With another sunrise comes another day. The dark blue skies brighten as the cyan supersun rises above the horizon, its light peeking through the small towers of the distant city. The rays of light that pass through the openings lay across the ground, becoming longer and larger as the sun continues to rise.
The rays reach the university's campus, with some being caught against the tall silver dorm towers and others striking past it. While the sky is still fairly dark, the day is clearly emanant, as the waking of the sun would cause for the waking of those who flourished from its warmth and light.
That light shines through the window of the dorm room, projecting rays into the room and illuminating it. The rays directly strike Rohan as well, who lays on his bed closest to the light, with his face directed towards the window as his body lays on its side. He sleeps silently, for his facial muscles are relaxed, indicating that he is peaceful in his rest.
However, the intensifying light causes his relaxed face to tense up, as his eyes start to seem to squeeze tighter, as though trying to fight back the natural alarm.
Only a few seconds into battle, he surrenders, as his eyes slowly open, revealing his blue irises which have a clear tiredness within them. His eyes stare at the bright window as his face relaxes once more, no longer stressing against the sun.
His eyes then widen, and he rolls on his back, staring up at the white ceiling momentarily. He proceeds to sit up, and look to his other side, to which he sees Dexter still asleep on his own bed, snoring quietly as he clearly wasn't awoken by the blinding light, but instead still contained in his own peaceful sleep.
Rohan lowers his head to look down at the bedside table top hovering beside him, and he focuses on the small silver earbud sitting on the table close to his side. He then picks up his device from the table, knowing that it should be at full charge by now, and thus ready for use. He places his Connect in his ear, letting it secure itself onto him, and then holds his hand out to trigger a holographic screen to summon.
The Connect wakes up, projecting the desired holographic screen, which initially shows a rectangular and slim black screen which indicates the time itself, specifically said as "8:14 A.M" in a white font.
After analyzing the screen, Rohan rubs his eyes and lets out a long and deep yawn, still clearly tired after having just woken up,before lowering his hands to look at the screen again. He moves his right hand over the screen, and stares at it for a few moments, as in his mind, he consciously desires to open the university's official app.
While there is no visual indicator, Rohan's internal voice is read by the Connect, picking up on the command through a wireless neural connection. With the feedback provided by the mental channel, the Connect then navigates to the SAT app already having been installed, and opens it.
The holographic screen indicating the time is then replaced by a larger screen that is longer than it is wide rather than the other way around, and shows the home page of the S.A.T app, with the array of buttons leading to different parts of the site.
Rohan's blue eyes then dart to one of the buttons on the home page which reads 'ANNOUNCEMENTS,' and bring his finger towards it before pressing on it, hoping to find information on the orientation he had today.
While the Connect is able to act on a user's mental commands through the neural channels that it has access to, which is the typical method of traversing to different apps or completing other general steps, those who have owned a Connect for enough time to get used to it knows the importance of balancing mental commands with physical ones.
For instance, while Rohan usually navigates to different apps mentally, for it is far easier than scrolling through a physical page of applications, he prefers to navigate through an app itself physically due to personal preferences, for he finds the visual map of the applications to make traversal easier when there are more complex specifications for navigating a path.
Whereas he may normally need to only remember the name of an application to use to begin with, trying to find an exact page or execute an exact action on an application is far more difficult, as it'd require deeper memorization of such parts, but also require intricacies that are more complicated to execute well, intricacies that Rohan simply doesn't find worthy enough to work through when he could just as easily use a screen.
For that same reason, Rohan, like most other users, prefers to use physical actions to conduct work or indulge in activities on their Connect.
They'd rather browse through videos on streaming apps with a physical menu, they'd rather control characters in video games with visible controllers, and they'd rather type out messages or worksheets with a keyboard they could touch.
While it is possible to do all these activities mentally, as some people do indeed take on the challenge, it's complexities make it far more challenging than what it's worth, as trying to mentally type out a message without mistakes may prove more difficult than one may think before trying.
While there is a cultural elegance to using physical constructs for these activities, such judgment is meaningless to Rohan, as he chooses how to use his Connect based on what he finds to be most effective for himself.
Upon pressing the 'ANNOUNCEMENTS' button another page is revealed via a new holographic screen, revealing a long black page with gray rectangular boxes stacked vertically and centered, similar to a forum. Each of the boxes has white text as well, with larger text at the top, being the title, and smaller yet longer text below, being the actual body.
At the top of the page is one gray box which has large white text displaying the title to be:"DAY 1 TOURS," and then below was the post itself, which has a few chunks of text, although Rohan's eyes seem to narrow down to a specific two lines of text within the post, as he finds them most important upon first glance.
He reads quietly to himself, as his tiredness gives him the uncertainty of being confident in knowing he'll accurately analyze the post. That is not the only reason however, as he uses this opportunity to slyly nudge his brother to awaken as well, for even now it seems that Dexter is deep in sleep.
Rohan reads to himself, "'Tour one begins at eleven thirty A-M. Tour two, begins at two thirty P-M.' Huh, it's fourteen right now, we have a good amount of time before the tour begins, I guess that means I can use this time to unpack everything."
Rohan then turns back to face Dexter to assess his success, only to find that he is still asleep in his bed, not seeming to have reacted to the monologue. Rohan sighs, but he takes on the challenge without defeat.
Again, Rohan speaks louder, repeating with a hint of sarcasm enriching his words "Oh well, I'll start unpacking now, I guess Dexter can help with the rest when he wakes up."
Immediately after Rohan's spoken words, Dexter's eyes shoot wide open, and he sits up at an instant, turning his head to Rohan as though he had just been activated like an android.
He then asks with intrigue, his voice not even seeming to be tired, "Wait, what about unpacking?"
Rohan smiles softly, and he nods his head before sliding out of his bed. He lands on the floor, standing besides the hovering bed, and steps away as he becomes mobile. He stretches his sides and arms, and then proceeds to approach his desk, where his bag is still laying after he had taken his clothing the other day. He grabs the bag from the desk and retreats back to his bed, for it had a much larger surface to dump his luggage.
He places his bag on the bed, and then looks back up at Dexter with a smirk. He asks snarkily, "So are you going to as well or after the tours?"
Dexter huffs in response, and he throws himself off his bed promptly, trying to awaken his body quick enough to act with the least amount of lag. He stands to his feet and walks to his own desk, where his bag is also waiting for him.
He grabs his bag and turns back to Rohan, retorting "You're evil, you know that?"
Rohan shrugs his shoulders, and he presses on the patch on the bag, which triggers the projection of the holographic inventory menu to beam in front of him. He then looks back up at Dexter, and responds with amusement, "You're welcome. We'll set alarms later, but we have some time now to set everything else up."
From there, Dexter and Rohan begin their unpacking. The two both begin swiping through their holographic menus, stacked with options for clothing items and other equipment that mostly seemed to be in their own boxes.
The two start to press on specific items on the hologram, which triggers a light to shine out of the bag similarly to how it did the other day, and in the same way, the exact item they had chosen appears in the beam of light, whether it be clothing or anything else.
Rohan swipes through pages of items on the holographic menu, as it seemed the rather small bag had a surprisingly immense storage space, which had been taken advantage of as the slots were full of clothes and other items. He clicks on more items, causing them to appear in the ray of light on his white mattress.
Dexter stands up and begins collecting piles of his clothing before walking towards the closet on his side, where he finds a similar compartment device for clothing as the ones back home, although taller and sleeker just like on the other side of the room.
He puts his hand over the device, which triggers a holographic menu to appear, and he begins pressing different buttons as he navigates through the menu. Finally, a light beams from the closet, however rather than building clothing for Dexter, it seems to focus on the clothes Dexter holds. Almost right after the light beams onto the clothes, they seemingly vanish out of his hands, being taken by the closet for storage as though he had made a deposit.
In the same moment, Rohan grabs his black bag made of a leathery material, which is about the size of a pencil case. After having summoned it, he takes it to the bathroom, which triggers the door to dissolve for him to place them in a proper spot.
Inside the bathroom, Rohan walks down to the far end of the white table that acts as the sink. He then places the bag on the sink and taps on it, which causes another holographic inventory to project. He stares at it and presses on a few slots before pressing another button, which causes the menu to disappear.
A light projects from the front of the black bag, which beams onto the table. Inside the beam of light, lines of bottles and smaller boxes begin appearing, having been stored in the bag.
After countless rows of bottles and boxes have been summoned, the light dims and deactivates. Rohan then begins picking up the various containers and organizing them on the sink table, giving them proper placement for easy access.
After having properly set up the bathroom, Rohan exits the bathroom, and he finds Dexter reading through the holographic menu, trying to find if there's anything else he needs to take out to sort. Rohan then turns his attention to his bag, and approaches it, returning to run through his inventory as well, picking out specific items to take out and move throughout his dorm.
The lights from the bags continue shining as they deploy more items, with Rohan deploying his own clothing to bring to his closet, and Dexter returning to his bag after having placed a small brown bag on his desk, as though it contains accessories or tools he'd need to use while working.
After Rohan deposits his clothing into his closet, he turns back to face his brother, to which he finds Dexter carrying a small black crate of sorts which is about one and a half feet in length, which has a lid to cover the top. The crate seems to have handles to be held, and it doesn't appear heavy, as Dexter effortlessly holds it while seeming to be in contemplation.
Dexter then looks up at Rohan with a puzzled expression before asking, "Where does this go?"
Rohan tilts his head upon Dexter's question, confused at first as he was unsure of what the crate even was, and so he asks for clarification, "What's 'this?'"
Dexter smiles with a gleefully innocent expression, and he lets go of the crate with his left hand, instead using it to tap the lid of the crate. From the top, a holographic menu is projected, which displays an inventory full of small bags with images of short cylindrical orange objects similar to short noodles and bottles with strange green bubbly liquid inside. Much more items seem to be present as the whole inventory appears full of other items.
Dexter then happily answers, "Snacks!"
Rohan sighs with disappointment, and he shakes his head, commenting in a disapproving tone: "You never said anything about getting food, you probably filled that whole thing with Tatos."
Dexter shakes his head defensively, and he argues passionately: "No! I thought long and hard about it actually, I tried to balance it between what we want. I even got your crosticks."
Rohan's eyes widen by the last mention, and his frown turns to a pleased smile. He then excitedly replies, "Wait, really? Oh, well then, guess I was wrong. Maybe take out some of what's inside and put it in the fridge, the others can go in the storage or keep them in the crate if you really want. But it's probably good to space them out."
Dexter nods his head, and he walks off with the crate to do just that, searching for the right compartments to disperse them in and leaving Rohan to return to running through his own inventory.
The time passes by minutes, then hours, as the room continues to morph, turning from a mostly empty white lifeless cube to a living space with crates beside the floors and bags along the desks, as more of Rohan's and Dexter's belongings endow the dorm with life, amplifying the standard room that was once clean but lackluster in energy.
Now the desks aren't entirely empty, as they're lined with the bags used previously, and on Dexter's desk there seems to be more bags that look identical to the ones in the crate, as they seem to be snacks that Dexter prepares preemptively.
By the closets, more equipment lies outside of the storage machine, which includes the bags that contained the clothing to begin with, as they toss them by the new host.
Ultimately, after a long session of work, Rohan falls back on his new bed, which depresses for a moment before rising back up in a soft bounce. Rohan sighs with relief after having spent the morning unpacking, finally having finished the task all the way through to completion.
He stares at the white ceiling, and then hears Dexter fall on his head in a similar fashion, as the both of them were clearly exhausted after all the hard work.
Dexter stares at the ceiling for a few moments, seeming to be pondering to himself. He then softly asks Rohan, "Wait so...how much time do we have till that next meeting?"
Rohan holds his hand up, causing his Connect to project a holographic screen, as it opens the SAT app right where he left off, displaying the forum-styled Announcement page.
He reads the posts for a second to confirm the response before confidently answering, "About forty five minutes or so. All of our tours start in the dorm field, so we won't need to go far. We can rest for a bit."
Dexter hums for a few moments, and then asks innocently, "Yeah but...I'm not the only one who's hungry...right?"
Rohan sighs, as he had nearly forgotten about breakfast, and was almost ready to go on with the first tour without eating at all, which would've potentially forced him with a painful appetite.
He responds with a tired voice, "Oh yeah, that. Maybe we should do that too. Want to go now?"
Dexter nods his head against the bed, and he answers softly with an exhausted smile, "That would...be nice."
After a few more moments of rest, the dorm room dissolves open, revealing both Rohan and Dexter. However, they no longer wear plain shirts and shorts acting as pajamas, but instead now sport presentable clothing for the day, wearing long and formal blue pants, and shirts that are made of a richer material as it doesn't seem as comfortable, but it has a more dignified look.
Just like yesterday, Rohan wears his green and white jacket over his shirt, which seems to be his signature jacket, wearing it almost whenever he'd leave to go outside.
Rohan leads Dexter out of the room, and once the two exit, he taps on the screen projected by his Connect. As the two continue moving away, the door then materializes shut and locks from the command by Rohan, closing behind him and his brother. Rohan then walks down the corridor along with Dexter, and once he gets to the end, he turns and begins down the main hall.
The two make their way through the hall until they come across the closed elevator door, where they find a few other people waiting around outside. Many of them seem to be using their Connects, indicated by the holograms in front of them, browsing through apps and playing around in order to pass the time while waiting.
Rohan and Dexter approach the group before stopping in front of the door and standing by it. They look to each other and then back at the door, waiting patiently for the pad to arrive, as there seems to be a blinking yellow light over the door, indicating that a pad has been summoned already.
After a few moments of waiting, the door dissolves open, revealing an elevator pad waiting for them with only one person onboard, who then promptly gets off as it seemed he was returning from an errand as he's also from the top floor.
Rohan and Dexter both enter the elevator, stepping onto the pad along with the rest of the students following, and they locate the far edge that'd normally face the lobby, to which Rohan leads Dexter towards to wait.
After one of the students chooses the lobby floor on the podium, the elevator door materializes shut, isolating the pad. The elevator pad then begins its descent, now carrying the passengers and taking them to the bottom floor.
The elevator pad picks up speed as it plummets from the very top of the dorm building to the bottom, passing the series of closed doors without interruption.
After arriving at the ground floor, the two brothers step off and walk past the open transparent shafts, heading straight down the lobby and towards the far door. They pass the central garden and approach the exit doors, which are triggered by their presence, causing them to dissolve due to their proximity.
The cyan light strikes them as they feel the morning sun, and the soft winds blow into them. Rohan exits first, with Dexter by his side, as the two leave the building and head outside. Rohan's Connect projects a hologram displaying the campus map, as since it is only the second day, Rohan has yet to get used to the new territory and thus isn't ready to maneuver through it without aid from the official university app.
Immediately upon their exit, the bright morning light shines more intensely on them, causing Rohan to instinctively shield his eyes with his hand, and for his eyes to contract.
A few moments later, he manages to overcome the initial stress of the light with the strength to bear it without needing to hide himself. He relieves his hand as instead he accepts the natural light, with a soft smile on his face as he looks up at the first morning in his new home.
He gazes at the blue canvas above with perfect white clouds painted like floating blankets, exciting Rohan as he knows he would be treated to this morning many times again over the course of the next few years, as it was a view he knew he would gladly get used to.
His eyes return to the holographic map, and he begins to walk down the field along with Dexter, leading him to the main hall to get their first breakfast, the same place they obtained their first dinner.
The field has scattered groups of other students talking and hanging out with each other, with some being right in front of dorm buildings while others are in the middle of the field, clearly waiting for the tours to begin.
Rohan and Dexter walk through the field, and make their way down the same path they took the other day, taking the gray sidewalk and trekking through the forest until they walk down the ramp into the plaza in front of the main hall, which shines in the morning sunlight.
Rohan and Dexter enters the hall through the open doors, finding the lobby full of other students also there to grab their fuel for the day, and they approach the metal poles connected by the red energy stable doors to authorize themselves into the hall.
The two are authorized as the red energy doors vanish after scanning them, and they walk forward until they enter the next room through the arched doorway.
They enter the food station room, which is less busy than the other day, as the lines are shorter and less chaotic in the center, as instead there's actually an opening in the center to easily see the doorway on the other side where the cafeteria is.
Rohan and Dexter take separate paths to different lines in order to save time collectively, as Rohan is now confident that Dexter can manage himself to get food after he did the other day. They eventually get to the front of their lines, to which they begin swiping over the holographic cylindrical rack, observing the food options, which is different from the one yesterday.
The racks of ribs have been replaced by fluffy dark brown muffins, and the pizza has been replaced with light brown cinnamon rolls with smooth white glaze over. The options have been made to mimic breakfast foods more, and Rohan quickly begins building his meal over the holographic tray still provided.
Eventually, he finishes his plan and allows the table to build it, as he watches it whir before projecting the light into the tray. He observes the tray, which has a circular plate with yellow, well cooked scrambled eggs and a fork beside it, and next to the plate is a clear bottle which has a strange black liquid inside. The tray along with the food then solidifies, indicative by the fact that they stop glowing, turning from illusion to reality.
Rohan then picks up his solid tray and walks down towards the next doorway, ready to find a seat to eat. As he walks, he turns his head to see Dexter walking hastily towards him, trying to meet up so they can walk together.
Rohan slows down to allow Dexter to catch up to him, and as he does, his eyes lower down to the tray Dexter holds. He dawns a flat judgemental expression as he finds that on Dexter's plate are several plates of food along with a bottle with a pink liquid, potentially being a smoothie even in the early morning.
Furthermore, on those plates house multiple cinnamon rolls which steam as they're hot, and dark brown muffins with visible chocolate chips having been melted into them. There are also round danish pastries with dark red cherry filling in the center, also having streaks of glaze over.
Rohan raises his head after observing the tray, to which Dexter gives a weak innocent smile, knowing that he'd be judged by his brother, who went for a simplistic and healthy breakfast while he seemed to give himself more of a desert meal.
After passing glares, the two then continue on through the doorway, entering the main room of the hall, where they could then eat what they had made for themselves. Inside the main room are students scattered around on different tables whether the long benches or the personal booths in the small room, speaking loudly to create a sea of conversation and voices which fill the room.
Rohan and Dexter both walk out of the station room and towards the closest bench, where they had sat the other day. In fact, just as Rohan had predicted, they find that on the corner of the closest bench sits the five boys that they had met yesterday at dinner. All of them sit in the same orientation as yesterday as though they already had their codes, already feasting on their breakfast.
Rohan begins to approach the group with his tray in hand while Dexter follows behind, lowering his head as he's not as confident around the group as his older brother.
Shuraj turns his head as though sensing Rohan's presence, to which his eyes light up upon seeing him. He perks his head up, seeming to be wearing the same light blue hoodie that he was the other day, and he waves his hand to greet the two as they then wave back in response and take their seats in the same place as before, with Rohan sitting beside Shuraj again.
Dexter immediately begins to down his food savagely with no regard of his surroundings after the tiring unpacking while Rohan opts to speak with the group, not focusing on his eggs but instead bouncing between members as Ara greets him and asks how his morning was, and Vrey mentions his anticipation if they are excited for the tours.
Rohan smiles between bites of his eggs before speaking up for himself, responding and giving his own questions to each of the members of the group, hardly focusing on his food as he was far more immersed in the conversation rather than the small plate on the tray in front of him.
After finishing their food, Rohan and Dexter exit the main hall, yet this time alongside the other five group mates they had encountered and picked up along the way. After leaving their dishes on the table for it to be taken for washing, the group of seven take the exit door, and begin walking up the plaza.
Rohan speaks back and forth with Sriya in specific, talking with excitement about the prospect of joining the air hockey team, as it seems to be a hot topic between them after the conversation started the other day.
It was initially surprising to see such a large man with such an intimidating demeanor seem to upbeat and excited, as even though Rohan didn't have much intention of joining a team to begin with since he would've much rather focused on his studies and classes rather than a sports team that wouldn't aid his academic career, Sriya's enthusiasm still made him want to think about it.
While Rohan hadn't brought any of his old gear with him to the campus, he figured there was a good chance he wouldn't use it anyways, as usually for larger and more professional leagues such as the ones in universities, the suits were offered by the team itself.
Shuraj and Rohan walk side by side in front later in their walk, speaking to one another as they approach the dorm buildings, as the field connecting them was meant to be the meeting ground for the beginning of the tours. Behind the two are Ara and Ari speaking to one another, Sriya and Vrey chatting, and Dexter following behind alone without speaking to anyone.
Shuraj speaks in response to a previous question Rohan had asked him, "Yeah, we're all actually in Section D, so that sucks that you're on the other side of the floor. But hey, at least it is the same floor. Imagine having to take the elevator to get to us, now that would be sad."
Rohan shrugs his shoulders, and he admits, "I guess, I mean I got a lot more than I could've, so I should probably just take the good from it. Thanks though, and I'll still come over when you're fine with that."
Shuraj nods his head, and he assures "Oh yeah dude you can come anytime, I mean if I'm changing, the door will be locked but besides that you can come over whenever."
Rohan smiles, and he looks ahead of himself as he concludes, "Thanks, I'll remember that."
The group walks onto the field, where there seems to be a large crowd of people, as voices fill the area. On the field by the center are multiple adults wearing formal suits and dresses, and in front of them is a mass gathering of students, as it was clear the tour was starting.
Rohan awakens his Connect and projects a screen to check the time, and just as he thought, it was 11:28 A.M, two minutes before the tour is scheduled to begin. He lets his Connect relinquish the hologram, and continues heading towards the groups of students readying for the tours.
There are fifteen adult tour guides all standing together, watching the students standing around waiting for them to begin speaking, anxious and excited for the first orientation day.
As Rohan lowers his hands while walking, the seven assimilate into the groups of waiting students, now fueled from their breakfast and ready to begin exploring their new home.
They find their own spot with minimal space, and begin waiting for a couple awkward minutes while trying to speak to each other and hear themselves clearly.
Alas, after those couple minutes, one of the adults begins to speak, announcing "Okay, we will begin the tours now. Since there are so many of you, there will be fifteen separate groups for this building, and we are hoping that will be enough. But even though there are a lot of us, we still urge you all to bear with us, and to make it easy for us to lead you so we can make this happen. That means it would be nice for you guys to stay quiet during the tour unless you have questions to ask, and for you to make sure you're sticking with us, since it would be great if we don't have to worry about any lost students. We'd take up all the tour time if we move each of you into groups individually so we'll give you the liberty to do so yourself, all we ask is for you to balance yourselves. Your tour guide will introduce themselves once the groups are set."
As she speaks, the other fourteen guides separate themselves, standing spaced apart as if to give enough room for the students to stand near them without a bleeding of groups.
The students all take notice of the guides making themselves open, and some of them chat quietly to one another as they figure which group to join based on the guide.
The speaking guide finishes, "This first tour will remain local to this area, as we will begin to work into farther sections of the campus throughout the week. Remember, there will be two tours per day for this week, so make sure to attend all of them, or you will miss a notable amount of information regarding how you will traverse the campus. Now, you are free to go to the tour guide you wish to follow, whether that be me or the other great guides standing by me, all of us having been staff of this great school for years. I myself have been around for about a decade, so we have ample knowledge to pass down onto you! Good luck, and make sure to pay attention, the year may move fast once the classes begin!"
With that, students begin to group themselves by joining with certain tour guides, as it seems each group first assesses the current groups in their states before proceeding with the best guide to follow, making sure to balance the overall groups by joining the smaller groups.
Rohan turns to Shuraj, knowing it would be him who ultimately chooses the fate of the group, as he seemed to be the one to assume the leadership position. He then turns to Dexter, who stands by him, waiting for him to make a move.
Shuraj's eyes fixate on one of the younger female guides, and he points to her, deciding "There, follow me."
He then begins walking towards the guide, and the other six follow him, joining with the sizable group that had already bunched up by her. Dexter stays next to Rohan as the group stops, and they all turn to the guide, waiting for her to begin.
Rohan looks around at the other groups, seeing that there are few students who have yet to find a group, and they are already clearly leaning towards one.
He then turns back to face his guide, who then begins to speak after it seems like everyone had found their group, and it seems to be fine to begin without worrying about having others miss what she was saying.
The tour guide says, "Hello, my name is Ms. Nyugen, and I will be your tour guide for your first tour today! Of course I will also help with a few other tours if you wish to join me for those, but for now let's focus on this. Today I'll be showing you around the domestic section of the campus, where you have spent your time in the past days, but there is much more that I'm sure you don't know about. If you have any questions, feel free to ask, that's why I'm here! Now follow me, I have a lot to show you!"
The tour guide turns around and begins walking down the field, leading Rohan and the rest of the students to follow.
Soon after she begins walking, Shuraj follows, and so does Rohan. Behind them, the rest of the large group of students, familiar and strangers, follow the guide, as they begin their first tour of the great campus they will be living in for years.