Inception

Chapter 2: The Zero Percenter

 Hibino Kafka was tall and broad. Despite his size, he had a boyish air about him that belayed his 32 years, which was as old as one could get for a new officer, or cadet, in this case.

The way he vibrated in place told Lena he was just happy to be here. It made her think of a big, friendly dog.

"Hey!" He jutted out his hand. "Hibino Kafka, at your service!"

She shook the hand, unable to resist not echoing his smile with her own. "Lena Ichikawa. I'll be in charge of your physical today."

His face lit up. "Whoa, are you Ichikawa's—I mean, Leno's sister?"

"He told you about me?" Her chest warmed pleasantly at the thought.

"Yeah! He told me that's the reason he moved here and applied to the third division. Said you were super smart." He smiled so wide his eyes closed, a cheesy, toothy grin. "He didn't mention how pretty you were."

She let go of his hand, feeling flattered. "Thank you. How do you know Leno?"

"Aw, he never mentioned me?"

"He doesn't contact me much." The warm fuzzy feeling in her chest immediately dropped.

"That ain't cool. I'll give him a good scolding for that. We met in the kaiju disposal crew. I helped kept him from losing his guts on intestine duty, ha! I got all the good juice."

She gained new reasons to appreciate having Hibino Kafka around as he regaled her with stories of her little brother as she took measurements, recorded his vital signs, and took a blood sample. He seemed to get nervous when she announced she'd have to take his blood, but she attributed that to the needles. It wasn't an uncommon reaction, and the idea of big, doggy Hibino being scared of needles made him cute in her sight. While she'd gotten used to her brother's quiet way and lack of ability to stay in touch, she couldn't help fostering a simmering anger that he'd failed to tell her about gaining such a wonderful friend.

"What kinds of stuff are you going to test my blood for? Just out of curiosity," he said, the faintest tremor edging his voice.

"Hormone and blood sugar levels, mainly," she said. "But I want your ion levels in particular."

"Ion levels?" he squeaked, actually squeaked.

She grinned. "Calm down, it isn't anything weird. Ions play a crucial part in your nervous systems functions, as well as in the contraction of your muscles. You probably would have heard of them as 'electrolytes.' I'm just seeing what's your average and if there's any other ions other than the usual. Some people, especially those who are compatible with the combat suits and number weapons, tend to have higher than average levels of ions."

"Oh..." He blinked dolefully. After a minute of processing, something seemed to click in his head and he perked up with a crinkle of the paper on the exam table. "Does that mean you could possibly raise my combat ability?"

"That's the idea." She flicked the tube in his arm to get the blood just a little further up before reaching for a vile. He hadn't flinched when she put in the needle, so he's a trooper, at least. "I have a theory I've been trying to test for years. Wrote my doctorate about it." She hesitated. "I won't bore you with the details."

"No! Tell me! I'm super interested."

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It feels kind of awkward to write Kafka. He's just not witty and sarcastic enough for me, maybe. Oh the stress.