Admissions

"It's cold!" Ran whined as he attempted to blow warm air into his gloved hands. Sniffling, he tried to bury himself into the muffler he wore. "Why couldn't we wait in the car?"

"Cati wanted to wait at the gate," Dor said, attempting to ease the other that he shared his mind and body with.

"The things we do for her." He said, whining. Though he was the one to suggest that they wait with the red-haired lass for her friend.

Caitlyn, now Carlotta, laughed at him, tucking a strand of his black hair behind his ear, "You never did do well in the cold."

"Of course not." He complained, "I hate it. I need something warm. Like a heat packet."

"Some want's heat packets?" A voice came from in front of them. It is Shia with a bag from the convenience store. She took out a hot pack and threw it to Dorran first, then to Carlotta.

"Thank you, Shia," Carlotta said, holding the packet close to her body as the minimal heat spread through her body.

"Don't mention it." She said, playing with the braids of her hair. "Why are you waiting here and not in the car?"

"Cati wanted to wait here." Dor said, smiling brightly, "I couldn't let her wait in the cold alone so I accompanied her."

"Right." She said, crossing her arms over her chest. A knowing look on her face. "Are you done with your work?"

"Yeah." Ran answered bitterly, "We finished admitting Cati to the school I, Max and Kaia are studying in. We finished admitting her and getting the necessities. The other two are still there for some reason."

"What about you?" Shia asked, peeking through the open gate at the long line of people waiting to renew their admissions.

"Already done yesterday by one of the maids." Ran answered with a hint of pride in his voice. "I want to get my work done as soon as possible so I went the moment the office opened."

"Ah-huh." Shia said with a raised eyebrow, "That couldn't be because you really want to go with Caitlyn the next day is it?"

"Pffftttt. What are you talking about?" Ran asked, looking at anywhere but Shia. "I am just one of those know-it-all students."

"Guys." Carlotta hissed, "Stop using my old name. Are you crazy?"

"Right," Dor said, with a grin.

"I forgot about that," Shia said, looking at the fringe and short bob hairstyle Carlotta has now. Amazing how different you can look just from changing your hairstyle. "It hasn't been long since we last called you that. Barely two days have passed since the incident."

"I can't believe it's only been two days since then." She said, squeezing her face with her two hands. "Every day feels like some kind of dream."

"Well, it's reality," Shia answered, pulling the girl into her embrace. "We'll take care of you. Don't worry."

"Thank you," Carlotta said, feeling the warmth radiate from Shia. "What did we do about my guardian?"

"I took a dead man's name," Dor said without skipping a beat. "The same person as Kaia's father."

"Does Kaia know?" She asked, turning to him.

"She is the one that suggested it. We forged the papers to make it look like he adopted you long before he died." Dor explained, playing with the snow that fell. "They are legal papers, just a bit of tampering was done."

"This was able to work just because of the fire that broke out in Caitlyn, I mean Carlotta's orphanage, destroying all the physical records and a virus that erased all their digital hardware." Shia looked over to Dorran, "The coincidences are uncanny."

"Right? I am impressed that even happened." Dor answered, completely oblivious to the accusation Shia had on him.

"You did do that?" Carlotta asked, looking as confused as Shia is feeling.

"No." He said, "I had another plan but those things happened before I could do a thing."

"Strange." Shia and Carlotta exchanged looks and smiled. It is kind of obvious who is responsible for those things now but let's just leave it a 'mystery' for now.

"It is really good that this school values the influx of brilliant students and more than they do their background." Ran said, "We are a little too lucky, it's concerning."

"Don't worry about it," Carlotta said, attempting to reassure him. "Everyone here is very skilled at something. We will be fine."

"That isn't very reassuring." He said, sceptical.

"You'll just have to take my word for it." She grinned. "Now, I need to ask this, how did you convince the police not to take Kaia to a foster home?"

"I didn't."

"Cai- Carloa, you need to remember that, though this society is very advanced, it has a lot of flaws. With the number of deaths every day, not all records can be stored. Especially not to a man who got mugged."

"Right." She said, sighing and stamping her feet. "My feet feel like they are frozen."

"Go to the car, Cati." Ran said, pointing to the direction of the parking lot, a little way down the road.

"I am here already. I will wait until they come out." She said stubbornly. Ran's voice faded away when she saw two figures approaching the gate.

They are so engrossed in the tablet in front of them that they didn't look up even once. But they are finally here.

"Kaia! Max!" Carlotta called to her from the gate of the school, waving her hands frantically at the,

Kaia and Max are walking out of the school, discussing the books they got for the courses that year. He is a year ahead of her, so he could send the PDFs he already bought to her.

She paused, seeing the three standing at the gate, waiting for them. One looks the happiest to see them and that wasn't Carlotta but Dorran.

The poor boy looked frozen to his face because of the cold. A slight smile came on her face as she watched them but she felt scared to take the next step.

As though understanding her sentiments, Max took the bag from her and grinned.

"You don't have to-"

"Don't be afraid." He interrupted her. "They aren't going anywhere. Not anymore."

"Am I allowed to enjoy this?" She signed at him, eyebrows creasing.

"Of course. Why wouldn't you be allowed to?" He asked, holding his hand out to her. "Come on. Someone looks like he's about to become an ice statue if we do not hurry."

Startled, she quickly turned to Dorran, relief washing over her when she saw the number of heat packets Shia and Carlotta are placing in his arms.

"Don't talk about death." She signed at Max, a little annoyed.

"Sorry. I meant it as a joke." He said as they began to walk again.

Kaia shook her head, "I saw you all die one too many times already. Let's cut the death jokes, ok?"

"Ok. I promise." He said, with a grin.

"Promise what?" Carlotta asked, appearing in front of them from nowhere. "Kaia. What took you so long? I missed you?"

"We were separated only for a few minutes," Max said as Shia came and tried to help him with the other bag but he refused.

"I can carry it," Shia said, hands on her waist.

"I know you can," Max said, carrying the two bags properly on either side of his arm. "But you don't have to. Someone else needs it more."

"And who is that?" She asked as he indicated to Dorran.

"A little bit of weight to help him get some blood pumping into his body," Max said and walked to the shivering boy. "Take these."

"Why?" Ran asked, narrowing his eyes at him.

"They will help you to keep warm." He said, "They aren't nearly heavy enough but they will do."

"You just want me to carry your baggage." He said with a scoff as he gripped the heat packets closer to his body.

"Are you saying that you aren't strong enough to carry two bags with just tablets in them?" He asked with a twinkle in his eyes. "Oh, well. Never mind them."

"I never said that, give them here." Ran quickly said dropping the heat packs and taking the bags from Max. "See? They are so light, I can carry them with just one hand."

"Right. For now. Will you be able to carry them all the way back to the car?" He taunted, picking up the heat packets he dropped.

"Of course I can." He declared, "Just watch."

"Ok," Max said, carrying the heat packets in his arms. He walked to Kaia and handed them to her. "Keep warm."

She attempted to say thank you but she couldn't with her arms full. Max understood her intentions though and just nodded.

"Shall we get going?" Carlotta asked as she intertwined her hands to Shia and Kaia, being mindful of the heat packets. "I need a warm bath."