The fork clinked softly against the tray.
Sunny stared at the jumble of foods on his plate, with muted interest. The meal, compared to the synthetic paste, was fantastic, but even that standard didn't mean it was anything special; it was pretty decent for himself and pretty bad for the students of higher status.
It's not like he mixed it specifically well; he just grabbed what looked the most appetising and shoved that onto the plate. There was no well-combined mixture of plates, textures, and tastes. He would of continued the little amount still left on his plate...
If not for the amber eyes staring into him at the moment.
From the other side in front of him was a scruffy-looking young man, slightly older than Sunny himself. With shaggy dark hair and skin that was littered with many scars. His mouth was full of chicken, gorging away as he stared at Sunny.
He clearly wanted to say something, but his mouth was full, and he wasn't stopping anytime soon. And it was particularly loud, like a starving vulture finding its first corpse within miles.
*Munch* *Crunch* Sluuuurrp
'I swear to god if he keeps doing, I'll shut his mouth for him!' Sunny forehead showed a visible pulsing vein as he tried to keep his irritation hidden and failed miserably.
Its not like Sunny didn't know who the invader to his peace was, It was the newcomer that randomly showed up. Kade, Sunny had heard that he beat up Nephis of all people. Along with him is also his true name, 'Heart of Chaos'. He was quite the anomaly, and Sunny was unsure why the troublemaker would pay any attention to him of all people.
Three things came to mind.
Option 1 Bully.
Classic thug manoeuvre. Kade was from the outskirts too, rumours said as much, and unlike Sunny, he hadn't learnt the fine art of hiding behind nothingness. Maybe the brawler thought Sunny was a soft mark. Easy ego boost.
Option 2 Loan Shark.
Maybe he wanted something. Money. Leverage. A Favor. The kind of man who threatens people in alleys for their shoes might mistake Sunny for the type who'd owe him something just for breathing in the same air.
Option 3 Ally.
Least likely of the bunch. But maybe Kade had seen something in him. Some shared spark. A mirror of the streets they both crawled out of. A kinship from shared wounds.
Sunny stared at Kade.
Loud. Crude. and a magnet of chaos, like his name suggested, someone who thought themselves stronger than everyone around him.
Either way, he should probably say something. Make use of the opportunity.
Especially after… last night.
Sunny himself should probably make use of the opportunity to get close. After what happened last night. It was the thing most present thing that had been on his mind.
-Sunny woke up at 2 am with quick knocks on his door, and when he opened it, all he found was a package with a note attached. The words from Sunny's memories read something like.
"Hello, Sleeper, Sunless. I've recently been looking for someone in the Academy who could be of... use. Your situation is ideal, a nobody with no connections.
I just need you to kill one of the recent transfers. A guy named Kade.
It's something personal. I'd really like that imbecile dead before he awakens."
He had the message in shock; to receive a request from an unknown person to assassinate a student was not an everyday thing. Sunny would not bother, of course, with some idiot's plea to try and use him, so he skimmed everything else until the very last section.
"If you do manage to kill him, I'll send you a little gift of six million credits.
It's not much to me.
But I think you'll find it convincing enough to consider my ask.
In the meantime, I've sent a token of good faith inside the package, Think of it as prepayment."
That last part though had caught his attention.
"6 MILLION CREDITS!?"
With that kind of money, Sunny could find himself living the snobby life of some rich awakened, and he wouldn't even have to work every day! He could watch the world from some high apartment with the most lavish of foods and the perfect abode for a person such as himself.
The good faith gift being an ascended soul shard, the stranger did not know that such a thing was useless to Sunny from his shadow core, yet it meant one thing.
The offer was most likely legit if they were willing to offer something like this.
It was his dream on a silver platter, and he would be stupid not to consider it.
Not to mention that this was exactly the kind of thing Sunny thought himself doing when he received his aspect, an assassin who stuck to the shadows and killed those who were none the wiser; it was the perfect start to a career in the business.
He could already see it, a sleek ATV, cutting through the polished roads of some high-rise district. Personalised security drones and skilled awakened bodyguards doing the dirty work. A fridge full of absurdly expensive dishes that made his mouth water. The kind of life you could only dream about in the outskirts.
All he had to do was kill the guy who had the monster that was Nephis.
Sure. That was impossible... if you did it the dumb way.
All he had to do was kill the guy who had defeated the monster that was Nephis. It was impossible, only if he did it the dumb way.
He could wait until his back was open, and no matter how strong or quick he was, a dagger in the throat would get the job done, and the guy who thought he was above the world would bleed at his feet.
'With the way he's stuffing himself right now, it only makes it more tempting!'
Kade finally finished his meal, quickly sucking the leftovers that had managed to get on his fingers, his amber eyes not moving from the scruffy kid who seemed to only get angrier as time went on. He didn't know why he was so mad to the point Kade was somewhat worried that the prominent vein on his forehead would burst.
And when the kid finally stopped reddening in place and went back for another bite of food, Kade questioned with amusement.
Kade finally finished his meal, sucking the last bits of sauce from his fingers with audible satisfaction. His amber eyes hadn't left the scruffy kid across from him, who, by now, looked like he was barely restraining the urge to commit a crime.
Kade tilted his head, half-concerned, half-entertained.
"Hey there… Sunny, right? I don't know what I did, but are you good? Because it kind of looks like you want to kill me."
Sunny froze.
But with a mouthful of food, it only came out with.
"YE—COUGH, AAGH, Ye—YE—sssss—Wheeze"
His face went crimson. The coughing turned violent. And then. Dead silence.
He was choking.
'Oh shit'
The blind girl beside him, who had been silent this whole time, jerked upright in alarm.
"Sunny?!"
Dawn, who had been watching the awkward interaction with growing unease, sprang into motion. But Kade moved faster, vaulting over the table in a single bound and landing behind Sunless just as he began to keel over, gasping and choking.
The blind girl's voice rang out again, more distressed.'
"What's happening?! Is he okay?"
Sunny was now keeling over fighting for his life, he had lived through challenges that would have killed another sleeper in his nightmare, from the cold clutches of fridge mountains, an awakened tyrant and the despicable Auro of the nine.
Yet he was losing to his measly cafeteria lunch. All thanks to his [clear conscience].
It was incredibly embarrassing and infuriating to experience; he would curse the world at the top of his lungs if he could actually speak, never mind breathing.
Luckily Kade had dashed over and helped in his own way.
Sunny felt himself collapse forward as Kade slapped between his shoulder blades, the pain shuddering through as he repeated again and again.
"Just cough it up and breathe, BREATH" Kade repeated striking his back.
'WOW, WHAT GREAT ADVICE, AS IF I'M NOT TRYING MY F*CKING BEST TOO JACKASS'
Eventually with the help of Dawn who actually knew what to do, Sunless found himself finally coughing up the killer leftovers, his airways taking the sweet cold sanitised breath of fresh air.
Sunny hunched forward, gasping for air, one hand braced against the table and the other holding his ribs like they might fall out.
"...I hate this place," he wheezed.
Kade grinned, crouching beside him still patting his back but ever lighter now.
"See? Told you coughing works."
"I was coughing, you brainless, ill-matured mongrel. You just made it hurt more!"
Dawn sighed, offering Sunny a napkin and a sympathetic glance.
"You okay now?"
Cassie leaned in, still visibly shaken. "Sunny… please don't do that again"
The bystanders who had watched the chaos now staring with Envy rather than pity as the two pretty blond girls offered their sympathies. Sunless still slightly gazed at the stranger that was Dawn and bashfully accepted the napkin.
"I'm somewhat ok for now"
He glanced at Kade one more time.
At his very dumb-looking face.
'Six million credits' he reminded himself.
He couldn't do it right now, but the time would come.
And then, he would hit the jackpot.