Achromatic Neuroticism [Global Examination]

Chapter 7: Espresso

922 couldn't be more happy to find out that they were done with paperwork.

Actually done.

The bulk of the paperwork was regarding some major incident or another that had occurred before Wen Yuan had become an invigilator, but that was all complete. Now, all they had to work on was the minor stuff, or whatever issues were being addressed during the monthly meetings regarding glitches or bug fixes.

No more did they (or really, 154) have to spend half their lives slaving away to finish paperwork while in the middle of invigilating some examinations.

But while 922 thought that this was a good thing, and that they could finally relax... apparently, 154 had different ideas.

922's idea of resting was to sleep, cook some delicious meals that needed hours of preparation, now that he had the time to do so... maybe also trying out some new recipes...

As for 154... his idea of resting was pulling books off the shelves of the invigilator's quarters, even though they were mostly just there as props, and reading through them like a university student studying desperately for their university entrance exam.

How 154 found that relaxing, 922 had no fucking idea, but it was one of the many quirks the younger invigilator had that just made him endearing.

After working together for the past few months, invigilating exams, and occasionally attending meetings... while things between them were initially awkward, with the three of them having seemingly clashing personalities, they actually got along pretty well.

He wasn't one to get attached easily; as friendly as Wen Yuan was... having his memories stolen from him, and suddenly learning that Qin Jiu no longer recognized him... Knowing that any friends he made could be so easily ripped away from him... that made it very hard for him to get close to anyone.

But it was hard to not get close to Qin Jiu and 154.

A boss and a colleague, even if said boss actually didn't give a single shit about his authority, and said colleague acted more like the boss, constantly trying to finish all the paperwork as soon as possible.

They all had their share of issues, but their little group could handle most issues that were thrown their way quite easily.

922 thought it was nice to finally have companions; people he could actually call his friends, instead of just rotating through various invigilator groups, filling in any empty slots when an exam occurred.

And during this period of time, 922 thought that he'd learnt a lot about 154; not to say that he didn't grow closer to 001, but Qin Jiu preferred keeping to himself, and Wen Yuan was already somewhat familiar with him while they were both examinees.

001 also gave off this feeling of longing... perhaps that wasn't the right word; mourning would be a more accurate statement.

154 was a very interesting person. He always tried to give off this feeling that he didn't really care what was going on, but it was just so obvious that he did care.

Just like now, out of the corner of his eye, he could see 154 peeking into the kitchen, watching as he tested out a new recipe for lamb chops.

922 would like to pick up some other hobbies as well, such as knitting, or maybe learning how to fix machines, so they wouldn't have to ask the System for the help in case something broke, but alas, his hands just kept aching and shaking whenever he tried to make small, delicate movements.

Oh well, he'd be content with cooking and learning new recipes for now, especially since he had two extremely compliant taste testers. 001 was the wildest examinee he knew, and would wreck havic whenever he was the given the opportunity to do so.