‘You’re not just saying that because we’re fucking?’
‘Do I strike you as someone who lets sex get in the way of objective analysis?’
‘Well, no.’
‘Then you can take my analysis as my considered opinion of the current situation with the information I currently have.’
‘See? Now that’s just weird.’
‘Shut up and turn the lights off.’
‘Okay. Lights out.’ The room went dark at Mitsuko’s command. It went really dark since there were no windows in the room to allow light in. Mitsuko liked it that way when she slept. For a few seconds, there was silence. Then… ‘Ah! I thought you wanted to go to sleep!’
‘All I asked was for you to turn out the lights…’
235/2/5.
‘I’m not entirely sure about this,’ Rochester said. He was trailing along behind Nava and Melissa, not entirely happily, as they went to pick up Mitsuko for lunch.
‘I’m her protection detail,’ Nava said. ‘That means I have lunch with her, or she has lunch with us. She opted for the latter.’
‘Sh-she opted…’
‘Yes.’ Lessons were once again in operation. Mitsuko was on the combat stream, so she was in a different class, but lunchtime was another matter and Courtney had made it clear that Mitsuko was to have her bodyguard with her whenever she left the classroom. Nava was not saying it to anyone, but she suspected that Mitsuko preferred Nava’s company at the moment anyway. She was not worrying over what would happen at the end of the month when they would no longer have an excuse to be together. Mitsuko, Nava thought, had not had time to think that far ahead. ‘So long as you remember not to look at her chest, you should be fine.’
Rochester made a strangled sort of sound, but they had arrived at room one-oh-three where Mitsuko had homeroom and most of her lessons. There were still students at their desks, or in groups chatting before heading out for food. Mitsuko was talking to a small mixed group in a casual manner which suggested that it was nothing to do with her run for president. Then again, Mitsuko seemed at ease with more or less everyone when discussing more or less anything, so you never knew.
‘Wait here,’ Nava said as she continued at the same pace into the room, heading directly for Mitsuko. Nava was pretty much at ease wherever she was too. She was within two strides of her charge when one of the men in the group noticed her. His face hardened instantly and Nava suppressed a sigh.
‘What are you doing in here, clanless?’ the man snapped. He was the kind of big, strapping young man who would, in earlier times, have been a jock. He might have been captain of the football team, but football was no longer played in any recognisable form, so he was just a big, moderately handsome blonde with blue eyes and, if Nava were any judge, more muscle than brains. Given that no one got into SAS2 without a fair modicum of brains, Nava was wondering about the use of muscle-enhancing drugs in his training regimen.
Without turning to look who had drawn his ire, Mitsuko spoke before Nava could. ‘Siegmar Tate Orlando, if you cannot keep a civil tongue in your head around me, we will not be friends. Nava Ward has consented to act as my bodyguard during the presidential campaign. I will not see her insulted. She has a name and you clearly know it, so use it.’
Nava gave a shrug. ‘He’s right. I’m clanless. I don’t care what he thinks of me.’
‘All the more reason for me to care.’
‘If you needed a bodyguard,’ Siegmar Tate said, ‘why didn’t you pick one of us?’
‘Because, quite frankly, Nava could beat anyone in this class without much difficulty. I include myself in that list. If you doubt me, recall why you know who she is. Are you ready to leave, Nava?’
‘Yes. Ready when you are. Though sooner would be better. Melissa has been hungry since eleven.’
‘Then we’ll avoid keeping her longer from her food.’ Mitsuko waited until they were outside the room and starting for the refectory before saying anything further. ‘I apologise for Siegmar Tate’s–’
‘Don’t,’ Nava said. ‘Unless you provoked him into saying that just so you could defend me, apologising for him is nothing more than a platitude. I meant what I said. Nothing someone like that says to me bothers me.’
‘You’re too good for your own good.’
‘No. I’m really not. Do you know Rochester Hunt Leighton?’
Mitsuko looked over her shoulder to where Rochester was now walking alongside Melissa. ‘We haven’t been introduced. Good afternoon, Rochester Hunt. I am Mitsuko Trenton Sonkei. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.’
Rochester made a sound which was probably not a word in any known language. ‘Chess is worse than me when he has to talk to attractive women,’ Melissa supplied. ‘He’s pleased to meet you too.’
Mitsuko smiled and went back to looking where she was going. ‘Well, this should make for interesting lunch conversation.’
~~~
Rochester Hunt was in love. At least, that’s what it looked like to Nava and Melissa. Mitsuko had at least as much metaphysics education as he had and seemed happy to talk about it. Nava could keep up with Rochester because she had a greater innate talent for magic, but Mitsuko had been privately educated with a fairly solid basis in the science of magic drummed into her even before she started at SAS2. It was a match made in heaven, so long as he remembered to keep his eyes fixed on Mitsuko’s face.
‘Of course,’ Mitsuko said, ‘historically, native talent for sorcery was how it all began. It’s not surprising that the science is easier to understand when you have strong talent.’ The subject had drifted a little, because Melissa was looking embarrassed at her inability to keep up. Now they were discussing why Melissa was having trouble while Nava
