18 Kai Proves He is Dumb

Now it wasn't just my shoulders. It was down my elbows, the hairs on the back of my neck and my stomach all knotting itself into tight coils of nervousness.

I pursed my lips and leaned forward. "Why?"

"I wanted to talk to someone."

His voice was dull and monotonous it filled my senses with automatic sympathy. Sighing, I stood up. I think Kai must have heard my footsteps near the door because he shuffled in front of the door too.

Twisting the knob, I swung the door open to reveal a white faced Kai, tousling his own blue-black hair with one hand. He wasn't in just a towel like before. He was dressed in all black, just like the first time I met them. But now he looked like a cute chibi rather than an amateur WW fighter.

The difference was so astounding I ended up laughing at him.

He blushed when he heard me laugh and raised his eyebrows at me, "Did I do something funny?"

I calmed down into a smile and shook my head and held the door open wider and he walked past me shyly before I turned back to see him sitting on a chair in the corner. He lifted his legs and rested it on one end of my bed.

"You didn't decorate your room," he stated, running his eyes over the blank walls.

I shrugged and flopped down on the bed, shifting so that I could lean against the headboard and face him. "It's not my room anyway. We'll leave once the probation is over."

"Oh...yeah. The probation. I wanted to talk to you about that actually."

I hugged my pillow and leaned forward. Seeing Kai up close, I could mark out the little imperfections on his face I hadn't noticed before, that night. His nose was slightly bent downwards and I studied the way his jaw moved as he talked, wondering what the bones in that area were scientifically called.

I knew it…I jumped internally when I figured it out. Mandible. That's what they called the lower jaw and with that, the name of the upper jaw came into mind. Maxilla. I didn't why I knew these things. I just knew.

"Ashe? Hello? Are you listening?"

"Huh?" I blurted and looked back into his eyes again as he unconsciously rubbed his jaw and asked, "I asked you a question…"

I shook my head, "I'm sorry, what was it again?"

"Do you know where we'll be taken to after all this is over? Our families? Is there a way to find them? All six of us can remember their faces and all, but neither of us can remember where they lived. 10 years in the game has altered our brains, I think," he rambled on in worry.

I struggled not to look at him in pity. They must have thought they had a life here on Earth. Little did they know that all their memories were simply decorative fabrications. Ethan from before was right. Systema Games made lives just to ruin them.

Don't sympathize, Ashe. They are folders, my hedgehog mind reminded me and I collected myself. "Yeah. Once the probation is over, you will be taken back to your families. They must have notified them already by now," I told him, giving him false hope.

A grin lit up his face, "Yes! Wait till I tell the others this…they'll be relieved. We were worried for two days straight about how to continue our lives."

I faked a smile, "Well, now you don't have to. If anything goes wrong, I'll be there to help you all out."

"You're the best Ashe!" he cried and got up to stand in front of me.

I looked up at him, "What are you doing?" I asked, bringing my pillow closer to me as a shield. He stood on the edge of the bed and extended his hands, "I want to give you a hug!"

I shook my head frantically and shifted further to the back of the bed, "No it's okay that won't be necessary."

He pouted and slumped his hands back down, "Alright then, maybe another time," he said and stepped back wards to sit back on the chair. Sadly, the programming must have made him half blind because right then, he tripped on the shoe I had left on the floor and fell forward on the bed, just missing my lap. I shrieked and jumped up on the bed.

I threw the pillow down at him laying on my bed. "Kai!" I yelled and jumped on the bed out of frustration. "Get out of my bed!"

"Ow…" he muttered rubbing his head and turned his head to look up at me standing on the bed. He lifted a hand and called me, "Don't stand on the bed, you're hurting it."

I paused and looked down at him, "Okay, but you get up first!"

"No…you come down first."

"This is my bed!"

"Your shoe made me trip over, so it's your fault!"

We sighed together and for some twisted fate, we gave in to the fight together. I decided to sit back down at the exact time he decided to get up. His head bumped into my leg and this time, I lost my balance and plummeted down on the bed, falling right on top of him.

"OW!" we both screamed in unison.

The room door swung open and Kai and I both looked up simultaneously from our absurd positions.

One leg of mine was trapped between his and my other leg was hanging out of the bed. His head was on my shoulder and….it was a tangled mess. That's all I have to say. He spit out a strand of my hair which had unfortunately made his way over to his lips.

Adrien stared at us two in bland surprise. "What the hell are you doing in her bed, Kai?"