The teacher attended the class in hologram form and the twenty foot torso and head appeared above us. “Take your seats, everyone.”
Our little group broke apart and I felt soone lightly stroke my back. I glanced at Carrie as she blushed and went over to her assigned chair. I had to walk most of the way across the room and stopped at the second row from the front and sat on mine near the corner. The chairs leaned back automatically and pointed us up at the hologram.
“Good morning, class. Today's attendance; two absences noted. Tanaka, Katsuo and Martinez, David. One derit has been assigned to each of them.” The bald woman said. “Veder, your academy uniform is not to regulation standard.”
“I'm healing up well after Tanaka Junior tried to kill .” I lifted both arms to show off my casts. “My nurse was kind enough to modify the uniform just enough to allow to attend class and not look like a street kid wearing a man's corpo suit.”
A few of the girls let out laughs at my joke. The hologram's expression didn't change.
“dical exception noted. Please submit the appropriate paperwork after class.” The teacher said.
“Yes, ma'am.” I agreed and put on a fake streamlined VR set like everyone else wore. I didn't need it; but, appearances needed to be kept.
“Let us begin today's lesson.” The teacher said and started a short lecture on company politics and policies. She did this as a briefing for the data packets she would be flashing to the students later for us all to assimilate and integrate into our knowledge base. “With that introduction done, I would like for all students to please log into the Green Room for ditation and discussion.”
I ntally changed my avatar to be a closer representation to my current physical form, without the casts and bandages, and not my Atlas persona. I needed to keep that secret separate from my civilian identity as Veder for as long as possible.
I plunged into the digital world and the programd construct that the school called the Green Room. It was actually a cleared grassy area inside a forest glen, with birds chirping and trees all around us, which was sothing that didn't exist in the real world anymore.
Unlike the others, I appeared standing and they all appeared laying down, just like their physical selves. The people in charge wrongly thought that being in the sa position helped with digital integration and acceptance, when in reality, the brain was highly adaptable and it didn't really matter.
I walked over to the girls that hung around Evelyn and for so reason, their faces were bright red and a couple of them looked away briefly, then looked back with a kind of hungry look on their faces. Carrie's eyes hadn't moved from at all.
“Veder, you have been assigned two derits for indecent exposure in class and one derit for being out of uniform.” The teacher's voice said from behind .
“What?” I asked and quickly turned around to face her, only to feel a certain weight down there also move with centrifugal force and lightly slap against my thigh. I realized then that I was naked and ntally cursed myself for making the stupid mistake of changing my avatar into a new form and forgetting to properly assign clothes to it after removing my hero suit.
The teacher's bald head tilted down slightly and then she looked at my face. “I understand the need to show off certain assets when you are clearly gifted. However, this is neither the ti nor the place.”
I opened my mouth to defend myself and rembered Maiko making the sa mistake of trying to talk to Wakako instead of resolving the problem. I nodded instead of explaining and ford an immaculate academy uniform over myself that was made with materials she had never seen before.
Her eyes dropped again to admire the nearly tallic sheen and the gleaming buttons and academy logo. She nodded with approval and sent a private request to share the settings with her after class when I filed the paperwork for my modified uniform.
“Everyone, prepare for today's download.” She said and a fairly large file beca available in the shared space. It copied many tis to match the number of students present and each beca a stream of light and went to each of us.
I caught it and checked it for anything malicious and didn't find anything, so I let it through and instantly absorbed it. The information was quite informative and I saw how ruthless corporate policies could be and how cutthroat internal politics was if you weren't both careful and respectful.
The teacher observed how well the students were integrating the new information and she looked surprised when she looked at . She didn't comnt about it and walked around to check on the larger young man that was one of Tanaka's close friends. Despite having top of the line cyberware, his brain at was never quite up to the task of integration and he always had problems with it.
“What kind of mods did you install in your avatar?” Carrie asked as she and Evelyn's other friends gathered together near . They all still had red faces and a couple of them, Evelyn included, kept looking down at my crotch, even though I was now fully clothed.
“Mods?” I asked, slightly confused.
Carrie's eyes widened and the girls imdiately grouped together and started whispering back and forth. I couldn't hear what they were saying, since they were in their own private group chat. I could have easily tapped into it, and didn't. If they wanted to know, they would have included . The group broke apart and another girl stepped forward.
“How did you assimilate all that info so fast?” Kei asked .
“Once I checked it for spyware and malware...” I started to say and all of them looked scared. I had to chuckle at that reaction. “Relax, girls. It was just a reflex on my part to check. After cleaning all of you yesterday, I decided to scan everything I personally accepted and not just privately shared files.”
They all did relax at my words and urged to share my transfer protocols. Since I didn't want to be accused of cheating, I instead walked them through optimizing their own systems. That way, they could absorb the information at their own pace and not at mine. By the ti the morning class was almost over and howork was assigned, they were all quite happy with and with their own skills increasing.
“You're eating lunch with us.” Evelyn said and all of her friends nodded.
I glanced at the others in the class and back at them. “Are you sure? I'll need soone to help eat.”
“Why?” Carrie asked and I briefly ford a cast on my hands. “Oh, right.”
“Are they the only change in the real world from that?” Kei asked and motioned to my near tallic uniform.
“I could make this real, too.” I said and they all looked surprised. “I just need access to an industrial loom, a 3D fabric printer at the micro scale, about 30 feet of stretched aluminum wire, traces of slted titanium to coat the buttons and attachnts, and a glossy chro prep spray to enhance the sheen.”
The teacher was instantly beside . “The Arasaka Academy would like to purchase that recipe.”
I was surprised at her showing any emotions like enthusiasm. “Do you an a more specific materials list or do you an the actual thod to work the materials and combine them into actual clothing?”
The teacher gave a thoughtful look and was clearly consulting with soone else.
“I'm only asking because one is fairly expensive and the second is more versatile and much more expensive.” I explained, just to see which one she would pick. If my guess was right, her advisor would tell her to choose the second one specifically because it was more expensive. Corpos were weird like that.
“The actual thod with the recipe added.” The teacher clarified.
I nodded and created a docunt with a starting price to be negotiated and handed it to her. It dissolved and she gave a surprised look. “If you aren't happy with...”
“That is more than reasonable.” She said and cut off. Her eyes glazed over for a few seconds and then she smiled. “The amount has been deposited into your account.”
I held in my laugh at them imdiately agreeing to my ridiculous price. I had been prepared to negotiate down from it and they didn't even try. “Then here's the thod to create the uniform.” I said and generated a data packet and held it out to her. “If I was going to make it myself, I'd estimate about 12 hours. With a corporation's resources and a proper assembly line factory? Maybe an hour.”
The teacher nodded and accepted the data packet. Her eyes widened at the detailed instructions and she sent them off to whover she had been talking to. “You have done very well, Veder.” She praised, which was a very rare thing. “Miss Varga herself asked to pass along her appreciation.”
I blinked my eyes at her revealing such a high connection to the director of the Elite Talent Academy. “Would it be too forward to ask you to send her my thanks as well? Her attention is a surprise and I'm honored she would consider my contribution worthy of her admiration.”
“I suppose I could pass that along.” The teacher said, her voice suggestive.
I knew exactly what she wanted, since it was through her connections that brought to the highly placed corpo woman's attention. I leaned in and whispered to her privately. “You could also ntion that aluminum wire is lightweight and ideal for clothing, which the academy bought from .”
She nodded and waved for to continue.
“However, titanium wire weaved through Kevlar would work wonderfully for armored vests, backpacks, cargo straps, and equipnt harnesses.” I added.
The teacher caught her breath and her face went slightly red. “How... how much to buy...”
“A favor for a favor is company policy.” I whispered, intentionally using part of today's lesson and she looked shocked. “Give Miss Varga my thanks and then give her your idea to make it even better and more profitable.”
“Y-yes, I...” The teacher paused and composed herself as she went back to her barely emotional self and ended the private conversation. “Thank you for your help and suggestions, Veder. Do you have the paperwork for your dial exception?”
I copied my dical record and also created a filled out form for the school. I held them out to her and she accepted both.
“Thank you. Class is dismissed.” The teacher said and her avatar dissolved away as she disconnected.
“Nova.” Carrie said as she stared at where the teacher had been. Her eyes went to and she gave a bright smile. “Are you busy after school? We can work on this morning's assignnt together.”
All of her friends grabbed her arms and pulled her away from and they dropped into a private chat. It was pretty heated, whatever they were discussing, so I decided to avoid it all and waved to Evelyn before I logged out. My avatar instantly disappeared and didn't dissolve like it normally would.
I took off the VR set and pretended to slip it into my pocket and stored it. The chair sat up and I stood, gave the rest of the class a glance, and walked out before anyone else ca out. They usually hung out for a few minutes before logging out and heading to the cafeteria.
Well, they called it a cafeteria. It was really just a huge hall full of tables, chairs, and a row of vending machines on the far wall. As a student, I had so many free purchases per day, usually one main, one side, one dessert, and one drink. That was a typical lunch deal and I picked up a tray and took exactly what my allocation allowed.
I was on my way to a random table when pretty much the entire school ca in as one large mass of people. They filled nearly all of the available space and I sat down at the farthest corner to the vending machines and where the corpo kids, that knew each other since they were young, would sit.
When no one was looking, I decided to do an experint. I bent down to make the caras think I was taking sothing out from under the table, and took out a basic bowl of fruit from my inventory. I placed it on top of the table in front of where I was sitting and fumbled with the spoon that ca with the main al.
“Veder, why did you bail?” Carrie asked as she and the other girls approached my table.
“I'm no gonk. You girls started chatting and girl ti is girl ti.” I said and pointed down at my cast-covered feet. “There's no way I'm interrupting sothing that important just to have you walk slowly with as I hobbled here.”
The other girls all smiled and nodded, even Evelyn, since that was both considerate of and quite reasonable to their sensibilities.
Carrie smiled as well and sat down right beside . She watched as I tried to pick up the spoon and giggled softly as I kept up the ruse that I couldn't hold it properly and fumbled it. “You weren't kidding.” She said and turned her tray sideways, then she turned mine, slid them together, and pulled her chair closer to mine.
One of the girls gasped and pointed, which a couple of them assud was her reacting to Carrie's bold move. It wasn't. She was actually pointing to the bowl of fresh fruit my tray had hit and jostled. It only took the others a few seconds to realize that and they all gasped.
“V-Veder... what... what is... there's no way...” Carrie stamred.
“You all wanted to sit with , even though I look like this. So, I had to do sothing special for you all.” I said and they stared at , then at the large bowl, then at , then back at the bowl.
There were two of each main fruit staple in it, with two oranges, two bananas, two apples, and two peaches. There were also a smattering of strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and grapes.
The girls looked down at their bought als and I could literally see the emotions on their faces as they argued with themselves over not wasting the food they had over not wasting the much more expensive fresh fruit that was right in front of them on the table.
“You don't have to choose. You can have both.” I inford them and they looked at with surprise on their faces. “Try a berry or two, eat your lunch, then enjoy a piece of banana, orange, apple, or peach, since they are easily split for multiple people. You could even cut them into even smaller pieces and try a piece of everything, so you won't miss out on anything.”
“Nova!” They cheered and did exactly as I said, with Evelyn put in charge of dividing up each of the fruits into the right number of pieces for them all to have two each.
Of course, this activity gained a lot of attention and there was a lot of whispering, a few complaints, and a lot of envy from just about everyone in the cafeteria. About halfway through the lunch period, when the girls had finished their als and were openly moaning at the various flavors they were enjoying, our class teacher entered the cafeteria and walked right over to us.
“What is causing such a surge in the school's ssage servers?” She asked and her eyes widened at the dispersed pieces of fruit from the now empty bowl.
A touch of telepathy let know she adored oranges because of the tang and how they could be split into many wedges and she could savour them and as long as they lasted.
“I don't know what could have caused the extra activity, miss.” I said and pointed to my suit coat pocket.
She took the hint and reached in, caught her breath, and pulled out the plump orange. She tucked it into her own coat to hide it from everyone and gave a subtle nod. “I will mark it down as an anomalous anomaly. Carry on.”
The girls around let out muffled laughs as the teacher fled as quickly as her little feet could carry her. I whispered to them that she needed to taste the tart sweetness as soon as possible and the girls all heartily agreed that it was the smart thing to do. Why? Because if they knew I had another orange, I would have been mauled and molested to get it.
“I do have another pocket in my coat.” I said suggestively, just to see if they would.
They all exchanged knowing looks and focused on Carrie, whom was beside on that side. She let out a soft giggle and then proceeded to do exactly as the girls said they would and felt up all over before she carefully reached into my pocket and pulled out another plump orange.
It was quickly peeled and split into wedges and each of them had two each to savour and enjoy, just as they knew the teacher was. The BD of them eating delicious and expensive fruit from my perspective, would be politely requested from when lunch officially ended and it would be shared between the group of girls many many tis.
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