Kyle tried to walk past him, hoping the silence would be enough to make the point, but the pretty boy did not seem to understand what it meant to be ignored.
"You do not seem to know where the training ground is... so..." Orion paused, eyes bright with expectation, like a child waiting for his friend to agree to play.
Kyle pressed his teeth into his lip in frustration.
The pretty boy was correct.
He had no idea where the training ground was.
Yet he had no intention of following this grinning idiot.
Na-Ri would have been the better guide, but she was nowhere to be seen.
"I hate this. It feels like being caught in a cage," Kyle muttered bitterly to himself.
And in truth, he was trapped.
Forced to endure the company of this smiling nuisance.
The familiar urge to kill rose inside him again, sharp and restless.
If he did not remove this one from his path, he was certain he would stumble into a trap.
That would not serve him well in the slightest.
Kyle reluctantly turned after a long moment of hesitation, shooting the pretty boy a glare. Orion remained fixed in his eager anticipation, still waiting for him to finish the sentence.
However, Kyle refused to indulge him.
"Yes. Do you know the place?" he asked in a flat voice.
Orion's smile faltered at once.
Disappointment showed in his eyes; it was clear this was not the answer he had been hoping for.
Scratching the back of his head with a weary look, he muttered in a hoarse tone, "Let us go together, then."
The grin returned almost instantly, his clownish energy restored as he began to lead the way, hopping about as if nothing had happened.
Kyle studied him for a moment, then followed at a slower pace.
At least the boy had not pried into what he carried in his bag.
That small relief hardly mattered, but it was enough for him to notice.
He considered asking the time, or whether this was already the second day, but the thought felt strange.
The truth was he had no desire to ask this fool anything at all.
***
After a short walk from the teenagers' quarter and down another narrow road, the two of them arrived at a single-level building shaped like a long rectangle, not much different from a warehouse.
"This is the place where we all train in different martial arts. I have only been here for forty-eight days, but I already know a lot. I can be your mentor if you ever need one," Orion declared proudly.
He pushed the double doors open with a loud screech, and inside stretched a wide hall.
Most of the teenagers from the quarter were already gathered, spread across the space.
About ten wooden dummies stood in different corners, some being used while others stood idle.
Groups of students were chatting and bonding with one another, while a few were locked in sparring attempts, arguing over who performed a move better.
Counting them quickly, Kyle noted there were twenty-five already present.
With himself and Orion included, the total reached twenty-seven. The instructor was nowhere to be seen.
More than nine white bulbs hung from the ceiling, giving off a sharp light, while three large glass windows set high on the walls allowed some air to pass through.
Several heads turned briefly towards the entrance.
Once they recognised Orion and the unfamiliar boy beside him, their interest dropped.
Only a few gave Orion a wave or a bright smile.
Kyle received barely two glances, and even those lacked curiosity.
'Damn...'
Kyle could not help being struck by the sight of the place, and by the familiar way he failed to draw any notice.
He slipped away carefully while Orion was busy greeting a few of his friends.
From the way people welcomed him, it was obvious the pretty boy was well liked.
Nobody here seemed to look down on one another, and most simply kept to themselves.
And that worked very much for him.
He slid into a corner and made sure to secure his bag firmly in his possession. His eyes then scurried around like a rat searching for danger.
Almost at once, he caught sight of Na-Ri.
She noticed him just as quickly and began walking over, carrying two small nylon bags in her hands.
Her face remained as cold as ever.
'I wished we would never see each other again after we split, but clearly that was not to be. Nothing ever goes the way I want it to, does it?'
He grimaced, watching as she came to a stop in front of him and stretched one of the nylon bags towards him without a word.
Kyle looked down at it, then raised his eyes to meet hers, wondering what it contained.
She sighed, rolled her eyes, and then forced herself to speak:
"Come on, I'm sure you haven't eaten yet. Besides, no one is exempt from training, so you will need strength."
He glanced back at the nylon, his eyes lighting faintly at the thought of food. And as if to betray him, his stomach gave a loud growl at precisely the wrong moment.
The beautiful stranger scoffed and turned away, leaving with the other nylon without another word.
Orion rushed towards her, eager to greet her, though his eyes were also darting about in search of Kyle.
By then, Kyle had already slipped out of sight, choosing instead to eat the food he had been given without sparing a thought for pride.
'Uh? Where did he go?'
He brushed the thought aside as he jumped directly in front of Na-Ri, startling her with his sudden reappearance.
She exhaled in frustration and lifted her hand in a half-hearted wave, greeting him for the second time that day.
Rather than indulge him further, she thrust the nylon bag into his hand and walked off to sit on the ground, settling herself to meditate.
Orion looked after her, a touch dreary at her mood. She had not been like this before leaving the settlement, but something had clearly changed.
He turned away at last, only to spot Kyle sliding something into his worn bag before sitting down.
Looking out towards the glass window, the thought of lonely silence returned to him.
This was the life he had grown used to.
It had rewired the way he thought about people, yet as one himself he still wanted to feel part of them.
Another side of him, however, rejected that desire.
Two people seemed determined to draw close, but the weight of past betrayals and the lingering symptoms of withdrawal, combined with his trust issues, left him unwilling to let anyone in.
Orion had been about to step closer, but he stopped midway when he noticed Kyle lost in thought.
Not wanting to intrude, he turned away and went to spend time with some of the others instead.
Kyle's focus shifted back to the room.
Someone else caught his attention, another loner much like himself.
Three people tried speaking to her, but she pulled back from them at once.
It was the same girl who had been chatting animatedly with Na-Ri only a short while ago, yet she appeared entirely different in this setting.
She wore a white sweatshirt with matching sweatpants, her expression marked by weariness.
In her hand she held a small, unsettling teddy bear, which she clutched tightly in the manner of a child.
Her skin was pale and unblemished, and her features were striking in their prettiness.
With her short grey hair, slight frame, and a height of barely five foot four, she looked no older than seventeen.
In Kyle's eyes, she appeared less deserving of pity and more like a child.
The worn teddy bear she held so tightly, together with her retreat from conversation with others, reminded him of a shy child.
He conveniently ignored that this was the same way he himself behaved, turning people away.
"What is a child doing in here? Perhaps she is searching for her mother," Kyle mused with dry sarcasm, glancing away from her while shaking his head.
It was in his nature to judge others, less out of conviction than as a way to occupy his otherwise dull thoughts.
While he tried to sink into the mood of the room, the double doors swung open.
Colette, the smiling leader of Team A, entered with a short man beside her.
The man had bluntly cut black hair, a ruthless expression, and one hand held neatly behind his back as they walked to the front of the training ground.
At once, the students adjusted their posture. Those who had been sitting rose to their feet, Na-Ri and Orion among them, and the entire group straightened themselves with the precision of trained soldiers.
The sweatshirt and sweatpants they all wore, each in different colours, gave the atmosphere a sense of sameness.
Kyle moved to the back without hesitation, finding a small space for himself while his eyes settled on the short man standing beside Colette.
'Is that the instructor?' he thought with a steady curiosity.
Colette's expression remained indifferent as her eyes moved across the group, pausing briefly on each student before softening into a polite smile.
The short man, by contrast, offered no acknowledgment and kept his gaze fixed ahead.
They stopped at the front and faced the assembled residents before beginning to speak.
"Good morning, everyone. Welcome to another day of the usual routine, lectures and training. Ms Colette will begin with a full recap of the lecture about the world itself and what to expect before training begins. Also, we are delighted Na-Ri is back to join us, and we also have a newcomer among us, as I was told," the short man said. His voice carried a blunt weight, not unlike Officer Gerald's tone, as he referred to Kyle.
Fortunately, none of the residents standing in front turned to glance at the newcomer mentioned.
Their attention remained locked on the two at the front.
Kyle, on the other hand, was still reeling from the aftermath. He had truly been unconscious for an entire day and had only regained awareness that morning.
The manual had forced so much pain into him that his body had collapsed under the strain, leaving him no choice but to pass out.
That experience alone told him more than he wished to know.
He would not attempt such a reckless act again, because he now understood that the manual was a far harsher and less forgiving force than he had assumed.
Colette inclined her head slightly in respect as the instructor granted her the floor.
"All right, then. We shall begin with the fundamentals. What exactly is corruption, what phenomena you must remain alert for at all times, and finally, how one can attempt a breakthrough."
Kyle felt his focus sharpen at the final point, realising she was about to reveal the one piece of information he most needed.