Page 242 of Light Leech

She returned it, somewhat less enthusiastic after eyeing Boyband another time. She leaned down to Kuni. “And you are?”

“Yuze,” he said with a chin held high.

“Well, Yuze, we look forward to seeing what a great student you can be.”

“If we decide Water Hills is a good fit for him.“ Naoma followed her comment with a condescending smile and giggle.

“Of course,” Sanna replied. She stood and adjusted her suitcoat. “Let us move along with the tour then! Please feel free to ask any questions. You are guests, after all.”

“Thank you, Mistress,” I replied, playing into the lenient husband whose wife had high hopes for her son’s schooling. We had crafted an entire narrative for our lives on the skyride to the school, but I hoped we would have to use it as little as possible. Before we had even entered, Boyband had exposed a seam in our fragile tapestry.

I entered my neurospace for a quick message as we proceeded down the hall towards the translucent elevators.

Petya: You think it’s smart throwing your name around with the Gongtide eyes out there?

Boyband: I had to get us in somehow. Didn’t you hear how she thanked me for my parents’ service to the school? They loved my family here. I always wondered why they wasted their time with that PTA guk, but now that we see their Luxist side, where they were hoping to make changes. Too small scale if you ask me, but then again, maybe they didn’t know about the whole moon side of the ordeal. Doesn’t matter. It’ll be an access point for us to begin with.

Petya: But don’t most people think you died in the fire with them?

Boyband: Nah. I’ve been in the public’s eye enough to prove those stories wrong. You know how the world is. One tragedy after another. I doubt most people will even remember the SocStan fires, let alone the names associated with them. The rest of my family is still fighting for my parents’ empire. Don’t you remember? I don’t care who has it now. Not my problem. We have bigger baggage than some zegging business.

Petya: Still, it doesn’t hide you from the eyes on us.

Boyband: Why would Nichley care about some school?

Petya: There’s more to Gontide than Nichley. We have no idea who most of the other Beacons are.

Boyband: So you just want to sit in a corner and hide in fear of anyone who might recognize us, Pet? We’re going to be seen. We’re going to be followed. This is a quick stop to get access to the administration. On the surface, nothing out of the ordinary.

Petya: How common is it for some former student and SocStan heir to take an immigrant family on a tour of his alma mater?

Boyband: My parents had quite the altruistic reputation. They had to keep it up with the corporate hate for the blue-collar SocStans taking power. I’m merely continuing their legacy by helping out a couple whose love defies their homelands at war. Doesn’t matter how I know you. We’ll let them get to that part of the story if we really need to. For now, just go along. Trust me. Can you do that, du?

Petya: I can trust you, but not them.

“Where to first?” Naoma asked.

Sanna pressed the button for the fourth floor. Ads began to play on the wall panels for youth antidepressants, but the overly enthusiastic recording was quiet enough for us to talk over.

“The classroom Yuze would join,” Sanna said, “should you choose Water Hills. I will say, it might be quite different from what he experienced in… where are you from again?”

“Mao,” Naoma said.

“A lovely place, from what I have seen, which part?”

“New Shanghai, Indigo District,” I said. “Have you ever been?”

“No, I have only seen Arabasia in mindshows, though I have been told I need to visit.”

“Not now,” Kuni said. “Too many people dying.”

“Oh.” Sanna cleared her throat. “Of course. I am sorry to hear that. I pray to the Light that it turns out well for your people.”

The elevator stopped and we exited. I could tell Sanna was relieved to leave the awkwardness of the enclosed elevator after such a comment. I was under no illusion that she actually felt bad. Unless she was an exception, she was programmed to believe the Republic propaganda that the war was necessary to prevent Arabaian light dominance. I probably would have believed the same, had I been in her position. Still, it bothered me. Information was tainted with the invention of the lie and had grown more corrupt with the growth of technology.

Her prayer would avail her nothing. No false God created from corrupt light would hear her words, even if they were just for show.

She waved us forward, down an extensive hallway with classrooms enclosed by glass walls. I started to look into one, but Sanna pulled my attention back to her.