Composed by Yuki Neco
On that day, Lumina Allison was walking to Dr. Ken Matthews’ office in Freedstone University. The blond-haired sophomore student is about five feet three inches tall, with her hair ran straightly down to the waist. She was neatly dressed in a light green one-piece dress and matching moss green vest. A couple of hours before, she had attended Matthews’ quantum mechanics class for sophomore students. When the class was over, the instructor told her to come by his office at 4:00 p.m., as he has something to tell her. Ken Matthews was the young substitute instructor of quantum mechanics class, who had been instructed by Lumina’s father. Walking in the corridor toward the substitute instructor’s office, she was wondering what he was going to say. I wonder what he’s going to tell me. Is it something he can’t tell when anyone is around? It can’t be that he wants to ask me for going out for a date, the blond-haired girl smirked sheepishly with partly excited feelings. While thinking things like that, she found Dr. Matthews’ office. She knocked on the door, and there was a reply for her to come in with a young man’s comfortable voice.
She gently opened the door, as she found Ken Matthews—the young instructor—sitting at the desk at the back of the room. He was a tall, good-looking young man, with dark glossy curly hair trimmed at the shoulders.
“Welcome, Ms. Allison,” Ken smiles at her.
“Uh, hello, Dr. Matthews...”
Lumina felt a kind of embarrassed to see the handsome young man just in front of her. Trying to find what to say, she spoke to him, “You researched theoretical physics at my father’s laboratory, is that right?”
“Yes, I remember you once visited my laboratory five or six years ago,” Ken replied, “I guess you were still a junior high...”
Lumina took over the sentence, “Still an eighth grader. That was when I visited the college festival.” Lumina blushed in response when she remembered that she surely met Ken before, instantly falling in love; as soon as she got home she asked her father with many questions about what kind of man Ken was.
“Want iced coffee?” Ken asked Lumina when he stood up, “Late September, but it’s still hot outside.”
“Yes, thank you,” Lumina replied.
“Anyway, I called you here today, bacause I will give one suggestion,” Ken started putting the glasses of iced coffee for two of them.
“Suggestion?” Lumina blinked her eyes.
“Or maybe, invitation is more appropriate to say,” he added. “I heard from Dr. Allison... your father, I mean,” he began explaining, “as far as theoretical physics, you were educated before graduating from high school, to the level of graduated-school students. Taking the same lecture with your classmates may be boring to you. That’s why I think I should give you a place and time to put yourself into your own research.”
The pretty blond-haired girl opened her eyes with excitement, “Gosh, that’s an exciting invitation, Dr. Matthews.”
“I’m glad to see you’re pleased with my invitation. But I need time to prepare the place in the laboratory and need to explain my assistants about your case; maybe I need a month,” Ken said.
“That’s okay,” she smiled.
In the conversation with Ken, Lumina sometimes stirred the iced coffee with
the straw, as she enjoyed the clicking sound of the ice cubes.
The clicking sound felt to her as if the temperature could be lowered by
a couple of degrees.
“May I ask you this, Ms. Allison?” Dr. Mathews said rolling his eyes.
“Eh, what is it?” Lumina stopped stirring ice cubes with the straw in the glass.
“You know, Dr. Allison hides away when he’s finishing his work. He takes his assistants for the finishing work, and I had some times gone seclusion with him. But this time, I have no idea where he goes. Do you know where he is this time?” Ken asked slowly.
“Actually, I don’t know. He never told me about his hiding place, sorry,” she sheepishly replied.
Walking out of Dr. Matthews’ office, Lumina sighed, “So, Dr. Matthews didn’t know where Dad was, either...” She walked in the courtyard, as she gasped, “What?” She turned back and sighed, “I definitely thought I was being watched.” There were some boys and girls in the courtyard; some are spending time talking, and some are reading books on the benches. When she was looking around to check if there was someone strange, voice came across her, “Hey, Lumina, what’s up? Standing here, are you waiting for your boyfriend?” It was a group of her friends who talked to Lumina. She nervously laughed and replied, “That’s not it. Uhh, I’m just looking for a nice place to sit and read a book.”
“For your private research on physics, right? To me, research on boys could be much better, see ya,” one in the group winked, as the group walked off.
“Hmm, it’s just my imagination? Ugh!” Lumina bumped into someone. “Oh, I gotta watch where I’m going, anyway,” she sighed.
Another voice came across, “Lumina, good to see you here.”
“What? Madison Taylor, good to see you here is what I just wanted to say.”
Madison Taylor was one year older than Lumina; they had been friends since the cinema club in the high school. She had dark gray hair slighly curled at the tip with the length of her waist, her figure is slender with the height of 5 feet 6 inches.
She was dressed in a light blue maxi dress with a brown belt around her waist.
“What’s this?” Madison extended her arm and picked up something off Lumina’s back.
“What is it?” Lumina put on a stupid look.
“It was on your belt,” Madison explained.
It was a piece of paper which read, “MATTER-ANTIMATTER ANNIHILATION, WHERE THE HELL’S HE HIDING?” Lumina’s face turned shocked in terror.
“I was being watched indeed...”
Madison slowly spoke, “And you just let a strange man touch your waist.”
“Hey, don’t say such a terrible thing, Madison! We don’t know if it’s a man or a woman,” Lumina said in upset. Next minute, she turned angry, “But... if that’s true... it’s unforgivable!”
Madison picked up her cell phone and made a phone call to someone. In three minutes or four, a white Mercedes came screeching brake to halt. Madison got in the backseat, pulling Lumina inside together. The Mercedes driven by a woman in a black suit and sunglasses started off with a steep acceleration. Lumina and Madison were sitting on the backseat, as they talked about who stuck the paper on Lumina.
“So, it’s true that you’re watched as you said before, but what’s it about?” Madison pointed the paper she found on Lumina’s waist.
“Annihilation is the terminology of theoretical physics, but... I don’t know what that means by WHERE’S HE HIDING,” Lumina replied.
“Isn’t it possible that the attacker is related to your father’s research?” Madision asked.
“Nnnh, I don’t know... but... ah! Dad is hiding! HE can be my Dad,” Lumina exclaimed. “But that’s merely one possibility, though,” she lowered her tone.
“Or else, you have a big fan,” Madison whispered in a mean attitude, “There’s no wonder, a pretty girl like you has someone who stalks you around.”
“Very funny...” Lumina stuck her tongue out.
“Okay, Lumina, let’s find out who the attacker is,” the girl with gray hair grinned.
“But how?”
“Don’t you remember what I told you the other day? You gotta meet with Sakura Avalon and Li Showron at Green Hills University.”