[T A S K] : why would Josephine ask Huey to meet up with her.
Alessia was in Huey's room at 11:47 PM, which raised exactly one question....
How did she plan to leave?
Before he could ask, she stepped away from Calvin. "It's rather late and I really must be going. I was waiting for Huey but he just happened to be coming back late."
She headed for the door, spotting Huey with that same smile from earlier.
He replied with cold eyes.
The door clicked shut behind her.
"You're not even gonna ask what that was about?" Calvin said, his abs flexing on their own.
He rolled his hand to test Alessia's handiwork.
Huey didn't answer, just walked to his bed and took off his shoes.
Calvin being Calvin, this was unacceptable.
Personal space was a thing of fiction to him.
He crossed the room and planted himself directly over Huey's bed.
Huey continued ignoring him.
"You know, she told me everything."
Huey's eyes shot open.
He didn't sit up though rather he just stared at the ceiling. "What exactly did she tell you."
"I didn't expect you to be that kind of person, man, how long have we been roommates and I didn't know?" Calvin shook his head in mock disappointment. "Wait here, I got pictures."
Huey was trying to keep cool but his jaw tightened.
Calvin pulled out his phone, scrolled through, then shoved it in Huey's face. "This. Explain this."
It was a picture of Huey and Josephine walking together, she seemed to be laughing at something he'd said.
Huey exhaled. "How did she even get this."
"Alessia's a smart, resourceful girl. I'm sure she's got her methods." Calvin grinned wider. "But yo, the estranged daughter of a Major House? I see you Huey."
"We're just friends."
"Hey, hey I get it. You miss a 100% of the shots you don't take it." Calvin sat on the edge of Huey's bed.
"Look, I'm actually pretty tight with Josephine but I gotta warn you. She' one of those religious girly's"
"We're. Just. Friends."
"Sure, sure. But I got pointers. See, church girls are all about that emotional connection, that spiritual bond. You gotta come at it from the angle of....."
"Calvin."
"mutual respect and shared values, but also you gotta remember—"
"Calvin."
"that they're still women with needs, and if you just position yourself as the guy who understands both the spiritual and the physical—"
"I will punch you so hard...."
"See I'm trying to help you get laid bro"
Calvin was mid-sentence when he stopped abruptly. His head tilted. "Yo. You hear that?"
"Hear what."
"That... scratching sound." Calvin stood up, walking toward the mini-fridge area. "Like something's moving."
"I don't hear anything."
Calvin crouched down, checking behind the fridge. "Nah, there's definitely...."
An echo burst out from the tight space, a small cat-like creature made of crackling energy, it jolted toward the window.
Calvin's green eyes glowed and so did the crest mark on his shoulder.
"Oh hell no."
He grabbed the metal cafeteria tray from their desk, the same one Huey had criticized him for keeping and crashed out the window after it.
The tray extended beneath his feet, magnetic fields turning it into an impromptu hoverboard. Calvin surfed through the air as the echo darted around Galileo Hall's exterior.
Huey got up and walked to the window.
The chase wound around the building, Calvin gaining ground with each turn.
Students were waking up now, heads poking out of windows to watch the spectacle.
At the last second, the echo approached the main gates.
Calvin leaped off his tray and hurled it like a discus.
The metal disk struck the creature dead center.
Unfortunately, the tray continued its trajectory along with the echoes straight into the dorm keeper's outpost.
"Ahhhhhhhhhh!"
Mr. Luigi's scream echoed across the courtyard.(Pun intended)
The gathered students erupted in applause and cheers. Calvin landed gracefully, and hit theatrical bows.
Huey watched from the window as most of the dorm poured out into the courtyard, cheering Calvin's name.
"That guy's incredible, isn't he?"
Huey turned. A freshman stood in the hallway, eyes still on the scene below.
"Calvin Esposito, top-tier student who could've easily made it into the Combat Legion, but he chose Law instead to help his family with their legal troubles. Real stand-up guy and an inspiration to all of us."
Huey blinked. "His family has legal troubles?"
"You didn't know? Thought you were his roommate."
The freshman walked off, leaving Huey standing there with the realization that despite living with Calvin for months, he didn't actually know much about him at all.
Morning came with the news spreading faster than the coffee at the Grind.
Calvin had captured an echo inside Galileo Hall.
Which raised questions.
What was an echo doing outside a rift? How had it gotten inside a dorm room? Were there more?
By afternoon, Topplers in official Arcanum Division uniforms were scattered across campus, conducting investigations, questioning students, scanning rooms with pneuma detectors in hopes of answering those questions.
Huey walked alone today, Willy had sent a text saying there was a party, and Huey wasn't the type or at least that's the lie he told himself.
His phone buzzed.
He had expected Alessia, but it was Josephine.
"Can you meet me at the top of the central dome at sunset. It's Important.
Huey frowned. Had Calvin already told her about the pictures? Was she going to confront him about—
"Excuse me."
He stopped.
A girl stood in his path, short with moderate sized boobs(I mean build), black hair cut in a practical bob, glasses reflecting the afternoon light.
Her cassock was styled like a lab coat, white with red trim.
Medical Legion colors.
"I'm—"
"Luna," Huey said with an outstretched hand. "My sister talks about you all the time, one of the best students in Medical Legion."
Luna blinked In surprise but took his hand regardless.
Then she held out a flyer. "The Medical Legion is running free health diagnostics for Achusoi across campus, and if you participate, there are many perks. You'd get to socialize with more—"
"With more of what?" Huey cut her off. "My kind?"
Luna's expression froze.
"I don't know what agenda the Empire's trying to push," Huey continued, hands sliding into his pockets.
"but I can tell you there's nothing wrong with me or any of the other people who don't have Crests. We're just fine."
He walked past her without taking the flyer.
Luna stood there, dumbstruck neither by anger nor offense, but by how calm he'd been.
How completely he'd dismissed her without making it personal.
Like he'd gotten used to having this sort of conversations.
The top of the central dome offered a view of the entire institute.
Red-robed students moved like blood cells through marble veins below.
The eight smaller domes surrounded the main one like satellites, connected by covered walkways.
Beyond the campus walls, the city of Vitalis stretched toward the horizon.
Huey leaned against the railing, watching the sun paint everything orange and gold.
He heard footsteps behind him.
"Thanks for coming," he heard a voice.
But it wasn't Josephine's voice.
Huey's expression darkened as he turned.
Alessia Cardoso stood there, brown skin catching the sunset, long black hair loose around her shoulders and her glasses reflected the dying light.
hiding her eyes.
Huey sighed, turned, and headed for the door leading down the stairs.
"Wait—"
He ignored her, hand reaching for the handle.
Arms wrapped around him from behind.
Alessia's embrace was tight and desperate. Her face pressed against his back and her voice muffled through his cassock.
"I need your help. That's why. That's why I've been so hell bent on trying to talk to you, not cause I'm trying to."
Huey's hand froze on the door handle.
Several seconds passed.
The sunset painted long shadows across the dome's peak.
The only sound was the wind and Alessia's uneven breathing.
Huey sighed and took his hand away from the door.
Alessia immediately stepped back, suddenly conscious of what she'd done.
Her face flushed red, hands going to her glasses to adjust them nervously.
"I didn't mean to—I just—" She stopped, took a breath. "Sorry."
Huey turned to face her properly. "What is it you need."
Alessia pulled out her phone with trembling fingers, scrolling quickly before holding it up.
A flyer.
Medical Legion emblem at the top, friendly fonts advertising free health diagnostics for Achusoi students.
The same flyer Luna had tried to give him less than an hour ago.
"Something is going to go down there," Alessia said, her voice steadier now.
"Something that'll be putting the lives of the students present in danger."
Huey studied her face. "What exactly are you talking about?"
Alessia opened her mouth to answer.....