"And I'm saying the new program is fine." Neko huffed.
"What did I just log in to?" I asked.
"Inu and Neko are going at it again." Uma explained.
"Yeah I can hear that. How long have they been at it?"
"Just for the last hour." Aokakesu.
"You've only been on for the last hour. They've been going at it longer than that." Ga sighed.
"I think," Shika broke it, "they're nearing three hours of bickering."
"You been listening that long to them Shika?" Kamakiri sounded astounded.
"Unfortunately. And they won't listen to a word I say."
"Oi! You two bickering hens! Do this on your own time!"
"Christ Same!" I pulled the headset from my ears the moment he started shouting and I could still clearly understand him.
"Give us some warning man. Nearly blew out my eardrums." Raion complained.
"Sorry everyone, but it worked!" We all listened for a moment to discover he was right, Neko and Inu had fallen silent.
"Boo-yah!" Hebi and Saru shouted in unison, the rest of us laughed.
"Why so quiet Inu?" Shika taunted. "You were pretty vocal a minute ago."
"Maybe the cat's got his tongue." I smirked.
"Entertaining… Not." Inu's dry voice came through the mic and only encouraged us more. The laughter and jibs went on until we noticed Neko signing off.
The awkward silence which followed was not something we were used to among the group.
"Good job guys. Smoothly played." Inu signed off next.
"Does anybody else feel really crappy right now?" Saru's sad tone echoed in my ears and I had to agree. We had only been poking fun but I guess we had all forgotten about their feelings.
"We will have to apologize to Neko –"
"And Inu."
"– the next time they sign on." Aokakesu stated. Another round of assent from everyone was heard.
"… I'm going to go guys. Later." I signed off before farewells could be made. My mood was totally crashing.
I tossed the headset against my keyboard and shut everything down. I no longer felt like staying awake. I would start the design project tomorrow.
Sleep claimed my brain just as I remembered I had forgotten to send the file to Mr. Mystery.
Beepbeep… Beepbeep… Beepbeep…
What was that? My groggy brain registered an unpleasant sound and my hand fumbled about trying to locate it.
Beepbeep…
My hand finally landed on my phone that sat on the nightstand and I picked it up as it vibrated once more.
Where is the information?
What info?
-Kitsune
I groggily sent back, rolling over to snuggle into my pillow. Today was the only day of the week that I didn't have classes until after lunch. That meant I could sleep in…
Beepbeep… Beepbeep…
… but apparently someone didn't get that memo. I glanced at my screen with one eye.
Kitsune
What?
-Kitsune
I requested info on XX by midnight last night. Where is it?
I arched my eyebrow as my other eye opened. Was he demanding something? And so early in the morning. I don't think so buster.
Sleeping.
-Kitsune
Where is it?
Bite me.
-Kitsune
I prefer hacking to biting.
Gross *vomit*
-Kitsune
I will find the file on your computer myself.
My computer's protected $$hole
-Kitsune
Not for long.
Wh-
BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP
I was out of bed and running to my study in the XL shirt I liked to wear to bed. I crashed through the study door and the alert became clearer.
How had he managed to get in so fast? There were nearly triple the firewalls in play when my computer was off.
"That sneaky sonovabitch." I cursed as I instantly began to back hack him. There was no way I could protect my system and back hack at the same time. He was already in the system anyways so it was a waste of time. If I was lucky he would only go after that one file.
It won't work.
Wanna bet?
-Kitsune
My system has better protection than yours.
Says who?
-Kitsune
Says me.
His server suddenly began throwing me out. As much as I tried it was successfully beginning to lock me out too. One option left.
I typed one of the modified strings and prayed it would work the way I wanted it too.
I peeked from one eye, not sure when they had closed, as the alerts on my system ceased. I opened the other eye as a new message from my hacker appeared.
I'm impressed.
-M
Serves you right.
-Kitsune
You're good for a kid.
-M
I ain't no kid you brat.
-Kitsune
I am not a brat!
-M
You act like one… brat :P
-Kitsune
Try blocking this kid.
-M
Let the second waltz begin.
-Kitsune
For the rest of the morning I played back and forth with M. He was good, like genius level good. I swore he was the same guy from before, but I was beginning to wonder if M was Mr. Mystery. He had first contacted me asking for the same info as Mr. Mystery.
An online impersonator didn't seem to likely in this case.
I have to go to class now. Promise not to hack me while I'm gone? ^^
-Kitsune
Fine.
-M
I laughed as I walked back to my bedroom. This M person was actually very cool. I was already learning several new tricks from him, whether he was meaning to teach me or not.
As I brushed back my hair my mind thought of all the modifications I could make to the codes. What would work? What wouldn't? Was it worth improving?
I nimbly braided my hair, grabbed everything I needed and locked the door.
The only reason why I wasn't simply ditching this class was because it was the only class I shared with Illumi and Hisoka.
Illumi was quiet but kinda interesting and Hisoka was that creepy uncle every family has. I was hoping that with prolonged exposure the creepiness would eventually fade into the background.