Veridis Quo

Chapter 14 - Smile for the Camera

Today was a great day. Not, it was fantastic! Bombastic! Kokakolastic! I had to avoid a copyright strike somehow.

The day had started like any; the ancient morning routine plus a shower. The next visit to the tracks was the following day. Coming to school clean as a wet wipe raised my mood. And since math was first on the agenda, finding Hamije's class was a walk in the park.

There I met Juno and thanked her for the history notes. I didn't know the details of their world war. Before the war, the ratio of herbs to carvs was 3:1 but after the conflict it fell to 1:1. And with a little division, the casualties were around a hundred million. Not too bad.

Okay, that was going right into the back of the bus. I thought to compare that to a fraction of east Asian history. Ming Li took power, a billion perished. Thanks to my big mouth, Juno knew humanity had two world wars for reasons that were seen as insane, but she promised to keep it a secret so all was well.

The most disturbing part of their great war was... the feast. They fought for food. As in, a dispute of territories under the rule of the oligarchy spiraled out of proportions into soldiers eating each other while the bodies were warm. I thanked whatever devolved instinct out of the human race. A world war of cannibalism... sent a shiver down my spine.

Breakfast was alright. A new subject was introduced to us; literature. Open-mindness my ass. The only positive was improving my Yamotese. Just like in the original country, their traditional arts were... not okay. That was all I could say.

Juno was in another class and the classroom itself was a lecture hall fit for university. To my left was a timid bull that kept his distance from me, to my right was a chicken. Said chicken had offered me a sandwich in exchange for an autograph. My hungry self couldn't resist and agreed to trade. I liked salt. Salt was tasty. Her egg sandwich was tasty and she seemed delighted at our transaction so I supposed I had made another... acquaintance.

Then, came lunch. I skipped the food after the filling treat and memed about Juno's company. Annoying the cheetah girl was too easy. The trick was to quell the flames before fanning them again, like a sine graph. When, if, we learned about those functions, I was surely going to cry. Reject curvature; embrace linearity.

The last lessons were the best. An hour of social studies and an hour of science. The former was so fun! I remembered the promise I made myself but trolling was too hard to resist. I managed to gobble fifteen minutes of the class by larping Napoleon's conquests and revolutionary warfare. Too bad the average-height-for-the-time emperor got gangbanged at the end of his career.

Science on the other hand, I listened to attentively. Unlike my old high school, the focus in Cherryton was on practicality which I really liked. It wasn't fun in the same sense as lazing about but learning stuff for their real world was a must for me.

And before I knew it, the bell rang. Poof. An entire day had passed, the school part. Juno had her club again. They were an active bunch. Homework was a joke so I could afford a nap.

Until I remembered the second part of the agreement.

„Man..." I suppressed a yawn as I passed a herbivore. I was almost done navigating through the academic maze to the appropriate club. I was expecting less students if it fit within the confines of the main building. Music was nice but I swore I could smell a sand grain of bird poop. I had enough birds in my life as is.

Turning the last corner, I stopped at the labeled door, a strange noise within. Looking both ways, I pressed my ear against the door, a familiar voice screeching in... adorable rage.

Shaking my head with a smile, I knocked on the door three times before entering.

"Afternoon, my fellow students," I announced with posh, breaking their argument in half, "I'm not late, am I?"