Lisa's Turmoil

Lisa was currently huffing and puffing as she supported herself to a wall boundary beside the road. Her heart was beating as fast as it could and she was sweating like crazy. Various thoughts started flooding her mind now that she was no longer running.

'Am I that kind of a person?' She couldn't help but question herself as a feeling of guilt soon started to overwhelm her. What she did with Andrey was not out of her love for him but was done out of her fear of losing him.

When she was using her 'Future Sight' earlier she saw Andrey hugging a girl and the moment she did her mind went blank. Such fear gripped her heart that the next moment when Andrey came to say goodbye to her, she acted without a thought and kissed him.

"Do I really love him?" Lisa asked herself as she searched for various reasons to justify her earlier actions.

"Yes, you do. If not why would fear grip over you when you saw him with another girl…" Her inner voice replied.

"B-But didn't I kiss him just so he would consider me as his girlfriend rather than that other girl whom he was hugging in that scene," Lisa muttered to herself.

"So what? Isn't it normal to not want to lose the person you love? You always loved him, that scene earlier only made you act on your feelings which you were suppressing for so long," It argued.

"But I feel guilty…it feels as if I'm stealing Andrey from that girl from the future…" Lisa said as she tried to pacify the choking sensation in her heart because of the guilt she was experiencing.

"Do you prefer not to be by Andrey's side in the future? Are you willing to give that spot to a certain girl whom you don't even know? Are your feelings for him a joke? Yes, it's selfish but love itself is a selfish act in the beginning, you tell the person you love them even at the cost of your earlier relationship…isn't that selfish enough?" Her inner voice scoffed at her way of thinking.

"…I don't know anymore," Lisa mumbled to herself as she looked towards the sky in confusion.

…

It had been more than five minutes since Andrey left along with Instructor Zack. Since the start, his eyes had been stuck outside the window as if lost in thoughts.

"Thinking about her, aren't you?" Instructor Zack chuckled as he looked towards Andrey.

"W-well…yes, I am," Andrey agreed after pausing for a while.

"From your reaction, I believe that was your first time, wasn't it?" Zack asked

Andrey nods embarrassingly.

"Haha, you'll soon become more experienced when you're at the Academy," Zack added with amusement.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Andrey asked with a face full of confusion.

"Ah, my bad. You must have not been aware of it so let me tell you. While it's considered appropriate for a normal person to be in a monogamous relationship that is not so the case for us warriors, Confederation in fact fully supports and promotes the warriors to be in as many relationships as possible," Zack says.

"B-but how could one love so many individuals?" Andrey couldn't help but inquire.

"Love? The Confederation doesn't care about that. What it cares about the most is the future of humanity. The rate of pregnancy in a warrior couple, in which either or both of the parents possess the power is less than 33 per cent…"

"So less?!" Andrey exclaimed. He knew what this meant since the probability of a warrior's offspring becoming a warrior is almost double that of the offspring of a normal couple.

"Indeed, therefore the Confederation promotes such relationships no matter how immoral they seem. Of course, you still hold the right to stay with a single partner but it's rare for Warriors to practice it," Zack answered.

"I see…" All this new information was too conflicting for Andrey who had drawn examples from his father. The conflict on his face to such a thing was clearly visible.

Zack chuckled seeing it and replied, "It's okay to feel conflicted in the beginning, most of us do but with time we all get used to how things are,"

Andrey didn't say anything further so Instructor Zack too left him with his own thoughts and focused back on driving the car.

The sceneries kept on changing as Andrey looked out of the window from up above and his previous troubled mood soon vanished.

"How far until we reach there?" Andrey asked Instructor Zack.

"Hmm about two and a half hours," Zack said after checking the indicated ETA.

"Got it," Andrey replied as his eyes went back to focusing outside the window. Only the white clouds were visible to him at the moment since they were flying high up in the sky. The scenery had a monotonous feel to it and before Andrey could realize he was fast asleep.

The Confederation is divided into several Sectors from 1 to 328. Andrey's home was at Sector 104 which was near the edge of the Confederation and a long distance from the main city i.e. Sector 1. It was at Sector 1 where all the important people of the Confederation lived and worked and therefore it was the Sector which was the most developed.

When they were nearing the main city Instructor Zack decided to wake Andrey up.

"Wake up, we're here," he said as he shook Andrey's arm.

"A-alright," Andrey said in a rather drowsy state as his eyes went out the window to look at his surroundings and were left enamoured at the scenery.

The whole city consisted of skyscrapers so tall that Andrey couldn't even see their top floors because of the clouds. As they closed in on the air space of the city more flying cars started appearing making Andrey realize that Instructor Zack's car could only be considered above average in front of all these uniquely and beautifully designed cars.

"It's time to get on the roads now since flying is prohibited in the city," Instructor Zack explained as he lowered the car onto the road and started moving on the road.

"Where's the Academy? I don't see it," Andrey asked.

"You'll soon know, so wait for a while," Instructor Zack replied with a grin and refused to elaborate any further. Andrey could only listen to him and wait as a result.