『No. 7 - Elizabeth's Persistence』

The first week of classes passed by surprisingly quickly from what I remember. After the gym tournament, the rest of the week was a lot more mellow in comparison. Stuff like basic hero rules and some talk about hero licenses, but those licenses wouldn't come for a while. Eventually, the week came to a close on Friday afternoon. My plans for the weekend were to study up on some of my classes, even though we didn't have any tests or quizzes coming up. Well, that's what I thought my plans were going to be.

I sat at my desk in the dorm room and Chris was lying on his bed and playing on his phone. It was extremely silent, except for my writing and Chris' occasional phone tapping. It was quite peaceful actually. Until we heard a knock on the door.

I perked my head up at the sound of the knock. "Who is it?" I asked.

"Elizabeth!" she shouted, slightly muffled by the door.

"Come on in," Chris said while still looking at his phone.

Elizabeth swung the door open and turned to me instantly. "Tucker! I had this great idea and I needed to tell you!" she said.

I turned around in my chair. "What's up?"

"You haven't been in San Francisco before now, right?" she asked.

I nodded.

"Alright, I'm gonna show you around the city!" she exclaimed.

"Huh?" I questioned. "But I need to study!"

She giggled. "You don't need to." Quickly, she turned to Chris. "Right, Chris?"

Chris groaned and placed his phone down. "It's only Friday, so you don't really need to just yet. And I was planning on taking a walk sometime this evening anyway," Chris said.

Elizabeth smiled widely and turned to me again. "See? C'mon! I'll give you the best tour ever!" she said.

I sighed. "Fine, but we should really just do it tomorrow-"

Elizabeth cut me off by instantly grabbing me by the arm and running out of the room.

"H-hey!" I shouted. "You know what time it is, right?"

She couldn't hear me. She was too excited about going to the city that everything else was blocked out of her head. Then, as she pulled me outside, she realized her mistake.

"Wait, why is it so dark out?" she asked.

I shook my arm out of her grasp and sighed. "Didn't you walk over here? It's like 7:30 P.M. right now," I mentioned.

Elizabeth scratched the back of her head and chuckled. "Heh, I was too focused on not forgetting my idea... I didn't even pay attention to the time,"

Chris walked outside too after Elizabeth realized her mistake.

"Yeah, it's way too late to go on a tour," Chris said.

Elizabeth pouted and slouched over. "Fine... But I still want to do something... Our curfew isn't until 9:30 P.M.,"

Chris sighed. "Well, I do know this cafe nearby. It's open pretty much all night if you wanna go there," he said.

Elizabeth's head perked up and she ran over to Chris. "Really? Let's go right now!" she exclaimed.

Chris placed his hand over Elizabeth's face and slowly pushed her away. "Fine, I'll show you the way. You coming, Tucker?" he asked.

"Sure, I'm already out here so I might as well," I muttered.

Elizabeth struggled to remove Chris' hand from her face so she could speak. "T-that's the spirit! Let's get going!"

So, we followed Chris to Twilight Cafe. It was about a five-minute walk from Blackwood, so not much happened on the way there. Once we arrived, we ordered some snacks and drinks and talked for about an hour. Nothing of importance was really discussed. Most of the conversation was complaining about classes and small talk; a typical high school conversation. Eventually, we finished up in the cafe and walked outside.

Elizabeth ran out to the sidewalk and stretched her arms. "Man, that tea was exactly what I needed~!" she shouted.

Chris and I soon walked out as well, trying to hide the fact that we're with this shouting girl. After a few seconds, I noticed Elizabeth staring at something.

I quickly turned in the direction she was looking. "Hey, Elizabeth, what are you-?"

As I was questioning Elizabeth, I saw what she was staring at. Kason was walking down the street in the direction of Blackwood, alone.

Chris caught on to what we were doing and noticed him too. "Is that Kason?" he asked.

I squinted my eyes. "I don't know anyone else with red hair-"

"Heeeeyyy! Kason!" Elizabeth shouted while waving and jumping up and down.

Kason instantly turned towards us with a glare, but quickly changed his expression to slightly distressed. Then, he quickly turned around and walked in the opposite direction from which he came.

"What's up with him?" Chris asked.

I watched as he walked out of our sight and deeper into the city. "Did you guys feel like something was bothering him?"

They both turned to me and shook their heads. "No, I couldn't really see him from here anyway," Chris said.

"I didn't really notice anything either. Doesn't Kason always have that dark and brooding feel all the time, though?" Elizabeth mentioned.

I scratched the back of my head. "Yeah, I guess you're right,"

They didn't notice the look on his face, but I did. I felt like he was asking for help in some way. He looked scared. I had only known everyone for about a week now, but I could tell that this was weird even for Kason.

After the "encounter" with Kason, we walked back to Blackwood. When we arrived, Chris and I headed back to the dorms while Elizabeth went to the library to check out some books.

About thirty minutes passed and Elizabeth was walking through campus back to the dorms with some books in hand. She was walking past one of the entrance gates when a man scanned an ID and opened the gate. The man crossed paths with Elizabeth and she caught a glimpse of his ID. It said "Kason Hawkins". Elizabeth stopped in place and turned to the man, who was starting to walk away.

"U-um, excuse me..!" she stuttered.

The man stopped in place and turned around to face her. "Yes?" he asked.

Elizabeth pointed to the ID. "Do you know Kason..?"

No words were exchanged after Elizabeth's question. The wind picked up slightly and caused a quiet whistling noise. Car horns and motors from the nearby streets filled the silence.

After what seemed like an eternity, the man slouched over and sighed. "Hnngg... Fine..." he muttered. Reluctantly, he raised his arm and placed his hand on his ear. "Six, we gotta begin early. I might've screwed up a bit,"

A muffled static noise came from the man's ear. "Goddammit, Five," a voice called out, "We've gone over the plans millions of times. How could you screw it up?"

He sighed again. "Look, I'm sorry. If you don't start it now the entire plan will be ruined. Just commence the lockdown already,"

Elizabeth tilted her head to the side in confusion. "Lockdown..?" she questioned.

The man lowered his arm to reveal an earpiece. Then, he sluggishly took a step forward. "Sorry, kid. You don't mind if my friends and I invite ourselves in, do you?"

『No. 7 - END』