A flurry of chirps and squeaks erupted from inside a nearby copse, followed by an electric crackle and an angry bark. The Molniya were at it again. They were small yellow furred rodents with an electric arte they used when threatened. Or when they were being cheeky.

Hitori smiled at the little miscreants. He was leaning against a large rock in the Park, a forested area that capped the Training Center at Nova Academy. It was inside a clear dome with a commanding view of the world outside the walls. Nova housed its population of metafauna up here, a group collected over the years for special training programs.

Hitori arranged to meet with Elvira at eight, although he got ready an hour early. There were a few things to take care of, and besides, it had been a long time since he visited. That, and also he’d woken up to the unsettling sight of Wickham’s tag sitting on his nightstand. He kept an eye on it the whole time he got ready, half expecting to see it jump around on its own.

He absentmindedly checked his pocket and almost yelped when his fingers brushed a smooth stone. He calmed down. It was his WebComm, a small device constructed from imported Southern computers and native made arteware. He pulled it out to check the time.

Just then a steel door banged against its frame, and a woman hollered in the distance. Hitori hopped to his feet to greet Elvira as she climbed a small hill overlooking the rest of the Park.

“You’re late,” Hitori said.

“By like two minutes,” Elvira shot back. Hitori looked at her. “Oh, don’t give me that, Gordon was like twenty minutes late yesterday.”

Hitori laughed. “Yeah, exactly. I need you to set a good example for that slacker.”

Elvira gave a playful huff. “Where are we anyway? I’ve never been up here.”

Hitori spent a few minutes explaining the Park.

“Ah, I see. We’re here to beat up spiders. I’d of thought you had enough of them by now.”

Hitori laughed. “So much no, for so many reasons, the least of which is there aren’t any. It’s only you and me training up here today.”

“What’s the greatest reason?”

“Nova decided to—“Hitori glared at Elvira. She grinned mischievously. “Questions for later, for now let’s get to work.”

“Right, you’re teaching me how to do, uh, techs, right?” Elvira said. Hitori nodded. “And to be clear, you mean those snappy explodey things Bridget was doing yesterday. You can do that too?”

“I literally hit you with two of them.”

“But yours didn’t explode.”

Hitori rolled his eyes. “Kids these days. Anyway, you’re going to make a VN Pact, and then we’ll develop your first tech and practice with it a bit.”

“Pact?”

“Just a catchy term for an interface between your conscious mind and your Vital Net. After you make one you kind of see what they were going for.”

“Alright, sounds cool,” Elvira said. “So, how do we do it?”

“Normally the process takes about a year of constant meditation and mental exercises, plus dozens of hours in sensory deprivation, but we’ll take a little shortcut.” Hitori held up a thin black pouch made of coarse fabric. “This is an Inductor. We can use it to force a connection in a few minutes.”

“A few minutes seems hard to beat, what’s the catch?” Elvira looked at him skeptically.

Torture and death, mostly.

“A number of things, one of which you’ll experience first hand in a minute.” Hitori paused, a mischievous glint in his eyes. Elvira sharpened her gaze. “It’s extraordinarily painful, and I heard it’s worse when you make your first VN Pact.”

“Oh goodie, a gal can never have enough unspeakable agony in her life,” Elvira said playfully. “Sign me up, how does this work?”

Hitori removed a metallic cylinder from the black canvas tube, an indent at the middle separated a textured handle from a polished wooden cover. He pulled them apart to reveal what could best be described as a knife, except it was made with multiple thin spikes of various lengths.

“This is going to end well,” Elvira said through a mirthless grin. “So, what, I guess I stab myself in the heart with that?”

“Please don’t. That would be dangerous,” Hitori said. “You’ll want to hit a little below, about where your ribs meet. Close enough to get your VN to panic, but not so close that if something goes wrong you’ll die.”

“Ah, so this whole process is panic inducing in general. Good to know.” Elvira nodded. “So… that year long process is looking pretty tempting. How about we postpone the final till the end of next Étoile?”

Hitori laughed. “You’ll be fine. But don’t miss.” He smiled, then quickly added, “Oh, and if your Vital Net collapses, don’t pull the Inductor out. Do you know how to tell if that happened? I mean, it’s pretty obv—“

“Yeah, I know.” Elvira took a deep breath. “Alright, give it here.” Hitori handed her the knife. She studied it a moment. “So, not like I’m trying to stall or anything, but are we sure this is going to work on me?”

“What’s to be nervous about, a little stab in the not in the heart? There’s barely any chance you’ll die at all.” Hitori grinned. “But yes, we’re very confident. I picked this up from Ms. Athens earlier and when I asked she said, according to the Grey Order’s files, your VN will react similar to the standard Vital Net.”

“Oh, Li, yeah, she wasn’t here this morning.” Elvira looked away, a hint of red flushed on her cheek. “Just me and Newton.”

Hitori watched her a few seconds. “Okay, I’ll bite. Why are you embarrassed? Did Ms. Athens do something weird, and what was that about Newton?”

Elvira laughed, weak and unconvincing. “I’m not sure how to describe it. Heck, I’m not even sure if I should try.”

Hitori continued to stare.

“Well, okay, but if this is weird or something don’t gossip about Li behind her back.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.”

But what if it’s funny? Would you let your cowardice take that joy from the world?

“So, Newton is staying with me and Li because Gustaf invited her to finish her work at the academy.”

“Makes sense. We’d love to have a native Southerner on the staff. Not sure why she moved in with you guys though.”

“Me either.” Elvira shrugged. “Anyway, Newton comes into the apartment a little after supper with a note from the headmaster, hands it to Li and says she’ll be staying.” Her blush deepened. “Then Li tells her to take a bath and Newton is like, ‘I’ll do it in a bit, got to unpack.’”

“Sounds reasonable,” Hitori said. His nose twitched a little.

“But then Li grabs her by the arm and drags her into the bathroom. Newton’s hollering and splashing for like twenty minutes, but then walks out looking pleased and Li’s acting like nothing happened. I don’t even know what to think, let alone if I should do something about it.”

“Ah, I see what’s going on.” She’s a prude?

“What! Really!”

“Shared baths are a traditional Seitojin thing, so of course it’s going to seem natural to Ms. Athens, especially since she’s so, you know, direct. I’d be surprised if she never asked you to join her.”

“Oh! Oh yeah, she did ask a few times when I first moved in. I was kind of weirded out, but I completely forgot. Are they a Southerner thing too?”

“No idea, to be honest, but actually I think Newton is just like that.”

“L-like that,” Elvira said. She leaned in, whispering. “Do you… uh, mean she’s, maybe, into women, or something like that.”

Hitori laughed and prodded Elvira back into her own space. “If I had to guess I’d say Newton isn’t into either sex. What I meant was she seems the sort of person who gets so into her work she forgets to take care of herself. Given her reaction, I think she had a friend in her old life who looked after her.”

“Oh, so…”

“It made her feel at home.”

Elvira spent a few minutes staring unfocused at a distant point on the horizon. She leaned against the boulder Hitori was standing next to.

“Anyway, I believe you were in the middle of stabbing yourself?” Hitori said. “Not in the heart.” Elvira glanced at the knife in her hand, then returned to the moment in a jolt.

“Right, right… I forgot,” Elvira said. She laughed weakly. “I mean, my cunning plan to distract you worked perfectly.” Hitori returned her sly grin. She held up the knife, pointing it at her chest and gently tapped herself with it. It was blocked by a myriaite plate in Li’s armor, which Elvira arranged in much the same way she had yesterday. There was a line of crude stitches in one side.

She studied her top, and then looked at Hitori a second before turning back to her clothes. Her face burned red in an instant. Hitori had a faint smile.

“Hell with it!” Elvira said. “Hold this!” She handed Hitori the Inductor and turned him away from her.

“You know I’ll have to keep an eye on you while the Inductor is working, right?” Hitori said. He could hear her unstrapping her top behind him. “Do you want me to get Ms. Athens?”

“Whatever, hand me the thing,” Elvira grabbed the device and tossed her coat on the ground.

“You should probably sit down,” Hitori said. He heard a dull thud and a gasp.