“Chiara! If you’re too tired to pay attention during my lecture, then I don’t want you sleeping in my lecture hall!” Her music professor calls her out in front of the entire class from the auditorium. Chiara raises her head from her arms on her desk; her eyes are strained and have bags from staying up all night gaming in VR that Monday night. She’s too tired to feel any sort of embarrassment from being called out in class. Nothing matters to Chiara anymore. She sluggishly grabs her backpack; her laptop didn’t even come out of her bag when she got to class late. When she makes her way out of the lecture hall, Chiara can hear whispers from her classmates, who seem puzzled by her lack of care lately. Once she’s out of the classroom, she immediately looks for a bench in the hallway and collapses onto it like it was her bed. With a big sigh, Chiara mutters to herself: “I hate this…” referring to the decline she’s feeling with her life. “I should have never got into that stupid game.”
A student she’s not familiar with walks past her and sees her laying on the bench. He openly comments. “You look like shit, get a cup of coffee or something, jeez.” before moving along to wherever he was going. When he’s finally out of sight, Chiara flips the bird at him and stays on the bench. Still, he probably has a point. Chiara figures she might as well check out the school’s local coffee stall for once. If she’s going to pull all-nighters with Mil-Sim Story or her school work, she might as well drink the normies’ life source for staying awake.
She slogs her backpack on her shoulder, all of her bones feel like heavy bags of sand as she waddles her way to the library where the coffee shop is located. She nearly trips on the steps leading to the library building. The glass windows don’t hide anything from the outside and to Chiara’s dismay, there’s already a line at the coffee shop. “Don’t these morons have a life?” Chiara thinks to herself, annoyed by the presence of other students. “If only I was strong enough to push them all away. I need my coffee damn it!” She walks through the automatic doors and sees more students getting in line. All this does is irritate her some more. Without giving up on the whole ordeal, she manages to get in line. She’s waiting behind a particularly very tiny student who seems anxious to get her coffee too, swaying back and forth in a playful manner though she doesn’t look miserable in the slightest. Far from it. More students line up behind Chiara which pretty much settles her choice to get some coffee for herself. She looks at the menu on the head of the counter. “What does all this even mean? Latte? Mocha? Frappe? I don’t know Italian!” Chiara internally groans in her mind. She never had coffee in her life so she has no idea what she should even get. “I wonder if there’s something with ice…” She sees a student walking by something that looks like a shake with whipped cream. “Yeah...something like that. I got to have one of those.” The line moves slowly, it takes a while for the four work-study students behind the counter to prepare orders. When an order is ready, they call the name of the customer so that they can pick up their coffee by the counter. “And now everyone is going to know I’m having coffee. Why couldn’t they just tell me my order will be ready discretely? I’m already going to regret ordering.”
Chiara is almost next to take her order. The short girl in front of her is next in line. She tiptoes over the counter to make her order. It would have been cute if Chiara wasn’t in such a sour mood.
“I’ll take a grande mocha frappuccino with a chocolate chip cookie please.” The girl says sweetly. She almost bounces with her toes as she makes her order. She fixes her glasses and brushes her brown hair behind her ear when she tells the cashier her order.
“Alrighty then...” The female cashier calculates the total in her tablet, running a cash register software. “Will you be paying with debit, cash, or your student lunch card?”
“Cash.”
“And your name for the order?”
“Vicky. Vicky Montes.”
“You got it, Vicky. Here’s your total.”
“Thanks!” The short girl reaches into her khaki culottes and takes out her wallet. “Um...do you have change for a $20 bill?”
The cashier opens the money box behind the counter and shakes her head. “I’m so sorry, but I don’t think we have change at the moment. We just opened up so we don’t have any fives or dollar bills at the moment.”
“Bummer. That’s no good. I didn’t bring my student card.” The way she said it didn’t even sound convincingly upset. The girl maintains her good mood even with such a minor setback. She looks around for a moment but then catches Chiara’s glance with her dark brown eyes. “Hey, I hope you don’t mind me asking but do you have change for a twenty?”
Chiara sighs while reaching her pocket. She’s lucky to be carrying some cash with her even with a student meal card which could easily cover the cost. She takes out her wallet and pulls out some dollars and five dollar bills. “Um...here...this should be the exact amount in twenty.” Her voice is strained but somewhat neutral despite her bad mood.
“Thank you! God bless you, stranger!” She says with full admiration. “It’s not often you find good people willing to lend a hand. You have a good heart, you know.”
“Oh...I don’t know about that…” Chiara mumbles drowsily. “I’m just lending you the exact change.”
“I’ll tell you what…” The girl pulls Chiara by her side. “I’ll go ahead and include your order as well. It’ll all be comped by me, good buddy.”
“Aah don’t worry about it.” She pats Chiara in the back which makes her yelp. For such a small girl, she sure has a lot of energy and strength. “I was hoping to share a drink with someone today anyways. It would be boring to drink coffee all by yourself anyways. You’re not in a rush to be anywhere, right?”
“Ugh, I think I got a class in three hours after this…”
“Great, that means you and I could hang out! I’ll invite you to my dorm room. It’s not far from here. Can’t have you dozing off in public, you look drained, friend.”
“Okay...sure….thanks.” Chiara works her way over to the cashier. “Uh….I’ll have uh….damn….whatever the cold coffee is...”
“Pssh. It’s the frappuccino.” Vicky whispers in Chiara’s ear. “Make it a grande too.”
“I’ll have what she’s getting.” Chiara instructs the cashier.
“Two grande mocha frappes, on the way, ladies.” Vicky pays the cashier and then waits by the side for their order.
“In case you weren’t paying attention, I’m Vicky! Vicky Montes!” She offers her hand to Chiara.
“I’m Chiara Lorenz. Uh….nice to meet you I guess.” She shakes her hand with barely any strength in her grip, a contrast to Vicky’s very firm grip. “Are you a freshman or something?”
“Sophomore actually.” Vicky admits proudly. “I know I don’t look like it.”
“Honestly, you don’t even look like you belong in college.” Chiara comments bluntly.
“Oh, that’s totally fine. I’m probably older than you by a year or two. Pretty funny how that works huh?” She lets go of Chiara’s hand after shaking it longer than she needed to. “Phew, I remember my first two semesters as a freshman like it was yesterday. I had a hard time trying to get settled with how college worked. That probably explains why you look so miserable. If you stick around long enough, you’ll get used to it.”
Chiara’s poor attempt at a laugh is hardly genuine; her exhaustion getting the better out of her. “I doubt it. Not sure I’ll make it at this rate. College is really killing me so far.”
“You just need to manage your time better, and maybe stop wasting your time on playing video games so frequently.” Her eyes perk up “What’s your major by the way?”
“I’m going for a bachelors of music.”
“A music major?” Vicky bursts out into uncontrollable laughter which grabs the attention of some of the students waiting in line. Chiara looks incredibly irritated by her response but Vicky attempts to control herself. “Oh...I’m so sorry, Miss Lorenz. For a moment I thought you were doing something rigorous like engineering or medical school. I’m not judging you or anything. I’m actually a theater arts major myself.”
Chiara narrows her eyes at Vicky, her exhaustion amplifying her irritation. “What’s so funny about being a music major?” she grumbles, crossing her arms. “You think it’s easy or something? It’s not like writing reports on music genres or music theory is any fun.”
“My deepest apologies, Miss Lorenz.” Vicky calms herself down. “I just have a bad habit of laughing when I’m surprised by something. Not that theater doesn’t have its fair share of mundane assignments either. It doesn’t help that theater is a dying art form. I’m probably one of the few students around keeping it alive on life support.”
“That’s the darkest thing I've ever heard you say so far.” Chiara comments blankly.
“Ha. I know, right? Say, what instrument do you play, Miss Lorenz? What’s your favorite.”
“Nothing special, just the piano. My parents had me playing since I was a toddler.”
“Hey, that’s pretty cool. You have to be really talented if you’ve been playing for that long. And talk about perfect timing too!”
“Excuse me?” Chiara tilts her head, almost losing her balance.”
“Well, at the end of the semester, our school’s acting committee is putting on a play and we need a volunteer to play some music for our sets. It seems to me that you might be the perfect victi… um I mean the person to handle that role for us. It would mean a lot if you could do that for us.”
”W...what?” Chiara stutters. “You’re not serious are you?”
“Vicky Montes! Order for Vicky Montes!” A girl behind the coffee stall calls out.
“I’ll explain it to you more later at my dorm. Looks like our drinks are ready, Miss Lorenz.”
“Sure….and please stop calling me Miss Lorenz. Just call me Chiara like a normal human being.” Chiara sighs heavily when Vicky gives her frappuccino. “Thanks for the drink by the way.”
Chiara waits behind Vicky while she unlocks her dorm room with her key. It seems that the lock is kind of finicky as Vicky has to pull on the door and turn the key to unlock the door. “Sorry about this, Chiara. Seems like sometimes my dorm doesn’t want me to come inside sometimes.”
“Oh, I can’t imagine why.” Chiara thinks sarcastically in her head. Vicky finally manages to open her door and leaves it open for Chiara to walk inside. The room is like something a prisoner would stay in. It’s even smaller than the first year dorms Chiara is staying in. At most, it’s a bed, a desk, a closet, and a sink with some drawers and a mirror. It’s a similar setup to Chiara’s dorm but the walls are made of painted white bricks, the only window is a small rectangular slip that would be barely large enough to escape for anyone who is not morbidly obese. The floors are flat out tiles like those found in the cafeteria. The only semblance of personality in this room is the various framed posters of local theater shows, a couple of inspirational bible quotes, and Vicky’s desk which has a few textbooks, a very thick and leather bound bible with gold accents, and a couple of pictures of her friends in her theater class. Although Chiara doesn’t notice it, Vicky doesn’t appear to have any photos of her family.
“Please, feel free to lay on my bed. I’ll sit by my desk, Chiara. Make yourself comfortable, cuz you’re going to need to stay well rested for your next class in a few hours.” Vicky pats the comforter on her bed and sits across in her dinky office chair next to her desk. “Sorry if it’s a bit cramped. But this is where most of the sophomores stay.”
Chiara flops on the bed without a care; the mattress is surprisingly more comfortable than her own bed, but it’s probably the comforter, soft as a plushie, navy blue in color, which contrasts well with the white prison walls, plastered with various posters to give some kind of life to this room. “No wonder the freshmen dorms are so inviting. The college is trying to keep students hooked for the long haul. That’s absolutely heinous” Chiara hypothesizes to Vicky. “I bet your dorm in your freshman year was a lot better than this.”
Vicky laughs, spinning idly in her squeaky office chair with her legs crossed. “No doubt about that. I didn’t even have the large shared dorms that some of the brighter students had. “It’s like the school leaves the older students as an afterthought. I mean they already have our tuition and our degrees held hostage. I only got two more years of this before I’m free.”
“I don’t even know if I’ll stick around for much longer.” Chiara heavily sighs. “I completely fell apart this morning. I got kicked out of my lecture for sleeping in class. I absolutely hate that morning class. I can barely even understand the professor’s accent.” Chiara puts her arm around the back of her head in a relax position and closes her eyes as she speaks. “I don’t even know why I even try. I could just download the lecture notes and submit my homework online. I still end up having to read my overpriced textbooks and online videos from better professors.” Chiara opens her eyes and looks over at Vicky. She notices a similar model of VR headset that she owns. “At this point, I’d rather be a gaming addict.”
“Huh. That’s no good.” Vicky politely scolds Chiara, still spinning side to side in her office chair like a child. “You shouldn’t be gaming so late at night on a school weekday. Moderation is the key, Chiara.” She takes a sip from her frappuccino. “Mmm...just like coffee. Caffeine is great for you when you need the extra boost but too much of it and you’re probably going to get a heart attack or something. I wouldn’t know. I'm not a doctor.” She stops spinning on her chair to speak to Chiara more directly. “Seriously, what are you even playing to warrant sacrificing an entire night?”
“Oh...um….just a little shooter game, that’s all.” Chiara reluctantly admits. “I’m just trying to get good at something on my own. But even I have my doubts about that too. Maybe if I fail at that too, it would give me the motivation to stop playing entirely.”
“You know, Chiara.” Vicky sips more of her drink before speaking. “I'm starting to think your problem is more than just a gaming addiction.”
“You’re able to notice?” Chiara asks plainly without any suspicion.
“Do you have any friends, Chiara?” That question seems to cause some pause for Chiara but eventually she gives Vicky her answer.
“Used to, but they were only holding me back.” Chiara says coldly. “I was nothing but just a cute pet for them. I felt like I was inferior to everyone else in the group, so I left on my own terms.”
Vicky’s eyes soften at Chiara’s words, her expression shifting to a more serious look after putting her drink on her desk. “Why would you do something so extreme like that? They were your friends Chiara.” Vicky’s memory recalls everything Ashley had told her about Emi’s story about Chiara. She can’t bring up the details outright as it would reveal the whole act she’s doing to get down to the reasons for Chiara’s change in behavior lately. She has to figure out something that Emi or the others weren’t able to get from Chiara.
Chiara crosses her arms over her chest, still lying on the bed. She shrugs as if the question doesn’t matter. “I was getting tired of being the weak one in the group. I’m not a charity case, Vicky. I got nothing out from them other than staying my shy, and timid self that did me no favors in all my life. I could never stand up for myself because I had others do it for me. They don’t understand how I feel. I only know one other person who knows what I’ve been through, what I felt, and how lonely it is to be so weak and shy. I want nothing to do with them anymore.”
“Hm...I don’t think that was a smart choice to leave behind those who cared for you, Chiara.” Vicky’s voice is quiet but sincere. “I can’t say I know all the details from what you told me so far but it seems like you’re afraid of getting hurt again.”
Chiara rolls on her side, looking at Vicky from the bed. “I realized that I feel much safer when I’m alone. I don’t have to worry about letting people down. I don’t get anxiety over juggling relationships. It’s so much easier to be alone.” She reaches over the bedside to pick up her mocha frappuccino from the floor for a sip. “I have more freedom to be who I think I want to be.”
“So what do you want to be, Chiara?”
“I don’t even know to be brutally honest.” Chiara’s comment makes Vicky laugh out loud. “That’s not funny, Vicky. You really find the whole world a joke, don’t you? It’s so ugly out there in the world. You just can’t trust people. I don’t even know if I can trust you.”
“Chiara...Chiara...Chiara…tsk tsk tsk.” Vicky wags her finger at her in a motherly fashion. “You want total freedom in who you want to be, and yet you don’t even know what you want in your life. That’s just completely absurd, even for a reason to abandon your friends just like that. Look. All I can ask for you Chiara is that you meditate on your choices, ask yourself what should be the right direction for your life, and for the love of God, try to get your time management set. You can’t cheap out on sleeping. In fact, I’m going to lend you my bed for the next few hours until you have your next class. I wouldn’t want you getting booted from your other class.” She grins at Chiara, her tone becoming more encouraging as she speaks. “I can’t convince you to reconsider your friendships or relationships. Like I said, I’m somewhat in the blue when it comes to who is right in all this, but at the very least, let's get rid of your bad habits together starting with your lack of sleep.”
“I suppose…” Chiara mutters drowsily, even though the caffeine has done a good job keeping her awake for the conversation.
“If you’re unable to make any time to rest during the night, maybe try some power naps in your free time between classes. Just don’t forget to set up an alarm or you’ll miss your classes.” Vicky chuckles lightly. “Speaking of which, I better get going real soon. I got something I have to take care of. You’re welcome to stay here and rest before your next class. You’ll be alright right?.”
“I hope so…” Chiara replies. “Will you be alright when I leave for class?”
“I have my key to my dorm, just lock it on your way out please. We’ll be talking more often, you know. Friends are hard to come by these days. God be with you, Chiara.” Vicky calls out to Chiara before closing the door to her dorm.
“Wait….thanks for letting me stay!” Chiara tries to tell Vicky but she’s gone in an instant. She can’t help but wonder how strange this Vicky girl is. Chiara lays on her back and closes her eyes, attempting to power nap before her next class in a few hours.
Emi and Ashley are out from their final class for the day. Emi treks her way down the handicap slope with her clutches while Ashley walks down the steps from the Behavioral Sciences building. They find a bench just outside where they will sit and wait for Vicky to report on Chiara. Emi and Ashley watch the dozens of students from their classroom form groups of their own, as if by instinct. The sun is roaring overhead, burning the pavement with peak temperatures for the month, but the bench has been shaded by a large overgrown tree ensuring that the girls don’t burn their bums while they sit. The bench opposite from is conducting all the heat, like a stove. Not even the birds dare to perch themselves on it. A random student that hardly knows any better, makes the mistake of taking a seat while talking to her friends and her reaction to the hot surface causes her friends to laugh along with Emi and Ashley who are watching from across.
“What a lovely day today am I right, girls?” A cheery voice calls from a distance. A very short girl with dark brown hair and round spectacles approaches them from the side. “Ashley told me all about you. You must be Miss Cadieux, right?”
“That’s me. I’m Emi Cadieux, you must be Vicky.” Emi waves her hands at her.
“Oh no. I don’t do hand waves. Get over here you…” She says teasingly and directly going for Emi’s hand to shake it firmly before letting it go. “The name is Vicky Montes. Vicky the Icky...well I hope not.” She jokes badly about her name but recovers quickly. “So I got to speak to Chiara, the good news is that she’s not completely closed off to me.”
“Well, that’s a relief.” Emi sighs. “So did you get to the bottom as to why she’s avoiding us?”
“She feels like she’s being dragged down by her friends, or so she tells me.” Vicky recalls to Mai. “But it’s more than just that. Seems like she feels like being around people makes her lesser. Chiara has been spiraling into bad habits from what I can tell. She told me she got kicked out of class for falling asleep during the lecture. She’s slipping into some bad habits, and it worries me. I don’t think she even knows how much it's affecting her.” Vicky sips the last bit of frappuccino from her cup before speaking. “But right now, I got her resting in my dorm room. She has another class coming up and I wouldn’t want her falling asleep you know. I even got her some frozen coffee too.” She raises her empty cup and smiles. “It’s the best stuff.”
“So Chiara is hooked on coffee now?” Emi shakes her head smiling. “I’m still uncertain as to why she didn’t sleep well the night before.”
“Well, she’s been playing some sort of game in VR. Some kind of shooter game. Hm...I wonder what that could be?” She says leading onto an answer Emi and her both clearly know.
“Figured. She’s still obsessed with that game.” Emi scoffs.
“So, do you want me to continue keeping tabs on her? I feel like she somewhat trusts me.”
“Please do. I really do want Chiara back in our friend group. The tournament in question doesn’t mean much to any of us.”
“And you are being discreet about your reason for talking to her, right?” Ashley questions Vicky.
“Yep. But I am doing it out of my own kindness too. I do believe Chiara is a good person, worthy of a friend like me, or any of you. But I do have my limits as to what I can say and cannot say. I don’t want to feel like I’m doing something sinister, even if it’s for a good cause.”
“Emi! You’re out here in this dreadful heat?!” Another voice calls out.
“Huh. I never realized you were quite popular around here.” Vicky jokes to Emi.
“Well, I wouldn’t say that.” She looks over to see Hikari coming towards them. She’s in her nursing scrubs, just coming out from her class. Something is off about her hair. Her ponytails are missing.”
“Hikari! Hey, what happened to your twin ponytails?”
“Oh. I had them cut. For nursing school of course.” She flops her straight black hair behind her ear. “And for Mil-Sim Story too.”
“Your hair looks good, Hikari. I mean I did like your ponytails too. This new style works for you too.”
“Thanks, Emi. You should have seen Mai’s reaction. It was so cute.” She chuckles. “Speaking of which, Mai is in the library, finishing her engineering homework. She’ll be done for the day, which means all of us could get back on Mil-Sim Story and use the short time we have to do what we have to do.” Hikari notices the two new faces hanging out with Emi.
“Oh, I forgot to mention, these are also some friends of mine, Hikari. This is Ashley. She’s going to join us in our team to see if it’s something she’s interested in. Her short friend over here is Vicky. She’s been keeping tabs on Chiara for us.”
“Fascinating…” Hikari says with her hands clasped together in a pleased manner. “I’m Nakamura Hikari. It’s my pleasure to meet you both.” She bows her head at both of them.
“I’m Ashley Booker. Emi and I are in the track team and have the same major. It’s good to meet you.”
“It’s an honor to meet you….um….what’s your last name?” Vicky asks, confused.
“Oh. It’s Nakamura. My primary name is Hikari.”
“Pleased to meet you, Miss Nakamura.” She tries to bow like Hikari but almost loses her balance.”
“Whoa. Easy there. And don’t worry about the formalities. You can just call me Hikari if you like. You seem decent as it is.”
“So….” Vicky addresses the elephant in the room. You all are Mil-Sim gamers? I couldn’t even tell from first impressions. Seems like this game really got you hooked all together huh?”
“That’s a direct way of saying it.” Emi notes. “Chiara is not in the picture anymore unfortunately so we’ve been trying to build up our squad beyond four members. Normally, we need at least four people to compete since it’s eight versus eight when adding Longhorn Squad to our team but from what I heard, we can recruit other members to form sub-squads or act as backup players in cases like what we experienced with Chiara quitting our team.”
“Like I said, I’m not much of a gamer.” Ashley comments to the girls. “But I’m willing to give it a try. It might be interesting to work alongside Emi in more ways than just school and track.”
“Well, that’s good. Say, let me let you all in on a bit of a secret.” She places her arms on her hips and smiles widely. “I also play Mil-Sim Story too!”
“W...what?!”.
She’s the last sort of girl I could ever see playing a combat sim.” Ashley adds. “This is a surprise to me too.”
“I just play a non-traditional role. I’ll be more than open to showing you what I can do for your squad if you let me in.” Vicky suggests. “And it totally aligns with my own morality too.”
“You’re morality?” Hikari asks curiously.
“I’ll show you what I mean.” Vicky remarks. “So, am I in or what?”
Emi blanks out for a moment, feeling a bit surprised but also grateful that she can recruit another member into her squad, even if she’s not certain what Vicky can bring to the team. She’s going to need more than just Vicky and Ashley for Armadillo Squad. Tomio will have to do the same as she told him earlier this morning about Chiara’s resignation from the team and their need to bring members to their squads. With a warm smile, Emi accepts Vicky’s offer. “You’ve done a lot to help me out. It’s the least I could do.” She offers her hand to Vicky. “Welcome to Armadillo Squad, Vicky!”