The smell of coffee still lingers in the room as I lie on the doctor's bed. Unlike the pristine, clinical laboratory, this room is musty and chock full of dust. Most of it is covered in books and papers that are indiscernible to me. I can't understand a word of their research even though we've been together for most of my life. I have a lot more to learn if I'm ever going to understand the doctor or what they meant for me to do as a hybrid. There are so many questions that I wanted to ask but the administrators' withdrawal was so sudden; it came so out-of-nowhere that I struggled to find the words.

I do have a few things to remember them by. First, is a limiter that allows me to keep my body stable at the cost of setting a threshold for my abilities. Second, an ID card that lets me move freely between the upper city and the underground labs. And finally, the coat I've seen them wear since I was a child. It... doesn't really fit on me. I could make alterations to it; scissors and some tape wouldn't be so hard to use (I think), but I sort of want to keep it as it is.

There's a lot of noise outside the apartment building as people gather in protest while the United Student Governing Board makes an announcement regarding rationing partitions within their region. Without the actual administrators at the helm, everyone in the schooling district was in chaos until the local student councils stepped in. I guess since they were the only organizations that were left mostly intact after the humans left, it makes sense. I'm not too trusting of children running the show, but the doctor's apartment is right on the edge of the area. Luckily, I don't have to worry about Monopyriac injections myself, but I'm worried about the protests turning into full-scale riots if the supply runs out.

I peek between the curtains and look through the crowd. 

Oh! Hey...! 

Two hybrids catch my eye. One with feline features and another with a devil-like tail. The cat's jumping up and down to see the screens from the back of the mob but the other one just stands there with hands in his coat pockets. I've seen them before going in and out of the lab, but I've never talked to them myself. Maybe they can tell me more about what's going on!

I take a deep breath before getting up and fixing the papers on the doctor's desk before heading out. I might lose them in the sea of people so I run there as fast I can.

Haah... haaah...

I'm able to catch up to them before more people gather, but I lost my breath in the process. 

"H...hey... you two..."

I pant, reaching out with a hand from the back as I get closer. Shoot, I just came and approached them. They probably don't know who I am, and I don't know even know their names. I step back, my body telling me to run back and hide. As they turn around and look at me quizzically, I realized their eyes are trained on the coat I haphazardly put on rather than my face.

"Huh, it's the doctor's pet. Left you with their clothes now did they?" The taller man looks over me from head to toe. I can tell he lingered on my horns. Everyone does.

Pet? I guess you could say tha-- wait, no that's an insult!

"I'm no pet! Wait, you know me?"

"Who is she, Luke?" She cocks her head in an annoying way, reminding me of people on TV that try too hard to be cute.

"You don't remember? It's the single survivor from the Bakunawa project. The doctor excitedly told me a lot about it when they were finally successful." He turns to me, pointing at my choker. "And from the looks of it, that's not the only project that went well."

"They did?! Ah...! Yeah... it does, I don't know, work. I think. Probably. I trust the doctor." See, despite teaching me nearly everything I know, they never told me anything about me or why I came to be. "Hey, um, what did they tell you about the project? Did they say anything about me?"

"Just a tad. I'd be hard-pressed to tell you anything specific, but I suppose with the entire city being essentially abandoned by the admins, there's no harm in divulging a little."

"Hey-hey, uh, guys," Just before Luke continues, the catgirl pipes up, urging us to go somewhere more private, "I think we should keep labo talk on the DL. Y'know. Oh! We can go to Luke's place! Or the cafe we were at the other week."

"Well, I've seen all I really wanted to know about the current state of affairs already, so sure, we can go on ahead. I know somewhere better we can go that a colleague told me about. Come on Mina, and uh..."

"It's Ten Sixty Three."

"Heh." He laughs at my designation for no reason.

"Oooo, don't tell me you haven't picked a nickname for yourself yet?!"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm Mina, Thirty Seven! And he's Luke, Six Dash Nine! Aboveground, you can be whatever you want to be called but most people pick something that suits their designation." Waving her warms around she excitedly tells me about these nicknames as if it was important. But I have to admit... there's something about it.

"I'll... think about it." I nod at her.

"All right. Let's get on the train to the next district." The tailed man says as we trail behind him.

Maybe finally, I'll figure out what the doctor meant for me to do.