Vulces had already memorized his ID number as he was excited to receive his ID and be counted as a mature individual. After putting the card with the ID number he had memorized in just 27 short repetitions into his pocket, he repeated it one last time.
"...2226117..."
After this last repetition, he sighed and walked with determined steps towards his house. When he arrived home after his short walk, he realized that there was a graduation celebration tonight. He quickly entered the house, looked at the clock and realized that he had 3 hours.
He made a small but effective plan in his head and realized that unless some unknown factor came up, he would be on time for everything.
But as much as he wanted to deny it, he knew the truth: Vulces' luck was considerably lower than average. And that luck was bound to manifest itself at some point in the near future. Vulces was about to cross the hall and enter his room when a voice stopped him.
Jade:"You... YOU GRADUATED AND YOU WON'T SHOW ME YOUR CARD...?"
The owner of the voice was, of course, Jade. Vulces shook off his brief shock and looked at his sister with a nervous smile and then a warm smile.
As heartwarming as it was, what Vulces didn't know was that precious seconds of his perfect planning were ticking away and it was not a moment he wanted to remember.
Vulces took out his card and noticed a detail he hadn't noticed before. He had just noticed the hologram warning sign that was like a faint detail on the coated corner of his card.
The young man, who had never seen it before, turned his puzzled gaze to his sister under her curious eyes and handed her the card.
Vulces:"That hologram sign... What exactly does it mean...?"
Jade:"Agh don't worry, I have that too. It means... I think... It means..."
Vulces:"Helpful as always..."
He said, in a sarcastic tone.
Jade:"Don't interrupt me. It's rude. And I think the meaning was side-effect material. My blessing, for example, is osmium. It's a normal metal, but there's a risk of poisoning with prolonged exposure. And yours doesn't have that... And yours looks a lot fainter. Maybe... There's a risk of fire. After all, iron has that property, doesn't it? I think ferro-titanium might be similar."
After saying this, Jade shrugged her shoulders and looked up.
Jade:"That means you'll be careful. Don't question why... Besides, don't you have your graduation celebration tonight...? You're still in uniform. I don't know if the system has changed, but we had one-"
Vulces:"Oh."
With that reminder, Vulces grabbed his card and rushed to his room, pulling out of his closet the white suit he had bought months ago.
Vulces:"It's about time, huh?"
Vulces repeated his plan and set about executing it at an accelerated pace. He carefully, albeit time-consumingly, folded and put away the clothes he had taken off.
As he did so, in a clever and at the same time compelling move, he opened the closet with those shiny and strong ferro-titanium chains coming out from a little below his shoulder, took out his clothes and laid them on his bed. At that moment he had finished folding them, and without slowing down he took off his clothes and, just as quickly, ironed them, warming the chains with his own body heat as he took off his clothes.
The admirable young man who was still calmly counting the time he had left while doing these complicated tasks was a member of the unpopular Barrion family. Regardless of his family's bad reputation, Vulces had grown up well and was well liked and respected by those around him. Vulces always felt he had to be different from everyone around him.
Vulces:"People... live and die. Why should I be like that? In order to be remembered after death, a human being must leave a trace, whether it is a simple act of kindness or remaking the world. When you think about it, they both serve the same purpose... To be able to entrust a part of oneself to the next generation is the most important thing a human being can do. But if this is all humanity is, I am quite ready to reject my humanity. I will not leave a piece of myself to the future. I will engrave myself to the future as an artifact... Soon..."
In the meantime, having finished and dressed, the young man realized that he still had time and left the room.
His sister, seeing him in this state, opened her mouth in great astonishment.
Jade:"Did you know how to dress properly..? If you did, why didn't you use that knowledge before? And so on and so forth, but seriously-. Wait, wait, wait... Are you... Are you getting ready for someone? O-ho~."
Vulces: "I'm graduating for the first time in my life, so let me dress like this. Thank you, have a good day."
Vulces gave his sister a smile and stepped out of the house and made his way to the place on the opposite side of the street from his school, but there was one problem: he didn't know the way.
Then a spark flashed in his mind. A sentence uttered by his sister was echoing against the walls of his mind.
"...We had one."
Vulces ran back into the house and, after briefly pleading with her sister, persuaded her to show her the way. She must have made a successful speech because her sister was smiling. And so the two siblings, the Barrion siblings, were there. After standing for a few seconds in front of the building with its large hall, Vulces said goodbye to her sister and entered the building.
