Private - To Keep Or Not To Keep?

Boston - Monday Morning - Spring

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The sunlight poured through Wendy's window as she pulled apart her drapes. Her mom used to be the one to wake her up every morning but that was before she had gotten a new job. Now it was up to Wendy to get herself up and make her own breakfast for school. Her parents were always really busy lately. She missed the family time that was now much less frequent. Opening the window, the young girl took a breath of fresh spring morning air! Ahhhh! Her eyes caught some birds chirping nearby in a tree in her yard. They were so cute! Probably making a wonderful little bird family up there! She pulled herself away from the window and closed it before getting ready for school. Then Wendy made her way downstairs and poured a bowl of Lucky Charms, her favorite cereal! She just loved the fun and lucky shapes! They were really sweet too! Wendy used to get yelled at for just eating the marshmallows so she had to force herself to eat the whole bowl.

While munching on her Lucky Charms. Wendy looked at her cell phone to keep track of the time. She always did her best to try and not be late for school. Luckily she lived nearby. So it was always a quick walk or bike ride to get there. A text caught her eye and she smiled when she saw it was from her best friend Sally! Yay! It was talking about how cool this new game she was playing was. Wendy was getting a much bigger respect for video games after she experienced Terrasphere.... wait. Oh no! She still had not brought it to lost and found yet? She had intended to do that today! Wendy dropped everything and ran back upstairs. Searching under her bed to find the VR equipment she had hidden there. It used to be her brothers, but he got a new one. So Wendy had been using this to connect to the games server. She looked through the box and found the drive the game was stored on. She stared at it for awhile. If she brought this back She would not longer be able to play this game. The copyright said that she would get in trouble if she copied the files and tried to keep it that way. This belonged to someone else....

Wendy sadly put it in her pocket and decided to go through with it. It was a lot of fun being Magi Heart and trying to become a awesome magical girl.... but someone may be looking for their game. Finishing up at home. Wendy would put on her backpack and head out the door. Remembering of course to lock up. The girl headed to school a bit less cheery than usual.

She really, really, really did not want to lose this game....

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Wendy normally would be moving at a quick pace to avoid being late. She was not doing so today though. Moving with every step down her street being more and more reluctant. She had her mind elsewhere. Where? Terrasphere of course! That game was so massive and she had the ability to fulfill her dream there. Soon it would be gone. She would have to give it to lost and found and the lucky kid who actually owned the game would be able to play it. Was this game really expensive? Maybe Wendy could just get her own? Even if her parents did not like this stuff she could save up? Wendy remembered something about the game being a illegal thing. Illegal was bad.... hmmmm. Was it because of the ESRB? The game did seem to have no limits as far as content.

Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out the usb that held the game. It was really a simple little drive. Just a little black usb that might have just been any ones. She raised it up to her eyes as she walked and looked a bit cross eyed at it. Hmmmm.... It was the only thing on the usb too. It did not use up that much space either. Wendy hoped that it was not actually a stolen or pirated game before she even found it. Well.... this was goodbye Terrasphere, Magi Heart, and candy without getting fat.... sigh. It's not like she was doing all that good anyway. It was a really hard game. Wendy lowered the usb from her face to see that her school was right in front of her. Okay, time to be responsible!

Oh, wow there was some kind of delivery at school today Wendy saw as she slowly made her way up the steps to the front doors. She still was not in the greatest hurry to do this. The truck had some large men carrying big boxes and stuff.Was it new books? Or computers? She saw that the trucks read "N E X U S" along the sides. Oh she recognized that logo. Still holding the usb in her hand she thought to ask one of the workers politely what the delivery was. She always was like that. Asking questions and trying to be a strangers friend was one of her strengths.... and weaknesses.

"Excuse me but ummm.... what are you delivering?"

A large man wearing a baseball cap answered the little girl with a laugh.

"New computers, updated with the latest technology. Pretty cool stuff kid! You're generation gets all the luck. Never had Nexus stuff when I was in school."

Wendy marveled at the big box as the man continued past her. Wow, cool beans! Okay, time to go in and bring this game to lost and found! As she walked into the school. The principal, Miss Smith, was talking with someone who Wendy did not recognize. Lots going on today. Or maybe she was just noticing more because she was trying to avoid getting rid of the game still... sigh.

"Wendy, Wendy Ann Quinn! Come over hear would you? This, is Wendy, she is one of our straight A students! Very well behaved. It would be wonderful if she could be like you someday. The pride of West Oaks!"

Wendy blushed uncontrollably. Hey, she was not that great. She just tried her best and she was even going to be late today. This principle did not seem to care right now. Focusing instead on trying to show her off to this other lady.. who really was pretty young too.

Wendy did a small bow out of courtesy before blushing again out of embarrassment for doing that. She was still caught up in how she greeted in Magi Heart mode, worse was the lady was Japanese... hopefully she was not offended. The young girl gave a small laugh and nodded to her with a bow of her own.

"Oh my, Kon'nichiwa little Wendy chan. I can see you are respectful of ones customs! I'm not that traditional though. My use of honorifics is inconsistent at best these days."

The lady was really pretty and nice too! Wendy did not know why she was being introduced to her though. Miss Smith would make that kinda clearer with her next comment.

"Wendy, this is Hitomi Aki. Did I get that right? She is the youngest graduate of Nexus Academy, and a absolute genius from Japan. You should consider her a good role model!"

Hitomi now was the one to blush ever so slightly. As fiddled with her glasses nervously.

"Oh no... I am not all that great. Yes, just Hitomi is fine. I had my name swapped to proper american format after moving here. I'm just a nerd haha. Not a good role model for children."

"Of course you are! These computers are installed with new chips that you designed. The students and all of West Oaks are thrilled for this upgrade. It will really help us use the latest technology to assist in their academic achievements."

"If you say so Miss Smith! I really am just doing my small part to help make the world a better place. Nexus is such a great company. It has really broadened my...."

Wendy did not want to , but she felt a bit out of place here and.... she decided to make getting rid of the game a bit easier by having Miss Smith do it.

"Umm, so I have this usb? It was dropped by someone I think and it has a game on it. It's called Terra-"

"Oh that's mine! You found it thank you! She is special isn't she?!"

Hitomi giggled a little with her hand over her mouth as she looked at the usb in Wendy's hand. Wait... it was this lady's? Cool beans, that was better than bringing it back to lost and found... but it also meant the game was going to be taken away now for sure.

Sigh.

 

After School - Afternoon

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School today was really, really awesome! More than usual even! Wendy was smiling all day. About what, well... Miss Hitomi had done the nicest thing ever. The Nexus worker from earlier had let her keep the game! So now she was even told she could let friends play it too if she wanted! Wow, that's beyond cool beans! It's mega ultimate candy beans! Wendy could not wait to finish her homework and head back to play the game later. She even heard that some kind of big event was coming up soon. That would be cool too. A chance to cure lo's of meanies with the power of love and justice? Hopefully!

Wendy almost flew out of school with her backpack filled with books. Some papers had flown out behind her but she didn't notice. She waved to some friends and teachers as she went down the stairs outside. Wendy was hungry too. It sucked she could not eat candy for dinner like she could in the game. That was easy to fix though! Wendy thought of which candy shop to visit next when she logged back in to Terrasphere.

"Wendy! Hi!"

Wendy stopped and turned to see what the familiar voice was. Yep it was the nice lady again! Hitomi was sitting on a bench with a cellphone in her hand it was kinda weird looking though. Like super weird. Wendy had never seen anything like it. Hitomi also had something attached to her ear, was it bluetooth? Wendy came over even though she wanted to get home super quick for the game. She waved and sat next to the older girl since she seemed to want her to come over.

"I just wanted to reassure you that it's completely okay to keep the game. But it's a secret between us as friends. You can't tell anyone where you got it because that would get me n trouble with work. I'm not supposed to play games anymore cause of my responsibilities, so letting this get out would hurt me very badly. It's a gift between friends now. You are my friend Wendy! How does that sound?"

Wendy smiled happily and nodded.

"Sounds good to me! You are so nice, older people sometimes seem a bit mean. You're different though. Do you really work for that big company thing? Ummm Nexes?"

"Nexus... yes I do. It's a very hard job and I'm very lucky to be gainfully employed with them. Wendy, I hope this does not upset you but seem a bit younger than you are? I like how you keep in touch with your innocence. It kind of reminds me of myself."

Wendy blushed and got nervous and a bit flustered. Oh no... she was going to talk about how Wendy needed to grow up wasn't she? Wendy felt that maybe she should have...

"Oh I am not shunning you. It's brave. To be who you want to be no matter what. To be what you think is perfect. Being a kid is not a negative. Don't ever let anyone tell you that okay? Girls grow up too fast these days. You're special. When we talked earlier you said something about how you were playing a magical girl. Do you like those? I loved those too, so I had no choice but let you keep the game and fulfill your dream. The real world does not allow for that kind of thing. Ya gotta toughen up young lady!"

Hitomi made a funny impression of what Wendy guessed was a tough dad. Wendy laughed and was so thrilled that someone actually understood her. This was amazing!

"So true! Haha! Wow you are the best friend I've ever talked to. Better than the kids at school hahaha. Ca-can I ask a question though... what's that? A phone?"

Hitomi saw the girl point at the object in her hand. She smiled back.

"If that's what you think then that is what it is! Imagination Wendy! It's just a work tool. Something I use to monitor stuff. It's not something to worry about. Know what?"

Hitomi got up in a bit of hurry all of a sudden. She closed the weird phone thing and put in her coat pocket.

"No what?"

Hitomi put her hands on her hips and made a overdone scolding expression.

"Don't you have a world to save?! Terrasphere needs you! Get going young senshi!"

Wendy quickly jumped up too and laughed as she saluted in her Magi Heart pose. Before running off and waving back behind her. Hitomi waved back gently before turning away and heading off on her own.


[FIN]