Tuesday August 8th, 2056 - II

The capsule arrives, and Andrew enters and sits down. He looks back at Perigowinkle. At the houses, the shops, the beach, his father's store and the graveyard. The doors of the carriage close, and it starts revving up.

[I don't know what to feel. Everything is happening so fast, too fast, though the last weeks were extremely boring, well, I up until two days ago.]

The Forb capsule speeds up, and dashes off to Clifftell. He looks to the side, to the barren fields outside Perigowinkle.

[They used to be more colourful during summer. It looks just like December or January right now. Grey, and empty.]

He sighs and closes his eyes.

[Maybe she's right. Maybe, I should go and read it. Tonight, or tomorrow, have to get to my dorm room first.]

Perigowinkle fades into the distance, and Clifftell becomes visible.

After arriving at the station in Clifftell, Andrew takes the stairs down to the ground floor. He buys something for breakfast at the Subway and leaves the station. After patrolling the city through the same route as last time, he arrives in front of the school gates, which are open. Andrew checks the time on his phone.

[Seven forty-six. Someone might already be at the reception already.]

He enters the main building and goes towards the administrator office.

"Good morning, what brings you here so early?" A middle aged man addresses his from behind the counter.

[It's not that lady from last time.]

"I… uh…"

Andrew clears up his throat.

"I… My sis… mother arranged a dorm room for me, so I came to pick up the key."

"Oh, I see!" The man responds. "We did get a new sign-up some time ago… let's see…"

[Oh, that's the same device Helen used… Windows… something.]

"Here we go. You're Andrew Hillton, is that correct? And your mother is Melissa Hillton?"

Andrew nods.

"Let me add you to the system. Hmm?" The man raises one eyebrow peculiarly. "There's already an 'Andrew Hillton' in the system. A strange coincidence, but not a mystery to solve right now." He turns around and rolls his desk chair to a cabinet, full of cards. He picks one out, and rolls back to the desk. He hands it to Andrew. "I added you to our system, here's your key card. Just hold it in front of the doorknob and it'll open. The floor and room numbers are noted on there as well, so you'll never forget them. If you lose the card somehow, just come back here and we will block it, and give you a new one. Besides that you'll also have to pay a small fee, but I don't think you're the type to lose stuff."

"Thank you." Andrew replies as he nods. He puts the card in his jacket's right pocket.

"See you soon!" The man says, and Andrew responds with a wave. "Your roommate should already be there!" Andrew jolts for a second, but continues walking. He exits the Main Hall and heads left, to the dorm rooms.

[Roommate? Melissa never told me… about…. Well, what does it even matter? Here's to hoping he's a nice guy. A silent one would be best, someone who doesn't disturb me, someone who isn't on my back all the time.]

Andrew stands in front of his room. It is located in the second dorm building, on the third floor, and room number four. He holds the key card in front of the door, and after hearing the mechanism click, he pushes it open. It is dark and silent inside. Andrew enters the room and closes the door behind him. He takes off his shoes and jacket and places each of them in the appropriate place. He takes a few steps and opens the door left of him. It reveals a bathroom.

[Looks like it's just your general hotel room. Bathroom to the left, and a bedroom a bit further ahead. The kitchen is probably there too, if there is one.]

Andrew closes the bathroom door and heads to the main room. He notices the cabinets of the kitchen, implying that the kitchen is on the wall of the bathroom.

[That's where I expected it to be, so I guess behind that counter is the… bed.]

While the lights are not on in the room, light from outside creeps into the room from between the curtains. It lights up the bed, or rather, a double bed, with someone on it.

[My heart sank a little just now. I can only see his figure, which is underneath the covers, and his wavy hair. It's… quite long, actually.]

Andrew slowly moves across the room. On the wall opposite of the bed resides a large flat screen television, an expensive looking one. He turns around the corner of the bed and looks at his roommate's face, enlightened by a slim line of sunlight.

[I see, it's… not a 'him'. They actually put me in a room together with a girl. Did they even think that through? We don't even know each other, yet the school has just assigned me to her room. I wouldn't be surprised if she kicks me out.]

The girl sleepily opens her eyes, and looks at Andrew, who is shrouded by darkness from her perspective.

"Uhm… hi." She says. "You must be my… roommate?" Andrew turns on the main light. The girl squints her eyes in response, and slowly opens them after they adjusted to the light. Andrew's eyes rapidly shrink with anxiety upon resting his eyes on her now fully enlightened face.

[No. No. Don't even think about it. It's not her. It can't be her. Andrew, stop, it's not her. They just look the same. Her name isn't…]

"Mei, nice to meet you!" The girl exclaims cheerfully.

"My name is actually spelled different from what you'd think." Mei says, without noticing Andrew's angst in the slightest. "You're probably thinking its M-a-y, right? Like the month. Well, it's actually M-e-i. I don't know why my parents named me this. When I looked it up, I found out it comes from some Asian country, but you know what's weird? We don't have Asian's in our family! My parents never told me where the idea came from, and…" Andrew holds his hand on his chest and calms his breath.

[See, Andrew? It's M-e-i, not M-a-y. Mei. The hair is wavier too. It's not her. It's not her. Just repeat that. It's not her… it's not her…]

"Anyway, who are you? My new roommate, of course, but tell me your name and stuff!" Mei says, after finishing her story. Andrew gets snapped out of his thoughts.

[Oh, she was talking? I… don't really know what she said, besides the part about her name.]

"I'm Andrew." Andrew responds. Mei is still under the covers, peeking her head out and watching Andrew curiously. "There's… nothing really special about me." Andrew continues. "I don't really have anything to tell you."

Mei's curious face quickly changes to a cheerful one. "Well, that's fine!" She says. "You'll find your reason for living some day. I haven't found mine either, so for now I'm just stuck in this school and dorm room. It sucks. I wish I was good at something, like… drawing, but I'm just not made for it. I will keep my hopes up, though!" Mei moves to an upright position and throws the covers off of her.

[Oh. I… do I say something? I don't really know what to feel… or say.]

From underneath the covers, a almost nude Mei arises, wearing only bright pink underwear and slightly too small grey top. Mei notices Andrew evading his eyes.

"Hmm?" Mei looks down at herself. After a moment of silence, she bursts out in laughter.

[Not really the reaction I expected.]

"Sorry, I'll put some clothes on right away!" Mei says, while supressing her giggles. She steps out of bed, and goes to the closet behind Andrew. She gives him an odd glance while passing him.

[Glancing with a seductivity… that's all I can make out of it. Was all of this intentional? Probably not, it doesn't feel like she's acting, not from the way she talks at least.]

Mei is a short girl, with dark brown, but not black, wavy hair and incredibly pale skin. Her body is well rounded with accented curves all around her body. She opens the closet and pulls a baggy shirt over her head first. The bagginess makes it revealing around her throat, and it goes halfway down her thighs like a short skirt. From the closet, she takes a pair of stockings and pulls it over her legs, to all the way up her thighs, and she closes the closet afterwards.

[I don't think she even put on pants. Or a skirt or something else. I truly hope she doesn't go outside or to school like this…]

"Did you really have to come this early? Normally, I sleep until like, noon. I did hear that my roommate was coming between eight and eleven, but, honestly, I was hoping you'd be late and arrive past breakfast." Mei heads to the kitchen, while Andrew stuffs his clothes in a single compartment in the second closet: the others are already full. Mei takes out a ready made sandwich from the refrigerator.

"Do you need anything? I wasn't expecting you now but I still got a sandwich if you want." Mei says, with her mouth stuffed.

"No, thanks. I already ate this morning." Andrew replies.

[This is a change of pace. The past few months have been a change of pace constantly. From the caring Helen in Frigital, to my sister in Periwinkle, and now… this. How would you describe her… lazy, eccentric… those two don't fit well together, but it fits her best. I really don't know how much longer I can take all these changes. Maybe May will be the one that can take me in normally, or… Mei… not that I think my time here will be normal at all…]

"You good? You're zoning out." Mei says from the kitchen, while nabbing on her second sandwich.

"Oh, sorry. Yeah I was." Andrew replies. He faces the kitchen.

"No need to apologize, you just looked a bit, how do you say it, full? Like when you have too much to think about, you know what I mean?" Mei says.

Andrew nods, and walks towards the kitchen.

"If you feel to pent up just tell me about it. Doesn't have to be now, whenever you feel like it of course." He fills a glass with tap water, and notices the stacks of dishes on the counter.

[Lazy… bad self maintenance, those two coincide.]

"Oh the dishes? I'll uh… do them today." Mei tells him.

"I can do them right now if you want." Andrew responds.

"No, it's fine. I'll do them. They're my dishes anyway, don't worry about it." Mei passes Andrew and heads for the bathroom. He watches her back as she walks towards it.

[It's covering her from the front, yet… from the back… the pink is still visible. Girl problems, I guess. Not really, though. She just has to wear something else… but doesn't. Aren't I a total stranger to her? Well, if she's okay with it that's fine by me. Though I still don't understand how she can be so carefree.]

Andrew places his empty glass on the counter and heads to the bed, where he sits down next to Mei's pillow, and stretches his legs across the length of the bed.

[She's just been using the entire bed it seems. I don't understand. When I see her dressed like that, I don't feel anything. If I saw May dressed like that, I'd get extremely, well, interested, and most likely couldn't control myself. Something happened to me. They look like twins, yet she doesn't arouse me at all. Nothing has aroused me ever since that one night in Hulive, which was months ago. I thought Helen said my hormones would return, but I guess not…]

The sound of a toilet flushing emerges from the bathroom, and Mei exits shortly after. She washes her hands in the kitchen and sits down on her pillow, next to Andrew.

"This bed is pretty comfy, isn't it?" Mei says. She grabs the remote and turns on the tv.

"It is. Can I sleep on this side?" Andrew replies.

"Sure thing! I'm going to continue watching a series now, I've just started it so it shouldn't be too hard for you to pick it up." She says as she's searching for the right episode. After selecting it, she puts the remote next to her bed and places her pillow behind her back. Andrew does the same and leans back.

[I don't really have anything better to do.]