Page 39 of Light Leech

He scoffed. “No, Kuni did this.”

Ralia smacked the back of Boyband’s head. “What guk are you teaching him?”

He grunted. “Look, she’s breathing.”

“I just shocked her,” Kuni said. He kicked her and she moaned.

“I told you not to do that!” Naoma pulled Kuni away from Sanna. She looked back at me and glared. “Don’t laugh at him.”

“It’s Boyband’s fault.”

“Zeg you, du.”

“None of you are answering my questions,” Ralia said.

“Fine, fine.” Boyband looked back through the hallway. “Shouldn’t I wait for the others before we debrief?”

Ralia shook her head. “I monitored them remotely but they are on their way home. I think we got what we needed from Haven, even kept up the illusion that we are still involved with them by the three of us showing up. I guess Nichley hasn’t bothered to say who offed Cut and Abbas said he crushed his neurospace after he bit the shac’s mouth off.”

“Well, did you learn anything?” I asked.

“Abbas and Akna can cover it when they get back.”

“What about Naoma’s rivals?” Boyband asked.

“Like I said, they’ll cover it wben they get back.“ Her glare was quick to fade as she smiled at Kuni. “You sick of him yet?”

Kuni shook his head.

“You will be soon enough.”

“Piss off.”

Ralia looked up at me. “You want to tell me what’s up?”

I sighed, then relayed everything we had experienced with as much clarity as I could manage, despite half of the story being a psychedelic trip to a child’s fantasy. I relayed how it felt similar to the therapist’s attack, then looked to Denji. “They both had that same black light. Not the pure light that our Gui have, but it was close.”

He shrugged. “Sorry, du, but I have no idea.”

I ran my hand through my hair. How long had it been since I’d showered? Weeks? Self-care was lost in my list of priorities. I glanced at the others. Denji wasn’t too far out of his usual routine. Ralia looked nice, but half of her was tech. Kuni looked like a mess, but he was a kid. That was our fault. Boyband looked decent, besides his hair that was starting to look more like a helmet than a bowl. But Naoma… Naoma was as beautiful as ever. She wasn’t painted like the Neon Idol and she wasn’t as extravagant as she might have liked to be, but she looked perfect. She smiled at me. I turned away before I got carried away, and blushed.

“Still doesn’t tell me who she is.” Ralia reached through her clothes and pulled out an ID badge. “Sanna Kamina, Student Executive Reform. The zeg does that mean?”

“Means she gets paid lumens to tell people what to do,” scoffed Boyband.

“And you didn’t know her before?”

He shook his head.

She nodded. “Pull her over to the neuroset. We’ll see what I can extract from her neurospace, but if she’s encrypted like the therapist, I think we might have to resort to some good old conversation, if you plug.”

“I figured as much,” I said.

“Do you all need to feed?”

I glanced at Boyband.

“I could wait a bit.”