VARSITY 9 | BL

TWELVE | G407

As Wen entered Building G, he was welcomed by a very nice lounge area with sofas, tables, chairs, collaboration spaces, and hologram projectors. Just beyond the lounge space stemmed two hallways in opposing directions down which several rooms were flanked on each side. The skywalk connected to the third level, so Wen and Lay had to find their way to the fourth level before they could search for their rooms. 

Arriving at Level 4, another lounge area greeted the two as they stepped out of the lift. Though smaller than the lounge on the third level, this relaxation space was still furnished with multiple forms of seating and study tables. Walking through the lounge, Wen and Lay turned right down the hallway containing the range of dorms that contained their rooms. 

407, 407...407... Wen muttered his dorm number in his mind as he walked down the hallway, passing several rooms in the process. Finally finding the door with the number 407 scribed into it, Wen released a breath before activating his holowatch and holding it in front of the door's passkey device.

Finding his dorm right across from Wen's, Lay also unlocked his room before entering. The two boys looked back and gave each other a quick side smile before closing their dorm doors. Once inside, Wen turned around and observed his home for the year.

The room was much larger than he had expected; if offered its two residences ample space to move about freely without the fear of bumping into any corners of the supplied furniture. Two beds separated the room into two equal sections with nightstands on either side of the beds. A closet and bathroom stemmed from the east and west sides of the room, providing each resident their own, private shower, sink, toilet, and walk-in closet. A table for studying with shelves above was also provided for each student.

After gawking at the spacious dorm, Wen noticed his bags had already been delivered and were sitting on the bed situated on the right side of the dorm. Walking to the bed, Wen also saw a fresh set of clothes folded neatly beside his bags. Picking up the shirt on top, Wen held up the piece of clothing to see it was his new school uniform.

A blazer, pair of socks, and tie were laid on the bed next to the shirt and pants. Going through the uniform, Wen saw Azari's symbol (※) embroidered on the blazer and shirt, and his name also made an appearance on the navy blazer. Aligning with Azari's official colors of navy and grey, the tie and socks were a light grey while the blazer and pants were navy. Though the shirt was white, the color had a light grey trim, making it fit in nicely with the rest of the outfit. 

Exploring the rest of the dorm, Wen opened the walk-in closet to see several more sets of uniform pieces already stocked. Long-sleeved shirts, vests, sweaters, and hoodies were a few items that accompanied the extra sets of regular uniform pieces, each embroidered with Azari's symbol.

Wen's eyes widened at the number of clothes that already filled the walk-in closet. He had never had so many sets of clothes in his life! Several pairs of shoes and a set of slippers had also been provided. Noticing a tracksuit hanging toward the back, Wen stepped into the deep closet and inadvertently activated the motion-sensor lights. 

Much like the uniform, the tracksuit was designed using Azari's colors; it was mostly navy with light grey highlights. Wen assumed this was what he would wear during training sessions. Wen briefly swept his eyes over the remainder of the closet before turning and exiting the spacious space for clothes.

As he exited the closet, the door to the main dorm room chirped as it was unlocked by its second resident. Looking toward the door, Wen stood with his hands in his pockets as he waited to see who he would be living with for the upcoming academic year.

"Oh, this is nice!" Toma's jaw dropped as he stepped into Room G407. After quickly looking around the room, his eyes landed on the boy quietly watching him from in front of one of the closets.

"Oh! It's you!" Recognizing the boy as the one who helped him find his friend back on the landing pad, Toma smiled when he saw his new dormmate. "Nice to see you again...ehh..." Sucking through his teeth, Toma brought his hand to his head when he realized he had not caught the brown-haired's name at their first meeting. "What was your name again?"

"Wen." Hands still in his pockets, Wen walked over to his bed before sitting down. "That's your side." Pointing to the left half of the dorm, Wen gestured to the bags on Toma's bed.

"Thanks!" Toma excitedly began exploring the spacious dorm after taking off his bright yellow jacket and tossing it onto the bed. "This is a pretty neat place!"

Toma turned toward his roommate when he was answered by silence. When Wen did not respond but just lay down and folded his arm over his eyes, Toma pursed his lips before going to his bed and opening one of his four duffle bags. Retrieving energy drink after energy drink, Toma's bed was soon covered with the canned, fizzy drinks.

Opening the top drawer to one of his nightstands, Toma filled it with his numerous cans of Gized. Once his drawer was freshly stocked with energy drinks, Toma then began unpacking the rest of his clothes that filled two of the duffle bags. The remaining bag was his extra stock of Gized should he run out of the first bag sooner than expected.

Peeking out from under his arm, Wen silently raised a brow when he saw just how many energy drinks Toma was stocked with. Geez, this kid's gonna give himself a heart attack. It was nearly a very unhealthy amount. 

Lifting his arm in front of his eyes, Wen checked their schedule for the rest of the day to see that dinner began in roughly half an hour. The icon of an exclamation mark appeared at the front of Wen's holowatch, indicating he had received a new message or announcement. Tapping the icon, Wen opened the message.

It read as such:

Welcome to Azari, Yywen! Hope you're settling in nicely. This is a reminder to wear the uniform provided on your bed to dinner as the inaugural ceremony will take place right after and will be when your class's photo will be taken. 

"Oh! Did you just see the notification?" Toma lowered his arm after reading the new message and turned to Wen to inform his roommate of the news.

Sitting up on the bed, Wen nodded. "Yeah, I saw it." Scooting to the edge of the bed, Wen placed his feet on the ground before standing and grabbing the folded pieces of clothing. 

Toma was already changed and ready by the time Wen exited the bathroom. Dressed in their new uniforms, Wen and his new roommate were ready for dinner. With roughly twenty-five minutes left until dinner, Wen left his dorm and walked across the hallway to check on Lay.

Knocking on the door of his friend's dorm, Wen patiently waited for someone to answer. Hyper and curious, Toma followed Wen out of their dorm and waited with the brown-haired to see what was going on. Wen let the chipmunk be and did not mind Toma tagging along. He seemed harmless, and if he was going to be spending a lot of time with Wen, it would be good for him to get to know Lay as well.

After a few moments of silence, Wen heard a squeal come from the other side of the door. Recognizing the voice to be Lay's, Wen became alarmed. He had never heard Lay make such a sound. 

What's going on? Furrowing his brows, Wen stepped closer to the door as it was opened. What met Wen was the furthest thing from what he had expected. A shirtless male, who stood at least six inches taller than Wen, filled up the doorway into Room 406, and just in front of him stood a wide-eyed, red-faced Lay who was extremely flustered and looked as if he had seen something he did not want to see.