Orpheus

Chapter Two

The elevator doors opened with a ding and Laurence stepped out onto the walkway. There was a line of students like him with similar uniforms all the way from the terminal and hovertrain to his right and ending a few feet to his left. Most of them within a couple of feet had turned and were now looking at him, first with anger, then surprise at his uniform then right back to anger. News traveled fast as the whispering started and soon enough everyone was looking at him. With a grunt, he walked to the back of the line, taking a spot behind a dark haired girl with glasses. Laurence strained to keep his eyes forward as the whispering invaded his ears, trying to ignore them.

"Why is he wearing that...?"

"He can't be a student. My father paid good money for me to be here."

His lips twitched and threatened to break into a cynical smile or a scowl of contempt. He settled for a tight lipped grimace. Unfortunately, he had left his MP3 at home. How the old piece of technology had survived for that long, undamaged and somehow made its way to him, he would never understand. If he had it now he could drown everyone out but now he had to put up with it. The whispers died down after a few minutes but never completely ceased as the line slowly moved up. Over time it became easier for him to block everything out until he was enveloped in his own little world. He was so caught up in his own world that he didn't stop himself from bumping into the girl in front of him.

"Sorry." Laurence grumbled out mechanically, expecting immediate backlash.

She turned and looked up at him, her chocolate brown eyes wide.

"I-It's fine, It wasn't your fault."

He raised an eyebrow, not believing her shyness at all. Clearly a ploy. Without another word he turned his eyes up and straight ahead. Laurence could feel her eyes stay on him but like everything, he ignored it. At least he tried to. It seemed as if she didn't think he could feel her gaze on him or if she did, she didn't. After a few minutes of this, he sighed and spoke.

"Why are you staring at me?" He said without looking at her.

Her head whipped around as she let out a soft squeak. "I-I'm Sorry... I've never seen a.."

"Asian?"

She nodded slowly and Laurence turned his eyes down to look at her. Her raven black hair was tied back in a tight ponytail that was thrown casually over her shoulder. Like him, her uniform consisted of mostly blue and formal wear with a blue knit sweater, blue plaid skirt, black stockings and black brogues. That's all he could see from behind anyway. That and she was rather short, standing at, at most five foot two.

His eyes shifted to the left outside of the domed walkway where he could see the rising sun, its rays showering them. Fortunately, the material the walkway was made out of blocked sun glare.

"Its fine. I get this everyday." Even though he said that, Laurence still didn't like feeling like an animal at a zoo.

"My name is Vanessa Swanson. Its very nice to meet you. You are?" When he shifted his gaze back to her, she was facing him, her hand held out to shake.

"Laurence. Laurence Akimoto." His voice dripped with venom as he spoke his last name. He absolutely scorned his asian heritage. Slowly, he took her hand gave it one firm shake before letting go.

"Akimoto? If I remember correctly, that is Japanese?" Vanessa asked, unsure of herself.

Despite their opposition in the war, the history taught in schools mainly focused on The Federation of Kuro Michi, something he never quite understood.

Laurence picked lightly at the hem of his cardigan. "You shouldn't talk to me."

She frowned and cocked her head. "And why not?"