She wasn't a girl. She was a guy who burst out laughing when he saw me flinch. I stood up immediately.
"Holy shit. Ben, what are you doing here?"
"I was gonna ask you the same question."
He said. Then we shook hands, and he pulled me into a hug.
"Don't tell me you're going to military service too," I asked.
"Yes, I see that you are too."
"Yes," I smiled.
He is my best friend from middle school. He hadn't changed a bit. We took seats beside each other.
"I can't believe we actually met here. Last time we met was by chance too," I said.
"Yeah, I haven't seen you since middle school, bro. Last time doesn't count—we didn't even talk properly. Since we went to different schools. I tried contacting you after I heard your grandparents died too. I even came to your apartment and didn't find you."
"Let us not talk about that," I said. "How are you doing? How did you end up here?"
"You know. I hate studying. I didn't graduate high school because of bad grades. So I just signed up for military service, or in other words, my father made me do it." He laughed. "I think us meeting here is fate."
"Yeah."
"You know, because... I wasn't going to come on this flight." He said. "But you know who registered for military service going in groups in the first weeks of May. But I had some problems with my papers, that's why I got delayed until this flight."
"Yeah, maybe it is," I said. "I thought you were really a girl when you made that girl voice."
Ben laughed.
"You should have seen your face." We laughed.
"So, you gonna take the military compound?" I asked.
"Actually, no. I have a secret. I'll tell you. But don't tell anyone."
"I will not tell anyone, of course. That hasn't changed about me," I said. "But I won't force you to tell me. It's okay. We all have secrets."
"I can tell you. I trust you, bro. The thing is…" He looked around, then started whispering. "It turned out that my great-grandfather or something like that left a book. And this book chose me to inherit his powers. I am a vampire now."
"Vampire? What?" I whispered too. "You mean you drink blood, or only vampire powers?"
"I can survive on animal blood," Ben said. "But to level up and get stronger, I need monster blood or human awakened blood. It sounds disgusting, but when I taste blood, it tastes really good, you know. But don't tell anyone."
"That's cool, bro."
"What about you? You will get the military compound?"
"No, actually," I said. "My grandpa left me his power to inherit or something like that."
"Actually? Really? What is it? What power did you get?"
"It's like spider powers. I can climb on walls. I am fast. I can sense danger and heal fast, jump high. That's what I got for now."
"Really? This is really cool." Ben said. "For me, I am stronger at night. I have night vision. And the sun doesn't hurt me like they say, but I am just way stronger and faster in the night. I can jump high too. I am still at level one. This is what I got. I am very excited to level up. That's why I signed for military. To hunt monsters and level up. My father didn't want me to be a hunter."
"We gonna hunt monsters in the military?" I asked.
"Yeah. We're gonna hunt a lot of monsters. It will be so much fun."
Suddenly, a phone rang. It was Ben's phone. He got up and answered right away.
"Where are you? I am here at the airport. I am sitting with my friend," Ben said, looking around. "You can find us in area B. In the seats. We are sitting there in military clothes. See you." Then he hung up.
"This is my friend. My best friend from high school. He registered with me for military service and he waited for me so we could fly together in the same plane. His name is Tom and he is a werewolf."
I laughed, thinking it was a joke. "Are you serious?"
"Yeah, after I found the book that my great-grandfather left, he also said that he has a book like this. And he asked his grandfather for it. The book chose him and he got werewolf powers. It's pretty sick."
"So he is a werewolf and you are a vampire. Aren't werewolves and vampires enemies?"
"That is only in fiction. And these are just powers inspired by vampires and werewolves."
"What powers or abilities does he have?" I asked.
"Here he is." Ben got up and started waving to someone in military clothes like us. He has short black hair and is wearing glasses. He walked over to us.
"What took you so long?" Ben shook his hand.
"You know, my mother didn't let me go. She wanted to check everything twice and all that," Tom said.
"This is my best friend from middle school. His name is Leo." Ben said, pointing to me.
I got up and shook Tom's hand.
"Nice to meet you," Tom said.
He put his bag down. Then he took a seat.
"Leo is awakened too." Ben said. "And actually, his grandfather left him a book that gave him powers kinda like us."
"Really? What are the chances of that?" Tom looked at me excitedly. "What did you get?"
Ben answered for me.
"That's really good." Tom said.
"Tell him what abilities you got." Ben said.
"I got stronger and faster on the full moon. I got even stronger and faster. I have claws. I can summon them to attack with. That's my abilities for now at level 1."
We talked more about everything—sports, movies, everything. We laughed a lot. How much time had passed since I talked to people like that.
After my grandma died, I was lonely in high school. No friends. And on top of that, I was living alone. Thank God there were multiplayer video games that kept me sane.
I was smiling. I have friends again.
—
I went to the toilet. And while I was sitting there, my system screen popped up. A message on the screen.
[Mission: Be friends with Ben and Tom.]
[Congratulations. You completed the mission before even giving it to you.]
[System detected that this was due to a stronger power than the system.]