If only to feel.

Chapter 1: The exposition

"BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP" rang his alarm as he awoke from his slumber. Today was the first day of college for Tomoki Sakurai. And bloody hell he did not really want to go. Summer break was pretty great. Doing nothing at all, not working and hardly leaving the house. He loved his peace and quiet. He had his school bag packed the night before. He grabbed it and his helmet and walked out to the garage without eating breakfast. Hitting the switch the door opened revealing his motorcycle. An older Honda CB750. Nothing special, but it was his. And it put a smile on his face like almost nothing else would. He turned the key and hit the starter.

….

Pulling up to campus, he was greeted by the sight of many gorgeous girls as he parked his bike. He leaned back for a minute to take in the view. So many good looking girls! Blondes, brunettes, and black haired girls. Even a few with crazy colors like blue and pink. He noticed two girls in particular walking together. One with pink hair with black tips, and the other with long blue twin-tails. They seemed to be chatting. Actually, on closer inspection the blue haired one seemed to be doing all the talking. Both were beyond gorgeous. Definitely girlfriend material. He was of course, single. And what a wondrous place to try to find a girl! Checking his watch, he noticed he was almost late for his first class. He ran towards the building he thought it was in.

…..

Arriving in class only seconds before the professor walked in he rushed to find a seat. He didn't see anyone he knew. Not many people from his small town high school had gotten accepted to this college. Oh well. Time to make new friends I guess. He found one of the few remaining chairs. The professor walked in and greeted the class.

"Ok class Ill be your instructor for UNIV 100. This class is designed to familiarize you with the basic structure and functions of the university, as well as get you used to the changes that have to be made adapting to college life. I will start with the roll, and when I call your name, please stand up, tell us your major, and a little about yourself."

Tomoki immediately thought this would be incredibly boring. The class was half guys and half girls. And not all the girls were cute. Oh well. He looked around again, and noticed that he was sitting next to the blue haired girl he had seen earlier. She was utterly tiny. Not a bad figure actually. Her name was called, and she stood. "My name is Nymph, I am majoring in computer science, and I am pretty capable with computers." Hmm Nymph? Strange name but shes really cute. And probably pretty smart to do engineering. Lost in his own thoughts he did not hear his name being called. "Mr. Sakurai? Are you in class today?"

"Ah yes sir I am," he said standing, "My name is Tomoki Sakurai and I am a general studies major, and my favorite thing in the world is having a nice quiet day at home relaxing with friends."

"Ah, so nice of you to join us. Next is….Ikaros? Did I say that right?"

The beautiful pink haired girl he had seen earlier was behind Nymph and stood up. In a pleasant monotone, "Yes sir that is the correct pronunciation. My name is Ikaros and I am majoring in Aerospace Engineering and my favorite fruit is watermelon."

"Ah ok thank you. Next….."

The rest of the class was uneventful, and left Tomoki thinking about the two girls he was sitting by. Both were gorgeous and probably pretty smart. But Ikaros seemed….off. Hard to tell exactly what the issue was but it was something about the way she spoke. Like a robot or something. Still, she was cute. Maybe not girlfriend material, but fun to look at for sure.

…..

Onward to the next class. A chemistry course with both a lab and lecture section. Kinda interesting. Maybe. Once again he got there late. On his way in he realized that the only vacant seat was next to a familiar face. Ikaros, the same girl from his last class. And once again, she seemed to have a blank expression. Well, that's cool. Maybe I can get to know her. He sat next to her.

"Hi. I'm Tomoki."

"Greetings, my name is Ikaros. It is a pleasure to meet you. You were in my last class, were you not?"

"Yeah I was. Fancy seeing you here. That's some good luck. I don't really know anyone here yet."

"Eight of the thirty people in this class were in the previous class with us."

"Oh, really? I hadn't noticed. Well I guess everyone has to take both so it kinda makes sense."

"That is sound logic."

"Um, not to be too forward, but why do you talk like that?"

"I am a very logical person, and have always spoken in a very clear and precise manner. I have never been good at emotional inflections, and therefore must carefully choose my words to express my meanings."

"Oh, that's pretty cool. Makes you very easy to understand. You seem really smart."

"I have taken an "IQ" test and had a score of 240. I believe it is one of the highest scores ever recorded." OK, there should have been some pride there right? She's so crazy smart….

"Wow that's amazing. No wonder you are going into engineering. That's supposed to be one of the hardest majors."

"Yes it is supposed to be difficult. I have already tested out of several lower level mathematics courses." Ok this girl is starting to freak me out. That seems impossible.

The instructor walked in. And as it turned out, it was a graduate student named Eishiro Sugata. He was a from the same town as Tomoki and was actually one of his friends back home. "Ok class settle down. This is Chemisty 113, which is the lab accompanying Chemisty 112. We will be doing various experiments as they pertain to the lecture in Chem 112. Since you all should be freshmen and may not know anyone in this class, whoever you are sitting by right now will be your lab partner for the rest of the semester. So get to know em!" Wait what? Lab partners? Well, she is super smart. She will probably be a really good partner. "Ok, lab safety. Rule number one: Do not blow up the building. Rule number two: do not catch you or your partners hair on fire. Rule number three: DO NOT DO ANYTHING THAT IS NOT SPECIFICALLY STATED IN THE LAB INSTRUCTIONS…

…

At the end of class Tomoki and Ikaros walked out together. She asked him, "What is your next class?"

"Oh..uh...math 105. But that's not for an hour or so. I was gonna get some lunch. What about you?"

"I have math 301 in an hour. It is calculus 3. I am also hungry. Would you like to dine with me?"

"Yeah sure! I passed a nice looking restaurant on the way in. Lets go!" As they started walking, they did so in silence. Tomoki wasn't sure what to say to her. He kinda wanted to ask about that other girl he had seen talking to Ikaros, but didn't want to seem creepy. "So I've heard of calculus, what exactly is it? Because I have no clue."

"Calculus is a form of math that is designed to analyze the way things change with time. It is the basis for most physics and engineering calculations and concepts. Are you familiar with mathematical functions? Such as y = 3x+4?"

"uh yeah. I think I had that in high school."

"Well by doing some stuff to that function, we can tell how y changes relative to x. Its useful for knowing various things. And its called the derivative. For example, lets say that this one function represents the position of a car on the road. Getting the derivative of that function tells us how fast it is going at any point."

"Ok, that kinda makes sense. But couldn't you just look at the speedometer in the car?"

"In a car yes. However, for a lot of other applications you cannot just read a dial to see what it is. It also has other uses. Using a similar formula, if you know the speed function, you can tell how far it has gone between two points in time."

"Huh, that seems useful?" Omg I'm so lost right now. This chick is crazy smart.

"Yes it is. And as I said before, almost every engineering and physics concept is based in calculus in one form or another."

"And you said you were in calculus 3? That's nuts."

"I am already familiar with most of the concepts for the course, but the entrance exam I took only gave me credit up to calculus 3. I was told that I made a perfect score on it, but it did not have any math on it past calculus 2."

"Oh wow…."and Tomoki was silent for the rest of their walk.

….

"Well here it is. Lets get in line." he said with a smile. Ikaros nodded with her same blank

expression.

"Have you been to this restaurant before?" she asked him.

"Nope never. Wonder what they have thats good." They walked forward in line to get to the counter.

"What'll ya have?" the cashier asked.

"Whats good?"

"The clam chowder is pretty good. That and the personal pizzas."

"Ok I guess ill get the pizza." Tomoki says.

"I shall have the clam chowder please."

"Paying together?"

"Yeah I got it."

…

At the table in the restaurant…..

"Thank you for paying for my meal." Ikaros said.

"Don't worry about it. I don't mind." he said with a smile.

"Tomoki, I have a question if you do not mind."

"Yeah sure. What is it?"

"What was high school like?"

"What, didn't you go to high school?"

"No. I was home schooled by my mother for most of my life. What was high school like?"

"Um, I mean...it was kinda boring. A bunch of classes I didn't really want to take. I didn't have very many friends. And all the ones I had back then are still in my home town. Only one or two actually moved on to college. So I don't have any real friends here either. But back to high school. Um….it really wasn't very fun at all. Some things were fun like PE and the computer class because we played games when we were done with our work."

"Because I was home schooled, I didn't have any friends. I had only my two sisters. And they were not home schooled. My mother told me that I was too smart for school." Oh cool she has sisters? I wonder if they are as cute as she is!

"So, that girl with the blue hair in our UNIV class wouldn't happen to be your sister would she? Nymph I think her name was?"

"Yes she is my youngest sister." Ikaros replied.

"Yeah she seems really smart too."

"Yes she is." Short answer? Wonder if there's some hostility there?

"Well that's nice that you have a class with her. Wait. Shes younger than you right? How old is she?"

"She will be eighteen years old in a few months."

"Ok then how old are you?"

"I just turned twenty years old last month." Wait so shes older than me, smarter than me, and only a freshman? That makes no sense.

"Oh cool. I am 18 almost 19."

"That is good to know" she said, expression still blank.

"Yep sure is...looks like its time to go to class. Maybe I'll see you later?"

"Yes maybe. Good bye, Tomoki."

….

Walking into his math class he was surprised to see Nymph sitting towards the back looking bored. He decided to chance it and sit next to her.

"Hi, weren't in my UNIV class this morning?"

"I don't know…..yeah you sat next to me. What are you some kind of stalker?"

"Uh...no? Just figured I would sit by a familiar face. Is that ok?"

"Sure. Whatever. Not too familiar if we've never even spoke before." Wow shes totally different from Ikaros. Not very nice at all. Seems like a normal stuck up girl.

"Thanks. In my Lab class I seem to be partnered with your sister Ikaros."

Nymph perked up. "How do you know we are sisters?"

"She told me. We kinda had lunch together."

Nymph smiled. No. Not a smile. More of a smirk. "Oh did you now. Well that's interesting. Did you pay?"

"Uh yes I did."

"Just an FYI, shes not going to sleep with you if you try to put the moves on her."

"What the hell? I never said anything about that."

"You were thinking it. I can read minds."

"No I wasn't! And you can't do that. This isn't some movie with superpowers and stuff."

"How do you know?"

"Uh, I guess I don't?"

"Well trust me. I do know. There aren't any super powers. Just people smarter than you. And Ikaros is so much smarter than you its like a human looking at ants. I am the same way, in case you hadn't noticed. Which wouldn't surprise me."

"I had noticed you're not very nice."

"Why should I be nice to people who are beneath me?"

"Well Ikaros is really nice. You should follow her example."

"Ha she isn't really nice. She has no concept of nice. She has no feelings at all. Shes just well spoken and basically only uses nicer words to avoid conflict."

"Whats the difference? Shes still more pleasant to talk to than you." Tomoki shot back.

"Ha and? Unless shes explaining something, its like talking to a brick wall. Actually no. Sometimes your voice bounces off the brick wall and you get something back from it. Brick wall is better."

"How can you even say that about your own sister?"

"Because its true. You would be better off trying to seduce a lamp post," she said.

"And what did you mean she has no feelings?" at that question Nymph stopped. For the first time since he had been speaking to her she had a serious look on her face.

"She is physically incapable of feeling anything," she said as the professor started class.

What the hell does that mean?