Chapter 15: Shaved Ice

“Visit Mega Woman? What do you mean visit Mega Woman?”

It wasn’t only Gary, but Silvie and Hannah were also looking at each other in confusion from Riley’s words. Nobody knew Mega Woman’s current location, as it was strictly hidden by the government, so even if any of her fans wanted to see her, they would never be able to do so.

“…So you’re a fan of Mega Woman, Riley?” Silvie raised an eyebrow as she asked.

“I suppose you could say that,” Riley nodded. Mega Woman made Riley’s life more exciting, of course, he would grow somewhat attached to him, especially since she spent some nights in his cabinet.

A part of her was also inside Riley now, so one could say they have grown a somewhat familial relationship– without Mega Woman’s consent, of course.

“Of course we’re all a fan,” Gary rolled his lips as he let out a long and deep breath, “We wouldn’t be in the Academy dedicated to her if we weren’t. Right, Hannah banana?”

“…Speak for yourself,” Hannah furrowed her eyebrows, “And why are you coming with us? Since when were you a part of our group?”

“W… what? I thought we already clicked back when we were in the interview!” Gary quickly reasoned as he walked beside Riley, “C’mon bro, tell your sister that we’re friends.”

“I am not your brother,” Riley said as he continued to walk without any sense of where they were going, “And I don’t have friends.”

“…Eh?”

But finally, after a few more steps, Silvie suggested something that they all seemed to agree upon. The campus has a land area of approximately 10 square kilometers– it was basically its own city. How the government was able to hide this was a mystery to even the media; which were actually flooding outside the 3-meter thick gates right now.

It has its own park, a museum dedicated to Mega Woman and other prominent heroes, a huge library, and many more. But more importantly, it had its own mall, which the four were now heading to.

“How’d you even know this exists, Silvie?” Hannah could not believe her eyes as they entered the mall. Suffice to say, it was even bigger and more luxurious than the malls outside.

“…It was in the handbook they gave us. Seriously, didn’t any of you read it? There’s even a map of the whole campus attached there!”

“Really? Maybe I should get a copy soon,” Hannah nodded inquisitively as she once again looked around the place. And considering the number of people already in the mall, they weren’t the only ones who had the idea of visiting the mall on the first day– as expected of teenagers.

“How big is this place?” Gary also let out a gasp of awe as his steps became hurred, “Why would you even have this many restaurants when there’s like only 4,000 of us admitted to the Academy?”

“…There are 4,000 Supers enrolled here?” Once again, Hannah’s eyes were clouded with disbelief. They didn’t look that many during the entrance ceremony, but then again, she slept through 90% of it and it was quite dark as well. “Just how many supers are there in the world?”

“That’s actually already considered quite few,” Silvie muttered, “Based on a current study, there are almost half a billion Supers roaming around the world. And in a hundred years, most people would already have superpowers. More and more children with superpowers are being born. A manner of evolution, I guess?”

“Fuck… really? That’s too many,” Hannah muttered.

“Do you want to decrease that number, sister?” Riley, who had been quietly following the three, finally opened his mouth as he walked beside his sister, “Give me a week and I will eradicate half of them for you, sister.”

“…Jesus, just how edgy can your brother get, Hannah?” Gary almost tripped upon hearing Riley’s words. And it wasn’t only him, even Silvie felt a bit uncomfortable from what Riley said; once again deliberating on whether what he said was a joke or not.

“I think you should lay off on the manga and animes for a while, Riley,” Gary said as he let out a small chuckle, “Anyway, the security of the Academy is no joke, even their mall has cameras all over the place… how are we even going to have fun like this? This feels more and more like a prison now.”

“You do know having fun and doing something illegal are two different things, right?” Hannah rolled her eyes at Gary before suddenly pulling Silvie towards a particular store near the entrance, “Come, let the student representative treat us to something sweet!”

“What… is this?” Was Silvie’s first question as they entered what seemed like a cafe, but not quite.

“It’s Korean shaved ice,” Hannah blinked a couple of times as she looked at Silvie, “It’s been pretty popular recently.”

“You like popular things?” Gary let out a long but light gasp, “I thought lesbians didn’t like popular things?”

“That’s fucking sexist as fuck,” Hannah raised both her middle fingers, “And I’m not a lesbian, you fucking shit, why are you even here?”

“W… what? I thought you and Silvie had like some sort of thing?” Gary could not help but stutter, “Why… why would you crush my fantasy otp!?”

“Uhm… what am I supposed to order?”

Before Hannah and Gary could continue to bicker with one another, Silvie let out a small hum as she tapped Hannah’s shoulder a few times, “I haven’t been to a cafe like this before so I don’t know what’s good.”

“Oh, then just order me a… what kind of currency is that?”

Hannah initially had an excited expression on her face as her finger slowly pointed its way towards the menu on the wall. However, as soon as she saw the symbol next to what is presumably the price, her eyebrows quickly furrowed.

Instead of the usual US dollar sign that everyone was used to, it was replaced by some sort of acronym that made the letters M and P.

“10 MP?” Even Silvie, who probably knew most about the Academy among the group, tilted her head to the side. She then picked up her handbook, which was sophisticatedly hidden around her right ankle, covered by her socks.

“…Did you just–” Gary was going to say something, but in the end chose not to as he just shook his head. He thought he was the quirkier of the bunch, but it was looking more and more like he was the normal one in the group.

“Nothing’s indicated in the handbook,” Silvie let out a short but deep sigh after a few seconds.

“Should we go to another sto–“

“Hello, Charlotte. What do the letters M and P mean?”

And before the three could even make a decision, Riley suddenly stepped forward and called the cashier’s attention.

“H… hi?” The female cashier could not help but slightly step back as a completely pale individual… suddenly entered her side of the counter, “You’re… not allowed here?”

“Then you should close your establishme–“

“You idiot!”

Before Riley could continue to terrorize the slightly petite female cashier, Hannah quickly pulled him out of the counter, “You shouldn’t just go over the counter like that! If we were outside you’ll be sent to juvie!”

“But we’re not outside,” Riley muttered monotonously, “The rules are entirely different here, sister.”

“What, don’t tell me you read the handbook?”

“I did. That is why most of my actions are well within the rules of the Academy,” Riley nodded, seemingly satisfied with himself.

“E… excuse me?”

With the group seemingly surprised at Riley’s words, the female cashier, named Charlotte as it said on her name tag, raised her hand and called their attention. And as soon as she was sure that the four were looking at her, she quickly cleared her throat and started talking.

“MP means Mega Points,” Charlotte explained, “It’s the common currency you will be using within the Academy.”

“…Right,” Hannah squinted her eyes, “What kind of shithole is this? So all of our money is useless here?”

“Not necessarily. But in this shop, we only accept Mega Points,” Charlotte gestured to the menu, “You can get points based on your grades, performance, and by other means that you will surely discover along the– Wait!”

Before Charlotte could finish talking, Hannah suddenly rotated the cashier monitor towards her, revealing the script that Charlotte was reading from.

“That’s illegal, sister,” Riley shook his head in disappointment.

“As I was saying!” Charlotte returned the monitor to its original position before lightly slamming her palm on the counter, slightly leaving a crack on it, “MP is automatically stored inside your ID card, so don’t lose it. Right now, all of you should have 100 Mega Points given by the Academy for free…

…So, may I take your orders?”

“R… right,” Hannah could not help but take in a small gulp as she saw the crack on the counter. But after a few seconds, she let out a sigh and turned her head towards Silvie, “I guess you won’t be treating us this time.”

“I see,” Silvie also let out a sigh of her own, not knowing whether to be relieved or disappointed, “I’ll… have the bubblegum flavor then?”

Silvie then took her ID card, which, surprisingly, was also hidden in her socks, “10 MP, right?”

“Right!” Charlotte smiled as she gently grabbed the card from Silvie’s hands, before swiping it on her console. But as soon as she did so, her eyes suddenly widened in shock.

“…You’re the current top 1 student?”

“I think so?” Silvie blinked a couple of times in confusion; since she presented a short speech in front of the whole student population, she knew that most would probably recognize her– but even the staff from the mall? She was sure she wasn’t that famous.

“You are,” Charlotte then proceeded to swipe 3 more times.

“Hey, what are you doing!?” Hannah was about to grab the card from Charlotte, but before she could do so, Charlotte faced the monitor towards them.

“You have unlimited MP,” Charlotte then said, “We were told the Academy’s number 1 student has that privilege.”

“I… do?”

“F… fuck.”

“Sweet fucking Jesus.”

“I am sure you meant Mary of Magdal–“

“There you are!”

Before the group could exclaim their surprise, a group of students suddenly barged into the shaved ice cafe.

“I ask you for a duel, Silvie Savelievna, for the right to take your ID card!”

“What…

…kind of school is this?”