Sex VS Gender

[I'm back!]

"Welcome back Elias."

Elias smiled as he greeted Raven first. Then, leaving Raven's side, he fluttered over to Favian and smiled as he conversed with him.

[How did your investigation go?]

[Quite well. Thank you for introducing me to Jerry.]

[No problem!]

Once he had finished talking with Favian, Elias ran over to us, his face happy as he pulled Ava into a hug.

[Elias!]

[Ava!]

The two systems smiled at each other as they laughed and bubbled beside us. Ava's back loosened as she laid her hands gently on Elias' arms, her smile brightening as they talked in gentle tones and giggles.

Leaving the two of them to catch up, Oliver and I escaped towards Raven, too uncomfortable to be drowned by their talk.

"What are you reading?"

Stretching my neck to take a peak of the paper from beside his arm, Raven shot a glance at me, then at Oliver, before passing the stack over.

"It's the paper that Andrew hid in his suitcase."

Taking the heavy thing with both hands, I looked down at the paper while nodding my head. The first page of it was pretty plain, a mostly blank piece of paper with a crossed-out title in the middle. 'Blood test results and conclusions of 250 MDVA patients'

Flipping the document, the second page was a familiar-looking graph. Lifting my head, I looked over and compared the graph on this piece of dead paper with the graph on the screen in front of me. It was the same.

I furrowed my brows and turned the page again. This page wasn't a graph, it was a list of weird scientific-looking names that went on for pages and pages and pages. Looking through them, the only thing that seemed to stand out was several highlighted values here and there.

"Huh."

From beside me, I heard Oliver's voice as a pair of hands took the stack of papers away from me. Frowning as he peered at the paper, clearly seeing something I missed, he turned the pages several times, comparing each data set to the graph on the first page. Then he compared the graph to the one on the screen.

"So he knew."

"Yes."

Returning his eyes to the graph on the paper, Oliver gently traced the ink on it, before mercilessly shutting it and passing it back to me. Receiving it, I didn't bother opening it again, instead turning to Oliver and gesturing for him to explain.

"You know the paper Raven is writing right now,"

Oliver looked at me, and I nodded my head.

"The one we're supposed to pass out right?"

"No, there's another one."

He pointed to the graph, his finger directly at its title.

'Scatterplot of Chemical X values against Chemical Y values in MDVA patients'

"This graph is part of Raven's other paper, comparing the differences between the several blood chemical values between MDVA patients and non-MDVA patients."

"At first, it was only between MDVA patients. However, as I had more samples, I soon started to notice that certain chemicals were strangely similar, despite previous knowledge stating that their values usually varied wildly in patients, with no known cause."

Raven took a step towards us as he took over Oliver's explanation, his eyes sparkling as if his usual polite nature was a lie.

"Then I started including non-MDVA blood results, and discovered this pattern."

He pointed to each of the three lines, his excitement palpable as he explained everything in such a way a layman like me could understand.

"By using a lot of different samples, I was finally able to separate people into three groups. The top one represents the chemical ratio range shown by those with MDVA, while the other two come from non-MDVA volunteers. With such clear differences, my first thought was that these high levels were somewhat related to the high levels of violence that are attributed to MDVA victims. Unfortunately, I was wrong."

Picking up a remote, Raven clicked on the button and the graph on the screen changed. Instead of a big graph with three lines, there were several black-and-white images shown. Although I didn't know the specific parts of the image, what was shown seemed to be the inside of somebody's head.

"Another researcher from Love Research Center managed to find a neural link between a part of the brain to MDVA. Meaning that another set of chemicals were involved. Not these. Then Andrew's 'Defence Theory' was released, and I moved on from that hypothesis."

Click, the screen changed again. Raven had returned to the previous slide with the graph. He then placed the remote back onto the table.

"I looked at the difference between these three sets of patients. There was nothing common between them. Age, gender, which street they came from, even their past history of illness, for those who agreed to share them with me, shared nothing. And that was when it hit me! It was their sex! These three groups are divided by their different sexes!"

Sex? 

Scrunching up my face, I tried to ask Raven to explain what he just said, but he was too overjoyed to notice me. Switching my target to Oliver I managed to catch the amused expression on his face before he saw I was looking at him and hid it.

"Don't we have only 2 sexes, male and female?"

Smiling at me, Oliver took out his notebook and tore out one page, Then picking up his pencil, he explained the difference between sex and gender.

"Sex is based on your body and its traits, it's physical, so you can test it. Somewhat. While gender is a more complicated thing. It's based on many factors, like how society treats you, or expects you to be, who you feel you are, and such."

I scratched my head, the words twisting around my brain as they eluded my grasp, like flies circling me.

"You don't have to understand it immediately. Take your time. "

He passed me the scrap paper and kept his notebook and pencil. Then, attracting Raven's attention, he gestured for him to continue explaining.

"Where was I?"

"You discovered there were three sexes."

"Right. So after determining that the three groups of people were separated by their sex, I collected more data to prove my theory. Up until now, I haven't told many people about this. Most likely for the same reason why Andrew kept his papers locked up despite discovering such a groundbreaking thing."

Raven's face turned solemn as he sighed, the life being sucked out of him as he hunched his back and looked down at the floor.

"If High Street discovers that MDVA is a sex-related thing, there will be more harm than good. If the 'Three Genders' theory abolishes the MDVA Prevention Act, it'll be good, but there also might be a possibility that it'll have the same consequences as the drug and increase kidnapping rates. And if the theory fails, it'll be easier for High Street to signal out those who have or can have MDVA, leading to more children being harmed." 

"Honestly, I don't know if I should even continue with this research anymore."

Pulling over a chair, Raven took a seat as he brought his eyes over to the graph on the screen. His eyes glowed as they filled with complicated emotions and thoughts. As I turned to share a gaze with Oliver, he also glanced over at the screen and sighed. 

[If that's the case, why don't you also hide away your papers.]

Cutting in from behind us, Favian smiled as he stepped towards us, his hands in front of his body as they moved together with his words.

[You can write down your paper and give it to us systems for safekeeping. When the time is right, we'll pass it on to someone who can make the most use of it. Unfortunately, you will not be able to see it in your lifetime.]

"..."

Watching Favian, he gave an apologetic nod, and Raven's eyes wandered to the graph. He paused for a second, frozen in thought, before he tore himself away from his work and nodded. To this, Favian gave a human-like smile before tapping his shoulder in consolation.

[When you're done, you can give it to Elias.]

[Thank you.]

Favian released his hand and left the three of us alone, choosing to disappear into the air.

"Raven."

Getting closer to him, I softly touched his arm and gave him my warmest smile. The two of us met eyes, the silence between us a whole conversation before a small grin sneaked up the teenager's face and he moved his other arm to pat my head.

"What am I doing, making someone around half my age worry about me."

Pulling me into an awkward hug, he allowed himself to soak in the warmth before cheering up and turning off the screen.

"It's getting late, the two of you should go home. I'll keep Andrew's research with me, and when I'm done with both the research papers, I'll pass them on to Elias. After that, the two of you can help me spread the 'Defense Theory' one."

Raven stretched as he slid off the chair and tidied up his lab bench. Then, escorting all of us out, he locked the laboratory behind us and followed us to the elevator. But he didn't enter it.

"Raven?"

"You go ahead. I'll stay back for a little while to write."

Waving goodbye to each other, as the elevator door closed, I saw Elias latch onto Raven with a proud grin. The bubbly system patted the boy's head, his mouth soft as he whispered something to him. Suddenly, Raven tilted his body to cover the system with his arms. His face was hidden by Elias' body, but I could see something sparkling as it rolled down Raven's cheek. Being smothered, Elias gave a hopeless smile as he closed his eyes and ran his hand gently through Raven's hair. He leaned onto the boy's head, face peaceful, as the elevator doors shut on us and brought us up to the surface floor.

We left the research center in solemn silence, taking the shortest route to Middle Street. Crossing the crosswalk, I fixated my eyes on the setting sun, when I saw two familiar silhouettes exit out from the alleyway beside the local shop.

It was Joel and Jade.

Stopping in our steps, we stared as the two strode across the road.

"You really don't have to try this hard you know. I'm fine like this."

Reaching out to grab Jade's arm, Joel pleaded with him as she forced them to stop on the edge of the street. Turning around, Jade shook his head as he laid both hands gently on her arms.

"No, you're not. You can't continue like this. It's not healthy."

"Healthy or not, it's none of your business!"

"YES IT IS."

"..."

"Please don't say that it isn't."

Jade suddenly shouted, his face a rare expression of anger and worry as he tightened his grip on Joel, pushing her back slightly.

"Please don't say that."

The two stood there, the silence between them all-consuming before Joel muttered something to him and the atmosphere lightened up a little. Placing a hand on her head, Jade gave a soft sigh as his face melted into a small smile.

"A chance like this doesn't come by very often. We should take advantage of it by striking a deal with the Black Market Circle to kill that man. I'm sure if we give up some things, they won't mind us taking him off their hands."

Jade slid his hand down to hers, the two palms meeting each other before connecting and holding onto the other like a life jacket out in the sea. Whispering to each other again, the pair quickly disappeared into the alleyways of Middle Street, oblivious to the two of us who had heard almost everything.

"So it was murder."

Mummering to himself, I turned to catch Oliver's smile of relief.

"Did you know they were planning something?"

We left the crosswalk separating High Street and Middle Street, choosing a path of alleyways that would avoid any places with high traffic.

"It's not that I knew, I guessed. Usually, people join the faction for two reasons. Money or revenge. Sometimes both. The systems have a list of who entered for what so I sometimes ask Ava for their reasons. It makes it easier to single out who we can trust with what information. However, even though those two have been in the faction for quite a long time, the systems have never really managed to figure out why. But considering that Jade lives in High Middle Street, we all thought their motive was revenge."

Passing near the school, the two of us headed down, towards our apartment building. We lowered our voices.

"Then are we going to help them?"

"No. Their revenge seems too personal for us to butt in. If they wanted help, they would have asked. And if they managed to convince someone from the Black Market Circle to take their side, there's a high chance that whatever they plan to do will succeed."

Climbing up the stairs, the two of us dropped the topic as we neared the thin doors of the apartments. We were about to stride by Ralph's apartment door when the sound of the apartment lock opening stopped us. Gesturing to me that he would go ahead first, Oliver left the two of us alone as I turned my head to greet a pair of eyes the color of melted ice.

"Dan."

"Ralph"