65 Squad #8

666 returned back to their dorm room at around 9pm, after dinner time. By then Daniel had already gotten up from his afternoon nap and had dinner by himself. Watching a rather interesting military drama on his holographic screen from his study desk, Daniel was just about to turn his head around and greet that roommate of his when the both of them abruptly got pinged by Minerva with an urgent notification, making Daniel slightly squint in irritation.

One had to note that unlike a normal notification, an urgent notification will instantly pop up in front of one's eyes or transmitted directly into one's biochip even when the person is busy or asleep. Therefore, Daniel had almost jumped from fright when he saw words suddenly appearing before his eyes without warning, almost making him fall off his chair from the shock.

666, though, is much more composed and had already began reading the contents of the notification the second it popped up on the periphery of his eyes. It seems that he must have experienced and gone through much of these urgent notifications because he instantly placed his palms behind his back in a natural motion while staring blankly into the air without moving.

Although it took Daniel less than a second to recover, he is still slightly slower than 666 and only managed to finish reading the whole thing a few seconds after the other person. However, when he finally absorbed the information given to him from the notification pop up, he could not help but turn his head over towards 666 again before blinking several times.

"Looks like we've been assigned to the same squad, 666." Daniel noted in a positive tone. Although Daniel found his roommate to be slightly dense and somewhat peculiar at times, he still felt that it would be better to enter a squad with someone he already knew.

Before 666 could reply, both Daniel and him were suddenly added to a new chat group under the name of 'EUMA Squad #8'. Then, a flood of texts started popping up inside both of their heads.

WaifuSimp696969: "Hey, we finally got enough people to form a squad! I thought we might have to wait until other new students come in January before this happens! Hooray to us!"

TempLord123: "...did you add them on the chat already??!! My heart is not ready yet!"

LadyMayonnaise11: "I added them already, so why don't you guys introduce yourselves!"

...

TempLord123: "Susan here! So glad that we finally got two hotties joining the group! I got tired of seeing Luke's ugly face."

WaifuSimp696969: "!!!! I'm not ugly!"

TempLord123: "Say that to the mirror."

LadyMayonnaise11: "... Guys! We've just gotten our new members and you're already trying to scare them off?! I'm Eva btw."

(S)666: "... Greetings, my designation is 666. Although I usually fight alone, I'll try my best to adhere to everyone's standards for the group's harmony."

DanDanO.O "Daniel here. Just joined the academy a while ago. Nice to meet you guys!"

***

After a couple of minutes where everyone introduced themselves to each other through VR chat, the squad decided that they should meet up physically the day after since it was the weekend and nobody had anything else to do on the Saturday. Upon further consideration, they all decided to meet up at a certain well-known cafe by the shopping and entertainment street close to the dormitory area.

Since Daniel is going to meet the people who are going to accompany him to fight for the next few years, he could not help but feel slightly nervous upon the prospect of meeting them for the first time in less than 24 hours. Without any time to mentally prepare, Daniel tried to divert his nervousness by picking the clothes that he will wear the next day. Though, since most of his clothes simply consisted of plain t-shirts, trousers or official designated robes, he had found himself another thing to worry about instead.

"What should I wear tomorrow?!" Daniel frowned, subconsciously turning his head towards his only roommate since the latter actually had a better fashion sense than him.

666 rose an eyebrow before walking over towards Daniel's side as the former took a look at Daniel's wardrobe. After looking for a while, 666 simply gave a rather dull recommendation, "Why don't you just wear the standard blue robe? Since it's the official designated attire to wear to any non-formal events, nothing would go wrong with wearing that."

"But wouldn't that be too dull?!" Daniel retorted. "Only people who have no other clothes to wear would wear such a thing to meet with friends. Even though it's better than having no fashion sense at all, wearing this robe would only barely make the standards for a meeting with your comrades!"

Unfortunately, 666 had no better idea for him so upon further deliberations, Daniel could only grit his teeth and wear the blue robe for tomorrow.

***

The day after, Daniel is wearing said blue robe when he turned his head over and saw that 666 is already finished with changing and is currently trying to nitpick his attire by looking at himself through a mirror.

Feeling curious, Daniel walked over towards 666 only to curse the latter when he found that his roommate actually looked much better than him.

Wearing a tight white shirt with the EUMA's logo inconspicuously printed all over, once could barely see the abdominal and chest muscles hiding underneath the shirt. With the top two buttons loose, 666 gave off a wild vibe along with the rather cool sunglasses he had donned on.

666 also grabbed a light blue blazer and carried it simply with a finger, having the blazer dangle behind his broad back. After giving himself a good look, he decided to unfirl his sleeves to show off his arm muscles a little bit while also alleiving himself from the heat of wearing a long-sleeved shirt in a contained environment of 25 degrees Celsius.

Comparing his own standard blue robe against 666's flamboyant style, Daniel could not help but complain as the both of them headed out of the room, "Couldn't you have given me some better advice yesterday? Because of how I look, you're going to be the center of attention before we even get to the cafe."

"Why don't you get some more casual clothes for yourself then?" 666 asked. "You were the one who only had bland-looking t-shirts and trousers in your wardrobe."

"You think I didn't want to?" Daniel retorted. "Although teenagers like us will be alotted the standard amount of credits per month, all the fashion brands now market themselves as 'luxurious' and 'avant-garde', marking up their price by hundreds of credits just for a mere piece of fabric made from polyester of cotton. I could buy the same piece of cotton from a factory for only a few credits! So I usually spend all my credits on food or microtransactions in games."

"I see." 666 nodded in acknowlegement. "Though, I do suggest that you still find yourself some better clothing. Can't you just get some hand-me-downs from your foster father? From what I saw, his size shouldn't be much larger than yours."

Daniel wanted to give his reply but couldn't find an excuse. He had originally wanted to say that it was because it's too embarrassing to ask Eric for something as simple as clothes, but he really can't say it out loud.

In the end, Daniel simply changed the topic in a subtle manner, not mentioning about his grievances anymore until the both of them arrived at their destination.

***

The Military Cafe, as it was called, is located at one of the more central locations within the entire entertainment area, making it quite popular among the students. Therefore, there would usually be a long line-up for the cafe during lunch and dinner periods. Fortunately, since one of the people within their squad had booked a table beforehand, Daniel and 666 simply had to maneuver themselves out of the long line before heading in the entrance.

The cafe itself looked reminiscient of a European cafe one would see back in the 19th century. Although it looked quite small from the outside, the interior of the cafe is deep enough to carry around 50 people just on the ground floor. Since there is a total of two floors to this cafe, the cafe can naturally carry around 100 people.

"Daniel 0777 and 666 reporting. We have made a reservation for 5 at 1pm." 666 took the initiative to speak as the receptionist motioned for them to identify themselves.

After double-checking upon the system, the receptionist brought the two teenagers up the spiral staircase located right next to the reception and up towards the second floor. Afterwards, they were directed towards the very corner of the cafe. When they arrived, 666 and Daniel found that the three squad members which had introduced themselves to them yesterday were already seated and looking at them with a welcoming smile.