Walking on the black asphalt that led him to the dormitory's front garden, Cain turned to the left and saw a long building layered with metal and glass standing imposingly.
Despite their tiredness, the walk to the cafeteria was filled with Abel's boundless energy. He looked up, his eyes squinting from the reflection of the blinding sunlight that pierced his eyes.
"Rika, what kind of food do you think they'll serve us?"
Abel asked, his expression beaming because this was the first time he would eat something prepared by the government.
As a child who grew up on the city outskirts, Abel expected the food to be a legendary dish made from real ingredients cultivated by experts in the city centre.
Unlike his daily meal, it was a bit bland and had a gooey texture. But the blonde boy didn't want to deny or belittle it, for it was necessary for human life.
Yet, contrary to his belief, Cain and Rika did not share Abel's expectations; the glow on their faces dimmed, as if they knew what they would receive.
'Yeah, I can still remember this part. If I'm not mistaken…?'
Before Cain could continue his thought, Rika cut in with a low tone while letting out a sharp sigh, placing a hand on Abel's back.
"Don't expect too much, Abel."
"!?"
Abel tilted his head, unsure of what was happening inside the heads of his two friends. Cain didn't say much and just nodded slowly as they arrived at the entrance.
A twin iron door with a convex camera lens mounted above it greeted them with a sharp glint. The lens blinked red, in the process of scanning the cadets' biometrics and transmitted the data to the military database.
The lens turned green in a blink, and the twin gate hissed, opening the way for the cadets toward the inside building.
They entered a long corridor, and each of the walls was covered in steel plates. At the end was a branching path, and a digital screen hung above the wall that displayed a direction.
"So, it's this way."
Abel nodded, taking the left path and walking ahead of Rika. Meanwhile, the girl occasionally peeked back at Cain, her sharp red eyes as curious as ever.
Cain gritted his teeth, barely holding his wry smile from coming out. He tried to ignore the tingling sensation on his neck by looking straight ahead toward Abel's back.
Not long after, they arrived at a glass door that opened automatically with their arrival.
The interior was spacious and could accommodate hundreds of cadets, but the place was empty; only long, rectangular tables and chairs were arranged neatly.
In the deepest part, there was a gap on a wall, which connected to the kitchen where the chefs prepare their meals.
"Haha, Rika, Cain, we're so lucky because this place is still empty, come on, let's get our food!"
"Calm down, Abel!"
Cain saw the two of them running, or Rika being pulled by the ecstatic Abel. He shrugged, hearing the blonde boy's laughter echo in this vast place.
'Well it's good to have high expectations.' Cain sneered.
However, when Cain followed behind them, the excitement instantly disappeared as the blonde boy hunched his back.
He stole a glance ahead, nodding to himself. 'Did he find out?.'
It was understandable, first, that the workers behind the kitchen counter were not organic beings but androids.
Second, instead of a real meal, several silver trays containing packaged food that was very familiar to the common people's palate lay in front of them.
'Nutrition jelly.'
Cain furrowed his brows, even though he already knew what they would receive.
"W-Why?"
Abel's whimper drew the attention of Rika and Cain; they let out a light sigh and patted the poor boy's shoulder simultaneously.
"Never mind, just accept what we get. Look, there's a strawberry flavor, you like that one, right?"
Rika took two packs of the same-flavoured jelly and gave one to Abel. His slumped posture slowly improved, and he took the jelly from Rika's hand. They walked to the nearest table.
Unlike them, Cain's eyes swept through the jelly packs, analyzing all the flavour variants and curious about one crucial thing.
He raised his hand and faced the android before him.
"Can I take two packs?"
A buzzing sound accompanied by a 'crackle' occurred as the robot in front of him nodded, then opened its rigid mouth.
"Yes, of course, there is no problem. Please take as much as you want. Because we have prepared a lot of nutritional jelly in the supply warehouse."
"O-Okay, thank you."
Cain nodded and took two packs of jelly with coffee and chocolate flavours. He immediately caught up with the other two and sat at a table beside Abel.
Abel's eyes widened as soon as Cain arrived. He saw the grey-haired boy slam two packs of jelly onto the table.
"C-Cain, why do you have two?"
Rika pulled the jelly pack from her mouth and glared at the jelly in Cain's hand.
"Ah, the android guard there said it wasn't a problem if I took two packs or more."
Silence reigned around them before Abel and Rika exchanged glances and abruptly stood up from their chairs.
Seeing their backs standing at the counter, Cain opened the seal of the coffee-flavoured jelly and put it into his mouth.
He gave a little squeeze, and something cold and bouncy entered his mouth. A touch of mildness spread in his mouth, soothing his tense expression as it left a slight bitter aftertaste.
'This bitterness is unparalleled.'
The pack in his hand withered in one slurp, so Cain immediately pulled it away from his mouth.
'Despite its appearance, this jelly is very delicious!'
Not only that, but with added technology, the packaged jelly contained many other nutrients, like protein and minerals, needed by the body for the recovery process, making the jelly a practical item and also easy to mass-produce prep meals.
Cain immediately opened the other pack and sipped its contents. This time, the sweetness that melted in his mouth relaxed the nerves in his body, and he leaned back in his chair.
'Huff, this is bliss!'
With a smirk, biting the edge of the jelly pack in his mouth, Cain proceeded to lean further, lifting the chair's feet up, and began to rack his brain about his plan for the future.
After getting the mysterious system that cost part of his memory, the first thing he needed to do was fill that gap with information about the world he was currently living in.
'I need to go to the library.'
"I never thought I could take several packs of jelly."
"Abel, isn't that too much?"
The voices of Abel and Rika snapped Cain from his own thoughts. He shifted his attention, and his pupil shrank to see a mound of strawberry-flavoured jelly on the table.
"That's too much, oi!"
Cain unconsciously cursed, while Abel scratched his cheek and quickly devoured all the jelly himself.
'How can he eat all of that with such a smile on his face?'
In the opposite seat, Rika let out a long sigh as she watched Abel with anything but affection.
'There's no helping these two, haa.'
The grey-haired boy shook his head and pulled the empty jelly pack from his lips, waiting for his two friends to finish eating.
After some time, Abel smiled widely while patting his slightly bulging stomach. The three stood at a disposal hole beside the counter and threw the remaining empty packaging.
"Where are you two going after this?"
Abel asked, glancing left and right to hear their respective interests. Rika glanced to the side and answered.
"Probably in my room. I want to use this free time to read the book I borrowed from the library."
Hearing that, Cain leaned backwards, trying to get Rika's attention.
"Miss Rika, if I may ask, where is the library?"
Abel looked at Rika, and the girl pointed toward the entrance with her thumb.
"You remember the intersection in the corridor earlier, right?"
"Yeah."
"Take the opposite path from this cafeteria, and you will find your way to the library."
"Alright, thank you."
Rika nodded, raised her hand to look at her smartwatch, scrolled through the main screen and started preparing something.
"So, I'm the only one with free time."
Abel scratched his cheek, seemingly embarrassed that he was the only one with no other activity.
"You should read more, Abel!"
"Eh, you know me, right? Seeing even one paragraph makes me sleepy."
"Seriously you!"
The two began to exchange banter. Cain watched with a faint smile and turned around while raising his hand.
"Then we'll part ways here. See you again tomorrow."
"Yes, see you."
"..."
Leaving the cafeteria, the long silver corridor greeted him happily. White neon light cast its brilliance as it hung above the corridor, extending to the end.
Cain's footsteps bounced off the metal wall as he walked through the gentle silence, which embraced him in tranquillity.
He passed through the corridor leading him to the entrance gate and arrived at the next intersection.
'Library? There it is.'
Cain looked up at the directional monitor. He moved to the right path, then left, and straight until he met an iron door with a plate written 'Library' on its side.
As he stood in front of it, the door slid open and blew a fresh breeze mixed with the scent of paper into his nose.
'Finally here.'
He entered a large, circular room that towered several floors high and had a spiral staircase in every corner.
Many curved bookshelves lined up in a circle, creating a maze-like gap. In the middle of it all was a circular counter with several librarians sitting behind it.
Cain strolled toward the counter and was greeted by one of the female librarians there. The woman smiled and opened her mouth.
"Welcome, is there anything I can help you with?"
"I'm here to borrow some books."
"I understand, could you please show me your smartwatch."
He raised his hand, and the woman offered a cube-like device with an intricate circuit line around its surface, which she placed right in front of Cain.
"Please bring your smartwatch close to this part."
His fingers clenched into a fist for a moment, but he eventually pressed his watch against the square line around the cube.
One, two seconds passed until a 'beep' sound made him instinctively pull his hand back.
"Cadet Cain, is that correct?"
"Yes."
Cain nodded while muttering in his heart. 'So the system won't detect external interference, huh?'
"So what kind of books do you want to borrow?"
The boy took a deep breath, trying to recall the plan he had made in the cafeteria earlier.
"The books I want to borrow are…"