‘Three?’
‘Why three?’
‘M-me?!’
Nava weathered the burst of confused questions from Mitsuko, Courtney, and, of course, Melissa. She was about to speak when Kyle cut in instead. ‘We can forget Melissa as a suspect because we’d need the same sort of convoluted scheme as with Nava to make it work. Besides, she’s backing up Nava’s testimony. I’m assuming Nava has a good reason to exclude Mitsuko, so that’s not one of her three. Darius, Leland, and Marie were in the meeting and could have told Michelle about the raid. Personally, I think we can exclude Marie, but that’s just gut feeling.’
‘That’s… logical,’ Courtney admitted.
‘But why am I in danger?’ Melissa asked. ‘I’m sorry to be selfish, but I kind of think that’s the more important thing here.’
‘You spoke up in the meeting,’ Courtney said. ‘You basically told whoever is behind this that you knew Michelle was using. Given what happened to Brynn Hermanson, I’d expect the next logical step would be to have you die of a drug overdose.’
‘Unimaginative,’ Nava said. ‘I’d almost hope that they come up with an alternative. Perhaps a dive off the roof of our building. Whatever, I’ll be spending the night in your apartment, Mel.’
‘We can provide–’
‘No. No disrespect, Courtney, but we haven’t absolutely excluded your people from this. Plus, I can get into her apartment without being seen. So when they come for her, they won’t know I’m waiting to kick them out.’
Courtney glowered. ‘We could really do with taking them alive.’
‘I’m not making any promises.’
~~~
‘Are you sure you’re going to be okay down here?’ Melissa asked as she walked out of her bathroom. Nava was not quite sure why Melissa had gone in there to change into her nightwear. Then again, Nava was not sure of the purpose of nightwear.
‘I’ll be fine,’ Nava replied. ‘I’ve slept in worse conditions than this.’ She was planning to sleep on the bench seat in front of the door. Unless intruders crashed through the window, they were going to have to deal with Nava before they got to Melissa. ‘You really sleep in that?’
Melissa looked down at her outfit, appeared to realise what she was wearing for the first time, and blushed. She had on a camisole-style T-shirt and a pair of lacy boy shorts in some form of pink. Fuchsia maybe. The shorts did not hide much, but it was probably the shirt which was causing the embarrassment. White with pink trim, it featured lettering in baby blue and pink: KAWAII on the streets SENPAI in the sheets. It was an old meme now, but Nava had no clue what it meant. Well, she had figured out what ‘kawaii’ was, but… ‘What’s “senpai?” I haven’t met that one.’
Melissa appeared to want to look anywhere aside from where Nava’s face was. ‘It’s, uh, like what you call an upperclassman or anyone more experienced than you.’
‘Right. So, that’s cute in public, but you’ve been around the block.’
‘It was a present!’
‘Is it true?’
‘You’re evil!’
‘You just figured that out?’
Melissa giggled. ‘This is like a sleepover. Except we’re expecting to be attacked by masked men intent on doing bad things. It’s like a sleepover in a horror vid. Are you going to just sleep in your uniform? Are you sure you’ll be okay on that seat?’
‘I’ll be fine, Mel,’ Nava said patiently. ‘The alternative is that I change into my sleepwear and we share your bed.’
‘I wouldn’t really mind–’
‘I don’t have any sleepwear. I sleep naked.’
Melissa’s blush, which had been retreating, launched a sudden retaliatory artillery barrage on her cheeks. Nava wondered briefly whether it was possible for someone’s face to spontaneously combust. ‘Perhaps not then,’ Melissa said, starting for the ladder up to her bed. ‘What would Suki say?’
‘This is only a guess, but “Why didn’t you call me?” As for the uniform, I’ll go back to my place before breakfast to shower and change.’
‘O-okay.’ Melissa began climbing the ladder and Nava found herself watching her friend’s lace-coated behind all the way up. It was not an unpleasant view in any way, shape, or form. Saying so was probably not a good idea; Nava was unsure how flammable the bedsheets were. ‘Goodnight then, Nava. Turn the lights out when you’re ready.’
‘Goodnight, Mel. Sweet dreams.’ Nava settled onto the bench seat and lay down on her back, looking up at the bottom of the storage area. Melissa’s apartment was an identical copy of her own, aside from the contents. There was not really that much difference there either: Melissa came from a world on the outskirts of Clan Worlds space and transporting luggage cost money, so Melissa had brought relatively little with her which needed storing. Melissa had more casual clothes – and things to wear in bed – but those were in the drawers, out of sight.
In some ways, Melissa was like Nava. Melissa had family, but they were so far away that they might as well not exist. Melissa was not on a grant, as such, but her extended family had put an amount of money aside for her which paid her a regular allowance, so they were in the same boat financially. Of course, their personalities were poles apart and Melissa was a step up on the social ladder, but their circumstances were not that different.
‘What a difference a loving family makes,’ Nava thought. Then she put that line of enquiry aside and spoke aloud. ‘Computer, lights off.’
235/4/6.
Mumble… ‘No, we can’t!’ Mumble… ‘Nava, no… What would Suki say?’ Mumble… Moan… ‘Oh, Nava…’
Nava stared up at the dark ceiling and grinned. Inwardly, she grinned. Even in the dark, with no one to see her, she kept her expression flat. She had been hiding her emotions for so long now that it was second nature.
‘Oh! You’re here too, Suki?’ Long moan…
Senpai in the sheets indeed.
~~~
‘No trouble, I take it?’ Mitsuko asked over breakfast.
‘No trouble,’ Nava replied. ‘Well, a little trouble sleeping, to be honest, but it wasn’t too
