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

Out of university, Chloé, obviously, chose where to eat. Eliza was merely humming along; Chloé was the one taking the lead in all of this, probably because Eliza didn't know too many restaurants near the university…

After walking around, they reached a small, fairly quiet part of the district, with a small restaurant attached to one of the side streets.

The lack of congestion and noise was quickly noticed by Eliza, as she peered around the quiet side of District 50.

"You certainly know good places," Eliza commented.

"Not as peaceful as the Sub-Levels," snorted Lilly, sitting to one side as Liz and Chloé sat opposite each other.

Chloé nervously scratched her head, brushing her peachy blonde fringe to one side. "It's cold down there this time of year. Why would I ever go down there? Well… maybe if I had to follow some damned insane person, but definitely not for food, I'll tell you that!"

A grumble rose on Lilly's tongue whilst a drone whizzed over to take their order. "You know, the street food's not half bad most of the time."

However, at an instant, Lilly's eyes shot towards another person… taking the seat beside Eliza: the First Consul! Glancing around, Eliza and Lilly both assessed a few Maroon Guards in the city block, the guards of the Marquis while he was on Anagora.

"Good presentation," stated Gilbera. "Though, I think you've already heard enough of that, haven't you?" He chuckled.

Eliza nodded firmly. Lilly raised an eyebrow at the Marquis before pointing a finger at him.

"I don't like you. Smell too rich for my taste."

Chloé chortled at Lilly's initial response. "This is the Marquis Gilbera Fer-Charelota, or just Gilbert for short," she jeered, introducing the Marquis - whose brooch shone bright with the sun. "He's a friend of ours… well, and the First Consul, but that's ENTIRELY irrelevant, right?"

Eliza frantically nodded as Chloé gently kicked her shin beneath the table.

"Tch..." Lilly remained sceptical. The drone hovered around, trying to get their attention, before hovering away.

'Take. Your. Time.' The drone hovered back over to the other tables with people on it... Lilly grumbled, standing up.

"Fuck it, I'll just go order in person, what do you guys want?" she asked, turning to the rest.

The Marquis took a look at the menu and said, "Well, I'll be honoured, ma'am. Just a fine... simple burger."

The response got an amused 'hmm' out of Lilly. Eliza didn't know why Lilly was so worried about the Marquis… but then again, Lilly wasn't wrong, the Marquis was far out of the reach of the standard citizen, and here he was… A reminder of just how much work must be done for this Republic.

"Like... a lot of fries," Chloé said. "The fries here are great, and with all the sauces as well, you know?"

"Just... fries?" Lilly raised an eyebrow

Lilly shrugged. "Sure," replied Lilly. Then, she turned to Eliza as Chloé nodded. "You?"

"Oh... I'll just have whatever you'll have," Eliza said, not wanting to keep things going on for too long. Lilly mumbled something to herself, then left. Just then, someone on the floor caught Eliza's eye and attention.

The Marquis and Chloé began to talk, but under the cover of their chatter, Eliza glanced beneath the table.

Was that here before? She picked it up; the thing had just… rolled over to the centre of the table. It was a small spherical device, a probe? Wait... This is Lilly's camera probe! Eliza looked to Lilly, a bit away, ordering their food.

"Wouldn't hurt anyone, right?" Eliza muttered to herself as the probe was gently clutched between her hand and chest.

Beneath the chatter, Eliza opened up the probe, activating its holographic user interface, showing potentially hundreds of images! Eliza peered through them; most of them were interesting...

A laugh had to be hidden by Eliza as she scanned through a few random photos that it seemed Quinn had taken in a half-drunken kleptomaniac-fuelled rampage… He even seemed to have both Amyé's sniper and Kiri's drones on him in a few of them!

But curiosity got the better of Eliza. She kept scrolling through, finding a photo from that dinner the AGENCY had. It had the entire command team, along with a few other important quartermaster and handlers...

The photo was not flattering to Eliza, who looked rather drunk and tipsy with a smile, thought Eliza... She was clinging to Kazuki to sit upright... Hiding her own embarrassment, she skipped through those photos, finding... a group photo?

It was Lilly and her unit!

With... so many people, so many that Eliza could name… But at the same time, there were so many that Eliza hadn't ever seen – the reality of who they were washed over like ice.

All pale white stripes on their dark armour. How old was this? Eliza blinked several times, seeing Riharia on there, kneeling beside Quinn and a short, brown-haired woman.

Then, a hand reached over and snatched the probe. A vein was bulging on Lilly's forehead as she glared down at Eliza. "Hey, you haven't been picking up habits from Quinn, right, Eliza?"

"Uh... No?" Eliza quietly murmured. "It just… rolled over to me?"

Lilly gave a small glance to the other two at the table, who weren't really taking note of anything going on. "Hmm... Archius' influence has been getting to you, huh?"

Chloé chuckled at the retort, but the Marquis paused. He seemed to analyse whatever was just said, whilst glancing back and forth.

Then, he commented, "I'm sure Elizabeth meant no disrespect, miss…"

"Bergen," snapped Lilly, her lips seeping with poison and venom at the biting of each syllable.

"I was just… curious," Eliza admitted.

"Sure shit you were," Lilly chuckled at Eliza's lack of a solid response, as drones hovered over plates of their orders. "Oi, rich man, the food's here."

The Marquis smiled and nodded to Lilly, not even showing a sign of disdain from being referred to as the 'rich man', though it wouldn't necessarily be a lie; it was a snide remark from a certain point of view, Eliza thought, eyes glancing back between Gilbera and Lilly.

"A little weird just to think of me as the rich man, yes?" the Marquis asked. "When your boss is exponentially richer than even I!"

Lilly glared at the Marquis. "Unlike you, he looked after his own. I don't even care who you are… Typical politician… He pays us better than whatever your cronies are willing to, I don't care past that," she sneered.

The Marquis sighed, as Chloé started to dig into a massive pile of fries... It covered half the table, as the Marquis held onto his burger and plate, whilst Liz and Lill ate hot dogs. Hmm, tastes good, so is this what Lilly likes?

"I apologise if my presence makes you uncomfortable," the Marquis regretfully guessed. "But I do find your lack of empathy or understanding to be… quite worrying."

Eliza had to step in! "Hey, hey, can we just eat? Lilly, you're not usually this agitated, right?"

Lilly rolled her eyes. "I sure as hell don't like sharing a table with HIS kind!"

Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

The Marquis could only sigh. "And for that, I must provide my condolences."

"So then? Where's our promised land? Our oh-so-beloved ideals we all fucking bled for?" Lilly raised an eyebrow. "I had hundreds of guys, you know, where most of them are right now?"

"Dead," the Marquis finished Lilly's statement off. "A shame, I know. I won't preach to you that their deaths were great, nor were the sacrifices good… They're dead, and we owed them more."

To the honest admission that even the Marquis, supposed to be the central figure in the republic, was unable to do anything, froze Lilly in place for a moment.

Breaking the silence, a bridge had to be made by Eliza, "Gilbera can't push any changes through the senate, you know? Even if he wanted to fulfil all his promises, he can't."

"It's my responsibility to bear nonetheless," Gilbera said, fidgeting with his hands.

After that, everyone ate in silence, even as footsteps approached. Then, suddenly, Eliza felt pressure on her shoulders. Huh? Eliza sat across the table. "Hmm?" A short, blonde-haired girl was on her tiptoes, trying to peer down arrogantly at Lilly.

Her hair had vibrant rainbow highlights, a litany of colours that dared to challenge the… rather tacit lack of brains within, or so Eliza mildly put it in her mind.

"HEY!!! HAVE YOU SEEN MY BROTHER ANYWHERE?!" Yukino Izmumi Geminorum-Ryzaku shouted. Eliza paused, ignoring the fact that Lilly had literally picked her up like a cat.

Chloé chomped down on a whole bundle of fries. "Yeah... I lied about her brother being here..."

The Marquis chuckled at the ongoing antics as Eliza facepalmed. She looked back up at Yuki. "Sorry, your brother's at work right now. I can call him if you want to speak with him right now."

Lilly placed her arms straight forward, staring with disgust at Yuki. A red-haired, meek teenager also hid behind her. Lilly snorted out loud, "This... This is Kazuki's sister?!"

"YEAH!" Yuki shouted. "The one and only!"

Grumbling, Lilly dropped Yuki onto the ground, easily caught by Nathaniel, who looked a bit sick in the face. "Yuki... you didn't fly over here, did you?" Eliza asked, inquiring about how her friend looked sickly.

"Huh? Oh? Don't worry! I stole my mother's hover-bike!" Yuki shouted. "She won't mind it! I mean, she loves tinkering with it, but she won't mind... right?"

Eliza's face went dead pale. Oh no… It was as if a sudden rush of dread ran down everyone's spine at Yuki's words. "Yeah..." Eliza tried to shove that thought to the back of her mind. "Anyways... you two going to leave?"

"Oh no!" Chloé interjected. "Not so fast... After all, Eliza's been hiding some things, hasn't she?" suggested Chloé.

"Can we leave...?" Nathaniel meekly asked, tugging on Yuki's sleeve. "I don't want to miss class..."

"Oh, great!" Eliza grunted. Not only did they a: drive without a license, b: steal a vehicle, but c: are also skipping classes?!

"Wait, what was that about good Elizabeth hiding things?"

Yuki mischievously chuckled, placing a hand to her mouth before booting Lilly off her own seat, much to her annoyance as she now had to obviously stand. Yuki shimmied to the side a bit, allowing Nathan to sit down, even if it was only half a seat.

The two were wearing Sarimba High's uniform, beige and white blazer with golden cuffs, Yuki had her's tied around her waist.

"You go to Sarimba High?" inquired Eliza.

"Uh… yeah? Duh, see the uniform?!" Yuki rolled her eyes, as if to comment on Eliza's lack of intelligence. "It's my first year in!"

Oh…

The Marquis stood up, placing his plate down and wiping his mouth. "It is great to catch up with you all... But I have business to attend to. And Miss Bergan… I will make it all count, eventually. I swear it."

Lilly snorted, rolling her eyes. Still, the Marquis kept the stare up, before giving a slight nod to the people around the table.

"Oh? Well, good luck on that, I suppose?" Eliza waved goodbye to the Marquis as he left. Lilly immediately snatched the Marquis's now-free seat.

"Liz! What do you have to spill for us!?" Yuki inquired.

Oh great… now Eliza had to deal with this cleanup! Yuki had stolen a bunch of Lilly's fries, leaning over the table to peer into Eliza's garnet red eyes.

"Oh! Oh! Let me guess! You finally made up with my brother, right?!"

Lilly listened intently.

"I made up with him right before dinner that time," Eliza murmured. "I was there… You know?"

"What? That dinner you almost missed, and Archius got angry about you and Kazuki and... wait a minute..." Yuki placed an inquisitive hand to her chin with an extraordinarily annoying smug look on her face that raised an incredible itch along the back of Eliza's mind.

Chloé said, "Yeah... what were you doing with Kaz, hmm? The second most stubborn person behind Kazuki is... you! I swear you two were at each other's throats, right? Or… was I looking into this wrong?"

"Hmm..." Both inquisitive girls trailed off amidst the gossip.

All the while, Nathan shot glances at his holo-watch, sweating nervously as to why he was here in the first place. Eliza's seen Nathan play guitar a few times, the idea of Yuki getting someone to do a few riffs on demand was… strangely not out of character, admitted Eliza..

Eliza tried to wiggle her way out of this. "Look, I don't know what you want to hear from me! But things are just fine! We just talked it over, got it?!"

"Saying that only means that there IS something noteworthy!" Yuki's cyan eyes sparkled with light. "So! Did my brother confess his undying love to you or something?!" Yuki chuckled after that. "Pah, as if… Of course... he wouldn't—"

An awkward reaction, mixed in with embarrassment, was all that was enough to spark the fuse under Yuki's brain. Eliza's face was rose-red in its shades. "No, absolutely not! I don't even think your brother can love to begin with! Just please don't press any further..."

Yuki paused. "Ya know, I was going to give you something but…"

Lilly sniggered under her breath. "T'was right about something."

"Well, I did not expect that," Chloé mumbled. "Let me guess, you're giving Liz some spare junk you got…"

"How did you know?" Yuki snorted, raising an eyebrow as she clicked her fingers.

Eliza looked around, seeing that in the corners of the streets, there were suited men… Probably guards from either the Theonar or Trasian households… Eliza felt utterly embarrassed, remaining silent as a well-dressed woman trotted forth, approaching the table.

"Ruriko!" Yuki shouted out to her. "Get uh… Eliza… the thing!"

"Which would that be?" Ruriko asked, furrowing her brow in annoyance. Eliza could tell that this maid… or assistant probably had her hands full with Yuki's regular antics.

"The gift! My brother's like totally going to get married!"

Eliza mumbled something under her breath. Chloé leaned in to hear, pushing a napkin full of fries over to Eliza as a bribe. "I said it's nothing..." Eliza mumbled, eating the fries before Chloé could have a chance to take them back.

Ruriko sighed. "I doubt your brother would seek marriage as an option as of late," she groaned, yet hid her frustration beneath a varnish of professionalism. She tugged on her coat, revealing a stylish kimono underneath as drones wheeled around a box.

Yuki snatched it from the air before passing it to Eliza. "Here! I like… I think I missed your birthday, so like…"

Eliza raised her eyebrow. "My birthday is next week?"

At that, Yuki's face went totally pale. "Oh… Your birthday is in Juli? Not… June?"

Eliza nodded, almost questioning herself whether it was. "Yeah? It's always been in Juli."

Now, it was Yuki's turn to be enamoured with embarrassment as she snatched the box back, making sure not to crease its ribbons and delicately crafted artworks, woodworked into the four long sides of the box.

"Forget it…" Yuki murmured, passing it back to Ruriko.

"I warned you…" she muttered under her breath, taking the box and walking away.

Eliza, now finding an opportunity, wanted to shift the conversation in a TOTALLY different direction. "I didn't know you had a butler, or maid, or an assistant."

Yuki shrugged. "Apparently, my brother was enough protection for a big girl like me back at the Palace."

It was apparent to Eliza that Yuki might be a 'little' bit spoiled.

Lilly cut in, "So let me get this straight... Whilst the rest were having to deal with those Gunrunners Quinn adopted, you've been having fine dinners with my boss all over the Ball Palace and shopping, hmm? Fucking hell... It's Clandestine all over again," she jokingly snorted with a smile, though the condescending tone was rather hard to hide from Eliza's perspective.

"No! We had our own problems on our end, you know!" Eliza shouted back. "It's just a lot, but Kazuki had to deal with Lady Antiar—"

"Antiar?" Lilly quietly questioned, completely ignoring the honorifics provided to the Imperial Knight's Champion. "Makes sense, tight-up bitch she is..."

"—Then Kazuki and I were almost killed in an assassination attempt!"

"Did Kazuki overclock?" Lilly inquired.

Nate and Chloé simply watched the back and forth.

"No?"

Lilly shrugged. "Then it's no big deal!"

"But he did overclock on his second fight with Antiar... I think," Eliza said. "Well… officially, there was no fight, but uh… Let's just keep that between all of us, it'd rip the band-aid off…"

"Oh," Disappointment clung to Lilly's tone. "Well, it shouldn't be that bad, right?! For the first time, he doesn't need to go into R&D with Claire and Rivera to fix any damage up… Ugh, the metallic smell was nauseating."

As if by kindred experience, both Lilly and Eliza sighed and groaned at the thought of the steely smell… The thought had completely sent a bullet up Eliza's nerves.

"Well... I can't keep fixing overclocks forever..." Eliza murmured as she got a notification on her uplink. "Wait a…"

It's from Kazuki and Archius! 'MEETING SOON, COME HOME.'

"Oh... I'll have to be going, I have something I must go to..." Eliza said, standing up. She turned to Lilly as she also stood up. "Don't feel the need to go with me, Kaz will be with me, so it'll be fine, I think..."

"Pfft, sure, then I'm off the clock," said Lilly, walking away and waving back at her. "And remember, don't snoop around people's photo galleries!"