Time Travelers from the Umbrella House

Chapter 6 Birthdays and School Dreams

"Rajeev was supposed to be busy so he didn't come, let's not talk about him, your birthday is over and I'm sorry I didn't celebrate it this time when I was sick." Alice said.

"Sis, last time we said we would celebrate our birthdays together."

"Of course I remember, Michiko will come over later, I'll make a trip to town, get a birthday cake and we'll celebrate our birthdays today."

"Sis, you're still going out? aren't you afraid of running into Dorsom?"

"Not afraid, I'm prepared this time, if he dares to come, I'll kill him!" Alice said with a hateful voice.

Half a day later, Michiko came and was very happy to hear that the siblings were celebrating their birthdays and asked, "Do you have the same birthday?"

Ronnie picked her up and replied, "No, Sis's birthday is May 18th and mine is June 16th, we said we'd spend it together last time."

"I missed it last time when I was sick, so I'll make it up today, Michiko, you stay here with Ronnie, I'm going out for a bit," Alice said.

"Okay, I'll take care of him."

"Thank you Michiko for taking care of us for the last month or so."

Michiko laughed softly, "Why are you still so polite to me? Be careful when you go out and return quickly."

The two finished their conversation. Alice grabbed something from her backpack and left for town.

Michiko looked at Ronnie, who was nibbling on a burrito, and asked, "Ronnie, are you going to school?"

Ronnie asked with a confused look on his face, "School? Where am I going to school?"

"To the City-state, of course!"

"Don't I have to join the City-state to go to school?"

"City-states have preparatory classes in the free world as well, but they're only found near larger clusters of City-states," Michiko explained.

"City-state clusters? That's the first I've heard of it, and it's not even described in the book."

Michiko laughed, "What era of books have you been reading that you don't know about this?"

Ronnie rubbed his head, "Mom didn't buy me any books, they're expensive, and I've only read a few old books at Uncle Subaru's house."

"No wonder you don't know anything, then I'll explain it to you, a city-state only houses 10,000 people, for the sake of easy communication, several city-states are built together, and several city-states added together are called a city-state cluster, and small city-state clusters can house more than 100,000 people, while large ones can house millions. All the city-states in the entire universe added together are called the 'New World'."

"Is the 'New World' large? do other planets have 'New Worlds'?" Ronnie asked two questions in a row.

"Of course it's big, the 'New Worlds' in the entire universe have a combined population of one and a half billion, and the other planets have three hundred million. There are still populations in the city-states that are now emigrating to other planets. Ronnie, all you have to do is go to school and you'll know all this."

"Okay, I want to go, can my sister come with me?"

"She can! but there's a test you have to pass before you can enroll."

"So what's on the test?"

"Alice will be back in a while and you can discuss it, if she agrees, I'll get the test material for you."