Chapter 61: New Rules

The echoing walls, singing like angels to the students' ears as they walked by the colossal hallway of the Academy's underground. Whether it was a mistake or not, Prophet followed through with his words. A few hours after his speech, the students were each handed their very own personal smartphone-- to be used during their stay in the Academy.

And the angels that were singing in the hallway?

It was just Gary singing as he worshipped the little device in his hands, raising it towards the ceiling as he hummed beautifully without pause for almost a full 5 minutes now. He was about to stop a minute ago, but as soon as he realized that the phone could be unfolded to become a tablet, he once again started with his hymn.

"This… is much better than the phone I have outside," Silvie muttered as she examined the phone while walking, almost treating it as some sort of treasure as she doesn't want to test its fragility, "Isn't this the… Universe Fold Z something? I think I saw the ads before we entered the Academy."

But even though Gary, Silvie, Hannah, Tomoe, and Riley already had the phones in their hands, none of them was still turning it on. Well, except for Hannah.

"...Not quite," Hannah answered Silvie's question, "They look similar, but I am pretty sure it doesn't have this feature."

"What's… that?"

The group then all turned their heads as soon as they were greeted with a wave… coming from a miniature hologram of some kind of animated person… that very much closely resembles Mega Woman.

[Hello, I am your very own friendly Mobile Enterprise Gateway Activity Network, or MEGAN for short!]

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"...That seems awfully made up," Gary squinted his eyes as he leaned closer towards the hologram, "But… isn't this Mega Woman?"

[First of all, I would like to hear my owner's voice: Nuclear Baby. Can you please say 'Hello'?]

"Shh!" Hannah quickly pushed Gary's face away as she greeted the hologram, who surprisingly, faced in her direction as soon as she did so.

[Voice successfully registered!]

The hologram, MEGAN, then began instructing Hannah on the several features of the phone; also explaining that most of the apps she needs are already installed on the phone. But other than the intricate and sophisticated A.I, it really was not that much different from the phones she was used to.

[One final thing before I go!] MEGAN then waved her finger a couple of times before letting out a cute hum, [Your device is currently monitoring everything even at its Idle state. Would you like to turn it off?]

"Turn it off! Turn it off! What the fuck!"

[Idle Monitoring is now off. But please be advised that whenever you are using your phone, Video and Audio Monitoring will always be active due to security purposes. And that is all! You can always call me by saying my name, MEGAN!]

And with that, the mini hologram instantly disappeared, leaving a set of baffled expressions.

"They… can't even keep a god-damn list from getting into the hands of villains and now they are seriously recording our shit?" Hannah quickly furrowed her eyebrows as soon as MEGAN disappeared, "Fuck, I suppose it's better than nothing…

...Riley, let's go!"

"What, where are you guys going?" Silvie quickly asked, "I thought we were going to the Shaved Ice store?"

"You guys go on ahead," Hannah waved his hand before grabbing Riley and dragging him by the wrist, "We need to talk to someone."

"We will wait for you in the sherbet patisserie, Master Riley," Tomoe only politely bowed before proceeding to leave without waiting for Silvie and Gary.

"...Are you thinking what I am thinking, Silvie?" Gary then whispered sneakily as he stared at Tomoe's back.

"I hope not," Silvie sighed.

"Since it's only us three…

...we can corner Tomoe and ask her about what her relationship with Riley is."

"...I see."

***

"Why did we leave the others, sister?" Riley could not help but slightly tilt his head to the side as he looked at Hannah, "I was quite looking forward to the Mango Graham."

"Shh, shut up," Hannah said as she continued to drag Riley away, not stopping until they were alone somewhere on the ground level of the Academy, surrounded and hidden within the trees.

"Something has been seriously bothering me for a long while now, and I just need to get it out of my chest," Hannah finally let go of Riley's wrist as soon as they got deeper into the shrubs, "Riley, I…

...I am going to call mom."

"They put our parents' numbers on the phone?" Riley blinked a couple of times as he also grabbed his phone; returning it to his pocket after looking at it for a few seconds, "But I do not know why I need to be here for that, sister."

"What? Don't you miss mom?" Hannah then said as she searched through the phone's incorporated contacts. She tried searching for her mother's name, but could not find it. She was about to click her tongue in disappointment, but before she could do so, she saw the contact labeled as 'Mother'.

Of course, they wouldn't put any real names on the phone-- even their social media was pre-made with their superhero names… which she should probably check as soon as possible after this is over, Hannah thought.

"Should I be missing her, sister?"

"What? Of course!" Hannah raised her voice as she called her mother's number, "Wait until I tell her about your inappropriate relationship with that hag. You and father are fucked."

"Ah," Riley breathed out, "So that's why we're here."

"Damn right it--"

[Dear!? Is that you!?]

"M… mom?"

And as soon as Diana's voice seeped out from the speakers of the phone, any bravado or weight that Hannah had in her voice crumbled, turning into a stutter as her face almost turned into a cherry.

"I… I miss you, mom." Hannah then whispered as she tried her best to fight the tears that wanted to burst out from her eyes. Her body could withstand heat that was enough to melt steel beams in seconds, but the warmth building in her eyes almost threatened to burn her away.

[I miss you too, dear. I miss you too,] Diana's voice was calm, but there was also a slight tremble in her voice that was hard not to miss, [I keep hearing updates about you and Riley from your father, but I still can't help but worry since I'm not there with you.]

"W… we're fine, mom. We're fine. Riley's with me; he says he misses you too.]

[No,] Diana sternly breathed, [You're not fine, dear. I heard about what happened to your class… all those kids. You… you could have been one of them.]

"S… seriously, I'm fine," Hannah then sniffled as she wiped the tears on her eyes before they could leave a trace on her face. The two continued to talk with each other, with Hannah asking what was happening in the outside world from time to time.

But after a few seconds, she took in a long and deep breath.

"What you should be worried about is Riley, mom," she then said, her tone slowly regaining its weight.

[Why!? What happened to your brother!?]

"..." Riley and Hannah's eyes met, but Riley only shrugged his shoulders in response.

"I think she is dating one of the instructors," Hannah then squinted her eyes, "She's about 10 years younger than him, I think."

[Ah, yes. Your father told me.]

"...And!? Did you punch him!?"

[I think it will be good for your brother, no?]

"...Excuse me?"

[If he dates people his age, I am sure they won't be able to give the attention and care he needs.]

"Wait… you don't think it's inappropriate!? Riley is only turning 17 this month!"

[I know, he grows up so fast.]

"Wha-- You know what, never mind! I'll call again soon! I love you, mom. Goodbye!" Hannah then quickly hung up the call before screaming out in frustration,

"You're all idiots! All of you!"

"Father has an IQ of 152, sister. So I don't think it's fair to--"

"What's the use of that god-damn IQ if he's stupid!?" Hannah once again stomped her foot on the ground, "Let's just go! Don't come to me if that old hag breaks your heart!"

"Thank you for your concern, sister," Riley blinked a couple of times before following behind Hannah, "But…

...I don't have a heart to break."

"Agh, stop. That's cringe. Gary is starting to rub off on you!" Hannah shivered, "And if you're going to have a romance with someone, I prefer it to be with someone like that Tomoe chick!"

"Tomoe? That is an interesting choice, sister," Riley muttered, "But what about you? Are… in romance with someone?"

"What? Do you think I have time to be with a guy while I am busy looking after you, you little turd," Hannah sighed, "At this point, I am going to die without falling in love, marrying, little shits running around the house, dying of old age with someone beside me."

"I will be beside you when you die, sister."

"I meant a husband! See? This is exactly what I am talking about!"

"...Then can't I just become your husband to solve that dilemma, sister?"

"..." Hannah stopped in her tracks as soon as she heard Riley's words, "Really? You'll do that for me?"

"Of course," Riley nodded, "Because as you said, you will probably die of old age without a husband because no one will fall in love with your unpleasant personality."

"I see," Hannah then let out a warm smile as she looked Riley straight in the eyes, "Do…

...you want to die?"

***

"Hm? What, this stupid asshole is still alive?"

Somewhere in the country, a skinny man with several bags of chips by his side was staring at his computer; his index finger, almost slipping from the button of his mouse because of all the grease collected on it.

"Hello unsubscribe button, and now your subscriber is down from 30 to 29," the skinny man then giggled as he moved his hand. However, before he could click a button, a newly uploaded video on the channel he was visiting caught his eye.

The skinny man was currently on the most famous video streaming platform in the world, YouView. He has no regular job, only relying on the measly income he gets from writing stupid lightnovels in the internet.

The man should be writing right now, but instead, he was busy wasting his time searching for funny videos that would make his life at least have a semblance of happiness. But perhaps it was fate for him to open YouView at that exact same moment.

"What… no fucking way," the skinny man then said as he clicked on the particular video that caught his eye,

"...The fucker's actually in Mega Academy!"

He was the first ever civilian to watch and share a vlog straight from inside Mega Academy.