Page 272 of Light Leech

He and Akna shared a grin, filling me with that rare warmth. The memories of my family were ghosts, but I felt that same love growing here.

Still, that didn’t diminish the ache of missing Matvey. Where had my brother gone? What would he think of me now?

“Back to what we were saying.” Boyband scratched David’s top. “If there is any information on what my parents were hoping to do by sending me to Water Hills, it’ll be in David.”

“Your caressing feels nice.”

Boyband smiled at David’s remark. “Hey! That’s a positive thought!”

“I imagine this is how death feels. Will you please grant it unto me?”

“No, bud, we need some help.”

“Yet I plead for aid and you deny it?”

“Killing you isn’t going to help anyone.” He looked up at Denji. “Maybe tone down the formal talk a bit? I don’t like him acting like he is smarter than me.”

“With your parent’s data in his mind, he kind of is.”

Boyband sighed and shook his head. “Do I just ask him about my parents or do we need to hook up a light line?”

“No,” Denji said. “You should be able to access everything conversationally. More reliable than AI or looking blindly through a system. While his personality might sound like… well… he was made to be a Luxist like me, so he should want nothing more than to help you.”

“David?” Boyband asked.

David eyed him. I sighed when the thing did not reply.

“I need you to look for–no… how about… Why did my parents send me to Water Hills?”

“Because they loved you.”

Boyband looked up at Denji as if to ask, “Really?”

Denji nodded and waved for him to continue.

“Why did my parents care about Water Hills?”

“Be more descriptive,” said Denji. “Almost treat him as if he’s a search engine.”

Boyband nodded. “What does Water Hills have to do with my parents’ Luxist interests? Specifically, the Correction.”

“Water Hills is not connected to the Correction.”

“What? Of course it is. It’s a school for Light’s sake. Right, Denji?”

The monk shrugged. “Look, as far as I know, the other Luxists sent you to the first educational institution that came to mind, noting your parents’ work. Maybe they were pursuing a different avenue and the other monks told you to hit up Water Hills because they figured the two were connected.”

“Were my parents researching the Correction, David?”

“Their research shows they gave it some thought, but much of their interest focused on local pharmaceutical conspiracies and the PTA at Water Hills.”

Ralia laughed. “I always got the ick from PTAs, didn’t all of you?”

“Didn’t have them in Medislavia,” I said.

“Same for West Arabasia,” Abbas added.

“I don’t remember school,” Naoma said.