was with her 4 girl group. We had potato soup with a light slice of beef as the main menu. But hers was different, because her plate was not light at all: she added an extra pile of beef. I remembered that if we took more than the normal serving, we would get charged for it. And for some reason she was capable of taking a family-sized meat on her plate. It was only a few minutes before the whole chunk disappeared into her abysmal stomach. I shared a table with Kevin and Sarah as usual. We all felt unusually stuffed even before we finished our meal. It was like watching those net videos where people eat a titanous size portion of food as a content.

15.05

The class was over, and as Erran informed me, Ellie went into the club. She bid farewell to her friends as they each went separate ways. I followed close to the melee weapon or something research club. The club room had many windows, so it was easy to peek at their activity. I saw her helping the club with chores and some kind of data entry with help from a few seniors. She also participated in sword practice for like ten to twenty minutes.

After like 30-40 minutes at the club, she excuses herself from the activity. The seniors seemed accustomed to her schedule. They let her go with a smile. It was time for me to follow where she headed next. But then someone tapped my shoulder.

“Ey! You’ve been looking into our activity. Maybe you are interested to join?” A man big with a tank top was smiling. His hair was dark blonde with a red bandana on his forehead. “Eh? No… I just…”

“I know you. You’re the Hero Armen, aren’t you?” He smiled wider. I didn’t know what to do or how to escape the situation. “Well, yes…”

“Amazing! Please come in!” He pushed me into the room. His hand was as strong as Rocco in comparison.

The next 30 minutes was filled with some awkward situations. They asked me to at least join a few practice sessions. After a few knives and sword demonstrations, they finally let me go. As expected, I lost track of Ellie. Ugh, I wasted some time. Where to look for her now?

The man who dragged me into that mess then escorted me out. He seemed so eager to recruit me into the club. “So, let me know if you’re interested in our club, okay? If there’s anything you want to know, just ask.” I was wondering if I could really ask anything. Maybe I could ask him about Ellie. Should I just ask him? But for what reason did I look for her? Definitely can’t tell him the truth.

“Did you know about Ellie? She’s my classmate.” I decided to ask him anyway. He looked me into my eyes to find the motive. But then he grinned and nodded. As if he understood... or misunderstood something. “Yes, she’s one of our club members, what about her?” The way he smiled was weird. It seemed that he really came up with a certain conclusion. He probably thought that I was chasing after the girl. Well, in a way that wasn’t wrong. So, I decided to play along in his game. I started by forcefully trying to blush my cheek. Thinking of the cringiest moment in my life. It worked.

“Umm… Yes. Do you maybe have any Idea where she went?” I also added the twirling hair move. “Please don’t tell this to anyone, especially her. Please?” That was super embarrassing, but I guessed it was super effective too. The man closed his eyes, probably reminiscing about his past. He shook his head and exhaled a light breath.

“It’s good to be young, huh?” What are you talking about? You are probably just a year or two older than me.

“Okay sure, no problem. I’ll keep this a secret.”

“Thank you.” I shyly said. The man stroked his chin and I could see the doubt in his eyes. He seemed quite hesitant, or maybe couldn’t find some perfect words to say.

“It’s hard to say since I also promised her not to tell, but I’ll make an exception to you. She’s working part time in a resto bar close to the academy. You know the fancy street with various shops? I don’t know which one though.” He then placed his hand on my shoulder. “Don’t tell her you know this from me, okay? That’s all I know. The rest is up to you, young man.” I could see how serious he was with the dramatic moment. Since I already got this far in the story, I might as well went full throttle. I squeezed my eyes to get a glassy effect. My cheek blushed red. Not because of love, but a total embarrassment in my acting performance.

“Yes, thank you. I won’t forget this senior…”

“It’s Kurts, you can call me that, bro.” He replied with the brightest smile on Earth. So, we are at the bro level now?

16.20

I have searched for Ellie on the academy street for a while. After spending quite some time from shops to shops, I finally found her. She was at the Resto Bar called Sabarakaz. And indeed, she was working there, wearing a waitress uniform and all. Tending to the customers, taking orders, and delivering the meals. The restaurant seemed to be occupied with a lot of staff from the academy. I knew from the badge and the tag they were wearing. I decided to watch her from a distance. I would have to find some place without looking like a creeping stalker.

18.30

I spent around a few hours watching her from the cafe on the other side of the road. It was a nice place with a natural wooden feel into it. I ordered a drink and some snacks. While I sipped my milky coffee, I realized something. What am I doing again?

I tried to reason my existence in that place. Sitting at a cafe, sipping a second refill of my coffee while munching potato chips in between. All of that as I kept my eyes open for a girl. Staking her out like a security detective or just a creepy stalker. Either way, I have ditched my usual telekinetic practice routine for something unclear. I want to go back to the dorm and just lie down in bed. All of this, for what? So I can say something like, “Aha! I knew it was you all along!”? How stupid.

21.30

She finished with her shift and went back into the academy. At the gate, the security greeted her. It seemed they were already used to her being late to go back into the dorm. There was curfew inside the academy, but there were exceptions in the public area like the gate, main road, front office, the park and the dorm. The rules were more lax in those places since some students may still have club activities. The security was tighter in the sensitive area of the academy, like the armory, research station, and mechanical garage.

When I was about to go through the gate, the security stopped me. “Hey, can I help you?” He looked into me for a few seconds and realized who I was. “Ah, you’re Armen, right? Please step forward for biometric ID scan. I stepped inside and the scan showed an obvious result. But he was still asking my reason for getting back late. Damn, why with the difference in treatment?

Of course I knew the reason. This is my first time that I got back late from outside of the academy. This concluded that Ellie frequently went back around this time of the night. I explained that I spent my time in the cafe for some research and he bought it. Not that I lied, though. But I need to be quick or I would lose sight of the girl I had been stalking out since morning.

“Okay then, Armen. You may enter. Please go straight to your dorm. Especially if you don’t have any other important things to do.” The security said politely. “Yes sir. I’ll do that.” After I make sure that Ellie is done with the day, though. Just a little more till I get to the end of this.

I jogged hurriedly to look for the girl. Last time I saw her, she went to the direction of the dorm. But in order to reach it, we would have to go through the park first. In the distance, I saw her within the darkness of the park. The dim holographic light revealed her strolling the deserted brown laid brick path. I slowed down and distanced myself so I wouldn’t get caught. Her figure was still obvious, even in the dark, until she crossed a big tree. I lost her when she faded under the shadows. I ran to make sure I still got on her tail, but she disappeared. Damn, where did she go?

Suddenly, a voice was calling from behind and jumped my heart out of my chest. “What are you doing?” She asked, staring at me with those deep red eyes. “Eh, umm. I…”

“You’ve been following me, haven’t you?” She accused me. Her stare probed into my soul. True, but there was no way I could say yes. “No, I just finished my research and am now heading to the dorm. And then I…”

“The male dorm is that way.” She pointed into the building a few hundred meters away. The male and female dorm separated by a few buildings across. It was obvious that I was heading in the wrong direction. I let out a panicking laugh. “Ha ha, yes. How silly of me.” She frowned. What an obvious lie.

“You... must be…” Once again she pierced me with her sharp look. There was no way that I could get out of this situation. She found out that I followed her. The mission failed. The next thing that would happen was either she spooked and became more cautious. Or this encounter would end up in a fight. If her mission as a spy (not proven yet) was revealed, she probably would do anything to cover it up. She might have to kill me. I was not even armed, and I had no idea it would turn out like this.

Nope, I got this. It wouldn’t be that easy to annihilate me, not in the open like this. Where surveillance ran 24hr and security was just a minute away. I’ll just have to survive! Bring it!

She took a few steps closer until we were just a stride away. I felt my leg froze from her stare. It was just as a beast was looking at her prey. I couldn’t even lift a finger, more so a fighting stance. The next thing she did was opening her mouth. Is it a laser beam?

“I’m sorry, I have a boyfriend.”

“Huh?” It took me a few seconds to wake my memories and found out what she meant by that. The way she said it was killing me more brutal than stabbing my chest with an actual knife. I bled internally. Just like those girls said indeed. These words were super effective.

Ah… the magic words.

***

“Really, Archie? She said that to you?” Kevin wheezed, bursting out with laughter. He even slammed his hand, causing our lunch to rattle and some juice splashed onto the table. I told him about what happened last night. He saw my foul mood and pestered me to tell him the reason. I finally conceded, but only with one promise. “Hey, you said you won’t laugh! Arsehole.”

“But--but, to be rejected even before confessing is just…” He tried to hold back his laugh to no avail.

“That’s right, Kevin. You shouldn’t be laughing.” Sarah said to him as she covered her mouth. She was hiding her giggle.

“You guys are terrible... Such terrible friends.” Their reaction was expected, but still annoyed me to my guts. Can’t blame them. The situation was so ridiculous I couldn’t process what really happened.

“Sorry, Archie.” Kevin inhaled a deep breath. “There, I stopped.” He still suppressed a smile.

“Great, stop laughing. Because this is serious. I failed to tail her out in the end. So, I’m not sure how to thread my next step.” I gulped my orange juice and sighed. “After all the effort of being a creep. It’s all wasted!” I buried my face in embarrassment.

“Ah come on. It’s not that bad. At least now you know her activity after class. That information should be worth something.” Kevin tried to cheer me up. “Yeah, I hope that’s worth it.” I replied half heartedly.

“But you know. It was quite scary to walk alone at night, even with all the cameras and security.” Sarah tried to change the gloomy topic.

“Why is that? I’m pretty sure that there wouldn’t be any thugs or even more so a criminal inside campus.” I remembered that the path was deserted at night, with only a couple of patrols every 30 minutes. But the image of a spooky thing to appear never crossed my mind. I was too busy paying attention to my target.

“I guess you were lucky to have missed it then.” Suddenly the air felt heavy, Sarah's face paled.

“Missing what?” Kevin pursued.

“Yeah, I didn’t think of anything else back then.” I added.

“It’s the latest gossip for the past few weeks within the girl’s talk.” She hushed, glancing right and left before continuing. “The mysterious woman ghost in the night.”

“Huh? What?” I was a little surprised. But I remembered something in the past. Sarah might be good with the beast and animals. But one thing was always her weakness: ghosts. Or any paranormal story involving mysterious deathly beings from beyond the grave. So, for her to tell me this kind of story was rare. Just to be sure that she was okay, I gotta ask. “I thought you hate ghost stories.”

“That’s exactly why. The girls are often talking about the 7 mysteries of the academy and how some people are witnessing it.” Sarah's eyes widened, I could feel a mix of anger and fear. She then took her tabs and opened the Instafame app. “Look here, one of the most often spotted mysteries. The mysterious woman ghost!”

The picture was a silhouette at night, surely it was blurry and dark. There was some kind of red light floating around the figure. Sarah scrolled some other pictures uploaded by other people. It was roughly in similar fashion. Yet from that many photos, all of them were too blurry or dark to confirm anything.

“You see those red lights surrounding her?” She asked.

“Uhuh. What’s that?” I guessed that I got to ask, even though I didn’t want to know.

“People said that it was the soul that she gathered. Students who got lost and met her by chance had a part of their soul stolen.” The story turned out to be unbelievable. But I already invested so much in it. So, I might as well listen to the end. “How do you know that a part of their soul was stolen?”

“One or two witnesses claimed that they were unconscious until the next morning. When they woke up, they felt like they had mild amnesia. They also felt sluggish and tired.” She added to the story. I felt something weird about that detail. “If they had amnesia, how could they know that the mysterious woman ghost attacked them?”

“Well, some of them regained a bit of their memory. But the only thing they remembered was the black figure of a woman and the word…” She paused, whispering, “sleep.”

“Alright that’s enough.” Kevin quickly cut the dark atmosphere.

“Huh, what’s wrong Kevin? You usually love this kind of mystery.” I saw his face paled, worse than a dying horse. “Don’t tell me that you’re scared?”

“No freakin way! I just…” He seemed to want to say something but stopped midway. “Just what?” I asked.

“I think I saw something similar a few days ago… but never mind that! I was tired from working on the mech that the club was building. Probably hallucinating. Haha!” It was obvious that Kevin was trying to hide his nightmare. His hand slightly shook as he drank his juice.

“Anyway, I brought what you asked me a few days ago.”Kevin changed the topic quickly. He picked something from his bag. “Here you go!”

It was a round object the size of a man's palm. Black with silver lining. A lens like eye blue in the front. The ball had several aerodynamic holes on 4 sides. I was amazed at its craftsmanship while Sarah just stared at the object with confusion.

“Whoa, you really made it. So, what’s the specs?” I asked Kevin to get me a small droid capable of surveillance and tactical function. And since his club was basically tinkering with such tech too, I hoped that he could bring one for me. The droid I asked was just the frame, without the AI.

“Well, this one is my own prototype project. We had a newbie competition on droid making. This one only made it into second place though.” He noticed my anticipating stare and cleared his throat. “Sorry, I don’t mean to brag. Ok, the specs. It has the fourth gen latest antigrav levitation propulsion, basic computerization, and military grade surveillance camera system. What’s missing is just the AI and the programs, just like you asked.”

“Great, that’s plenty awesome. What’s the frame made of?” I saw the shiny black ball but I couldn’t guess much.

Kevin rotated the ball in his palm and let me see the thing closer. “It’s titanium and carbon fibre, the lightest. It should be able to withstand some beating and a couple of small caliber bullets. It’s not EMP or electricity attack proof, so be careful with them.” He explained then put the ball on the table in front of me. “What do you need this for though? I know you said any droid, but I’ll give you my own best creation so far. At least I deserve to know what you’re going to do with it.”

“About that, I can help you answer that question.” Suddenly, a familiar voice behind me. He appeared like the way he always came out of nowhere.

“Ah, Erran! You’re here.” I wasn’t happy about him, but more about what he brought with him.

“Yes, I actually was here like 10 minutes ago. But I decided to come at the exact right moment.” He gave a thumbs up and a wink. Even though he was actually good looking, everyone was disgusted by it.

“Okay… since you appeared now, it means that you finally found it. Correct?”

“Oh yes.” He took something from his pocket. It was some electric board with various components in it. “Here’s what you’re looking for.”

“Really? Is this Frankie?” I grabbed the components in my hand.

“Of course! 100% sure it’s him.” He confidently replied.

Kevin looked at me with his eyes wide. Sarah tilted her head in even deeper confusion.

“Frankie?” Kevin asked.

“Yes!”

“That Frankie?”

“Yeah.”

“You mean, this droid frame is for…”

“Yes, yes. Open the frame, let’s instal his AI now!”

Kevin opened the ball and a few sockets were vacant. I pulled the AI and the program card from the component into the empty slot. It fit like a glove. Kevin pulled his tabs out from his satchel, running an AI control app, put the frame back together and finally pressed the start button. The ball lens lit with a blue light. A robotic voice came out from it.

“Initializing…”