Testing, testing.

"Well, well, well." The speaker didn't bother hiding his delight.

Oh no.

"Look what the cat dragged in."

Anwei felt the urge to slam her head against the station wall. That was so incredibly bad. Resisting the urge to grab her brother and flee, she turned around and saw…

The most stereotypical high school gangsters she had the displeasure to lay her eyes on.

Anxi, however, took them more seriously. "What do you want."

"We heard you received some benefits from the Union," the leader leered. "C'mon, sharing is caring."

She looked around the station. Why was nobody bothering to stop them? Where are the station guards? Anwei randomly grabbed an adult. "Excuse me?"

"What is it?" The construction worker answered, annoyed. "I'm on my break."

"Could you please alert the security? A fight is about to break out and they might cause property damage, which could hinder commute and cause more work."

The worker paused, then sighed. "Alright, leave it to me."

She watched him disappear in the crowd, purpose in his steps rather than the aimless strolling he had before. Turning back, she saw that they were too invested in posturing than to notice her.

Before the brawl broke out though, a uniformed man appeared with a dark expression, half-eaten sandwich still in hand.

Anwei grabbed her dumbfounded brother, waved and nodded gratefully to the station guard, and left the almost-crime scene.

"You… How did you do that?" Anxi was flabbergasted. "Do you have connections through your classmates?"

"What, no!" Anwei was just as confused. "I just grabbed an adult and asked for them to fetch the station guard."

"...you just asked."

"Yes," Anwei was somewhat annoyed. "I asked nicely."

"You just asked," Anxi repeated to himself with unhidden wonder, burying his face in his hands.

She felt her brows furrow and laid a hand on his shoulder. "Bro, are you okay?"

His shoulders shook, and he started giggling quietly, before stopping again. Anxi then straightened himself and pretended that his mind wasn't blown into itty bitty bits.

Anwei hugged him.

"Wha-"

"Shut up and accept my hug."

She's not an oblivious idiot. Obviously, he had grown up in such an environment that created a social blindspot. She had to make this knowledge more palatable.

"I randomly grabbed a construction worker," she explained. "And, with manners, truthfully laid out the situation in such a way that it would be advantageous for him to follow my request."

"Oh," he said blankly. "Can you repeat what you said?"

"Could you please alert the security? A fight is about to break out and they might cause property damage, which could hinder commute and cause more work," she calmly said, before fidgeting slightly. "We could go over the choice of diction and subtext if you'd like, it's fairly automatic once you get used to it."

He gave her a dry look that told her not to doubt him that much. "I'm good, thanks."

"Aw, man." She pouted and exaggeratedly sighed, pulling back from the hug. "And here I thought I could finally put those literature and analysis classes to use… We even had literary circles and portfolios, and you get to play circus director if you're the only one in your group who did the work. Wouldn't that be fun?"

He smiled and took her hand, beginning to walk with where most of the crowd was headed to. "Sounds like my cup of tea."

---

The waiting room was large, and they held their number in mind as they occasionally glanced at the screen. People were quietly reading or playing on their handbrain. To her delight, Anxi was a good teacher in Smash Fam™.

(She had squinted at the trademark sign for a good while. Hm.)

Anwei was really bad at it, but she liked to think that she managed to last a smidgen longer against her merciless sibling.

He pulled her up and guided her sulking form to the assigned room. The worker, Mr. Okorie according to his name plate, was typing at a rapid speed on his holographic keyboard originating from the deskbrain. His glasses were flashing at seemingly random intervals.

Heck yeah, technology!

"Mr. and Ms. Beltz, you don't need to take a seat." He nodded in greeting. "You will be soon referred, and it would be most efficient if we would merge your cases together."

There were a few moments of silence when he nodded. "There. Mr. Beltz and Ms. Beltz, please follow me."

He guided them through the front building into the courtyard.

The courtyard was gigantic. It was more of a park, really. The landscaping was expertly done, and she could feel anxiety she wasn't even aware of ease away with the flowers and birdsong.

They walked to a building that screamed science and efficiency, though weirdly enough not out of place with the more artistic architecture, and were quickly intercepted by staff. Anxi seemed to recognize them.

She was planted into an empty room with various dummies, isolated from everyone else behind glass. She blinked, somewhat stunned. Why were they so guarded?

"Please demonstrate the reason for your reassessment," Mr. Okorie said, not unkindly.

Sure, okay. Anwei concentrated on Meow and Avis. Their colored outline manifested, and the walls seemed to hum. She looked at the spectators, confused. Avis morphed into a quail chick and chirped. Meow just lazily looked at them and rolled over, exposing her belly for her to pat. She obliged.

The humming intensified.

She just continued playing with her anima, feeling a little narcissistic everytime she cooed and smiled at them. Hey, even objectively speaking, they are cute, right?

Suddenly the humming spiked to a low pressure. They all flinched, Meow's fur rising with a hiss and Avis beating her tailfin in agitation, back to baby fish form. She looked at the stone-faced spectators for guidance, but they didn't offer any. Anxi just winked and gave her a thumbs-up.

Helpful.

And then her forehead met with her palm. It's a tolerance test! For what, she didn't know. What is it that they want, patience? Isolation? The discomfort with the increasing pressure steadily climbed up, but they did their best to continue as normal and pretend that they weren't bored.

She wished her handbrain wasn't confiscated. Then she could improve her poor Smash skills. Or read a textbook and watch a video lesson…

A metaphorical light bulb lit up above her head. Didn't Anxi send some video recordings?

Rising up from her cross-legged seat, she did the first set of the exercises. This time, coupled with the pressure, it proved to be a lot more difficult to pull through. It was like the air itself had become more resistant. But she completed it. Then she pulled through the second set, and the air felt like water. It was very unpleasant when it didn't come with the weightlessness, though. She almost stumbled and crashed onto her nose.

Not the greatest impression you'd want to make.

Anwei then helplessly looked at her brother, who seemed to realize something and spoke to one of the staff members. One of the walls flickered and showcased what she recognized as what her brother practised.

Concluding that it was the third set, she followed carefully. But even with such care, it felt like she was moving against syrup. It was very aggravating and energy-consuming, but she managed to complete the set. They had kindly slowed down the recording of the martial artist.

Uncaring about her image, she collapsed onto the floor. Avis flicked of beads of sweat with her tail while Meow didn't care and sat on her belly, pleased with the increased body temperature. Avis is best girl, she decided.

Meow mewled sadly at her, and Anwei ctrl+z-ed that statement.

The pressure then began to increase again. Now, she needed to make an effort to sit up and breathe. Her head began to hurt.

Meow and Avis curled up in her lap. Her muscles ached.

Something was pounding inside her head. and simultaneously she felt like she was squeezed through a rubber tube.

Badum, badum.

Oh, it was her own heartbeat.

The rubber tube contracted, and her headache became piercing. She felt like she was squeezed so hard that her muscles compressed and bone would crack.

She couldn't breathe.

Badum badum badum.

She was going to die-

Like the first draw of air after threatening to drown, the pressure instantly disappeared. Anwei realized that she was in a fetal position, knees and forehead on the ground while her hands protected her neck and back of the head. Slowly, cautiously, she looked up.

"Hey," Anxi said softly and helped her limp noodle self sit up.

"Limp noodle self," she repeated her thought.

A genuine flash of fear appeared before he turned around, shoulders tense. "What-"

"She is dazed," Mr. Okorie's voice reached her ears.

"Up," she demanded like a child, and Anxi obliged. Anwei patted him, satisfied. "Good, good."

"It is seldom the case, but some react to extreme GGE as they will to pain medication," Mr. Okorie said, pushing up his glasses. "Though they will retain memories."

"You… You made my sister high?!"

She gasped in horror. "Addiction is bad!"

"You will not be addicted, because no drugs were used," he said.

Anwei sighed in relief, reaching out to tug at his sleeve. "Thank you," she said seriously.

"You're welcome."

She nodded slowly, eyes narrowing. "Do you know the Lion King?"

"I do not."

"Why?" This was a tragedy. She sniffled, holding back tears. "Mufasa's death was so sad. Scar is an asshole. Poor Simba, he thinks he killed his father… It's good that a gay hippie couple adopted him after he ran away from home while his uncle staged his coup d'état successfully."

She looked him square in the eyes. "Hakuna Matata, yo." Oh no, she felt sadness creeping upon her, knowing that she will be isolated from her pop-culture of movies and songs… As well as a certain boy group, but hey, that's fine. It's like moving to another continent where internet ran on a different system. Or like an astronaut in a space station. It's fine.

She can adapt.

"...that is a very archaic Swahili slang for 'there are no troubles'."

"Very good, gold star!" Anwei clapped her hands with a big grin. "But you have to sing it properly. Then you get another gold star."

He looked absolutely confused, so Anwei sang her rendition to the best of her abilities before pointing at him. "Now you."

Pause.

"His face says send help, why is no one sending help. You are all mean. Bad… Bad guys. And gals. Equal opportunity in villainy."

Anxi laughed behind her.

She told him that he was being mean too.