“What do we do now?” Doe took his place in the passenger seat once the door of the hovercar clicked close. In the safety and privacy of the vehicle, he relaxed his defensive mode and the vigilant eyes that had been observing those who looked Hoya’s focus on properly setting the small box of cake on the backseat and securing it with a seat belt.

As he did that, Hoya manually tinted her windshield whilst un-shielding the discreetly placed solar panels with a few presses against the screen in front of her. “First University.” According to Doe’s information, their heroine was First University’s…

What was it again?

“Is she a student, graduate, researcher, professor?” Just saying she was ‘from first university’ now seemed a little too broad of a description when she was looking for one, single person in an institution with thousands of people. “No, you wouldn’t know.” Hoya bit her lower lip in thought. Her hand on the steering wheel controlled the hovercar with ease as it smoothly joined the main road traffic.

“Check their public records for anything with outstanding people, a woman…ah,” She slid into the right lane that would allow her to make the turn at the upcoming intersection. “Check through articles, competitions, promotional campaigns…”

The tech industry was competitive, with engineers and interested parties looking for ways to make new and improved devices and break through the inhibitions,  and that spirit carried on even deeper when it came to school rivalries. As a result, institutions were quick to proudly display any notable students, alumni, staff and accomplishments on public sites. Or, at the very least, they would publish something about them, a mention, even in an article.

When that was impossible, their best and brightest would someway, somehow end up being displayed somewhere in a flyer, billboard or on their web page- especially when they had a face that should be recognised by those whose day and night, hobby or interest was in their field.

In short, any and everywhere could be a lead.

“Mechanical Engineering department, ten results;  Civil Engineering, twelve results; Electrical Engineering, 13; aerospace, 5…Weapons Engineering and  Armament Technology, 3…”

“That's it,” Hoya accelerated slightly. Fortunately, the post lunch mid-afternoon traffic was relatively light in this part of town where most offices had restaurants and cafes that served a bulk of the workforce around.

“If she’s going to be with the military department, she’ll be with the Weapons Engineering and  Armament Technology department.”It might have been a little too obvious of a choice, nut when she had no clue, she had to grab the most plausible rope hanging in front of her. 

From the side, Doe got to work, “I’ll pull up their information.” Seconds later, he was supplying her with the details, “ Kuukua Forson, currently a professor, teaches full time. Amato Mane, a part time researcher and alumni, and Joy King, national top scorer in the entrance exam two years ago.”

A professor, a researcher, a student.

Hoya’s fingers tapped against her steering wheel. In more open road, her foot pressed lightly against the accelerator pedal.

With a deep inhale, Hoya’s tapping ceased. Like the air trapped in her lungs, she held the tan steering wheel tightly. With a slow exhale, she softened her grip.

“You said Chouxbun wrote this as an online novel. How did you know it was romance fiction? Did you see the tags?”

“The tags,” Doe ran through his database. From working with Hoya for so long, he had become accustomed to her online reading preference and so things like ‘tags’ and their importance had become things he was familiar with. “I’m coming up with nothing except ‘romance’ “

“That’s it?” Hoya’s rounded brows furrowed. Normally, there would be more tags than that in an online novel. These things like character traits, personalities, contexts, were lures  for  target or curious audiences wanting to see what a genre or sub-genre could entail. It also had the opposite effect, like a warning or ‘reader beware’

Either way, tags helped writers with niche audiences and readers with curated reading histories.

Doe had said Chouxbun was getting out of their writer’s block, so they weren't new, or at least so new, that they would have missed such an important detail.

Well, that was for later. Right now, Hoya’s concern was that she didn’t have any details to single out one of these women as the female lead. If they had said ‘older love interest’ she would have focused on Kuukua.  Even if she was young and gifted,  Chouxbun had made a show of stating how young the Major General was so he would definitely be younger than her. With a ‘Younger love interest’ tag, she would have begun with the student.

Haaa…Should she be grateful it wasn’t something like ‘genius protagonist’, ‘gifted protagonist’ or ‘hardworking protagonist’ that at first glance looked hopeful but in reality were nothing but one size fits all cloaks for the three women?

Then, where should she start? There was hierarchy, going to the professor to begin with. But something like that would need an appointment or a well  timed run in. Without knowing the Professor’s schedule, that would be near impossible to predict.

“Scoping around till I get it right isn’t an option either.” She couldn’t afford to be so conspicuous. “And if the researcher is anything like my brothers,” Hoya contemplated as she entered the main road that took her straight to The First University. “She’ll be harder to meet.” After all, they spent much of their research and development time holed up in their labs and testing sites.

But the plus side was just that- She would be in one place.

Compared to a student who might have been moving from place to place, lecture to lecture, site to site, a researcher would be easier to tra-

Wait. 

Hoya paused mid thought and her face crunched with an obvious displeasure. She turned to Doe, "doesn’t this sound a bit  stalkerish?” Digging up their names, going to their workplace, looking for them in the halls or finding their schedules...she shuddered. 

The bot who was silently completing his task looked at her innocently, as if to say "‘I’m simply a robot doing what I've been asked. You, Miss Hoya, are the one in charge."

“Way to wash your hands of this,” Hoya clucked her tongue disapprovingly. Some fair weather friend you are, her eyes responded before turning back to the road. Anyway, she reasoned with herself, she wasn’t going beyond public information and she certainly, definitely, absolutely would not snoop into their personal lives simply because she was curious.

She just...had to know a few details...that nagging intrigue egged her on. 

No, no, no- Reason stepped in-  in any normal situation she wouldn’t do so much so publicly.

That’s right, Hoya nodded, agreeing with herself. This was bizarre by any account. If anyone heard her say they lived in a book world and she needed to get a fair understanding of their protagonist to understand the true context of their daily lives, and maybe even past and future events, who would believe her? Hell, she wouldn’t believe her.

At best they would be worried, and at worst they might think she needed institutionalisation. If that happened, the tabloids would pounce on the house of Gold and its industries like hyenas in the dry season, starved and ready to draw blood for their nourishment.

“Tch.” Just thinking about it was enough to steel her resolve with a momentum that propelled her all the way to the main entrance of the First University and into the vast car park in front of the Weapons Engineering department.

In any case, this was the best course of action. At least, for now.