1 Artificial Intelligence

"The town representatives have expressed concerns over the United Nation's delay in providing the names of new citizens. The Premier of Union has stated that if the United Nations does not provide the names before the end of the year, they'll have to postpone the welcoming ceremony slated to hold in two years."

The ebony woman reading the news stared into Art's dark eyes through the TV screen, analyzing whether or not Union —an experimental state created by the United Nations twenty-eight years ago— was ready to take new citizens from the failed states of the UN.

Art sighed. All the news channels had been talking about for the past four months was the arrival of new citizens in two years, 25th April, 3129.

"Art!" A brown-eyed guy exclaimed, standing adjacent to his best friend with a dry look.

"What?" Art raised an eyebrow, shifting her gaze to the guy with dark brown hair.

"I've been calling you for ages, what are you thinking about?" His eyebrows furrowed, squeezing his heart-shaped face.

"Yeah, sorry." She did not offer any explanation as to her absentmindedness.

Isshin nodded before turning to pick up a magazine from the stack to his left.

"Really?" Art asked, her eyes void of emotions but still accusatory once she saw the cover of the magazine.

Isshin's brown eyes lit up as he laughed. "Look," He raised the magazine to eye level, and above the pictures of a shirtless male model and a female model in underwear, Tennis Club was written in bold. "It's not that kind of magazine, most magazines just go for sexy covers 'cause it's attractive." He flipped through the pages for her to see and she did, she saw that it was just one of those tennis magazines he collected every month.

Looking around the scanty aisles of the only mall in the town housing Good Name University, Art sighed, already bored of following Isshin, which of course was what she'd been doing since they arrived at the mall. She didn't need anything, she believed that having a good supply of cereals and beverages was enough. Also, the fact that she wasn't into socializing ensured that she had zero interest in purchasing clothes; after all, 'I haven't even worn all the ones I have.'

Art took a step away from Isshin. Noticing this, he looked up from the magazine he was skimming through. "Where are you going?"

"Anywhere else, I'm bored."

"I would be offended but Art Indigo is always bored, so go do whatever and don't forget the time and place for the meetup." He smiled, a dimple appearing on his left cheek.

She scoffed before walking away, deciding to go straight to the meetup, also known as the 'seldomly used spacious dressing room near the toilets'. Sitting on the grey sofa beside the wall and stretching out her long legs, she relaxed against the sofa, leaning her head on the wall and closing her eyes.

*

"Ugh. I hate this mall, why can't I find the dress I want?"

Half an hour later, an auburn-haired girl with arms full of clothes complained as she walked into the room. Isshin trailed behind her with a lazy look, transferring the clothes in his hands to her.

He took in Art's form on the couch, her crossed arms and closed eyes, with her short black hair weaved to the back. He smiled, sitting next to her. Art opened her eyes slowly once the sofa dipped and Isshin's familiar tangerine scent wafted up to her nose. She hadn't wanted to acknowledge Reyna before, hence why she pretended to be asleep. Art didn't like to relate with anyone except Isshin which was why she often referred to people in her friend group as Ishhin's friends

"Hey," she smiled softly at her best friend.

"Look who has a crush." Kachi, a nineteen-year-old with curly, black hair sang as he walked into the room with Richard in tow. Richard rolled his light green eyes at Kachi who started saying: "So we were walking down the games section when Richard sees this pretty..."

As soon as the boys walked into the room, the group was complete. The group was made up of five members with their different characteristics.

Kachi the jovial, very outgoing. Reyna the self-conscious, very aware. Richard the shy, very gentle. Isshin the optimist, very popular and pretty. And then Art the spectator, though one who didn't speak unless spoken to.

"She was nice," Richard said, taking his hands out of the pockets of his blue jeans and settling on the sofa closer to the door.

"Ah," Kachi grinned, pulling his white hoodie over his head and wiggling his eyebrows at Richard. Richard shook his head, but a small smile played on his lips. Isshin chuckled at the exchange while Reyna was oblivious, lost in her quest to sort through the clothes on the carpet to find the dress she wanted.

Art stared into space, uninterested in the conversation. Instead, her mind wandered back to three weeks ago, the first day of the second semester of their second year in university. Obi Indigo, her father, had just driven into a large car park beside the Good Name University school gate. It was a quiet two-hour drive where no words or glances were exchanged. Art stepped out of the black car, making her way to the back seat to take out her box.

"I sent you fifteen thousand nions, spend wisely because mo-" Obi started to say, turning to the back so he could look at his nineteen-year-old daughter as she lifted her blue box off the back seat.

"Money doesn't grow on trees." She finished for him in a weary tone, not meeting his eyes.

"Take care, don't go out late, and always be aware of your surroundings. Remember your self-defense lessons in case you run into horny uni boys." He tried again to get her to look at him.

She nodded slightly before giving him an amused look which clearly asked, 'when did you start to care?'

They stared at each other for a few seconds before Art shut the door. Obi started to get out of his car but his seatbelt held him back. Quickly, he undid his seatbelt and opened his car door but she was already gone, rolling her box down the asphalt, towards the school gate. Sighing, he watched her enter the gates before getting into his car and driving back to Earnest.

Clad in blue jeans and a purple hoodie, Art sat on her box, waiting for Isshin and the others in the group to arrive at Waiting Ground C. It was a ritual they all partook of at the beginning of every semester. Two minutes in, Art suddenly felt cold lips brush her ear, whispering: "My Precious".

Fear at the unexpected presence made her freeze, but only for a moment as she wasn't the type to let emotion, whether positive or negative, linger. "Well," She smiled, turning to look at her best friend since childhood.

"I hate you." Isshin facepalmed because he didn't get the desired response. "For once, just humor me and be scared."

Art shrugged. "I was scared."

"Obviously." Isshin snorted.

The smile lingered on her lips as she stared up at Isshin, noting that he did not dye his hair as he usually did every semester. She took in his white turtleneck which accentuated his slim frame, his blue jeans, and black sneakers that contrasted with her white ones.

"Ooh look who's checking me out." Isshin grinned, raising his arms as if to say 'look all you want'.

"I'm inspecting you, not checking you out." Art corrected.

"Uh-huh." Isshin struck out some impressive poses to show off his strong body and arms. Art kept her eyebrows raised until his performance ended. "Fine, you're no fun," he huffed.

This was the statement that made her fully smile and with this smile came other emotions in a rush; relief, happiness, affection. So she gave in to them, getting up off her box and burying her face in his neck. She realized he had grown taller when she had to tip her toes a little to hug him properly.

"Wow, you missed me this much and you didn't call even once during the break." Isshin accused but she could hear the smile in his voice as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

Art's spacing out was cut short when Isshin let out a loud laugh. "Dude you should call her."

Not knowing where the conversation was, she stretched sideways to pick up a magazine from the stool beside the sofa. Isshin's eyes discreetly followed her, as usual.

"I should." Richard nodded.

Reyna let out a huff, narrowing her eyes at everyone in the room. "Guys, focus, I need a dress."

"Shouldn't you ask AI for help? Everything looks good to us." Richard gestured in Art's direction.

"Please." Reyna scoffed. "Since when did she ever listen to us? The only person she listens to is Isshin and you know it. "Plus, she has no fashion sense, she's always wearing big shirts."

Art flipped open another page of the magazine she was emptily staring at, choosing again to pay Reyna no mind and not at all surprised at hearing what Reyna said. It wasn't the first time and it surely wasn't going to be the last either. Plus, she wasn't completely wrong.

Richard shuffled his feet, rubbing his green sneakers against each other to show discomfort at where the conversation was going. Kachi smiled, hoping Art would retort and Isshin tapped his fingers against his black jeans, not sure of what to do.

"But seriously, this is our second year, how is she still so quiet? You'd think she would've gotten used to us and let us into her head by now." Reyna continued, staring pointedly at Art as she spoke. "She probably thinks she's better than us, never really paying attention to anything we say."

"Reyna, that's not nece-" Isshin started, coming to Art's defense

"Stop defending her!" She glared at Isshin who immediately kept quiet raising his hands in surrender.

Art smiled, finding it odd that Reyna always referred to her in the third person. It was one of the reasons she refused to talk to her since Reyna never spoke to her directly. Art scanned the room briefly to see that there was discomfort on everyone's face. Well everyone except kachi who seemed to be amused.

This is why I don't like hanging out with them. She thought, suddenly feeling tired. "I'm going home," she stated. Dropping the magazine back on the stool and getting up off the sofa.

"See you tomorrow." Kachi smiled, waving a little, unable to hide the fact that he was fond of her even though she never spoke to him much. Art nodded, making her way out of the room.

Once she left, Richard shook his head at Reyna, "why do you always have to do that though?"

Reyna rolled her eyes before picking a long black dress. "Like you aren't tired of the silence."

Isshin rubbed his eyebrows before standing. "I'll see you guys later." Kachi and Richard nodded their goodbyes while Reyna rolled her eyes.

On getting outside the doors of the mall, Art squinted, groaning a little as she was not used to much sunlight, seeing as she hardly left her room. She started to push her hands into the pockets of her grey knee-length shorts, only to realize that the shorts she wore didn't have pockets.

"Darn." She muttered, folding, and unfolding her fingers. A nervous habit, she hated walking alone and not having anything to do with her hands. Which was ironic, seeing as she liked being alone.

Eight seconds into her walk, still folding and unfolding her fingers, she felt warm fingers fill the space in between hers. Without looking up, she smiled, because she already was familiar with the scent that assaulted her nostrils

"Nothing you wore today has pockets." Isshin chuckled, looking sideways at his best friend, watching the sun fall across her shiny brown skin.

"I don't deserve you." She said, half-serious and half unserious.

Isshin only laughed in response, squeezing her fingers softly. "About what Reyna said earlier…"

Art sighed. "Well, she wasn't necessarily wrong."

"Even then, ignore what she said, she's just being Reyna." Art nodded. "Do you think you can um..." He scratched his head, and Art immediately knew he wanted to say something difficult.

"No." She cut him off.

"Come on Art, you haven't even heard what I want to say yet." he stopped walking, turning to look at her as his lips formed a thin line.

Art mirrored his action. "I know what you want to say."

"Really?" He smiled in disbelief.

"Yeah, you want to tell me to be more open with our friends. You want to say that I can trust them." She resumed walking.

"You can." He affirmed, following after her.

Her smile turned into a grin. "Oh I know I can, but I won't."

*