Author's notes: I wasn't planning on posting this, but my friend insisted I do, so here you go. Enjoy!
"Young lady that seat is reserved for the disabled," an old man said smugly.
"You're old, not disabled," the woman replied, clearly annoyed.
The man turned red with anger. "I am not disabled but neither are you. Only elders and the disabled are allowed on the seat, get off."
The expression on the woman's face at that moment was the perfect embodiment of "I am so done with you right now."
Keeping that expression, the woman out her leg up and rolled up her pants, revealing a prosthetic leg. "I can't walk straight, even with this thing, so go find another seat buddy."
Defeated, the man made his way to the back of the bus. Those who had seen the exchange sneered at him and Nagi was no exception. He usually didn't take the bus but from what he'd just witnessed, his car had a chosen a great day to break down. He had a speaking to do in the class of a friend of his and he couldn't bring himself to cancel.
When he looked back, the woman had put her leg down and was looking at her phone. She was young, probably in her very early twenties or late teens. The only distinguishing feature about her he could see from her was that she was wearing a black tank top and had pale blue hair. He made a mental note to congratulate her for standing up for herself when he got off.
She was already gone when his stop came. Nagi shrugged it off and headed to the class. To his surprise, the woman was among the seventeen students in the room.
Nagi started his speech about the ECP and how programmers like them were going to be important. He encouraged them to apply even if they were still students, young minds were always welcome on a project like this.
"Any questions?" he asked when he was done.
The woman on the bus raised her hand and he nodded, giving her the right of speech.
"How exactly would you apply?" she said.
Nagi explained the process, which was rather simple. All there was to do was to fill out a form and send it to ECP via email.
Other students asked more questions and the rest of the hour passed quickly. When the class was over, the students packed their things, talking among themselves. Nagi walked over to the woman.
"What's your name?" he asked her.
She looked up at him, "Liliana Lefort," she replied.
"Are you going to apply?" the tone he'd used wasn't really a question, just stating a fact.
"It's worth a shot," she shrugged.
He liked her attitude. "I doubt that old man will be bothering anyone soon," he commented, remembering the events from earlier.
"You saw that?" she asked, surprised.
"I did and it was the best thing I've seen all week."
Liliana laughed, "I should get going, but it was nice meeting you, sir." She grabbed her bag, slung it over her shoulder and left the classroom, not walking perfectly straight as she'd mentioned on the bus.
Liliana Lefort… Nagi had a feeling he would hear that name again.