Helping someone out

"Here. He is registered and ready to go. I would advise you to take him to a vet first to get him checked out" Milles watched as Mrs. Irene made modifications to the data to get the pup in.

She was fast and had a good head on her shoulder. Her technique was standard and it did slow her down. But it seemed like a good fit for a cautious person like her. There were fewer chances for her to get caught like this.

"So, what's his name? I need to enter him in the database" the teacher asked as she finally looked up from the computer.

There was a reflection of the code on her glasses and Milles found himself distracted by the glare.

The pup did not allow Milles to forget its existence though and Milles felt a sting on her hand from the bite. And it hurt.

"Ouch. I thought you did not have teeth at this age" Milles complained. There was no wound on his hand and the pup had no teeth but the bite still hurt.

"Stop being a baby and give me a name. I cannot keep this site open forever, you know" Mrs. Irene complained as she watched Milles clutch his hand in his arm.

There was a burning feeling in it now and Milles had a small suspicion that it was because of the pup's saliva. Maybe it was a side-effect of whatever had been done to the pup.

"Just enter him as Fenrir. He's certainly a menace even this small" the pup let out a joyous laugh at Milles words and it drained all the fight out of him. The pup was too cute to get angry at.

"Fenrir? A good name. I was not aware you knew mythologies. Not many people do nowadays" Mrs. Irene sounded bitter over this face and Milles felt amused.

The neural system was based on the old tales and many of the terms he had ended up coding were names after older stories. He wondered if the general population knew the effect those mythologies had on the neural system and their development.

"Someone used to read it to me when I was young. They just stuck around I guess" Milles tried not to sound as wistful as he was. It was really difficult whenever his mind tracked back to his sister.

The teacher did not ask him any more questions and Milles felt himself relax in the silence.

The pup had run off as well and seemed content to explore the lab. Milles did worry about the pup chewing away at the wires but it had avoided the mechanical space for now.

Maybe the pup had good instincts to stay away from that place.

[System warning: Emergency

Activator: Xion Raycraft]

Milles felt himself jerk away from the computer he had been leaning on. The loud siren in his ear made them ring and it hurt his head as well.

"What is it now? And, of course, it is her. Milles your first internship task, check what the problem is for me" Mrs. Irene did not ask if he knew how to check for trouble, she just assured him that he did.

And Milles did know how to check for the trouble.

But that name, made Milles pause in his typing. It was familiar and he tried to remember where he had heard it before.

"It is a pre-warning. Xion tried to hack into the neural system and make some changes and since she used our resources, we got a warning before the central command center could. How should we proceed?" Milles asked in a neutral voice.

If it were up to him, he would have deleted the data and complied with the user for the time being till he had more information. However, this seemed like a regular occurrence from Mrs. Irene's words so he waited for further instructions from her.

"She did what? That idiot. If not for my friendship with Emma, Xion would not even get to step in here again. You know what? Do what she wants for now. I do not have time for that" Milles just shook his head at his teacher.

Wasn't this too carefree of Mrs. Irene? To allow a student like him access to her resources?

But then again, she knew of his potential and had not turned him in yet. She had even taken out her precious time to help him out. It was more than Milles could say for himself and his situation.

So he compiled and helped her out.

This Xion had tried to make a clean sweet but there had been too many flaws with her approach. One such flaw had triggered this emergency response and the other was lucky that it did. She was still in the system as well and heading toward a trap.

So Milles got to work.

"System, divert her toward the right ports. I will also need you to cast a protection spell on her to get her past this stage" Milles rushed up to his speed as he saw the signal stray.

It was clear that this Xion person knew what she was doing but she was not good enough to do it cleanly.

So it was left to Milles to clean up this mess.

It took a better part of an hour for Milles to clean up Xion's mess and to also keep himself hidden. It was the best he could do with the female making such a mess again and again.

"No, don't go there. I just cleaned your traces there" Milles complained as the signal strayed once again.

He wished he was alone since he could leave this all up to the neural system. But he was with Mrs. Irene here and she could look his way anything. Doing it manually would be the best for now.

"Alright, you can leave the rest up to me. I know how bad Xion is at this" at some point, Mrs. Irene finished her work and walked over to him.

Not that it mattered because Milles was already done at this point.

"No need. It's down" Milles felt his eyes drop as exhaustion hit him. The fatigue accumulated from the morning had not faded away and it was begging to show up on his face now.

The teacher knew that as well because she just sighed at his stubbornness.

"You did good kid. You can go to sleep now. Take tomorrow off as well and get the pup to a doctor. You have earned it" Mrs. Irene was polite and Milles felt her voice lull him to sleep.

But the pup decided that it would not do for Milles to stay here and there was a bite on his leg as a result.

And it burned as well.

"Ouch. What is with you, you feral pup? Why are you biting me again and again?" Milles was annoyed by the pup and its innocent looks. He felt bad for snapping at it but he could also not allow him to misbehave.

The pup whines out at him but Milles could not understand what he was saying. An animal-translation program would be so helpful about now.

Maybe Milles should code one once he was settled down.

"That looks like a bad rash on your leg. Maybe you should get it checked out as well. It might develop into something more if you left it hanging like that" Milles looked down at his leg where Mrs. Irene was pointing.

His leg was red and had an angry-looking rash on it. It burned as well and Milles felt his face pale at the display.

"I don't think I can move right now" Milles forces out as the pain worsened.

The pup just looked on innocently but had calmed down. He also looked a little guilty but what did the pup know? It was an innocent animal and likely thought it all was playtime.

"I'll go get a doctor now. Do not move and just stay there for now" not as Milles could walk. He would go down as soon as any weight was put on his leg.

The pup whines at him in obvious concern but did not move. Had it learned from his mistakes?

"It's not your fault pup. You did not know any better but do not do it again" the guilt from that cute face did not go away but it did look a bit better.

And then the doctor arrived.

"You once again? Is this going to be a regular thing? Is it karma for Xion putting people here all the time? Her brother is becoming a regular of mine now" Yusui had arrived and he did not look impressed at the display.

Milles suddenly had a realization he should have had a long time ago.

Of course, the name Xion Raycraft sounded familiar. He had heard the mention of it so many times.

It was the blood daughter of Mr. Raycraft, the president. How had Milles not realized that before?

"Site still now and do not move. This is going to burn" Yusui had moved and now held Milles's leg in his hand.

The pup growled lowly at the doctor and that was all the warning Milles got before the fire was consuming his leg. It felt as if he would never be rid of this agony at all.

"Stop being a baby and take it like a man. I would have used magic had you not been a Type Null" easy for the doctor to say. He did not have to face this burning feeling, Milles had to.