Warfare Augmented Intelligent Frame Unit

Chapter 29 - Cooking Noodles

Chapter 29 - Cooking Noodles

The good news was that no one was hurt; we'd all walked away unscathed from the explosion. The bad news, however, was that Cindy and her partner Remuel were now stuck with the punishment of cleaning the simulation room after class—a job that looked as exhausting as it sounded. Myrrh, being Cindy's friend, volunteered to help. Fei and Neil jumped in as well, and with a bit of peer pressure, I found myself pulled into the fray, thanks to Fei's puppy-eyed begging.

Metal shrapnel littered the wide, scuffed floor of the simulation room, each piece glinting under the fluorescent lights. We moved slowly, bending and picking up the jagged pieces scattered across the expanse. Once the floor was clear, we took to scrubbing away the faint trails of soot and grime that had splattered onto the walls. My thoughts wandered as I cleaned, wondering why the room—a place capable of simulating entire cityscapes and conjuring training dummies that could shoot paintballs—couldn't at least auto-clean itself.

"Huhu, I'm really sorry, girls. You all got dragged into this because of my partner," Cindy said with a sniffle, brushing her reddish-orange afro away from her eyes.

"It's okay, Cindy. We're friends," Fei replied, her own black afro bouncing as she nodded with a smile.

Myrrh placed her hands on her hips, giving Remuel a sharp look. "Besides, it's not your fault. It's your partner's."

Remuel, whose ash-red afro was streaked with charcoal dust, lowered his gaze and mumbled, "I—I'm sorry." He bowed, looking thoroughly defeated.

Remuel had definitely gotten the worst of it. Professor Bao had scolded him for what felt like ages, and Cindy hadn't let up on him either. He hadn't told anyone that Cindy's Ultimate ability was essentially a self-destruct button—a fact he chose to keep to himself until the last second. Things might have been different, maybe even avoidable, if he'd only said something sooner.

All of us were sporting afros now—a quirky, unplanned effect of standing too close to the blast radius. Even Professor Bao had been strutting around with an afro earlier, though she'd already left, likely brushing down her hair with a sigh.

I'd just finished mopping up the last dusty patch on the floor when I overheard the others talking.

"Man, now there's no way I'll make it to the Licensure Examinations Tournament," Cindy lamented, her voice tinged with frustration. She ran her fingers through her reddish-orange curls, sighing. "How can I compete when my Ultimate ability is literally a self-detonating bomb?"

"Oh! So you were planning to join the tournament too?" Fei's eyes brightened as she clasped her hands together, her black afro bouncing. "Myrrh and I are both in!"

"Well, best of luck to you two," Cindy said with a warm smile, though her shoulders slumped a little. "What about your partners? You need support unit students, right?"

Myrrh placed a hand on her hip and glanced at Cindy with a hint of confidence. "Isn't it a bit early to choose our partners for the tournament?" She pulled out her phone, which displayed the tournament's official memo. "According to the rules here, the tournament is split into two parts. First, there's the written exam. Only the top one hundred WAIFUs and support students move on to the second round. That's when we get to pick partners from the elite hundred."

"Ah, so there's quite a tough screening process, huh?" Fei remarked, her brow furrowing. "But what happens if a WAIFU or support unit can't find a partner?"

"It'll be random pairings," Cindy explained, recalling the first-day chaos with a sigh. "Just like when we first got here."

Fei's cheeks reddened slightly as she clasped her hands together. "B-but, I'm going to choose Neil as my partner," she said with an innocent smile. "I feel safe with Neil by my side."