Chapter 76| Vance City

Chapter 76: Chapter 76| Vance City

Vance City at 9:15 AM on a Saturday was a different world from the academy campus.

Zane hadn’t been outside the gates since arriving at Aldren. Six weeks of composite floors and reinforced walls and the specific contained ecosystem of a hero academy had apparently recalibrated his baseline for what a normal environment felt like. Because the city hit him differently than he expected.

Wider. Louder. More colour. The specific energy of a place that wasn’t running on schedules and assessment criteria and Sigil classifications.

Just people. Moving. Doing Saturday things.

Maren walked beside him with the same controlled deliberate energy she brought everywhere, except here it sat differently on her. Not the training grounds efficiency. Something more relaxed underneath it. Like the city was a context she was comfortable in.

"You come out here often," Zane said.

"When passes are available," she said. "Which isn’t often for first years." She glanced at him. "You?"

"First time since arriving," Zane said.

She looked at him.

"Six weeks," she said.

"Six weeks," Zane confirmed.

She shook her head slightly.

"You need more fresh air," she said.

"I’ve been told," he said.

She almost smiled.

They moved through the commercial district together. The main street running its Saturday morning commerce around them. Shops open. Street vendors. The occasional hero agency billboard above the rooflines. Vance City had a specific visual language that said west coast without needing to announce it. The light quality, the architecture, the way people moved in it.

Zane looked at it all and thought about six weeks of campus walls.

’This is what exists outside,’ he thought. ’Right there. Twenty minutes from the gate.’

Maren’s errands were specific.

A bookshop on the third street that apparently carried NSA field documentation in civilian print editions. She went directly to the section without browsing, pulled three titles with the efficiency of someone who had already decided what she needed before arriving.

A stationery store two blocks further. Specific notebooks, specific pens. She examined them with the same precision she applied to burst sequences.

Zane watched her move through each stop.

’This is what she does,’ he thought. ’This is Maren outside of the training grounds. Same precision. Same deliberate approach. Just pointed at different things.’

"You always shop like this," he said while she examined notebook covers.

"Like what," she said without looking up.

"Like you’re assessing a tactical situation," he said.

She looked up.

Then back at the notebooks.

"Impulsive purchases are wasteful," she said.

"Or fun," Zane added.

"I have enough fun," she said.

He looked at her.

’She says she has enough fun,’ he thought. ’While examining notebook covers for structural integrity.’

’She is completely consistent,’ he thought. ’In every context.’

He almost smiled.

She picked a notebook. Paid. They walked out.

His errand was simpler.

A sports equipment supplier three streets over — grip tape for training, a replacement activation sleeve for his left forearm that had been wearing thin since the drill.

He found both quickly and brought them to the counter.

Paid without thinking about it too much.

The funds came from the account his father had set up for him — Garrett Calloway had apparently been thorough about that much even if he hadn’t been around to be thorough about much else. Zane didn’t know the actual amount. He just knew the card worked and that the majority of his father’s wealth had gone to his mother when everything was settled.

He could recall that much from memory even if the specific numbers weren’t there.

’She got most of it,’ he thought. ’Wherever she is.’

He pocketed the change and picked up his bag.

’One thing at a time,’ he thought.

Maren was standing beside him looking at the sleeve options with the familiar assessment expression.

"That one," she said. "Reinforced composite lining. Same material as the training grounds walls."

He looked at the sleeve she’d indicated.

Picked it up.

’She knew which one without being asked,’ he thought.

He bought it.

By 11:30 AM they’d finished their errands.

The commercial district running its late morning energy around them. Neither of them had discussed what happened after the errands were done. The pass was valid until 9:00 PM. The city was right there.

They stood on the main street with bags in hand and the specific awkward comfortable energy of two people who had run out of scheduled activity and were standing in the gap between what they came to do and whatever came next.

Maren looked at the street.

"Hungry," she said.

"Yeah," Zane replied.

She looked at him.

"There’s a place on the fourth street," she said. "Good food. Not cafeteria standard."

"Lead the way," Zane said.

"Okay then Calloway follow my lead". She said as she turned and walked.

He followed.

The system ticked.

『 SECOND QUEST — Time Remaining: 18 hours 44 minutes 』

『 System Note: Non-academic context confirmed and active. Natural progression detected. This is what the system meant by create the conditions and let it happen. Well done. Mostly. 』

’Mostly,’ Zane thought.

『 You stared for two full seconds at the gate. The system deducts points for that. 』

’There are no points,’ Zane thought.

『 There are always points. 』

He kept walking.

The place on the fourth street was small. Eight tables. The kind of restaurant that existed in cities specifically to be found by people who weren’t looking for something obvious.

They sat across from each other.

Menus on the table. Real menus, not a cafeteria board.

Maren looked at hers with the familiar assessment expression.

Zane looked at his.

Then at her.

’This is the moment,’ he thought. ’Non-academic context. Private enough. Real enough. No training grounds. No classroom. No corridor between those two things.’

’Just a table on a Saturday in Vance City,’ he thought.

’And whatever this is,’ he thought.

The system surfaced.

『 SECOND QUEST — Natural conditions fully met 』

『 System Note: The meeting is happening. You don’t need to do anything specific. Just be here. 』

’Be here,’ Zane thought.

He put the menu down.

"Maren," he said.

She looked up from her menu.

"What," she said.