Kairos had forgiven Nicole quite a while ago, back when high school started. Though he didn’t say anything, he couldn’t help but feel a little reassured when Nicole loudly declared to the girls that he wasn’t a loser.
When in reality, he was.
That fact by itself wasn’t a reason to cause Kairos to distance himself. Realistically speaking, it should have been the opposite.
However, by defending him, Nicole ended up alienating herself from the rest of the school. With her personality and appearance, she easily would’ve been one of the most popular people there.
That much was obvious to even the two girls from earlier and wasn’t something that Kairos had missed.
Because of him, Nicole could not make any friends, when she should’ve had plenty.
Although it wasn’t really Kairos’ fault, he couldn’t help but feel responsible. And as such, before he knew it, he wanted Nicole to distance herself from him. If she was no longer with him all the time, then she could live a normal high school life.
No, an ideal high school life.
Kairos subconsciously got the idea that if he and Nicole weren’t together, then he could go on with his own life, while Nicole would be able to live better without him. He could only see himself as a weight that was holding Nicole down.
Kairos let out a small sigh.
“…I’m really pathetic, aren’t I?”
He thought about coming clean to Nicole about this, but decided that he wouldn’t do so right now.
Not because he was stalling or anything…
It’s not like Kairos was really embarrassed after realizing that fact and didn’t want to reveal it to make himself even more embarrassed.
No, Kairos was a rational and logical person. Something like being led by his own emotions would never be something that happens.
Totally.
Kairos shook his head and decided to check up on Quinn since the room he was sleeping in was nearby.
He opened the door and then looked towards the couch, where he had put Quinn.
Quinn was still laying there, hardly moving. Except his eyelids were fluttering slightly. His arm moved slightly but fell limp right after. It was as though he was trying to get himself to move, but didn’t have the energy to do so.
Kairos called out to him.
“Want something to eat?”
Quinn forced his eyes open, just enough so he could see.
“…Some water first, please.”
Kairos walked over to the kitchen and opened the fridge. There were several things he didn’t recognize, but he could still see several bottles of juices.
“Huh, I guess even rich people drink juice.”
Arbitrarily taking one, he brought it over.
By the time he was back, Quinn was sitting up, though he still looked like quite the wreck. There was a tea table in front of the couch, so Kairos set the bottle down there and unscrewed it.
Quinn slowly reached for it and began drinking.
While that was happening, Kairos went back to the kitchen to get some stuff to eat. He found that there were some chips in a cabinet, so he brought those over.
Though it had only been a few seconds, Quinn was just about finished drinking the juice, holding it up to the sky to get the last few drops within.
Once Kairos set down the bag of chips, Quinn immediately opened it and began eating.
At first, it was quite rushed, but he immediately slowed himself down.
Kairos raised an eyebrow.
“Does it taste bad?”
Quinn shook his head as he took the time to chew the food.
“I couldn’t care less about the taste right now. Eating food too fast after starving can easily kill you. Anyone that finished studying in high school should know that.”
Kairos shrugged his shoulders.
“I suppose. But that doesn’t mean it would be easy to stop yourself from eating.”
Quinn waited until he was finished chewing more chips before responding.
“Of course, it isn’t exactly easy, but dying by overeating is a rather stupid way to go.”
After eating roughly half the bag, Quinn dusted off his hands before standing back up.
“Alright, I should be ok now.”
Kairos blinked a few times.
“You don’t feel hungry anymore?”
Quinn clicked his tongue.
“I feel just as hungry as when I started eating. However, my stomach obviously shrunk because I didn’t eat before. There’s no point in eating any more. I spent so much time chewing just to lower the burden on my stomach.”
Kairos raised an eyebrow.
“Alright then.”
Quinn suddenly stood up, and began wobbling. He hurriedly caught the edge of the table.
“I… I’m good now. What do I need to do?”
Kairos waved his hand dismissively.
“Well, there’s nothing for you to do right now, I still have to find a way to incorporate you in a position. I’m just going to meet up with another person to talk about how to manage the city.”
Quinn stabilized himself.
“Ah, well alright. Why don’t I come with you? I can provide some suggestions as well.”
Kairos hesitated, but decided it shouldn’t be too big of a deal.
“Well, alright.”
Quinn took a second to gather himself before beginning to walk out of the room. Considering he was starving to death not long ago, it was quite a feat. Kairos couldn’t help but comment on that fact.
“Your resilience is quite impressive.”
Quinn shook his head.
“My brain numbs all my senses considerably, so the actual pain I experience is far less than what a normal person would. As such, it isn’t that big of a deal.”
Kairos didn’t think too much of it, walking down the hallway.
“If you say so.”
The two walked down the steps and reached the room of Tiana. Kairos gave the door a few knocks, which opened soon after.
“You really kept me wait-”
Tiana originally had a playful smile on her face, but it froze when she saw Quinn.
“Um… who is that?”
Kairos pointed towards his head.
“His name is Quinn. Although he is pretty rude, he still has a pretty good head on his shoulders. I can’t say for sure he won’t run his mouth, but it shouldn’t be a big deal to share the basic logistics.”
Quinn nodded.
“That’s a pretty accurate assessment.”
Tiana hesitated for a moment.
“Alright, but after I would like to have a private meeting with you to discuss other matters.”
Kairos nodded.
“Alright then.”
Tiana made way, gesturing for them to enter.
The two went in, and immediately found the room not to be as he expected. Since the room was on the same floor as his, it had the same overall structure. On top of that, since it seemed like Tiana was a rich person, she would be accustomed to living a rich and spoiled life.
Yet, the room was actually rather cramped. There was a large amount of papers that littered the place. There were several whiteboards in the place, set up in such a way that one could look at all of them at once. And on top of them, were various diagrams that described the city in various ways.
One of which was a map, detailing each of the sections in depth. Another had various charts, most of which describing things related to food and water.
On top some of the tables were long lists of papers, detailing who owned which plot of land.
In the middle, where several couches were supposed to be, was replaced by a set of six folding chairs along with a table in the middle, with a large sheet of paper covering it.
The cost of such an arrangement was the once luxurious room was now extremely cramped. One of the whiteboards directly blocked off the way to the staircase too, essentially negating that.
Kairos couldn’t help but reevaluate how he thought about Tiana, but decided not to focus on that right now. As for Quinn, he didn’t seem fazed, thinking that a place like this was completely natural.
The three of them sat on the folding chairs, facing one another.
Tiana let out a soft sigh once they were seated.
“Alright, the main thing that I’m currently concerned about is how to deal with the sewage. At first, I believed it was enough just to bury it underneath the soil, but just in a few days, this proved to not be enough. The amount of waste that is being produced is beginning to become quite overwhelming.”
She pinched the bridge of her nose.
“It’s still alright now, as I opened up the underground sewer system. Now, I’m having the people dispose of it that way which should still last quite a while. Unfortunately, it’s not a permanent solution, and since I figured it would take a while to find a permanent solution, I wanted to bring it up as soon as possible.”
Quinn nodded.
“Hygiene is very important. Although it only seems like a smelly problem at first, it is very easy for disease to suddenly spread among people if it is not properly taken care of.”
Kairos rubbed his chin as he pondered over it.
“Well, things like toilets and sewer systems didn’t always exist, but people back then were more or less fine. That surely means there is at least some kind of solution to it.”
Tiana smiled bitterly.
“I don’t remember learning anything about the middle ages in my history classes.”
Quinn raised a finger.
“Well, if that’s the case then either you weren’t paying full attention, or the school you went to is quite lacking.”
Tiana’s eyebrow twitched, but she did not stop him from talking. And as such, Quinn continued.
“The solution that the people in those times came to was to dump it into the river, and have it be washed away like that. This wasn’t always how it was done, but those that didn’t dispose of their waste properly quickly learned their lesson once sickness spread among them.”
He sighed.
“Unfortunately… there are no rivers nearby whatsoever.”
Tiana narrowed her eyes.
“Does that mean we have to create an artificial river?”
Kairos sucked in a cold breath.
“That sounds… difficult.”
Quinn slowly nodded.
“It will be difficult, because it requires us to find two large bodies of water we can create a channel between. On top of that, there must be a significant difference in elevation so that water actually flows between them.”
He took a deep breath.
“Building the actual structure shouldn’t be terribly difficult, considering the extra strength people have gained due to the apocalypse. The toughest part is being lucky enough that two bodies of water are nearby. However, the biggest issue is actually after it is built. Chances are, the structure would be prone to sabotage. It is probably impossible to guard the entire channel. That means any Tom, Dick, or Harry can get in the way and clog it.”
Kairos raised an eyebrow.
“It’s almost like you already built it, with how much you’re predicting.”
Quinn blinked a few times.
“Ah, sorry. You both probably already thought of that, right?”
Kairos waved his hand dismissively.
“Even if we did, it’s better to make sure we are on the same page, so no need to hold your thoughts back.”
Quinn nodded.
“That fits my thoughts exactly, which is why I stated the obvious.”
Kairos’ eyebrow twitched, somehow feeling that he was both smart and stupid at the same time, which was a combination that didn’t make much sense.
“…Well, I believe I can think of a method to create an artificial river. Though, I’m still not sure if there is a method to prevent others from interfering with the river.”
Quinn rubbed his chin.
“How were these walls created?”
Tiana narrowed her eyes slightly.
“Why do you want to know that?”
Quinn shrugged his shoulders.
“Well, if you can recreate the walls near an actual river, we can avoid all those problems.”
Kairos raised a finger.
“Wait, I think I have an idea.”
