The final chapter of volume 1. This one's a lot shorter because it's an epilogue meant to serve as a bridge between this volume and the next. We hope you enjoyed the first volume of this novel, and follow us onwards to volume 2.
In the spaceport connected to the Montreal campus was a very large monitor screen. This was a gift from the Quebec ministry of tourism as a thank you for providing military and recreational facilities. On the display was a magnificent view of the beautiful Niagara Falls. Elysia had never been, but she had heard it was a breathtaking sight.
As she turned away and looked around, she noticed the boarding gates in this spaceport looked like that of any normal international airport. From where she stood, she could see at least seven boarding gates. There were even different shops and counters to buy food and drinks. There were even a few elderly customers exhausted, even in the middle of the day.
From another display embedded in the ceiling, there was a list of airplane flights displayed all in a row. Most of the flights were suppliers delivering goods to the military, but it seemed that no matter the airport, the sight of passengers rushing off in a hurry to their flights was a common sight everywhere.
The trainees from the Montreal campus had gathered in the lobby and seemed somewhat excited. This was understandable after all. They were going to, of all places, space! Most of the trainees at the Montreal campus, chief among them being Elysia were from Earth. This would be the first time that most of them have ever been to space.
Even though her father commuted there regularly for his work, this would be her first time visiting and seeing it up close. The feelings of nervous anticipation and anxiety that she felt reminded her of when she first walked through the gates of prep school as a child. She had never felt any likewise feelings of nervous like this since enrolling at the Montreal campus.
"I'm so excited..."
The voice came from Elysia's left. Sitting to her left and in front of the large display were Asuna, Emile and Shin. The voice she heard belonged to Emile.
"This will be my first time in space. I wonder if it will be okay. The atmosphere up there is hot right? I hope it'll be safe... It'll be alright, right? I'm sure it will alright."
As Emile spoke, she could be seen holding back tears from behind her glasses. This created quite the unusual sight.
"It'll be fine. In space, the atmosphere is all the same in breathable places. I was born on a colony you know."
"Well a colony is huge. Won't a ship be a more like this?"
Emile's hands formed a shape that was no bigger than a softball. This made Elysia burst out into laughter. Before she could even react, Asuna, Emile and Shin decided to cover it up by coughing as loudly as possible. But her sweet eyes and ears were too weary to fall for such a thing. She knew perfectly well that Elysia was laughing at what she did with her hands. She couldn't be fooled.
"Elysia... you just smiled." said Emile
"I was not!"
"I just saw you laughing!"
Emile shouted this so loudly that she drew unwanted attention from the other trainees. Even Kelly, who was buying apple cider at a stand, and Yahagi, who was eating curry at the coffee stand.
"Hey! quiet down!"
"If you don't like it, why don't you come over here then?"
"I don't really-"
Elysia was about to say something, but she stopped herself when she glanced at Shin and Asuna. Shin had been carrying three bags, and she only just now noticed. One was his, but the other two belonged to Asuna and Emile. Seems his meddlesome nature has yet change.
Asuna looked at Elysia with a face of embarrassment. She had given her bag to Shin with one hand, and held an ice cream cone with the other.
"Come on over Elysia."
Asuna would say, raising her hand with the ice cream, causing a drop of vanilla ice cream to fall from the cone and onto the carpet in a silent splat. It immediately soaked into the carpet, leaving a miniscule dark stain on it. Elysia turned away in embarrassment and reached for her bag.
Tap...
Just as she had leaned over to grab her bag, something thin fell out of her breastpocket and hit the ground with a tapping sound. The thin white objected bounced three times.
Tap... Tap... Tap...
Then it rolled away from Elysia.
The object was a ballpoint pen. It was a military issue pen that Chandel had given her as a birthday present. Ever since that day she fought Yahagi with Kelly and Asuna, Chandel had disappeared. Nobody in the maintence crew seemed to know what happened to him.
Elysia assumed her father had called him back. Knowing how selfish her father was, she would expect him to do something like that. Even so, it still bothered her that Chandel left behind no message or word of where he went. Though, she didn't feel lonely at all. Maybe, deep down, she felt that they would meet again.
"I wonder if Asuna's good intuition has rubbed off on me..."
Elysia whispered to herself.
She smiled gently and grabbed her bag. She walked a few steps forward and grabbed the pen, then she walked to be with Asuna and the others. The Montreal Campus' emblem and the reflective of metal of Chandel's ballpoint pen both shone brightly on Elysia's chest. She looked out the window as she walked forward, getting one last look at Quebec's dazzling summer sunshine outside.
(to be continued in volume 2)
