Rising Shards

I felt lighter after getting through that memory. I wasn’t particularly relieved that only one of my parents had any apparent involvement in the events that led to them getting exiled, and that it seemed to be more accidental than anything. It didn’t make who they became go away, nor did it lessen what they did to Stella and I. With the way Tik spoke about them, this wasn’t going to be a deal where we found out they actually had a secret puppy shelter somewhere that took away all their badness like some last minute poorly thought out redemption arc in a weak TV show (I was thinking of Renderfold’s Tryst, which actually did pull the secret puppy shelter card out when one of its most deplorable characters got very popular and the executives wanted to slightly soften him up). They were unfortunately exiled from their home, sure, but I didn’t have a lot of sympathy for them. I did feel bad for Do Gomang, the elder who passed away in that mess. We didn’t know much more about him other than that he was an elder who died. As Kalei said, we couldn’t even see him in the chaos. If there was anything we should know that was vital to figuring out what my parents were up to, I assumed Tik would tell us.

My relief came from feeling like the first hurdle of this memory ordeal was cleared. We made it through a very scary part, and I didn’t have a complete meltdown seeing my father again. With some burden lifted, I felt like I could actually enjoy my day.

“Has anyone seen the new Tower trailer yet?” I asked.

“Tower of Hate and Love? I’ve never seen it.”

“Huh?” I said.

“Yeah…”

A boy from Falling Shards sat at our table. I wasn’t sure if someone invited him. I didn’t recognize him. I didn’t even notice him sitting until he spoke. He had short, dark brown hair. His face made me feel mean to analyze, but the word that popped into my head immediately was ‘vacant.’ No features of note, a stoic expression, it was as if he was only half there, an apparition of average-ness.

“Uh, OK?” I said. “Do…you have any shows you do like?”

Not having seen Tower of Hate and Love wasn’t the worst thing. I was always happy to make a new fan of the show. If he said he hated it, that’d be a different story. I didn’t know this guy, but for Tower, I’d attempt to hold a conversation.

“I watch a bit of TV. Nothing really jumps out as a favorite.” The boy said.

“Ah…” I said, withering and looking to the others for help.

“Who uh…are…?” Oka said.

“I’m just an average guy.” The boy shrugged. “I was hoping to enjoy my ham and mayonnaise sandwich in peace…but one thing led to another, and I ended up here. Well, really, this all began when my parents took a job overseas, and I had to transfer to this school. When I first transferred here, I thought to myself, what a pain. A whole new town full of people I didn’t know. But as I looked out at the seven gorgeous girls in front of me…something stirred in my heart.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. What?” Oka said.

“Little did I know…one of these beauties would be mine. Maybe more…”

“Um, does anyone need to grab the, uh, the mail?” I said, quickly standing up.

“Yeah, let’s…get that.” Oka said.

We darted off, making sure that guy didn’t follow us, regrouping in the girls’ dorm.

“Who was that?” I asked.

“Was that not Syval?” Oka asked. “That was Syval, right?”

“Are you serious?” Kalei asked. “That wasn’t Syval.”

“If this is a prank, tell us right now.” Lillia said to Kalei.

“Why would you think I’m responsible for this?” Kalei asked. “I don’t know who the hell that dude was or why he was hitting on us!”

“Hitting on you?”

I yelped as the boy appeared seemingly out of nowhere. “Geez, now I’ve done it…” He stared at us, looking disinterested.

“Should we maybe get a prefect involved?” Oka asked quietly. “Call on Naomi to help out for once instead of just punishing us?”

“This is the public area, and it’s free time, she wouldn’t do anything,” Lillia said.

“Are you sure?” Kalei asked.

“Maybe I should introduce myself more properly,” The boy said.

“Do you have to?” Kalei said.

“Ha, good one…” He said. “I’m Kris Krag.” He held out his hand.

I had been raised to always shake someone’s hand when introduced. I felt Stella’s training flare up in me, beckoning my hand to reach out, but I also felt the innate urge to fight it.

“Zeta, maybe don’t—" Oka said right as my training got the better of me and I offered my hand.

Kris gave me a firm handshake as I winced and wanted to be anywhere else.

“I’m sorry if I said something that upset you. I’m just an average guy,” Kris said. “I hope I won’t be too much of a bother…”

And so, for some reason, we had this random guy just sort of…standing near us.

“Alright, he’s not really…doing anything.” Kalei quietly observed when we were back at our regular cafeteria table and Kris excused himself to go to the bathroom. “But he’s really boring. But he’s not like being creepy. Just…standing around us.”

“Something is concerning me,” Lillia said.

“That he said he was going to date one or maybe more of us?” Oka asked. “That’s concerning and creepy.”

“Yeah, but he hasn’t said anything like that since then, at least?” Kalei said.

“I’m stunned that you’re standing up for him,” Lillia said.

“I’m not!” Kalei said.

“And that wasn’t my main point of concern, but it ties into it,” Lillia said. “It was just the four of us at the table earlier today, and he said seven when he had that flirty line.”

“Maybe he has double vision,” Kalei said. "Or like...one and three quarters vision."

“That, or there are more people in his sights.” Lillia said.

“Maybe we can just pawn him off on them?” Kalei suggested. “Maybe they’re into dudes and this will all blow over.”

“I don’t think we should leave him with any of us,” Lillia said. “But it might be time for a trip to Falling Shards.”

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