lu★navi [루카]

heyy wyd ?? (^･ω･^)

Mono_Chr0 [ACE]

Recovering from yesterdays “history lesson” LMAO cant believe we really lived at the Institute like half our childhoods just to end up in a Legion propaganda goldmine but gotta get that government-funded postsecondary education I guess

lu★navi[루카]

is ♠ around ?? (・・?)

Mono_Chr0 [ACE]

No

Not one second later came a knock on the door. Ace sighed. He tapped a final phrase into his laptop before rising to let in his guest. Luca stood smiling outside, waiting patiently, phone in hand. She shoved the phone into her pocket; she’d changed into more comfortable loungewear and let her hair down for once.

“You can stay for a little while,” Ace said coolly, “but I need to get work done.”

She let herself in at that, pushing past Ace into his room. The academy dorms were rather small with two students each, although they did have a plenty-large common room equipped with the essential utilities, shared across class 2-B. The advantages of government-funded postsecondary education. The Ace-Spade room was exceptionally messy but otherwise rather plain; they’d each decorated the walls with a few pictures, and Ace with his abstract evidence board that Spade and Luca and Vector liked to tease him for. Spade didn’t seem to want much memorabilia of his home. Ace didn’t have any to bring.

It was overwhelming to examine the room for too long, to stare at every worthless detail he couldn’t quite see but somehow knew was there, thanks to his mask. He hated the thing; not even on for twenty minutes, it had already induced a headache. Ace returned to his laptop, trying to focus on the words. Regardless of detail, the one thing the mask could not distinguish was color. The screen displayed a high contrast, which made the words a bit more legible, but did not help his headache.

He had no actual desk to leave it on, only a small dresser, which he awkwardly leaned over from a wooden chair. Its top drawer served as a designated storage space. It had a lock, which made it a somewhat secure container for the handgun the Institute agency had entrusted to him. Not that he’d ever needed it since leaving the Institute.

Luca stared at the evidence board for a moment, littered with photographs and reports from the Institute. At the center was the name OMERTA BLUME, both highlighted and circled. “Busy sleuthing?” Luca questioned.

“Yeah,” he answered without breaking from his laptop.

He had who. He needed to figure out why, he decided. That was the next step.

Luca left the board and dropped face-first onto Ace’s bed. “Ugh,” she groaned, “I don’t like it when you’re sleuthing. You get all angsty, and you’re a little too hot when you’re angsty.”

“I’m fine.”

“No, you’re all brooding and angsty.” Luca sat up. She reached under her sweatshirt and pulled from it two cans, each labeled Silvertooth. She stood from the bed, set one can on Ace’s dresser, and sat back down. Ace promptly ignored her.

“It’s uncomfortable carrying two, y’know,” she whined, cracking open the other can. “Really cold.”

He finally turned around. “Luca, we’re testing tomorrow,” he said sharply.

“And you’re staying up sleuthing. Where’s the little brass virgin?”

Ace huffed. “No idea. Said he’d be gone for a while. Got his own mystery to foil, apparently.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I don’t know,” Ace sighed. “Usually, Spade won’t shut up about his problems. But lately he’s been, like, distant.”

“I bet he’s out causing trouble, or doing something...” Luca said between chugs of hard seltzer, “troubling.”

Ace stared at the can she’d left beside him. Finally, he picked it up, popped its lid, and took a slow sip. It was cold, as promised, and probably too strong to responsibly consume a few hours before a test. No dry campus rules could stop Luca. Nor legal drinking age; her birthday was one month away.

“I’m only gonna say this because you’re my friend,” Ace started quietly. He took another sip. “I’m worried about Spade.”

“This seems like the setup to a little GDBS,” Luca said seriously.

“What?” Ace questioned. Then he processed the acronym. “Oh. Not tonight,” he sighed. “We’re testing tomorrow. Can’t you pester Vector? Her sleep-schedule is almost as screwed as ours.”

“Still out with Camie,” Luca answered, swinging her legs mindlessly.

Ace slammed his laptop shut and finally turned to face her. There would be no work accomplished as long as Luca was in the room, he accepted. Then he thought about what she said, and a slight smile flickered on his face. “A platonic date,” he huffed.

“Just girls being girls,” Luca giggled. She stopped, and her voice dropped. “Hey. You put your mask on. Why weren’t you wearing it earlier today?”

“Skipped a Physics test,” he explained, slipping into a rant. “Teacher has to give me a pass if I show up without it, you know, on account of being legally blind. Wild how I can just do that. That’s your typical ‘student accommodation’ bullshit. School hands them out for almost anything now. Kinda surprised you don’t have one.”

“Why’d you skip?”

Ace stopped.

He skipped because he was distracted. He was still distracted. He was hardly able to carry out the conversation at hand because his mind was entirely consumed by racing thoughts; far too many buzzing around discordantly, yet somehow one single thought dominated all others. Was he trying to distract himself from the distraction? No matter how many menial notes he passed through, he kept returning to that one thought alone. Saying it aloud seemed somehow jeopardizing, like it might make it false. Did he even want it to be true? Should he just tell her? He hadn’t even told Spade. He always went to Spade first. But Spade was preoccupied. Luca was an acceptable alternative, he decided. He had a habit of telling Luca things he didn’t always mean to.

He was still staring at her blankly, consumed by his mind again. Ace let out a slow breath he hadn’t entirely realized he’d been holding. “I think,” he started slowly, “I found him.”

“Oh,” Luca said in surprise. “Like, found him? The name that’s highlighted and circled? You’re sure he really dusted them?

Ace inhaled sharply and unloaded. “No, I’m not sure. But I’ve been trying to solve this for ten years, and he’s the only one that fits. I can’t afford to be wrong now. The case is closed if I’m wrong now. Academy library has a file on him. He was a student here some thirty years ago. Omerta Blume. Name seemed familiar. He’s an architect—y’know, a crime boss. He knew my father back on Kaminari. They were sort of business partners until Blume suddenly cut ties and founded a private company to filter hot money. Not one week later is my mysterious ‘accident.’ Quite the coincidence. Unfortunately for Blume, this bitch lived. Still not sure why they were associated in the first place, or why he’d tried to burn the bridge. But it’s him. That’s how it lines up. He was just... right place at the right time. Or maybe wrong place. And—and I know he probably didn’t pull the trigger himself. But it was his guy, his call. It was his fault. Institute raised me into a detective? They got a goddamn detective!”

At last, he stopped. Audible air conditioning filled the silence between them.

Luca took a slow sip of her drink. “You need to get out more,” she said. “I was thinking the squad could go tomorrow after the test.”

“Please don’t call us that,” he muttered. He hated that she was right. Ace desperately did need to get out, to clear his conscience, if even for a little while. A wave of exhaustion hit as he stood up. Luca recognized that as the cue that he actually wanted her to leave, and she hopped off his bed and scampered to the door. “Hey,” he sighed just before she opened the door. “Thanks. We’ll do whatever the hell you want tomorrow.”

“Whatever I want? Be careful what you wish for.”

“Get your mind out of the gutter. You know what I mean.”

“Go to sleep,” was all Luca concluded with, smirking as she left.