NOVEL NEXT Chapter 52: Gamma
I quickly check my lesson roster for today before grabbing my book.
“So, what lessons do you have today, babe?” Sam asks while going through the bag she brought with her.
“Looks like it’s practical arts and drama class for today. That’s good, so I can work on my manga for a bit.”
“What’s drama class?” She zips up her bag.
“Hmm, acting techniques, learning how to act, famous plays, things like that.”
“Oh? Do you know how to act then?”
“I’d been pretending to be a guy for like two decades so I think I’m pretty good.”
Sam walks over and hugs me. “Awh, Ami...”
“But in all seriousness, I never really liked the class that much, maybe it’ll be better now that I feel freer to express myself.”
“Well, I think you’ll do great. My lovely, beautiful, theatrical, drama kitten.”
“Thanks Sam.” I laugh and kiss her on her cheek. “However since it’s technically my first day today I’ll probably have to show off what I can do in front of everyone.”
“Sounds scary.”
“Because it is.” I giggle.
“But I think, if you just show them your magical idol girl powers, you’ll be fine. Maybe I’ll sneak in to come and watch you.”
“Please don’t, I’ll physically sink through the floor if you do.”
“Awh, that’d be pretty cool to see though.”
“You derp.”
Sam smiles and squeezes me. “Should we get going?”
“Yep, I have everything, I think.”
“No you don’t.” She grabs my tail. “I can still see something.”
“Oh!” I quickly put on my choker and head over to the living room with Sam.
“See you later, Nikki and Élise.” Sam waves goodbye and steps out of the apartment.
“See you tonight!” My sister and Nikki wave back.
Before I head out as well, I pet Mochi and Pocky. “I’ll be back soon, kitties.”
They meow and head back to their sleeping spot on the sofa.
“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” My sister yells after me.
Nikki softly hits her on the head. “That’d literally be everything.”
I just laugh and close the door behind me.
Sam grabs my hand when I join her in front of the elevator.
“And what lessons do you have?”
“Just some training and chemistry, but Max was going to help me with the lessons I missed yesterday. Probably won’t take that long either though.”
“I should buy her lunch to say thank you.”
“Nah, that won’t be necessary.” Sam waves my suggestion away.
“But I insist!” I pout and squeeze her hand.
“Alright.” She smiles. “When do you want to buy her lunch then?”
“Today?”
Sam tilts her head and looks questioningly at me. “Don’t you prefer to have some alone time with me?”
“Don’t put it like that.” I pout again. “I like our lunches together a lot but I also want to get to know her a little.”
“Okay, let me invite your friends over too then.”
“Carol and Hailey?”
She nods. “It’s only fair, right? That way we can all get to know each other better.”
“Sounds like a plan.” I smile at my girlfriend. “But I can’t promise they won’t pose any strange questions.”
“It’s the same for Max.” Sam starts laughing.
The elevator is definitely taking its time to arrive.
Sam presses the button to call the elevator again.
“Do you think it’s broken?”
I perk up my ears to listen if I can hear something move. “I’m not sure. I can hear the machinery but don’t really hear anything else…”
“Can you try to fix it?”
“I’d rather not in a public space like this, what if the neighbours show up.”
Sam nods. “Yeah, you are right.”
“And I don’t know what exactly is broken, so…”
“Don’t learn about elevators as an art major?” She teases me.
“Maybe in the second semester.” We both start laughing and head towards the staircase instead.
Once we are outside we immediately head for the tram stop, and as usual the tram doesn’t make us wait for too long before it arrives.
“Well, luckily the tram isn’t broken.” Sam gets on in front of me.
“Please don’t jinx it. I don’t want to walk all the way to uni today.”
“It’ll be fine, don’t worry.” Right at the moment she says that we hear a loud bang from our left, making me jump back in panic.
“I’m so sorry ladies.” A woman apologizes to us, the small kid accompanying her is holding a bag with a hole in it. “I told him not to do that, but…”
Sam takes my hand, and walks me further down to the back of the tram. “Don’t worry about it ma’am.”
I nod at the lady and follow my girlfriend.
When Sam sits down she breathes a sigh of relief. “I almost thought the transformer of the tram blew or something like that.”
I sit down next to her. “That’ll teach you for almost jinxing us.”
“I’ll never do it again, I promise.” She crosses her fingers over her heart. “But are you okay? You almost jumped through the roof right there.”
“I’m okay, it was just very loud.”
“You like softer sounds, don’t you~” She seductively whispers in my ear.
“Y-yeah…” I immediately start blushing, making Sam giggle.
“But honestly though,” Sam puts on her serious tone again. “Our society can get so loud at times, it’s really annoying.”
“That’s true.” I grab her arm and rest my head on her shoulder.
She smiles. “Sometimes I just like to close myself off from the world by putting in some earphones. To listen to some calming music or something like that. But that must be nigh impossible for you with your kitty ears.”
“Hmm, I’ve not really thought about that yet. But now that you mention it, not being able to put in earphones is quite annoying.”
“Yeah, and I doubt they have some catgirl earphones lying around in stores.”
“Mhmm…”
“Maybe we could ask Veanya if she could get one for you.”
“Why would she have something like that?”
“She gave you the choker didn’t you?”
“That’s magic and not electronics though.”
“I guess that’s true, but maybe, somewhere there is also another catgirl goddess who could help you.” Sam starts laughing.
“Hey, I don’t like it if people laugh about that.” A voice behind us makes the both of us look back in shock.
A blue-haired catgirl is sitting on the next bench in a black hoodie with neon-pink letters, pouting profusely. Her hair is almost reaching her knees, with the tips of it turning pink.
“W-who…”
“Oh, heya!” Her pouty face immediately makes room for a wide smile. “V told me there was a cat girl potential Goddess on this planet so I desperately wanted to see you.”
“S-so you are one of Veanya’s confidants?" Sam stutters.
“Pretty much.” She enthusiastically nods. “You know she made one of those chokers for me as well like 20 years ago?” She runs her finger gently over my neck.
“Uhm..” Sam tries to protest but she’s not sure how to.
“Ah, right, she’s your girlfriend isn’t she? Sorry for that.”
“I-it’s fine, but I think you broke Ami…”
I’m still sitting there, paralysed by this unexpected turn of events.
“Oh, that’ll probably fix itself.” She smiles at me and waits for me to answer.
When my mind finally decided to work again I shyly greeted her. “H-hi.”
“Heya!” Her big smile appears again. “Anyway, where was I? Right! She made this choker for me since magic isn’t really my cup of tea, so I provide her with tech help from time to time. You don’t want to know how long it took for her to get used to a mobile phone.” She starts laughing. “So, if you’d want I could get you one of my headsets. Earphone designs are so inconsiderate of other species.”
“T-that’d be cool.” I answered.
“Great! I’ll drop one off soon then.” She pats my head and takes out an electronic device out of her hoodie. “See you cuties later!”
Before we could reply she was already gone.
“W-what just happened?” I look over at Sam.
“I’m not sure… she didn’t even tell us her name.”
That’s when I see a sticky note stuck to the back of Sam’s tracksuit. I reach over to take it from her back.
“Want a hug?” Sam tries to reciprocate what she thinks is me hugging her.
“Always.” I smile. “But she also left a note on your back.”
“Ah.” She starts blushing.
After our hug I read Sam the note. “She wrote: Ah, the name is Gamma by the way, smiley emoji, heart, heart, heart.”
“Gamma, the blue-haired chaotic good catgirl techno goddess… Well if all the gods and goddesses are that quirky the meeting definitely won’t be boring.”
“I guess that’s true.” I smile and cuddle back up to Sam just in time to see the university approaching in the distance. “Awh.”
“I share your sentiment, Ami.” She kisses my head. “We will continue this later.”
“Okay then.” I pout.
We get up and head towards the tram doors when we hear the kid from earlier speak up to his mom. “Mommy, mommy, I swear there was a girl with kitty ears there!”
“That’s good, Jason.” the mom pat his head, clearly not believing him.
“But it is trueeee!” He whines when the doors of the tram open up.
Me and Sam get out and once the doors close again we start giggling a bit. “Maybe we should tell Gamma to be a bit more cautious next time.”
“Do you think she will listen?”
Sam laughs. “Probably not. Anyway, let’s get your cute butt to class.”
“Oki.” I give her a kiss and off we go.
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