New Environment

"That's not possible." The book declared, flying around the kitchen while Kaia sat on her dining table, slurping the cup noodles she got.

Returning to the convenience store, her cart was, luckily, still in the same place with all of her groceries intact. She also decided to stack up on cup noodles for the rest of the week.

When she went to the counter to pay, she asked the store clerk if he knew anything about the boy, by writing on a piece of paper.

"That kid with the mask?" He speaks while scanning her items by sliding them past a scanner built into the table.

"He sometimes just comes to my customers and tell them their lifespan as if he could see it. Today, he told me that I had sixteen years left when last time it was thirteen. You can't extend your lifespan, that's just not possible. But I played along with it. He's harmless but if he bothers you again, tell me ok?"

Kaia smiled and nodded.

Increase in lifespan?

She blinked her eyes, activating the 'cheat' the book gave her and saw that he indeed has sixteen years left.

The boy was also right about my one but how did he know?

Also, how did this man's lifespan increase then? Did he kill a three-year-old?

She shook her head. She can't just make assumptions without knowing anything, she needed to wait.

"Done." He showed her the price through the screen and she paid him with the crumpled notes from her pocket. "Thank you, your groceries are over there."

Right after the scanner was an area where the items were cleaned by the machines before being packed in biodegradable plastic. There the customer will pick them up.

Everyone is very cautious of cleanliness, so after the items are cleaned no one other than the customer goes to get it after reviewing the machine.

Kaia always gave a three-star review to this invention when asked to review it. It's one of her favourites.

Kaia stopped in front of the store clerk, summoning up all her courage, she scribbled on a paper and showed it to him.

"May I know how much life span you have left? I'm sorry if I'm too rude." He read out and laughed. "I don't mind, kid. Let me think. The last time I made the trade must have been a good four years ago. I lost one year and two months and I knew I would live till the age of forty. Leaving me with nineteen years left when I was twenty-one. Now I'm twenty-five. I have fifteen years left. Ok?"

She nodded at him as she walked away, more confused than ever.

His explanation makes sense but it doesn't match up to the years I saw that he had.

"Oh! Since you're so interested. He did say something strange when he came in here today. He told me 'I gave you three years, now you can live for sixteen more'." This man really liked to laugh, every time he talked, he laughed a little at the end. "This kid's strange."

What? How?

All the way to her house she thought about how things are getting complicated and, as much as, she didn't want to, she had to try and call the book again.

She stopped right in front of her door and sighed, all the energy drained from her body just thinking of what she has to do.

How am I even going to summon it?

She swung the door open and began to arrange the groceries in the fridge as she thought.

Well, it is a book and from what I can tell, it loves its stories. Maybe if I tried complimenting it?

It couldn't hurt to try. But first, dinner.

Her stomach started to hurt as she waited impatiently for the noodles to be ready.

In order to distract herself, she took a pen and paper and wrote, "Book is the only one who can write and tell a story I'll actually read."

"Really? Go on. What else?" A voice came from above her and she gave it a disappointed look.

"What? You were just praising me. What's with that face?"

"At least make it hard to summon you." She signed as the timer dinged.

Kaia ran to her noodles and immediately started to scarf them down.

"Calm down, you savage." The book sounded a little upset. "And it's not my fault that I'm a stickler for compliments."

"I'm sorry." Kaia signed with the hand holding the chopsticks. She climbed onto the table and placed the cup noodles down beside her.

"I called you for a reason. Is there anyone other than me that you've sent back?"

"Nope. It is only you. I know nothing about that boy either. You've not seen him before right?"

"Yes. Otherwise, I would have remembered him." She continued to eat as she signed.

"Interesting. This is a serious development. Who is this mysterious boy and how does he see the lifespan of a person if he isn't like you, a person brought back to life?"

She could hear the excitement in its voice, making her contemplate whether calling it was a good idea or not.

"Oh, and the boy said that he gave the man in the store three more years to live."

"I know. That's the strangest part. How did he do that?" The book flew around the room, getting more and more excited.

"I thought you would know more about all these?" She's starting to regret her decision of calling it.

"I only know how much you know. I am following your world through your eyes."

"So, you're useless."

If it had eyes, it would have narrowed them at her. "How about this, get to know the boy and something might come to you."

"Sure." She drank the soup of the noodles down. "I'll do that."

"Good luck. My bet is always on you." With that, it disappeared.

"Definitely useless."

She is going to have to find the boy as soon as she can. Glancing at the calendar, she saw a red circle drawn over the next day and the writing 'Seize your opportunities'.

What was tomorrow again?

Digging her diary from under her mattress, she flipped through it again. Besides it being Shia's birthday, she can't remember much.

"September 9: Shia's Birthday. I also met Faith, she's so nice'.

Kaia stared at the words on the page, trying hard not to get frustrated.

That's it?! That's all I wrote?!

She hung her head in defeat, hopefully, the morning will come soon.

Morning couldn't have come sooner for Kaia. She got up as the sun entered her bedroom, just before the alarm could ring, wandering the house like a zombie.

She covered the mirrors in her house the night before with a cloth so that she wouldn't have to see her face the moment she got up. Best decision she's ever made in the past three days.

She had carefully ironed her uniform the night before and hung it on the window in her room.

She found it difficult to believe that she fitted into this uniform. It looked so small and yet, she could wear it? Was she always this small? She stood against the door and made a mark of where her head reached. Using a measuring tape, she measured her height.

4'11.

You'll grow. Don't worry. You'll grow.

She was stuck trying to tie her tie for half of the night. With all the skills she has, she can't believe she never learned to tie her tie.

In the end, she just tossed it on the table and went off to bed. Too many things bothered her mind and this isn't going to be on that list.

With how advanced technology was, shouldn't they have made one that can tie a person's tie for them? But then would she be able to afford it? Probably not.

After a hearty breakfast of cup noodles, she did a final check on the money she hid away. Satisfied, she checked into her bag, they were only ever required to carry lunch and an ID that also worked as their report card; she shoved her tie into her bag and locked the door behind her.

Standing on the road she suddenly realised that she forgot the way to school. She transferred schools when her mother got sick and transferred again a month after her death. So she wasn't sure of the direction she should be going.

After a minute of thinking, she just decided to walk whichever way looked familiar.

The ID card hung around her neck swinging with every step she took. It had a pinkish-purple nylon strap, the same colour as her skirt and necktie, while the ID had the child's picture and their information in a clear, transparent card.

Once they entered school, they were required to scan their IDs' at the gate, this was how attendance was collected.

The performance of the child in both studies and extracurricular activities is transferred to their IDs' where their parents can access it with the code given to them by the school. Upon entering the code, the entire performance of the child including remarks from the teachers' project out of the ID, and they can flip it like a book. This is done trimonthly, three times a year.

When they finished checking, they sign and scan their fingerprint. Once all this is done, the school is notified and the child is marked. Those without any marks the entire year will be summoned by the principal with their parents.

Most children get expelled in this situation but there is hasn't been one child in the past years that have not gotten at least one mark.

Kaia managed to avoid this also because her mother took care of everything. No matter how sick she was, she took the time to look through every page and praised her every achievement, big or small.

Her performance decreased considerably with the death of her mother so she was forced to transfer to a lesser-known school. They weren't as strict as this school was so it was easier for Kaia in terms of her family situation but not to her mental health.

After the incident happened, she studied and worked so hard she lost so much weight and fell sick often but she was determined to escape her current situation.

Kaia was finally able to do that but then she began to look for something else to fill her. Even when the bullying got worse, she was still searching. That was when she met Dawn and got attached to her, just because she didn't bully her and was sometimes nice to her.

She let out a deep sigh. Everyone and everything sucks.

And.

She is definitely lost now, unable to tell her left from her right.

Maybe I should just go back home.

She looked up at the big, holographic clock that hung over the town.

She still had twenty minutes before she is late for school. She could just walk around, maybe she'll find it.

Honestly, they should have written the address of the school and now to get there in the ID. But then, she'll still be able to get lost with her horrible sense of direction.

She glared at the ID as if something will happen. From the corner of her eyes, she saw fluffy black hair and a mask turning the corner.

Kaia forgot all about her school as she ran after that fluff. This is too convenient of an opportunity to let it pass her.

The old Kaia would rather collapse in school than miss one day of classes. She is still like that but she just has different priorities now.

The black fluff didn't run away this time and she wasn't going to allow it until he explained everything to her.

She grabbed his shoulders, holding tightly onto his school jacket.

Startled, the black fluff slowly turned his head to her. Instantly recognising her, he attempted to run away even with her grip on his jacket.

Thought, he somehow managed to wriggle out of it and ran away. Kaia ran after him, again, his jacket still in her hands.

For a kid, he is extremely fast.

I think he's in his school's track team, at the very least.

He escaped her, again.

Still holding onto his jacket, she had to stop to catch her breath. Just as a bell rung to the left of her.

"Kaia! Come inside!" A woman's voice called out.

Entirely out of breath, Kaia turned to the voice. It was the only teacher she liked from that school. She gestured her to hurry and enter the school, telling the gatekeeper to wait.

Seeing her again, she remembered why she liked her so much. Still not having recovered her breath yet, she had to run again, to the gate and scan her ID. Barely making it inside.

Upon entering, she could feel the stares of the entire school on her. Her eyes quickly went to the ground. The most effective trick to show that you aren't a threat is by looking down.

"Are you really Kaia?" Her favourite teacher walked up to her, confusion in her face.

Swallowing her fear as much as she could, she feigned confidence and looked at them all in the eyes, though her hands trembled. She stood as tall as she could, her legs felt like it would give out any moment now.

"Nice to see you again." She signed and smiled, head held high.