Chapter Text
“We’re moving.”
Those were not the words Trousseau expected to hear at 7:30 over Lucky Charms.
Yes, Castti’s job required her to move a lot, but…
“You did not need to spring that at me first thing in the morning…”
Castti snorted, moving to put the bowls in the sink.
"I did, actually. We're moving in 3 weeks."
"I noticed."
Most of their things had never really made it out of their boxes. It made him wonder why they even had the things.
"Well, it's best to brush up on your German, darling. International school is weird."
"... wait, we're leaving the US? Already?"
"Yes, sadly."
"Where are we going?"
"Hong Kong. Expensive shit, but good schooling."
"Alright. I guess. Infinitely better than school shootings weekly, I guess. Stupid guns."
"Stupid guns."
After 3 hours of driving, their plane being delayed and a 16-hour flight, they were in Hong Kong.
Boy was everything loud.
Hong Kong, Pearl of the Orient.
They'd successfully rented a small apartment... which cost more than their garage back in the US.
Damn, shit really was expensive.
"Hey, Trousseau, aren't you going to question your pocket money?"
Trousseau looked at the assortment of bills in his wallet.
Which was definitely a larger amount than what he'd started out with.
"Huh?!"
"Inflation and currency exchange. 1 USD equals to about 7 HKD."
Fair.
"So... it's normal for things to cost more."
"Yes. Our apartment, which cost $15,000 to rent... can you calculate the amount it would have cost in USD?"
"..."
Trousseau did the mental math for a moment.
"More than $2000."
Still very expensive.
"In terms of Hong Kong, it's very cheap."
What?
"Why?"
"Hong Kong is a very small city, Trousseau."
"Oh..."
A strange thought occurred to him.
"Will people make fun of my name?"
Castti considered this.
"Probably not. People are named very strange things here."
"Like what?"
"Well, there's the generic names like Natalie and Brian, but then some people are just named their Chinese name but romanised. And some other people are called shit like Kitty and Dream."
"Woah. I really like my name now."
"You better."
"Why are you making me wear this?"
Trousseau messed with the collar on his shirt.
"Be glad the borders are green and not pink. You got lucky with the sorting."
"What?"
"The students in Solistia are sorted into 7 houses on random. You got lucky."
"Damn... you're right... but why are uniforms such big things here?"
"No idea. Just wear it."