Chapter 636: Quadmates (1/2)

”Shit... What the hell did Nix put in this thing?” Dex found his trunk on the stairs outside of his dorm. Since his room was on the second floor, that meant he had to drag it up the long staircase. Near the top, he was forced to use the rail to assist his progress. ”At least put wheels on his bastard!”

At the top of the wood staircase, there were three options. A sharp left would bring you to another set of stairs, while left or right would bring you down opposite hallways where the dorm rooms were.

Clued-in by the numbered signs, Dex found his room a few minutes later. After double-checking that the plaque on the door said 212B, he pushed it open and walked inside.

The room was quite large, with comfortable-looking beds on either side of the room. Each of the beds had a wardrobe that had been built into the wall nearest to it.

”You must be Dextron?” A young man peaked out of the far wardrobe where he'd been busy unpacking his trunk. He was tall and thin with long brown hair that gave him a scholarly appearance. ”I'm Marik; it's nice to meet you!”

”Call me Dex. Nice to meet you, Marik.” Dex shook the hand that the other extended, immediately noticing that the badge on Marik's jacket had a blue border. ”You're a 2nd year?”

Marik nodded. ”The second-year dorms burned down last year; construction has been delayed for some reason.”

The door leading to the shared bathroom banged open an instant later as two young women forced their way in, both of them were smiling at Marik.

”You're taking too long, Mar!” A petite girl with curly orange hair stepped into the room, her eyes darting over everything. ”Who's your friend?”

Marik sighed unhappily; after living with the sisters for nearly a year, he had hoped that with a new room assignment, he could finally shake them loose. ”Dex, this is Lulu and Tifa Dread.”

Lulu waved at Dex before rushing over to peek inside Maric's wardrobe. Tifa smiled cheerfully; she looked like some sort of old-school wandering martial artist. Her head was shaved completely bald except for a long topknot braid.

”What kind of fighting do you favor?” Tifa had stopped near Dex's trunk as he attempted to size him up.

”Ranged fighting.” Dex shook the offered hand, noting that it was calloused and strong. ”Swordfighter?”

Tifa nodded. ”Good guess, Lulu and I are both 3rd years, so if you have any questions, just ask. In case you haven't realized, we're your quadmates.”

Dex leaned back against his trunk, trying not to laugh at Lulu and Marik. She seemed determined to climb into his wardrobe while he was attempting to pull her out. ”How do you know, Marik?”

”We lived with him last year when our dorm burned down. He's my boyfriend.” Lulu's voice came from inside the wardrobe; despite Maric's best effort, he'd been unable to stop her.

”No, I'm not.” Marik's expression turned sour as he glanced at Dex with a hopeless expression. It was obvious he couldn't deal with her.

”Just lock her in,” Dex offered.

Marik's eyes widened slightly; an instant later, he slammed the wardrobe door closed and locked it. The smile on his face was like someone who had just won the lottery.

”Huh? Hey! Open this door, Mar.” A loud pounding erupted from inside of the wardrobe.

It was Tifa who started laughing first; then it spread to Marik and Dex.

[Your set timer has expired. Your current progress will be saved. Logging Off.]

Dex was still laughing when he opened up the stasis pod a few moments later. ”When I ride the wave later, I'll do a bit of background on Inferno and Tembai Academy. It should make gameplay a little easier.”