What now?
Liam and Lisa stood at the door of his dorm room, the atmosphere tense.
"This is pretty shocking of you," Lisa said with a small smile on her face. She gave Liam a small side-eye and made a show of gasping and covering her mouth. "You wouldn't be planning anything... would you?"
Liam's ears reddened, and his arms waved crazily as if trying to clear the air, which, in a way, he was.
"WH—I-I would never—w-wh—....."
He stopped as Lisa suddenly laughed. He let his arms fall, and one of his hands scratched the back of his head bashfully. He turned to the door and smiled after glancing at her, albeit nervously, then put his hand on the entrance of his room and applied a little pressure.
'Student number 397 identified,' a mechanical voice announced before the door slid very slightly inward, then entered its slot in the left wall.
Liam would have loved to study how exactly the door did what it did, but he had a guest.
Just because he was a little socially inept didn't mean he was stupid.
"Your room number is pretty strange," Lisa stated as she walked in behind him, and the door slid shut. "Room 419."
"How is that strange?" Liam asked as the lights immediately flooded the room the moment he passed the little corridor at the entrance.
He hissed in pain as white temporarily filled his vision.
"I forgot you don't like bright lights," Lisa noted before walking into the room.
It was a one-bedroom affair, with a door in the left wall of the entry corridor that led to a small laundry room. There was a small dividing wall cutting off the entry corridor, leading the visitor to a small living room, in which there was a long three-seater couch and a small black panel in the opposite wall.
Behind the wall the couch rested against were two rooms: the bathroom and the bedroom. Adjacent to the living room were a moderate-sized kitchen and a small storage room.
There's a girl in my dorm room... Liam thought to himself as Lisa's head swivelled round. Why is there a girl in my room?
His inner self sneered, and he smacked his face with his palm.
Whose fault do you think that is?
Liam blinked twice and pursed his lips.
Oh. Right.
"So, Liam, where are you keeping the naughty stuff?"
He opened his eyes in a bit of shock.
"....Huh?"
"You know, magazines, pervy comics and the like."
As Liam's brain tried to process the information, Lisa immediately crouched to check under the sofa.
Liam's brain finally caught up.
And he immediately denied Lisa's outrageous claim.
"I-I do NOT waste my time like that! Also, how could I hide anything if this is the first time I'm visiting my dorm?"
As if he would read such nonsense! He was raised much better than that! And—
"I see..." Lisa nodded. "You couldn't have hidden anything yet since our stuff arrives tonight..."
"Wha-?!" Liam choked in surprise.
The ease with which Lisa twisted his statement into a tease left him stumbling to find a comeback.
She wasn't waiting for him to catch up though.
"Or do you keep them hidden in your CID—"
"Absolutely not!"
Lisa laughed again as Liam's ears turned an indignant shade of red.
"That aside, how's your family?"
Liam sighed before walking to the couch and offering Lisa a seat before sitting at the farther end.
"They're doing great. My little brother and sister turned twelve recently. They're twins, by the way."
Lisa sat at the opposite end, nodding. "I remember your siblings. Your mom?"
Liam smiled. "Worried ever since the entrance exam. Kept saying how being like my dad was dangerous and stuff."
Liam sighed, his smile turning a little sad.
"I know the danger, but I have my own goals, so here I am."
Lisa turned her head fully so she could look at him.
"...And your father?"
Liam's sad smile seemed to darken.
"He's... dead.... Died in action."
Lisa looked down, sensing his unwillingness to speak about the matter.
"I wish he didn't," Lisa said with a sad smile. "Your dad was a great person. He's really missed."
Liam turned to her in slight surprise.
He could see it in her lowered head and sad purple eyes; she was sincere.
That was the first person to ever react to his father's death without an uncomfortable 'My condolences' or an insincere 'I'm sorry for your loss.' After all, they never knew the man; how could they truly be sorry?
To Liam, his father had been everything to him, so whenever someone tried to give him insincere consolation, he found himself suppressing a little anger.
"Yeah." Liam nodded at Lisa. "What about your family?"
Lisa raised her head and put a finger to her forehead. Then she closed her eyes, as if in deep thought.
"Hmm... well, if you must know..."
Lisa spoke about her parents, especially her father, who was an inventor and an idol of Liam's, and her little vacation to a tropical island. Both topics captured Liam's full attention, and he asked several questions, to her secret delight.
Eventually, they began to talk about several other topics.
What books their favorite authors had released. What kind of crazy trends were flying around. Their time at middle school.
Slowly, the barriers that had been up before began to shrink, and their age-old atmosphere as friends began to seep into the air.
It felt good for both of them to catch up.
"So," Liam smiled, his stammer gone and his formal attitude crumbling, "how did a young miss like you get to school? With a limousine, no doubt."
Lisa sighed as she flopped onto the couch.
"Not really. Though my dad did have that idea."
Liam, who was sitting at the foot of the couch, swung his head round in surprise.
"You're kidding."
Lisa shook her head, a little embarrassed.
Liam shivered at the thought. If he had to be chauffeured to school, in a limousine no less, he'd die from embarrassment.
"So glad I'm not you," he muttered.
"Tell me about it. And when you're a Denied on top of everything, life kinda sucks."
Liam paused for several seconds before speaking.
"You're... what?"
Before he could get an answer, though, Lisa's CID rang out with the latest song from a famous album.
Or it was supposed to be famous; Liam didn't know about it.
Liam covered his ears as the loud music blared, then abruptly stopped.
"Ulp!"
She gulped after checking the identity of the caller.
"That's my dad!"
She jumped to her feet, and when she turned, Liam was holding out her bag with a small smile.
"Say hi to him for me." Liam nodded as Lisa took the bag from him.
"Of course," she replied before dashing into the entryway.
Liam was about to crash on the couch when her head came out from behind the divider.
"It was great catching up with you!" she shouted before making her exit.
Liam blinked at the place she'd been for a moment, then sighed deeply and dropped onto the couch.
It really was... he thought as he covered his face with an arm.
He mentally went through the list of things he needed to do that day.
I definitely need to stock the kitchen.
Then he looked down at his clothes.
I should change into something else. I can't be walking around in my uniform all day.
Luckily, he had his gym clothes.
He also needed to visit said gym, then contact his family...
I'll call my family before that.
Liam paused for a second before glancing at the entrance, remembering Lisa's exit.
"...So she's Denied too, huh..."