Pride x Familiar (3 page)

I watched her tears continue to trickle. I felt
like my innards were being burned. But there’s no avoiding the
truth. It bites like Hell and worse when it comes between you and
someone you really care about.

Damn it. I had to get this over with before I
lost it.

“Haruka, you and I were never
that
close,
so it’s not like we’re breaking up. We’re just…saying goodbye to an
old friendship.”

“How can you say it like that? How can you sound
so freakishly reasonable? Do you know how much this is tearing me
up inside?”

“You’ll get over it. You’ll attend one of the
five academies in Pharos for the Aventis, and you’ll make new
friends—Aventis friends—and you’ll find someone ‘special’ over
there. Pretty soon, you’ll be right as rain again. You’ll forget
all about me and start anew.”

“Are you doing this to make me hate you? To make
it easier for me to leave? And why do we even have to do this?”

“I’m doing this for me.”

“What?”

I smiled at her, and this time I meant it.
“Haruka, you know how much I hate the Prides.”

She pressed her mouth into a thin bloodless
line.

I added for good measure, “If I say goodbye now,
before you become an Aventis, I won’t hate you. If I do this
afterwards, it’ll be just that much harder for me.”

I meant that too.

Once the Haruka before me became one of
them
, I wouldn’t see her as Haruka anymore.

I pushed away from the fence and swung my arms,
working the stiffness out of my shoulders.

“So, Haruka. This is goodbye. I’ll miss you, but
I’ll get over you.”

I bowed to her formally.

“Thank you…for taking care of me all these
years.”

When I straightened I saw the ashen look on her
face. She swallowed a number of times, before wiping away her tears
with the back of a hand.

Then she laughed bitterly. “I see. You were
always like this. Always choosing to bear everything even if it
made you the villain. I really was right about you. Since there’s
no easy way for this to happen, you chose to make yourself the
bastard of the play.”

“No. I just want to forget about you as soon as
possible.”

Now she looked dismayed.

I smiled nonchalantly, shoved my hands into my
school trouser pockets, then felt my palm-slate in one of them. An
idea came to mind so I pulled out the palm-slate. Calling up the
screen that listed my contacts, I held it up for her to see. I made
sure the voice command recognition was turned on.

“Contact listing, Haruka Amiella…delete.”

“Confirm delete,” my palm-slate requested.

“Confirmed.”

I heard a chime and knew the deed was done.

Her horrified look deepened before her
expression turned hard and cold over the span of many seconds. Then
she took out her palm-slate and held it up for me to see.

“Contact listing, Caelum Desanto…delete.”

“Confirm delete,” her palm-slate requested.

“Co…con…conf….”

Her hand trembled so much the screen was leaving
afterimages in my eyes.

I raised an eyebrow at her. “Go on. You can do
it.”

“Shut up!” she screamed. “Just shut the Hell
up!”

She gripped the palm-slate in both hands but her
fingers shook badly and wouldn’t go near the screen.

“Haruka, you’re making this much harder than it
has to be.”

“Go to Hell! I hate you!”

She turned and ran away, squeezing through the
gap between rooftop structures that made this the secluded spot it
was.

I stared at the empty space she left behind.

“That’s my girl. You never disappoint. So easy
to manipulate.”

I looked down at my palm-slate.

“I wonder if I should delete all those photos
and videos of us together?”

I was busy mulling that for a while when I
noticed the palm-slate’s screen was wet. I wiped it dry but more
drops landed on it.

“Huh?”

I looked up at the habitat’s sky. Still partly
sunny. No sign of rain. Hell, it never rains inside a habitat.

Then I noticed it was hard to see. My vision was
blurred.

I wiped at my eyes and my fingers came away
wet.

I looked at them for a while.

“Well I’ll be. I guess I haven’t forgotten how
to cry.” I laughed softly. “You hear that Celica, I guess I
couldn’t keep my promise to you after all.”

A simple promise.

To cry for our parents, to cry for family, and
no one else.

Well, I had no one else to cry over now.

Yet I was crying over Haruka.

I shuffled over to the fence. It was getting
hard to see the school buildings ahead of me, and the habitat
skyline beyond it.

I shoved the slate into my pocket before I could
accidentally drop it.

I didn’t bother wiping my face.

Big boys don’t cry,
she used to say.

Bloody smart thing to say to a ten year old
about to turn eleven.

“Gods damn it…I miss you…Celica.”

I bowed my head and squeezed my eyes shut.

“Why…why did it have to be her? Why Haruka?”

Why the Hell was she chosen? Why was her body
compatible with the Symbiote? Why did the Prides take everything
and everyone that was dear to me?

I hated them.

I blamed them for my parents’ deaths.

I blamed them for my sister’s death.

Why did we Regulars have to be so subservient to
them?

My fingers bent the wire fencing into an
unrecognizable tangle.

I held onto it, and hung against it for a long
time. Even after the school bell sounded signaling the end to the
lunch break, I still hung onto the fence and refused to move.

I had no intention of walking back to class.

I would accept the detention this would garner
me, but I wasn’t in any state to sit through afternoon lessons.

Around me, the school grounds quickly grew
quiet. I could hear the sounds of the habitat city, and I lost
myself in them.

I wasn’t thinking anything at all when I heard
something land on the rooftop a few yards away. I turned in fright
and saw a bundle of limbs roll across the rooftop and come to a
crashing halt against the wall of the rooftop hut behind me.

It took a moment for me to realize I was looking
at a girl, bloodied and beaten to a blue pulp. I could tell she was
a girl by her figure alone, though her face was covered by the
visor of the helmet she wore. She was dressed in the remains of a
bike suit, torn in places too numerous to quickly count. A weird
black mist surrounded her right arm and the long pole she held in
her hand. The mist faded and the pole vanished with it, leaving a
sudden chill in the air that I felt all the way to my bones.

My heart jumped then began to beat loudly as my
mind questioned what I’d just witnessed.

Was that a Fragment I’d seen fading back into
that
other
space? What did they call it, Pocket Space?

I stared at the girl.

If that was a Fragment, then she must be a—

A second bundle of limbs crashed to the rooftop.
This bundle landed much better than the first, and I watched it
resolve itself into the slender body of a girl probably no older
than I was.

She was wearing a uniform I didn’t
recognize.

Actually, she was wearing the remains of a
uniform. I had a clear view of a lacy white bra showing through the
rents in her white blouse, and her skirt was sporting several
non-regulation slits that revealed smoothly toned thighs and—black
underwear?

She stood up smoothly on legs that resembled
those of a mythical Valkyrie.

Her hands and forearms were sheathed in black
gauntlets, each with a two foot long blade that ran over the top of
her hands.

She wasn’t looking in my direction but at the
girl lying against the wall. When she took a step toward the girl,
the newcomer faltered and fell onto her hands and knees.

“Damn—pushed past my limit.”

Cold permeated the air, spreading thick and fast
over the rooftop. I shivered as that strange black mist enveloped
the girl’s arms and legs. When it faded, I saw she was wearing
school shoes and black stockings.

Now I was certain I’d just seen a Fragment
disappear.

What the Hell was going on here?

Who the Hell are these girls?

The girl wearing the remnants of a uniform
gained her feet and quickly walked over to the other girl by the
wall.

She spoke in a flat, emotionless voice. “Now to
find out who you are….”

She nudged the girl harshly, then reached for
the latter’s neck and chin, and removed the helmet. The girl in the
bike suit was clearly unconscious. Her eyes were open and heavily
lidded, but she wasn’t
home
.

The uniformed girl stared at the comatose one
for a long while. I watched her press her lips into a thin line,
then reach into her skirt for something.

I was surprised her skirt’s pockets were still
intact, which was more than could be said for the remains of the
palm-slate she pulled out. After staring at it for a moment she put
it back into her skirt’s pocket, then fished around the other
remaining pocket.

I wondered if she was aware of my presence.

I didn’t have to wonder for long.

She suddenly stopped feeling around in her
pocket and turned to faced me.

I saw her face clearly.

Wow!

What a beauty!

Near raven dark hair, emerald green eyes, and a
heart shaped face.

Even with her clothes in shambles and not
looking her best, I couldn’t deny this girl was clearly an eight
point five out ten.

The only reason I didn’t give her a higher score
was because I found her lacking in one critical aspect – a decent
chest.

That white lacy bra might as well have been a
training bra.

Despite the situation I forgot myself and
released a heavy sigh.

Compared to Haruka who had an impressive bust,
this girl was a major disappointment.

Even so, I gave her another good look.

On second thoughts, other than her small
breasts, she had a fine figure and her looks made her appear
exotic. Maybe I’ll give her an eight point eight on the ten
scale.

I noticed she was regarding me with a fixed,
emotionless expression on her face.

I smiled guiltily. “Ah…hello there.”

“Caelum Desanto….”

I blinked and lost my smile.

She knows me? What reason could she have for
knowing me?

Eh—this might not be good. Maybe I should be
making a quick retreat.

“Who’s asking?” I replied as I started backing
away from her.

She started walking toward me. “Please don’t
make this any harder than it needs to be.”

My eyes widened. “What?”

Hadn’t I just said the same thing to Haruka?

Wait, was this girl here to make me suffer for
making Haruka cry? Did Haruka’s Pride-to-be send her? Was this
retribution for shredding my friendship with her?

I prepared to defend my position on the matter,
but then I glanced at the unconscious girl on the ground.

Was I going to end up like her?

The flat-chested girl picked up her pace, then
drew a menacing butterfly knife from her skirt pocket.

My eyes grew wide and I began to panic in
earnest. “Wait—wait! What the Hell are you doing? You can’t bring
that into the school. Weapons aren’t allowed on school
grounds.”

“Please don’t run away,” she said.

Are you serious? Don’t run away?

As she raised the knife she added, “This is for
your own good.”

Gah—she really was serious. Crazily, insanely
serious.

Before I could run away she leapt toward me.

I threw my body to the left, hoping the blade
would only graze me at best.

But then something odd happened.

Her leap continued carrying her toward me albeit
very slowly.

It was like watching a holovid played back at a
quarter speed.

Very slow indeed.

I had time to see the artificial sunlight glint
off the blade.

Time to see her lips part slightly as she
exhaled.

Time to see her body sail past me as I
desperately threw myself out of the way.

It was all so surreal.

This had never happened before.

Then I saw surprise spread across her face,
before it slowly turned into elation.

Her voice sounded funny, as though I was hearing
it at a quarter pace as well.

“Overclocking…excellent…you have…the
trait….”

I twisted my body to make use of the momentum
I’d gained in order to land on my feet.

Damn, every move I made felt unbearably slow. I
realized my body wasn’t keeping up with my mind.

Overclocking? Was this what she called
overclocking?

She landed lightly on her feet but it didn’t
prevent her slashed skirt from billowing upwards.

Okay, that had to be black underwear I just
saw.

She charged at me again, but this time she
pivoted on her left foot, and lashed at me with her right.

Now I had clear view of what her skirt had been
hiding.

Yes—racy black underwear. It was sheer with lacy
ruffles along the edges.

Holy Molly, this girl was going to be the death
of me in more ways than one.

I wonder if Haruka ever wore underwear like
that?

I tried throwing my body back, pushing off the
ground with everything my legs could muster. Even though I had
plenty of time to think through the move, my body failed to respond
in time.

But the blow she landed on my chest wasn’t as
bad as it could have been. I was already moving away from her. Even
so, the impact lifted me off my feet and I sailed in slow motion
through the air until my back hit the ground.

I felt the air expel from my lungs.

That took a long time.

Pain and shock raced through my body. What
should have taken seconds felt like it lasted for a half
minute.