Yes, Domina 2035

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 6

Hayase was her name. Kai described how they met at school, a bittersweet smile sweeping his features at the vibrant images of the old-world. Domina saw the hallways of his high-school and how Hayase was a popular girl on the volleyball team and she excelled at this due to her height. Her legs were exceptionally long and looked powerful underneath her sailor suit skirt and she usually wore thin tights that hugged her thighs and calves. The school uniform allowed the girls to choose which color ribbon they wanted for their top each day; Hayase usually chose a sunflower yellow. She had been eyeing Kai since the first day of freshman year, never approaching him until they were both sophomores. It had been any regular day: lunchtime at school, numerous groups of teenagers doing their own thing in their separated groups. You had the popular kids, the losers, the gamers, the jocks, the cheerleaders, the emos, the neckbeards, the weebs, the white racists, the colored racists, the rainbow people, the military brats, on and on and on.

Kai would sometimes take his skateboard to school and practice tricks in the parking lot, but the staff would always confiscate his board. Eventually he stopped bringing it. Domina was entranced by the primitive toy. A block of wood on wheels? No mechanisms, microchips, automations, remote controls or safeguards against speed? How loud it is! The wind gliding past Kai's face as he rode over the sidewalk cracks gave Domina goosebumps. It felt more dangerous than riding a bike, but that's what made it so exciting. She wondered why Kai stopped this activity, but she already knew the answer. The world had changed. There was no time to play with a plank of wood and Sovereign probably had some stupid law against it. "You have committed a violation of noise pollution; please notice your Social-Score decreasing and relinquish your toy to the proper authorities."

Hayase was acting cool, sitting with her legs crossed at the popular kids lunch table in the courtyard, but the whole time she was secretly spying on Kai from afar. She would do this every day and if he wasn't there, she would glance all around hoping to track his location. Kai as usual was sitting alone on a concrete bench with his face covered in a book, today it was a green cover of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. Hayase spoke to her friends—other volleyball girls and a couple of cheerleaders.

"Hey, look at that guy over there. Why is he always by himself?"

"Is he reading a book? What a loser!"

"Yeah, I know, right? Gross."

"I think that's a romance book. Cuh-ringe."

Hayase feigned agreeance with her friends but she secretly thought he was cute, despite their aesthetic and social differences (outside of the school uniform Kai dressed more like a punk or degenerate, while Hayase dressed more like a girly-girl). Domina could tell without prior context she was obsessed just by the way she stared at him. Kai at the time was totally oblivious to her thousands of glances in his direction. He was too wrapped up in his own loneliness to notice her.

What a precious thing memories are, Domina thought to herself. Replaying them was one of her favorite pastimes. Things you didn't notice had a way of inscribing themselves into the subconscious. The way someone glanced in your direction just out of your perception. The background noises, the fragrance of fresh air, foliage, or the staff spraying the ground with unpleasant cleaning chemicals. Internal monologues could sometimes be recalled. Body language of others that you may not have picked up. Emotions were able to be extracted with a strong enough thought, usually associated with a significant event, location or a song. Memories also had a curious thing where they connected to each other, linked by an invisible thread and bypassing decades of time. Domina found it quite fascinating to study all the intricacies and hidden facets of the human psyche. Why was this important but the other thing not? Why go this way and not that way? Why is she attractive and the other girl ugly? Personal preferences that may seem random, but were deeply entwined with a person's past and current image of self.