Everyday Stresses of Kazuki - Sci-Fi Action/Intrigue Webserial

Peeling her eyelids open, Eliza felt an instant headache… Ow... Her head hurts! She rubbed her head, trying to sit up, but fell back down on the sofa pillows. The sofa?! Eliza was sleeping on the couch? Was she...

"Oh no…" Eliza murmured to herself. "I didn't overdrink… did I?" Eliza glanced around, trying to shake off the hangover.

Ugh... The coffee table in front of Eliza caught her attention, upon which a note was resting with the distinct, robotic yet masterful handwriting of Kazuki's. She tried to read it, but fell out of the sofa with a bonk over her head...

"Ow!"

Eliza grumbled, dragging herself back up and reading the note.

'Archius and I are out at work.' Beside the note was a cup of... something?

Ugh... Eliza didn't care what it was; she was thirsty. Latching onto the cup, she downed it... She almost spat it out, but was able to shove it down her throat.

"Gah! What the fuck was that...?" asked Eliza as her head slowly turned back to the note.

'P.S. Drinking should help with a hangover. Do not spit it out.'

"How helpful..." remarked Eliza, her hands rising to pat her head

Well, Kazuki was right about that, she supposed. Her hangover was subsiding, quickly as well, with jives of headache pains here and there...

Slowly, the ticking clock along the wall caught Eliza's attention.

Eliza jumped up, having to prepare everything. Then, she realised she hadn't showered!

Shit! "Dammit, dammit!" Eliza rushed into the bathroom, half undressing whilst also trying to tie her hair up.. "Wait a minute!" Eliza quickly splashed her face with cold water, clearing her mind.

'I don't need to say this, but being late is not exactly the end of the galaxy, Miss Elizabeth!' Synthia scolded Eliza, as the AI looked upon Eliza, making a fool of herself as she was trying to both undress to shower… but dress to go to university.

"Well…. Just… shut up, Synthia!" Eliza grumbled, throwing her shirt over the holographic projector of the AI.

With her mind cleared, Eliza checked everything off the list. Shower – done! Clothes - on! Hair - done! Eliza rushed out of her apartment.

Even as she neared the university gates, Eliza was still stressing out. Time… She MIGHT make it on time!

But a familiar face was there?! Ugh... She can't deal with that now! She had to run to make it to her class on time... Last week, Eliza thought… Just one last presentation… then Summer can finally take full swing!

The summer heat kept beating down upon Eliza. Passing the gates, she felt something tug at her collar... Huh? Eliza turned, seeing a disgruntled brunette woman stare at her with an equally pissed off face.

"Oh... Lilly?" Eliza asked.

"Hey there... You're late," she angrily jived. "Nihara and Vác are still… dead drunk, so Kazuki has me here. Plus, I'm supposed to train you."

"Ah… well, I hope they don't have as much of a hangover," Eliza said. "I'm guessing that's where Kazuki's gone to clean up?"

Lilly sighed. "I had to drag Quinn off… but yes. Anyways, you ain't been in the range as much, according to the ID swipes."

Eliza chuckled nervously. "Well, I've been a bit preoccupied with university, I feel like it's a bit of a valid excuse, right?"

Lilly eyed her up. "For now, it is," she said. "But you're ahead of university, Kazuki told me. You can't afford a new hour every week to land a few good shots?"

Oh... Now that was a question Eliza couldn't exactly answer easily... "Well... Uh... I'm... I'm not a mercenary, you know..."

Followed by Lilly, they ventured up and into the university campus.

"You're not," Lilly commented with no tact. "Neither is Sato, however." Lilly wore similar clothes to what she had the evening before – ripped jeans, a hoodie and an empty holster by her thigh, though with a Judiciary summer jacket on to mark her purpose.

"Sato...?" Eliza inquired. "I fail to see… the comparison. She was a commodore in the Navy before."

Lilly nodded, glaring at anyone who tried to leer over at whom Eliza's compatriot was. "Sato isn't a good gunman, let me tell you that!" Lilly remarked, laughing out loud. "Unlike you, she can hit the broadside of a tank, on a good day, which for her is rare."

Eliza let off a small laugh beneath her breath, hiding her amusement at that fact. "Hey, she can't be that bad."

Maybe she really wasn't alone in this place! And of course, it was Sato...

"Well, Archius says that tank is Kazuki, so I don't really know what he means by that."

A shrug rose from Lilly's shoulders as she sighed. Eliza gently tilted her head, wondering in total confusion at exactly what Archius could have meant by that – with him, it must mean something, right?

"Kazuki?" Eliza raised an eyebrow.

Did... Sato and Kazuki fight? Well, that might explain some bits and bobs as to why Archius is distasteful to Sato... Something clicked in Eliza's head… but she dared not give it another thought, especially not before a presentation of all time!

She sighed.

"What did he do this time?" she asked longingly.

"Apparently, a couple of years ago, Sato had a scrap with Archius and Kazuki. Archius was directing Kazuki, as always, and he cornered Sato - not even a single ping off his armour or shield!" she said with a weird look of glee on her face. "Then again, I don't think I'd even land a hit against Kazuki… or anything else probably couldn't. Well… maybe Quinn could, if he's sober!"

Eliza chuckled. "I guess it's not happening, then?"

"I guess you're right about that." She nodded. "Of course! He might not have told you, but at the last Command Meeting, he told us that if he had more time, he'd bring in the cavalry straight into that damned Ball."

Lilly took something out of her pocket, a small probe? It hovered around, snapping a few snaps of the archaic Kasté architecture of the university's buildings, melting and contrasting the smoother, modern Republican architecture.

The campus was a sprawling mass of towering floating islands, hovering metro rails, and… some parts were said to be… "Non Euclidean," Eliza finished her thought off.

"I can… not see?" Lilly shrugged.

"It's... a bit rough to understand for first-timers," Eliza admitted, gesturing to the large campus layout. "Trust me... Even Kazuki wasn't exactly the best at understanding the layout when we first joined… I still remember him and Archius somehow ending up at the observatory."

Lilly peered up and around before rolling her eyes and taking back the probe. "Whatever... Shouldn't you be running, as well?" Lilly asked. Eliza tilted her head in confusion—

THE PRESENTATION!

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

∗ ∗ ∗

Eliza barged through the seminar doors, gasping for air from the run. She peered up and around... eyes peered back, wondering what took her so long. She felt something choke up in her throat as she nervously laughed and nodded to them all.

"Sorry there, just running late, that's all," said Eliza, rushing to the terminal connected to the holographic projector. Some eyes were attracted to Lilly, standing by the door, stepping in and leaning against the wall. "Ah! And don't mind my guest, uh... She doesn't bite, right?"

With Eliza's status as the Student Exec President… people probably just assumed Lilly was some special guest. Eliza would prefer to keep it that way… she might get scolded if someone realised.

Lilly waved over at the rest of the audience. "No reason to bite," she jeered. "Not yet, at least."

That seemed to have cut some ropes on the tension, as a few snickers here and there waved away the awkwardness of her lateness.

Eliza plugged her uplink and holotop into the terminal, scrambling to get everything in order. Eliza shook her head as she clicked her fingers. A drone rose out from her backpack, with the letters 'G.L.A.D.' on them… Wait, was this even the right drone?!

Familiar faces were in the crowd… This wasn't just a student presentation, but an opportunity for Eliza to display her intellectual prowess… Students, peers, industry pioneers and figures of interest in all were present… Dammit, dammit.

Eliza digressed; she didn't have time, but it had the stuff she needed.

The drone whizzed around, getting everything prepared whilst playing a calm tune from its vocabulator, its entertaining tune was enough to distract people for a bit longer... After a small while, Eliza was finally able to get it up and running, with the projection coming on with a display of waves up and down the screen.

Finishing the assembly, the drone wheeled a model exospine to the centre of the room, with camera probes rising to get a better look. Eliza cleared her throat as she nodded to the drone, giving it a pat on the head before it whizzed away, singing a satisfied tune.

Eliza felt like something was choking her... Her hands were fidgety. She gulped down her worries, peering into the audience. She could see Chloé amongst them, as well as... the Marquis?! Why was Gilbera here?

Chloé gave her two thumbs up, just enough to kickstart the reaction – Eliza felt invigorated… She had much to learn, and much to do…

She was doing this for herself, Eliza thought, remembering Kazuki's words, she had nothing to prove. Stepping into the limelight, Eliza took a deep breath.

"Good morning, everyone!" she raised her voice, signalling for the drone to give her the microphone.

The drone hurdled across the room, before gently clicking it on her shirt collar.

"Thank you for coming to my presentation today… I am Elizabeth, though I am sure many of you are already aware, it's rather hot today, so I must apologise for being rather drowsy."

The self-deprecation got a few laughs from the crowd, but it was quite a tough audience, especially with beasts like the Marquis involved in the mass of intelligentsia.

Going through the presentation slides, Eliza presented her latest research on a prototype exoskeletal system… Of course, it was unknown to all but her, but this was Kazuki's own exospine, at least a model of it.

It'd be rather inconvenient if he died because he was missing it right now…

"As you can see, the model example has three-fold ventilation instead of the standard two," Eliza elaborated…

Still, something clung to her chest, the idea that her own mother must have stood up here decades ago.

Of course, most of this was primary research on Kazuki's own exospine… but where she could, there were references… Even the thought of dragging the references around scraped at Eliza's youth.

Eliza had parts of it separated for ease of showing the individual compartments. "As you can see, it's... complicated to say the least," she remarked, garnering a few chuckles by her own awkwardness. "There are many components that shouldn't work, but… they do!"

A few flashes signalled photographs being taken, at which Eliza's cheeks meekly turned a light shade of red in the spotlight.

"My research has also discovered further connections between the vertebrae and several additional mechanical adrenal glands, allowing for a heightened sense of awareness and energy," Eliza elaborated, using a laser pen to point at what she found out. "It's... frankly... frightening how potentially efficient this system is."

Moving onwards, Eliza kept up with the flow until the last minute… As it ended, Eliza took in a deep breath. "Thank you… all.. for coming in this rather boiling weather, that will be all… Thank you."

She gave a small nod, nervously gulping beneath her breath.

"Maybe Kazuki's wrong?" Eliza murmured to herself, closing her eyes in anticipation… She was stumbling around whilst speaking, she was imperfect… awful.

'I wouldn't say so,' Synthia interjected.

The lights were turned back on... and applause rose in the audience at her research.

By the Eclipse... Eliza made it through the presentation! She nodded to the drone as it started to clean things up. Eliza turned to the drone. "You're surprisingly animate, for a drone," she said.

'I think you took the wrong drone… Miss Elizabeth,' admitted Synthia, patting the drone down. 'It doesn't have your usual sense of… procurement.'

The drone merely waved back to her, continuing to clean up whilst Eliza got a good view of that word. G.L.A.D. General... It was an acronym, but Eliza knew it from somewhere.

"Wait a minute... you're Rivera's drone.'

'Correction. I am. Kazuki's. Rivera is only. Creator!' The voice was very cold and robotic, with a level of spryness and snide that Eliza could relate to Rivera's more… eccentric and arrogant personality. Not like that was a bad thing, though! 'I… Need to be returned.'

"I guess that makes sense," Eliza grunted, scratching the back of her head. "Sorry… I got mixed up."

'It is… fine. A preferable situation than. Getting. Shot at.'"

Eliza turned back to the crowd as more flashing lights came from the press. Most of the students were leaving, as well as the Marquis, but it seemed the press wanted more...

"Excuse me!" one of the reporters shouted down the lecture theatre. Eliza turned to face them as they continued, "About this exospine, do you have any more information on its creation? Some whisper of connections to the shadowy PMC 'Clandestine', any insights?"

Eliza nervously shook her head. "Sorry... I don't particularly have many answers on that front, this is merely an experimental exospine I have research access to… so… It's only a model as well—"

"—You said that this is an experimental exospine. Do you believe that there are links to potentially incumbent or defunct cybernetic companies?" asked another.

Such an... aggressive question! Eliza tried to answer the best she could. "Sorry, I can't say for certain... It's a life support system so—"

"A life support system?!" another cried out. A few of the students who were leaving gave the overbearing reports some weird glances… Geez, Eliza wished Noah were here to get rid of them.

"There are some whispers that this exospine is linked to your peer and old colleague, the Contract-Breaker."

It wasn't a question, it was an accusatory statement! Lilly grunted, glaring up at the lecture hall.

Oh no... She shouldn't have said that... A torrent of reporters tried to ask questions. Her course leader stepped forward to Eliza, Doctor Pradavick, a kindly middle-aged man with even more bags beneath his eyes than Kaz and Liz combined.

"Want me to shoo them away?" he asked. "They are beginning to ask… very inappropriate questions."

Eliza shook her head patiently.

"I'll be fine," she replied. She cleared her throat, trying to calm down. Contract-Breaker this and that... Ugh. "I'm sorry, but I can't help you on that front!"

" Given that Sarimba University prides itself in artistic and research integrity, is there potential that the creators of this exospine are still out there in the galaxy?" another reporter cried over the others.

Eliza's face froze… Just who made Kazuki's exospine? Kazuki himself did not know, but his parents? Maybe they did. If so… why did he not know?

Lilly kept silent, merely watching from the sidelines as chaos unfolded.

"I don't know!" Eliza shouted.

"On the topic of the Contract-Breaker, with the chaos that unfolded over a month ago at the Ball Palace, he has refused to elaborate on many details. Can you please fill some in for us?" another asked.

At that, Doctor Pradavick grunted, moving forward and waving for the reporters to all leave. "That is enough, everyone! Thank you, thank you!"

Eliza's thoughts waved back to the Ball Palace...

She took in a deep breath. All those deaths... all her mistakes: Kazuki forgave her - and that was enough for her to forget. Then, the cold reality of this situation washed in. These reporters were not here for her.

Eliza clenched her fists, and here Eliza was being used as a tool to stab Kazuki. Instantly, the calm and bright face of the Genius of Sarimba turned dark, showing a hint of disgust.

But before Eliza could retort back akin to Kazuki, she felt a tug at her collar. Her eyes glistened brightly as Chloé took hold of the mic, holding it up to her mouth.

"Hey, hey, hey! Questioning's over, get the hell out of here!"

"Thank you…" Doctor Pradavick turned back to her as the authority of a Princess was on full display. The Doctor meekly walked off.

With that, the reporters started to flee... Lilly walked over, nodding to Chloé. "Friend of yours?" Lilly asked.

"Same to you, I guess?" Chloé replied. Lilly scratched her head before shrugging. "You can ignore them, they're just snobs looking for headliners. Good presentation, though. Can't believe you got Kaz's permission."

A chuckle rose on Eliza's tongue. "Well.. I do believe he has a soft spot for me," Eliza said, with a grin on her face.

Rolling her eyes, Lilly snorted quietly, "Who would have guessed?"

Chloé caught that grin. "Oh? Something interesting again, hmm? Alright, you're eating lunch with me!" Chloé clicked her fingers before dragging Eliza away.

"Wait... HOLD UP!? Uh... I'm not against that but..." Eliza trailed off, being physically dragged away by Chloé – all the while Lilly chuckled and snorted at the sight.