Pride x Familiar (34 page)

Alistair raised her hand and Klaus cringed,
holding his head protectively.

I thought she was going to deliver another blow,
but then a gentle look settled on her face. Instead of thumping him
she patted the top of his head.

“Ah, forget it. It’s easy to think I’m an Aye
cup. But I’m definitely a Bee cup. Don’t you forget it.”

She patted his head some more.

If Klaus had possessed a tail, it would have
been swishing at lightning speed by now.

His face brightened and I saw adoration in his
eyes.

“Lady Alistair….”

Suddenly he bowed formally to her, surprising
Alistair into taking a step back.

“Lady Alistair, please accept me as your humble
retainer.”

Huh? I dropped the rake I was using.

What was this guy, some history nut of the
Sengoku era?

Alistair had a curious gleam in her eyes.

Was I witnessing the awakening of her dominating
side?

Was Haruka aware of this side to her friend?

I felt as though I was being watched, and turned
to look around.

My eyes met Melanie’s for half a heartbeat
before she smoothly glanced away. She resumed raking the loose
leaves away from the stone paved path that ran through the
garden.

It wasn’t the first time I’d noticed her
watching me.

Was Alistair telling me the truth?

Did Duncan reject Melanie because she failed to
join a Pride? Did he have something against Familiars? Maybe he was
pressured by his family to abandon her.

I remembered him saying that Haruka was liked by
his friends.

Had his friends disapproved of Melanie?

Had Duncan chosen to turn his back on her
because he sought to protect his social standing?

Either way, I was reminded of what I did seven
months when I turned my back on Haruka because of my hatred for the
Aventis.

I stopped raking the leaves.

Seven months later, did I hate the Aventis the
way I once did?

I blamed them for Crimson Crescent’s actions,
but maybe I was wrong to hold onto that hatred. After all, the
Raynar Pride had taken care of Celica and I after we were
orphaned.

I sighed and resumed raking.

In the corner of my eye I saw Melanie glance at
me a couple of times, then walk away to attend to another part of
the garden.

I need to describe something of a technical
marvel.

I’ll describe it in simple layman’s terms
because I don’t know all of its workings.

It’s called, the Skinsuit.

As the name implies, it’s a suit you wear over
your birthday suit. It acts like a second skin and is a mere four
to five millimeters thick. Thousands upon thousands of nerve
contact points on the inside of the suit make contact with the
surface of your skin. For that reason, you have to wear it while
buck naked underneath.

The skinsuit is fitted with fibers that behave
like artificial muscles. These complement the wearer’s muscles,
enhancing their strength by as much as forty percent. It might not
sound like much, but that forty percent can translate to a big
difference in the case of an Aventis or a Familiar.

In order to make use of the skinsuit, it has to
be tuned to the wearer, making it their personal skinsuit. This
takes anywhere from six to ten hours. The tuning process allows the
skinsuit to react in harmony with the wearer’s body. An un-tuned
skinsuit can injure the wearer if it works against the body’s
movements rather than with it. The whole point is to complement the
individual inside the skinsuit, not impair them.

Caprice had one and so did I, though I’d only
used it on the occasions when the researchers wanted to test me
while wearing it.

To be honest, I didn’t like it.

It just made me feel like I was moving
wrong.

On the other hand, Caprice had considerable more
experience with hers, so she was able to perform some pretty
awesome moves while decked out in the skinsuit and her Valkyrie
Armor.

I’d witnessed those moves when she fought
against Constance.

It was a while before I witnessed her in action
again.

(Caprice)

After class, the four of us – Maya, Rina,
Constance and I – were instructed to meet outside the gymnasium
allocated to the high-school students.

We rocked up as instructed, and were joined by
the Countess a few minutes later.

She walked over with that practiced, smooth
countenance of hers, striding like royalty in her designer label
high-heels. It was rare to see her wearing anything but
high-heels.

Simone Alucard led the four of us to a basement
level storage room under the gym.

Once inside, she handed each of us a pass key.
This key we transferred to our palm-slates and allowed us access to
the gym’s basement, the storage room, and the door at the back of
the room which opened to an underground service tunnel leading out
of the academy grounds.

In short, it was secret passage for the four of
us to use.

It was all very clandestine, yet I was
accustomed to training in a gym under a dance club, so this
development didn’t bother me at all.

The Countess sent us off down the tunnel, wished
us luck, then closed the door behind us.

Somehow, Maya had ended up leading the way.

That was fine by me.

All together we looked down the service shaft,
surrounded by the sights and sounds of power conduits, plumbing,
and electric fans whirring inside life-support vents. The overhead
lighting wasn’t particularly good, and the far end of the tunnel
was shrouded in darkness.

Constance muttered, “Feels like a test of
courage.”

A low growl sounded between us.

I shared looks with the other girls.

Maya and Constance shook their heads, and
blurted out, “That wasn’t me.”

Rina gasped before slapping her hands over her
belly. “Sorry. I skipped lunch….”

Maya sighed and her shoulders drooped a little.
“Come on, let’s see where this leads.” She held up her palm-slate.
“Besides, she gave us a map.”

Constance sniped, “She could have just walked
with us all the way.”

I shook my head. “Not in those designer heels.”
I cocked my head a fraction. “What is up with her footwear? High
heels are non-regulation shoes.”

Maya shrugged, and started leading the way. “She
and Prissila have always been that way. They compete in everything
they do. Can you imagine how bad things would be if their breasts
weren’t the same size?” Maya glanced at Constance. “You know what
she’s like, don’t you.”

I looked at the girl who’d stabbed me.

To say I didn’t trust her was an
understatement.

I walked behind her so I could keep an eye on
her.

And that’s why I noticed her anxiety quite
clearly. She wouldn’t glance at me over her shoulder, but I could
see that my being there was really unnerving her. When Maya spoke
to her, she didn’t respond right away. I sensed she was keeping an
eye on me by using the expanded Awareness her Fragment offered
her.

“Constance?” Maya asked, then came to an abrupt
stop.

Rina almost bumped into her and looked surprised
at the taller girl.

I came to a stop behind Constance, aware of Maya
watching the two of us.

Maya spoke quietly but I heard her well enough
above the background noise in the tunnel. “Prissila and Simone
spoke to me, and filled me in on the details.”

Rina’s eyes widened slightly and she cast an
anxious look at Constance and I.

Maya studied us both. “They’re both sorry for
what happened. They’re sorry for pushing the two of you against
each other.”

Constance shook her head. “No. It wasn’t the
Princess’s fault.”

Maya raised her chin. “That’s not the way
Prissila sees it.” She took a couple of steps closer to Constance
and I. “I’ve known them for many, many years. Our families have
ties to each other. They were there for me when I messed up, and I
owe them”—she glanced down—“even if Prissila was a
bitch
to
me at the start of school this year.”

I remembered the incident in the cafeteria, when
Caelum first asked me about Maya.

But I also remembered what Arisa had told me –
Maya had tried to commit suicide. I could only guess at the
pressure she was under that drove her to make that decision.

Maya inhaled deeply, then gave us both a firm
look. “They regret what they did. Competing against each other is
in their nature, and they felt they had a lot at stake, but they
admit they had no right to force such an encounter between the two
of you. I promised them I would watch over you—both of you.” She
glanced at Rina. “All of you. But especially you and Caprice. I
don’t want the two of you fighting again—at least not against each
other.”

I gave Maya a flat response, one that mirrored
my expression. “I’m not intending to pick up where we left off at
the amusement park.”

Constance look down at her feet. “Ditto.”

“Good. In that case, would the two of you please
relax? You’re making the hair on the nape of my neck stand on end.”
Maya dropped her weight onto one hip, and rubbed her forehead.
“Look, I know the two of you got off to a bad start, and once again
that’s because the situations forced you against each other. But
that’s done and dusted now. This isn’t how things should be between
the two of you.” Maya shook her head. “Damn it—the two of you
should be friends.”

Constance and I both gasped. “What? Friends—with
her?”

We stared at each other, then broke our locked
gazes apart.

Rina muttered, “They’re in tune with each
other.”

Constance and I snapped, “Rina!”

The girl shyly cast her eyes downward.
“Sorry.”

“You see,” Maya said.

This time we both held our tongue.

Maya looked satisfied. Then she considered me
for a long while. “I thought you never dropped that mask of
yours.”

I froze and felt my stomach tighten. But my mask
slipped back on with practiced ease. “My bad,” I replied
flatly.

Maya raised her eyebrows, then shrugged.
“Whatever. Let’s go.”

She turned and resumed leading the way down the
tunnel.

Constance and I held back. The girl didn’t look
at me. “For the sake of not causing the Princess anymore trouble,
I’m willing to let things rest between us.”

I asked emotionlessly, “You mean you want a
truce?”

“Yeah, something like that.”

“Very well, I can agree to that. But if you aim
your Fragment at me, I’ll aim my gauntlets at you.”

“And this time we finish things.”

“Agreed.”

Constance glanced down for a moment. “Alright.
That’s fine by me.”

She hefted her school bag and chased after Maya
and Rina at a fast walk.

I followed the girl, keeping a few feet behind
her.

#

(Caprice)

Without the map in Maya’s possession I was
certain we’d have gotten lost.

The tunnel branched out a number times. We took
the forks in the road indicated by the map, and came to a locked
storage room.

By then, Rina was looking a little winded.

I traded a look with Maya, while Constance
stared at the girl with a discrete, yet critical eye.

Maya waved her palm-slate over the door’s
security panel and unlocked it.

Inside we found ourselves in a stairwell rather
than a room. Sharing bemused looks between us, we started climbing
the stairs in single file. After a few dozen steps, we arrived at a
landing and another door. Maya unlocked this one too, opened it,
and cautiously stepped out. We followed on her heels into a
crowded, open air parking lot. The doorway was protected by a large
awning. I had no idea why since it didn’t rain inside the
habitat.

Actually, there were a lot of things that didn’t
make sense inside the habitat.

Behind us, a large building stretched up into
the sky. I guessed we’d come out behind the building, away from the
side facing the street.

Constance muttered, “Where the Hell are we?”

Maya studied the map. “About…three district
blocks from Galatea?”

I looked around. “Don’t you think we look kind
of conspicuous in our uniforms?”

Maya agreed. “Next time, let’s bring a change of
clothes.”

“Hah,” Rina uttered. “That would totally make us
look like friends.”

“No it wouldn’t,” Constance and I retorted in
symphony.

We stared at each other, then looked away.

Maya nodded. “Good, a change of clothes it
is.”

Damn, what a drag.

Maya pointed in the direction of a parked
delivery van. “That one. Simone said a van with pizza delivery
markings would be waiting for us.”

We walked quickly over to the van, but found it
empty and locked.

Constance frowned at Maya. “Are you sure it’s
this one? Did she tell you the company name?”

“Ah—” Maya looked stumped, then a grimace broke
out on her face. “I—I didn’t ask.”

Constance smirked. “Some leader you’re turning
out to be.”

“Shut up,” Maya muttered.

I looked around the lot. “Doesn’t matter. It’s
the only one here.”

Rina was looking the vehicle over. “It looks
really authentic. Smells like pizza too.” She squeezed her midriff.
“It’s making me hungry.”

Her stomach growled for the tenth or twelfth
time.

I had to admit it smelt like really good
pizza.

“Ah, you girls finally made it.”

We turned in the direction of a man’s voice, and
indeed a young man was walking toward us. He had a full head of
dark hair, and was dressed in a delivery outfit. To add to his
authenticity he carried a stack of lunch sized pizzas in his
arms.

He smiled warmly at us and looked apologetic.
“Looks like I made it back in time.” He raised the pizza stack a
little higher. “In case you’re hungry, I brought you girls
something to eat.”