Heart-Less

Chapter 20

Hey Kaiguo people! This is Nic's bestie. She gave me partial access so that I could video her during the activities, but this is just too juicy not to share. Grab your popcorn.

The update sent, Ada hit the 'record' button. It was a good thing that she had a good spot behind this conveniently located pillar. Alright, there was less convenience and more planning with Nic involved in this.

"What do you want?" Nic asked, arms akimbo.

Ada turned the camera to Hiroto, who was looking stressed. His hair wasn't perfect for once. "I need to know what's going on. Why are all your people writing negative comments about us? I thought you guys liked pranks."

"We like pranks, but we don't appreciate our human rights being infringed."

"We didn't infringe on your rights."

Nic rolled her eyes. "Yeah, just everyone else. Face it, there's a flame going on, and there's nothing you can do about it."

"What's a flame?" Amiko's voice cut in softly. Her usual face was replaced with one that was kind, concerned and worried.

Ada and Nic sighed at the same time. "Oops, sorry," Ada whispered to the camera. "Didn't mean to interfere." Her phone immediately buzzed, and she saw several supportive comments on how it was alright, because that question really was too ridiculous for words.

"A Flame is a Flame," Nic said simply. "Basically, when something stupid enough has been done, people all through the Network get upset, and then quite spontaneously, we come together to, I don't know, do something about it."

"You need to stop it," Hiroto said, his eyes deadly serious. "Do you know what it will do to my performance evaluation? Not to mention Ada's. You don't want your best friend to suffer for this, do you?"

Nic opened her eyes and put her hand over her heart. "Ada? Suffer? That changes everything — not. Please, Ada knows as well as I do that you can't stop a Flame once it starts. Besides, you're seriously overestimating me if you think that I have any influence over my countrymen. I just happen to share things that they like." Ada's phone started buzzing again, probably with more approval for Nic.

"Let me tell you something," Nic stepped up to Hiroto and jabbed him in the chest. Ada could see Amiko's heart turn yellow with amusement. "You do not get to threaten us this way. We are your guests, and guess what? You went way, way over the line."

Hiroto scowled at her. "Well, we'll just see what Ada has to say about that. Amiko, I told you we should have gone to her first. She would be more reasonable than her." He spat the last word in Nic's direction.

"That was what I suggested," Amiko said mildly. "You were the one who wanted to try your charm, although I didn't see any of that."

Hiroto went stark white, and even though his mouth was open, not a single sound was coming out. He grabbed Amiko by the arm and dragged her away, Amiko's heart and face turning bright red. Amiko's face as well? Ada made a mental note to check into that after all this was done and over. Once she had finished the two of them flouncing off, she stopped recording.

"How did I do?" Nic said as walked over.

Ada smiled at her. "Very believable, that righteous anger of yours."

"Oh believe me, I really was angry. This was a smart plan of yours," Nic said and took out her phone. "Woah, look at all these notifications. Looks like both you and I are safe now. But really, won't you get in trouble here?"

"Don't worry," Ada said and linked her arm through Nic's. "I've got that covered. Now, let's go for lunch, we only have half an hour left."

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