Digimon Re: Integrate Vol. 1

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

I tapped my foot on the tile floor and checked the time on my smartphone. "What's taking this guy so long?" There were students everywhere, but none of them looked like the one who I was supposed to be meeting. "Where is he?" I wondered if he was having a hard time finding me. I told him I'd be the one in the corner wearing a black zip-up hoodie.

I turned my head to look out the window. From my spot in the brightly-lit cafeteria on Visions University's twentieth floor, I could see the University's other two towers and the student-filled pavilion way below.

"Hurry up already," I mumbled.

"Excuse me," I heard someone whisper. I turned my head to see a tall, conventionally-attractive guy who looked a bit older than me. He had short,brown hair spiked at the front like a little mountain. "Are you the one I'm supposed to meet?"

"You must be Andrew," I said. I scowled and drummed my fingertips on the tabletop. "What took you so long, dude? You said you wanted to meet here forty-five minutes ago!"

"I know, I'm sorry!" the boy said, clapping his hands together in front of his face in apology. "Professor Valentine held me back to talk about my grades. I'm in deep, man."

"Valentine, huh? That's the one whose class you're failing?"

"Yeah, that's the one. So...you can take care of that, right?"

"Yeah, don't sweat it. I'll boost your score just enough to make sure you pass."

"You're a lifesaver!" my client said a little too loudly.

"Shhh!" I hissed. I took a look around the cafeteria to make sure no one was looking this way. The other students were either too busy stuffing their faces or working on assignments to have noticed his outburst. I sighed, relieved, and looked back to my client. "Keep it down, would ya?"

"Sorry!" he said, clapping his hands together in front of his face again. "It's just...I really need to pass this class! If I don't, I can't graduate, you know? So I'm really counting on you."

I leaned back in my chair and folded my hands behind my head. "You said the professor always leaves his PC in the classroom right before he breaks for lunch, right?"

"Yeah, that's right. He teaches two classes in a row in that same room, so he doesn't bother moving his stuff between lectures."

"Then getting into his account will be easy," I assured the nervous boy. "I'll raise your grades right after he posts them for the semester. That way, no one will even notice."

"Seriously!?" he said, jumping up to his feet. "I know I already said it, but you're a lifesaver! Thanks a million, Milo!"

"Yeah, yeah," I said, waving my hand casually. "I don't do this for free though, y'dig?"

"Of course!" He reached into his pocket and handed me a wad of cash.

I counted one hundred dollars, then nodded, satisfied. "Thank you kindly, my good man."

My client and I shook hands and then parted ways. He headed off to his next class while I went in the direction of his last class.

The class that my oh-so-desperate client was struggling with was a British literature course, and I couldn't blame him if he couldn't keep up with the sort of curriculum a class like that had to have. As a programming major, I couldn't think of anything more boring than reading Shakespeare.

Visions University was unique in that the majority of the campus was contained within three massive towers in Midtown. The North Tower, closest to the street, was where most of the classrooms were for the sake of convenience. The cafeteria where I had rendezvoused with Andrew was in the East Tower on the twentieth floor, and the classroom where Professor Valentine had left his computer was on the fortieth floor of the North Tower. Visions University's East and West towers were connected to the central North Tower by six skyways on floors fifteen, thirty, and forty-five. That meant that in order to reach the North Tower, I only had to go down five floors to cross over rather than going all the way to the ground floor.