Paper

A Murder of Crows

The following day, everyone had a small package sent to each of their dorms. Inside was a small plastic card with their face, name, and a few other pieces of information on the front, along with a code on the back.

This is so you'll be let into any part of the main building. It also works for the others, too, and your dorm. Work starts whenever you'd like it too, the time is pretty flexible here. Once you're ready, come to the Hacking and Tech. Division and I'll tell you what we're going to be doing today.

~ Shuko-san

Everyone arrived in the HT Division at different times. The only person who was there when Ace got there was Jing. That was at 8:27 AM. The next people were Nina and Reuben, about two hours later. Rhydian and Raj came shortly after. Luca came around 11:00, Jasmin half an hour later. Oscar arrived approximately 13 minutes after Jasmin had. Shuko came at 12:40.

"How are you two friends?" Oscar asked Shuko as he watched Ace pull up his computer. "I mean... early birds and night owls don't really seem to mix well, from my experience."

Shuko shrugged. "No idea. Honestly, Aka-chin and I are quite different in a lot of ways. But we're also really similar at the same time," He said with a grin. "Right, Aka-chin?"

The hacker looked at Ace, who gave him a slightly absentminded nod before beginning to type. Shuko sighed and crossed his legs. "An-y-way, I think I should try and fill you guys in on what I know about this virus and about a million other things."

Reuben crossed his arms. "I have a question first."

"Hm?"

Reuben raised an eyebrow. "How come you're going to share all of this information with us when you just met us a day ago? Isn't this kind of risky for you?" He asked, playing with his lip ring. Shuko gave Reuben a half-smile.

"Yeah, I suppose it is a little odd to do things like that..." He put a finger on his chin and looked up at the ceiling. "But Aka-chin seems to trust you- well, he wasn't hesitant to bring you here, that is. So that tells me a good deal about you all. Not to mention, I've researched all of you and gained a lot of useful information from that and from observations. You're all pretty trustworthy, in my opinion, so I don't see why I shouldn't tell you," Shuko explained, leaning back and putting his hands behind him on the desk to support himself.

Reuben ran a hand through his ashy blue hair, looking at the papers on his desk thoughtfully. "Yeah, I guess you have a point." He glanced up at Shuko again. "But that doesn't really explain why you need us here."

Luca and Rhydian voiced agreement with Reuben while Oscar remained silent and watched Shuko through narrowed gray eyes. Jasmin was combing his hair but listening all the same.

Shuko shrugged at Reuben's statement, not bothered by it. "I just feel like you all have potential. You all have your own special talents that can probably be used at a time like this." He paused and pulled out a bag of shrimp chips before continuing. "Because you see, no one here is ordinary," Shuko said with a smirk.

Oscar blinked. "What do you mean by that?" He asked, both puzzled and even a bit offended,  although he would never in a trillion years want to be called ordinary.

Shuko popped a shrimp chip in his mouth. "Well, everyone who works in The Wisdom has their own special sort of quirk. Raj-sama called me a quirk in itself when I first joined." The 19-year-old's tongue swiped around his lips. "Raj-sama has a quirk too. So does Jing, Nina, the twins- even Aka-chin here has a quirk of sorts," Shuko explained. "You all have your own weird things about you, too. But hey, weird is what makes the world interesting, right?" He smiled and closed his eyes at the group. Jasmin couldn't help but chuckle a little, Reuben doing the same.