Chihiro kept looking down to the piece of paper in his hand. Rec room, after last block, bring laptop. It was a weird message, but why not check it out? It was probably from some teacher or something who wanted help with some program. Or maybe it was a student who wanted help with homework. Chihiro wasn't quite the top of their class, but no one really felt they could talk with Kyoko, and Byakuya had such a bad attitude about interacting with "plebeians" that no one went to either of them for help. People wondered how Chihiro got such good grades, but he had the somewhat unfair advantage of a) already being a genius-level programmer and b) not really desiring to socialize, which c) led to a healthy study life, even if d) his social life wasn't as healthy.
Whoever it was that had sent the letter had known what they were talking about. The Rec room was consistently empty after last block. People usually only visited after dinner, when it was too cold and dark outside to goof around there. So, Chihiro found that only he and the sender of the note were in the room.
And the note-sender was none other than Celestia Ludenberg. Embodiment of everything Chihiro was not. Cool, confident, and calculating. Well, Chihiro had a little of that last trait, but only while programming. The Ultimate High School Level Gambler stood by the poker table, dealing cards.
"Ah… Celestia?" Chihiro inquired, small voice the only sound other than the cards flipping one by one.
"Ah, Chihiro. I've just finished dealing. Would you care for a game?"
"S-sure." Chihiro made his way to the table and picked up his cards. A decent hand, though he wasn't quite sure how far to go with it. He managed to get a profit the first few rounds, but by the fourth round, he had started losing, big time. The pile of poker chips before him dwindled quickly, and eventually, there was nothing left.
After Celestia gathered all the chips to her side of the table, she smiled good-naturedly. "Good game. It's obvious I was going to win, but you put up a good fight. You're good at lying." She smiled. "Just not as good as me."
Unsure how to take the compliment, Chihiro stammered, "Th-thanks, I guess." He then got to the question that had been nagging him for a while. "So why did you call me here, Celestia? What can I do for you?"
"Well, I'm considering some new strategies for some of my favourite games of chance, but in order to evaluate how good they are, I'd like to run some trails of it. But there's not really anyone at this school that's quite good enough for me to really test myself against. I was wondering if you could create a training program of sorts."
Chihiro was mildly shocked. Celestia had never been the type to ask for help. Anything she couldn't do on her own, she simply didn't do. It warmed Chihiro's heart that she would reach out to him like that.
"Of course, Celestia. I'll get working on that." Chihiro offered a smile and opened up his laptop. "Do you mind if I just look over the deck? It sometimes helps to have a physical analogue to get inspiration from."
"Certainly, Chihiro." Celestia handed the pack of cards to Chihiro. As he reached out to take it, their hands touched, perhaps for a moment longer than necessary. Their eyes met, his a soft amber, hers a brilliant scarlet, and as he took the deck, they looked away. For her cold exterior, Celestia had every right to be so confident. Out of anyone he'd ever met, Ms. Ludenberg had the most right to be called truly beautiful. Like an antique painting, the epitome of loveliness, yet utterly unattainable.
He shook his head, to clear it. As amazing as Celestia was, he had to focus on the program. And before long, they were both in worlds of their own, Chihiro tapping away at his keyboard, and Celestia reading a biography of Marie Antoinette. The two of them, so absorbed in their respective objects of interest, hardly noticed the time flying by. As the Ultimate Programmer did his programming, a small face appeared in the bottom right-hand corner of his laptop screen.
"Um… Master?" the small, slightly computerized voice of Alter Ego chimed in from the edge of the screen.
Chihiro responded, not skipping a beat. "What is it, Alter Ego? I'm a little busy." He kept typing. He'd gotten good at multitasking over the years.
"Dinner started a little while ago. You seemed pretty in the zone, so I didn't want to interrupt, but you'll totally miss it at this rate." Alter Ego pulled up a digital clock for Chihiro to see. "Don't worry, I've saved all your work so far, so you can just get going."
"Thanks! I'll finish it up later, I guess." Chihiro shot out of his seat, closed the laptop, and turned to Celestia. "Uh… Celestia? Dinner started a while ago, apparently. We should head down if we want to get any food before it's over."
Celestia elegantly marked her place in the biography and closed it. Chihiro had never even considered that inserting a bookmark could be elegant, but the gambler pulled it off. "Very well, let us head down to the dining hall." And so they did just that.
The dining hall was full of the bustle of all the main course students eating their dinner, the scraping of utensils on the plates, and the din of all those Ultimates chatting away. There were only a few seats left, because they were so late, so Celestia and Chihiro were forced into two seats right next to each other in the corner of the room. Well, they weren't really forced. There were other options, but then they would have been by themselves, and from that afternoon together, it seemed they enjoyed each other's company.
They took some plates, and were served the night's dinner (spaghetti), and found their seats. The others at the table were also in varying stages of starting their dinner. Those others at the table were Mondo Oowada, Kiyotaka Ishimaru, Hifumi Yamada, and Byakuya Togami. An unlikely group, to be sure.
Togami looked up from his spaghetti, which he had just been cutting with his knife. "Ah, Celestia. It's a pleasure to see that I'll at least be spending part of this dinner with someone close to my social standing."
"Certainly, Byakuya. The same goes to you." She gave her perfect little smile, set down her plate, folded down her petticoat, and sat down. She smoothed out her dress, placed a napkin upon it, and began cutting her spaghetti as well.
"I didn't even think it was possible for more insufferable company to show up…" Mondo grumbled to himself, as he jabbed his fork into the pasta, and unceremoniously brought it to his mouth.
"Oowada! That sort of speech cuts down fellow classmates, and is frankly not welcome in a school environment!" Ishimaru was quick to chastise the biker for his brash behaviour.
"Sure, sure, Mr. Perfect. Check it, it's not all bad. Good ol' Chi here is perfectly nice company. She doesn't think she's better than nobody. Hell, she's some of the best our class has to offer!" The compliment, nice though it was, lost some of its impact due to the strands of spaghetti still dangling out of Mondo's mouth as he spoke.
"Still, you should apologize to the rest at the table. You have spoken poorly of them." Ishimaru would not budge an inch.
"Yes, quite right!" Hifumi adjusted his glasses. "You can go ahead and badmouth the rest, but Ms. Ludenberg is quite-"
"Oh, do silence yourself, underling. As if I would need a defense from you." Celestia kept her refined composure, even as she cut him down. "And there's no need for apology from that thug either. I understand how people as lowly as you could be inspired to be jealous of me." She giggled, and took a dignified bite of her pasta.
Throughout this whole exchange, Chihiro tried to disappear. He shyly spun the pasta around his fork, and took small bites. He just wanted to make himself as unnoticed as possible so he could sneak away easily after he was done eating.
Gradually, a sort of normal conversation emerged among Hifumi, Ishimaru, and Mondo. Byakuya and Celestia, naturally kept themselves out of it, and Chihiro spoke only when spoken to. After a sufficiently awkward length of time, dinner was over, and the students began leaving to go to their rooms, or hang out, or whatever they really wanted until curfew at 10 pm. As Chihiro was going to his room, to work more on the simulation, Celestia caught up to him.
"So, Chihiro. When do you suppose the program will be ready?" She asked, her cute little smile ever-present.
"Well, I was pretty close before we left for dinner, so maybe tomorrow? I won't really know if it's finished until you test it out, but I think tomorrow would be a good time for that."
"Delightful. I don't suppose that, other than that, of course, you'd be free tomorrow?"
"Sure, Celestia. What did you have in mind?"
"I was just wondering if you wanted to go to a cafe with me. Frankly, it's the only place around here to get good royal milk tea. No one else can get it right. I'd be quite happy if you'd accompany me. You are pleasant to be around, Chihiro."
"Ok." Chihiro thought it over. He presented as female, and as far as anyone knew, he was a girl. So there was no reason to get flustered. He was the only one that would be aware that a beautiful girl had just asked him, a boy, out for tea. Obviously it wasn't a date. Obviously. He didn't even know if Celestia liked guys. But he couldn't help the thought from coming. "Sure, Celestia. That sounds nice. Maybe I'll just show you the program there." Of course, it would be a great opportunity to do some work on their project.
"It's a date then, Chihiro." Celestia walked away. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that she glided away. Okay, Chihiro thought, she just called it a date. But that's obviously as in, tomorrow is the date that we will meet. Clearly. She's a girl, and for all she knows, I am. My secret's safe, we're just two friends going out for tea. But even though he tried to think about it that way, a faint blush dusted his cheeks as he considered the two of them, sitting across from each other at the cafe. He rushed back to his room, before anyone could notice the state he was in.
Chihiro tried to work on the program, he really did try. But he was just flustered, and couldn't quite manage it. He leaned back in his chair and sighed. He wasn't making any progress.
Alter Ego popped up on the computer screen. "Master? Are you alright? You seem a little flustered."
"It's fine. I'm just having a little trouble with this program right now." He ran his hand through his hair.
"Are you sure? You seem a little under the weather."
"What do you mean, Alter Ego?"
"You have an elevated heart rate, your temperature is up, and you are having difficulty concentrating. I think you're sick, Master." Alter Ego's icon shifted so it was now wearing a white doctor's coat and a stethoscope.
Chihiro wasn't really sure where Alter Ego was going with this. "What do you think I have Alter Ego?"
Alter Ego pointed directly at Chihiro. "You. Are. Lovesick." The screen took on a rosy tint, and the borders became decorated with hearts.
Chihiro's eyes widened. He felt like he had become a tomato, with how red his face went. "W-what?"
"And that reaction confirms it!" Alter Ego grinned. "My prescription is simple. Confess to whoever it is you're in love with, go on a date, get married, and have some kids. I'll be the cool uncle." He gave a thumbs up.
"Alter Ego!" Chihiro's face felt like it was on fire. "What's gotten into you?"
Alter Ego clasped his hands behind his back, and smiled shyly. "I really like your upgrade to my personality cortex. The extra memory really gives me some new toys to play with."
Chihiro puffed out his cheeks and huffed at his AI. "I think I need to dial back your sass cortex, Alter Ego."
The AI held up his hands apologetically. "Sorry Master. I was just joking around. Do what you want with this crush of yours. I'm just an AI. I know even less about romance than you do. Just go for it, Master."
"Thanks." Chihiro rolled his eyes. As aggravating as the AI could be sometimes, he was still good company. And his gentle kidding had helped clear his head. He could sort through his romantic dilemma tomorrow. Tonight was for programming. And that's just what he did. He settled back down before the computer, and typed away.