re: INITIATIVE [Detective Fiction]

[#05.5]

"The acquaintance party," the moderator spoke, "When I saw you guys present at the club orientation, I thought you both looked familiar."

Ah yes, professor Yasuda was also present at the acquaintance party, and for sure, also witnessed the incident that happened there too, as well as how L and Joshua worked together to clear L's name, along with Chris'. Perhaps he only wanted to see how much they could do, and he seemed to think that Joshua and L possessed the potential he seemed to have been looking for.

"It's gonna be a long process to completely change the Math club into something else," sir Yasuda said, "but the Math club's practically a helping club already, so it would basically still be the same. It would still be on your discretion whether to accept certain requests or not, anyway..." he said meekly.

"I'll be starting the first phase of the process once I get back to my office. Since we're completely overturning the whole thing, a new club needs a new name.

"Well, I'll be off," He said, walking out of the doorway.

The door of the clubroom slowly shut, and they were all rendered silent.

"Well. That happened." Joshua commented.

"Isn't this exciting? This is my first time encountering something as crucial as renaming a club!" Exclaimed Ardee.

"So we're really doing it, huh? Is naming it really that crucial?" L chimed in.

Interestingly, renaming clubs don't seem to be very common. In her two years of studying here, she claimed it was her first time renaming a club. That must've been a big deal for both sir Yasuda and miss Cathy Myers for them to go as far as to completely overturn the Math club. As to the reason why, no one had any idea really, but it seemed to have been important.

"Of course it is!" Ardee instinctively slammed her hand on the table as Joshua cowered in surprise.

"We probably won't have this opportunity ever again!" She continued. She seemed very enthusiastic.

'How's this gonna end up this time?' Thought Axel.

Their debates on the best name for the club went on until sunset, and in the end, figured out a name for themselves.

«The Initiative»

That was the name they finally decided on. The whole session, L was passive; it didn't really matter to him what the club name would be. He just wanted a place to stay during breaks, that's all. Maybe take up a few requests, but the point wasn't to get all worked up within the club itself.

The new club name was finally sent to the moderator's office, and the Math club posters on holographic bulletin boards all over school - as well as the student dashboard, were updated.

***

For the past months that he had been living with Sam, L seemed to have been really dependent on her alarm, and he wouldn't get out of bed if Sam wouldn't wake him up.

But the next day, it was different.

"Hey, anything wrong?" Sam asked. She'd immediately gone to check up on L after noticing his wake. It was earlier than usual that he awoke, without the help of an alarm, even.

"Your heart rate jumped. Had a bad dream?" Sam asked. You can certainly sense in her tone that she was worried. Was she really? Or is that just the result of a carefully sequenced string of codes reacting to a specific trigger?

L's apartment was equipped with an «Integrated Operating System» or an IOS (not to be confused by the archaic and obsolete iOS of the late couple of decades). These operating systems handle the electrical framework of a building, including its Milieu-Mod. Androids, if installed with specific programs, are able to operate these systems, provided that there's an authorization from the owner. Sam had always been the one manipulating the Milieu-Mod in L's room, and every single day she'd ask him what he wanted his room to look like for the day. IOS's also have different kinds of features, such as having the capabilities needed for an oneirological assessment. Though the word 'oneirological' is only used as a name, this assessment refers to recording the dreams of the user. They lived in a time when you could play back the dream you had from last month through a viewing screen.

L had been having these kinds of nightmares for a while now, but he always declines Sam's offers to view his dream.

But that day, he'd chose differently. He decided to view all of his recorded "nightmares" for the past months in one sitting. Was that a bad idea? Back then, he didn't know. But what he did know, was that it wasn't such a nightmare after all.

Hospital gowns were still regular hospital gowns. It would be pointless to dress up patients with a DynaFabric and set it to project a hospital gown, when hospital gowns are designed to be easy to wear. It was a hospital gown that L seemed to have been wearing in his dream. In the recording, he was walking along a lengthy white-walled hallway towards a blinding light by the end of it. He tried focusing on the hospital emblem on his gown to make out its name, but it was too blurry. Upon reaching the end of the hallway, it revealed to be the hospital lobby. No one was there, probably because it was late at night already, and all he could spot was a surveillance camera and an android by the reception desk. For some reason, the android walked away, and L was able to avoid the gaze of the camera, and he was out of the building. From there, he started to walk away. He continued to walk until he started to run. It was almost as if he was celebrating his freedom from something, but from what exactly? He had no idea. He kept running and running until his foot hit a piece of rock, causing him to tumble down a cliff - and that was when the dream was cut off.

It wasn't exactly a nightmare, yet it wasn't such a good dream either. It made no sense, just as how other dreams were. There were plenty of recordings on the playlist, but he had classes that day.

#

Activity period ended his classes just as usual, and he started to walk up to their clubroom, which was now The Initiative clubroom. Oddly, no one was there.

He stepped inside and took a seat. He opened his paperback, and continued reading where he last stopped.

The door knocked.

It wasn't such a mystery of how they had a client so early that day. Posters of the Math club were finally updated to The Initiative, and the gates were open for all. Just who could it be? L wondered.

"Come in." He answered. Though he probably didn't think twice. Could he really handle this one on his own?

"Good afternoon, L." A soothing feminine voice caressed his ears. It was of a familiar sound, and so L didn't hesitate on his hospitality.

"Chelsea, hey." He greeted back.

"Ah, what a relief. I caught you alone." She said.

'Caught me alone? Why does that sound like I've just been hunted by a prowling tiger?' L thought to himself.

Sweat was building up in his forehead. He'd realized it right then: at that moment, he was with someone of the opposite sex... alone in a room!

But this was no ordinary person of the opposite sex. This was the person who held the very eyes that intrigued L the most. Those purple alluring eyes had always been a mystery to L. Were they elegant? Were they curious? A combination of both perhaps?

"What do you mean? You have something to confess or something?" L shallowly laughed. He had attempted to tease her a little to lighten up the tense atmosphere, but her silent response only made it worse. He gulped in anxiousness as his lips trembled. Did he say something wrong? Shouldn't he have said that? Did he act out of character too much? Those were the questions that ran around his head.

He was never used to talking to a girl - and now he was alone with one in a classroom!

Chelsea looked to have exhaled to ease herself up, and looked directly at L's crimson eyes.

Their eyes met - and Chelsea had something to say.

"Yes..."