You're My Brother

Another Home

How the hell had Keith gotten himself into this mess? One day he stole a car, the next he was enrolling in a Space Exploration program. In the blink of an eye he had gone from a nobody, emo kid, to a junior cadet of the Galaxy Garrison. How?
A large part of him regretted it all. Not the part about stealing the vehicle, that was worth it. But he definitely regretted signing up to be a junior cadet.
Actually, he didn't even sign up! He only told Officer Shirogane that he was interested in being a pilot. Four days later, he was picked up from school, taken back to The Home and told to pack up his things. He was an official Junior Cadet now. All thanks to Takashi Shirogane.
"Next!" A voice called out, ordering the line of cadets to keep moving.
Keith stepped forward, standing in front of the administration office.
"Name?" The lady behind the desk asked him.
"Keith Kogane."
He was handed a scheduled, an assortment of books and a uniform. "Says here you have your own room?"
"Uh yeah.. That sounds right..." he answered hesitantly. 'I don't remember asking for that....'
"Alright. You're all set." She smiled, handed him a map and pointed to the door. "Follow the other Junior Cadets, if you get lost feel free to ask one of your upperclassmen or an officer."
"M'kay." He headed out of the office and followed the map to find his dorm room. "L 5 North... Room 113.." Keith found his room simply by following the number pattern and marked areas. A rather convenient numbering system, and in Keith's opinion, a little lame for a place like this.
He entered the pin on the keypad and stepped inside. Though small, the room had a lot to it. A bed was places in the right corner, a table across on the left, a small tv screen on the left by the door, and last but not least, a built in shelving system for books, clothes and bathroom essentials by the foot of the bed.
Everything was either white, gray, black or orange, the Galaxy Garrison's color scheme. It was all so bland. Sure, it had the necessities, but the walls were almost entirely gray with just a small sliver of orange across the middle of each wall. The floor was the same as the walls. The only thing with color was the table. It was a light brown, but still, just as bland as it's surroundings.
However, this was a total upgrade from The Home.
Keith set his things down on the table and unpacked the few things he had brought; a jacket, some pants and a few shirts.
Taking a seat on the bed, something caught his attention. It didn't creak! For the first time in seven years, he didn't have a creaky or old bed. It was definitely something he could and would get used to.
After changing into his new uniform, Keith opened his books to see what he would be learning. He was still continuing his normal schooling with English Language Arts, but the mathematics, and sciences were much more advanced than anything he had seen.
Those classes however, didn't interest him. At least not as much as the simulations. The real classes. Becoming a pilot, a fight pilot, was the only reason he was here.
A voice came over the PA system, and Keith closed his textbook to listen, a habit he had picked up at school. "All Junior Cadets report to Simulation Deck A immediately. Senior Cadets please report to Launch Zone 3. Again, All Junior Cadets to Simulation Deck A, all Senior Cadets to Launch Zone 3. Do so immediately."
Keith followed the order, stepping out of his dorm and following a crowd of lost Junior Cadets.
Thankfully, there were Officers there telling the new students where to go. It makes sense, a place like this is so big they would have to have people there to guide the wandering newbies.
Nearly 200 Cadets were packed into the simulation deck. Somehow, even with all of the commotion, they had organized themselves in rows from shortest to tallest, putting Keith in the front.
"Alright, listen up, Cadets!" A man stepped forward, silencing their chatter. "I'm Commander Iverson. I'll be in charge of all simulations for each class." He was shouting every word he said. Which would make sense if there was another sound obstructing his volume level, but there wasn't. The guy just liked to talk loudly and scare the crap out of the new students. "By being here, you're telling us that you are all willing to work harder than you ever have before. Is that correct?!"
The crowd erupted in a loud chorus of "yes sir!"
This made Iverson grin. They knew how to address a Senior officer, which is a very good thing. Or at least most of them did. "Now, I'll let the rest of the Officers and Professors explain their classes and procedures. First, we have Officer Shirogane."
Officer Shirogane—the one whose car Keith stole—thanked Iverson before addressing the students. "Welcome to the Galaxy Garrison." He said with a smile. "Most of you know me already through the media or a friend. "I am Officer Takashi Shirogane. According to data and statistics, I am one of the best pilots in history. Wether or not that is true, is up to your own opinions. Regardless, I am in charge of all flight simulations and classes, and I am also the one who decides if you're a good enough flyer to stay in the program. So do your best and everything will work out fine."
Another officer stepped forward, a woman. "I know many of you are interested in being a pilot, but we obviously can't take all of you. A select handful of you did prove to have an excellent understanding of data, communications and analytics. I'm Officer Veronica McClain. Though I don't teach a huge class like Officer Shirogane, I will be educating some of you on how to be an analyst, which is what I am. The class is not easy, so if you fail out of the pilot course, go to engineering or something science-y unless you're willing to work hard."
A few more stepped forward and introduced their classes. Professor Montgomery, in charge of engineering and Mr. Harris, in charge of laboratory sciences. Plus, Commander Ryu, Dos Santos, and Hedrick, all in charge of different aspects of the program, but on the same level as Commander Iverson.
Iverson then ran the students through the daily schedule. With that final announcement, they were released, free to wander the halls until lunch. After that, another assembly, and then they were really free to do as they pleased.
Some students went to talk to Officer McClain, others went to Mr. Harris and a large number were with Professor Montgomery. To Keith's surprise, no one was asking Officer Shirogane any questions. Maybe they were all too scared.
Keith however, walked right over. "Officer Shirogane."
"Ah, Keith. I'm glad to see you here."
"Why am I here?" He asked the Officer. Keith wanted to know. How and why did he get here?
"You're here because I can see your potential. Your skills from the simulator last week were absolutely amazing. How did you manage to do so well?"
Keith shrugged "don't know... luck?"
"Skill, Keith. You were able to do so well because of skill."
The boy rolled his eyes, tired of this 'you're so awesome' way of putting his natural talent. "Okay. Sure. But why?! My teachers clearly weren't happy with this."
"It doesn't matter what they think, Keith." The officer told him. "I can spot potential. I'm a teacher and a pilot. I know when someone is going to succeed in the flight program. You, Keith, you can do this."
The cadet opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by the voice of another officer.
   "Who is this?" A woman asked Officer Shirogane.
   Keith glanced up at her for a split second, it was Officer McClain. He was ready to walk away when Officer Shirogane began a much unwanted introduction.
   "This is Keith." The officer said. "He's the one I was talking about, the one who outflew each one of his classmates in the simulator."
   "Oh yes! You're lucky you know at least one of your students." She replied, motioning to Keith. "Even if I wanted to, I won't be able to play favorites with Lance. He wouldn't take analytics." She added air quotes to 'play favorites', suggesting that it was a useless term, that she wouldn't do such a thing. "I'm sure you know better than to do the same wit Keith." By the way she said that last part, it sounded to both Shirogane and Keith as though she thought the two were related.
   "Oh, no." Shirogane shook his head, a little embarrassed. "No we're not—"
   "He's not my brother!" Keith snapped. "Ma'am..." he quickly added, trying he best to address the senior officer with respect.
   There was a long awkward silence between the three of them. Luckily one of The officers ended the silence so that Keith wouldn't have to.
   "Well, I have places to be." Officer McClain spoke up. "Have fun with your flight training."
   "You are really going to have to work on that temper of yours, Keith." Officer Shirogane said when the two were by themselves again.
   "I know, okay? I get it. I'm not a baby.  I'll work on it, Officer Shirogane. I promise."
   "Call me Shiro," the man smiled. "I prefer it to the formalities."
   "You want me to break protocol?"
   "Not exactly. Your skills put you on par with many of the officers. If you ever need help you're welcome to—"
  "Yeah yeah. I get it." The cadet interjected, waving his hand to rudely silence the officer. "I can talk to you. But I'm not calling you Shiro. It's just weird. Thanks anyway." With that, Keith left.
   'What is wrong with him? He has such a backwards understanding of how society works... You don't reward someone who stole your car and you don't call your superiors by stupid nicknames.'
   Keith headed back to his dorm room, thinking about all of the teachers he met. All were strange in their own way, and each had their own scary side to them.
   Despite over one-hundred thoughts going through his mind, he was able to decide on one thing.
  'It'll be best if I just stay away from him.'
   Him was referring to Officer Shirogane.
'I'm not getting kicked out because he has some creepy soft spot for me.... He acts like he knows me...'