The Future Will Change

Later that evening, as the boys arrived at their fraternity…

Vertex would be holding a meeting with the other boys of House Iota in the common area.

“Alright, guys, listen up. We’re gonna start off our first ritual of the year by welcoming some of our freshmen.” He pointed to Keiji and Rumble. “These guys right here.”

“Sup,” Keiji flashed a peace sign as the rest of the young men glanced in his direction.

“Hey,” Rumble called out, “So uh…we’re not gonna go around and bust any buildings are we?”

“The fu--no?” Vertex raised a brow as if he was offended by such a question. “We’re gonna go clean up the park downtown. It’s fulla trash and shit and no one’s doing anything about it.”

Rumble blinked and asked, “...wait, literal shit or--”

Keiji scratched the back of his head, “Huh. I didn’t expect that. But I guess it makes sense. A city this big is filled with so many busy people that don’t have time to worry about something small like that.”

“Pretty much. Show him, Quency.”

Another guy with long, dirty blonde hair that covered his eyes would open up a map of the city that was rolled out on the wall to their right.

Vertex would continue by tapping a certain green patch of the map with a pointer. “The park is here. We’re gonna clean up as much as we can and raise a stink about it. The whole damn country is putting so much money into its anti-mutant stuff that it’s forgetting about the basic shit we still need done on the ground.”

This surprised Keiji to hear, considering how they first met. “Wait a sec,” he interjected, “I thought you hated mutants. Wouldn’t you support their decisions?”

“Not at the expense of what folks need,” Vertex replied with his arms folded, “And…as far as what I think of mutants, I…listen, just follow the directions I’m giving you yeah. We don’t have time for all that personal shit.”

Vertex would continue to explain their plan as Rumble whispered to Keiji.

“...maybe it’s possible he doesn’t really hate folks like you? Based on that reaction, there might be something else going on.”

“It’s possible, yeah,” Keiji replied with a nod. “I don’t think he hates them all, but it sounds like something happened that made him bitter.”

“Think we’ll figure it out? Should we ask him?”

Keiji shook his head. “Let’s get to know him better first. Then see what we can figure out.”

Once Vertex finished his explanation, everyone got ready to head out as he answered the last few questions they may have had. The fraternity of House Iota all walked down the street together to the park that their leader had described. There, all of the gardening tools and supplies were at the ready for them to make use of in order to clear out the garbage and overgrown weeds that had overtaken the park. Everyone got to work shortly thereafter, including Vertex himself.

Meanwhile, at Vanhoover University’s Sorority zones…

Silver Spoon arrived back at her Sorority House--House Gamma--with a stack of pizza boxes. On the way there, she noticed a cat-eared individual stalking her. Or at least, that’s what she thought she saw as she approached her Sorority’s front door.

“...that’s weird. I thought…no. Must be losing it.”

Eventually, one of her fellow Soro-Sisters opened the door. “Took you long enough, Spoon.”

“Sorry, Filament,” she replied to the young woman that opened the door for her and set the pizzas down in the kitchen, “Long lines really backed me up. The pizza here is supposed to be the best in the continent apparently.”

“Yeah yeah, whatever,” Filament waved her hand with a scoff and walked over, “Anyway, we need to think of a way to stay ahead of the boys.”

Spoon adjusted her glasses and replied, “...excuse me?”

“Stay ahead of the frat boys in Iota, duh,” she went on while nibbling on a slice of pizza. Filament was a young woman with soft-green skin and a head of long, cream-colored hair. She currently wore a pair of form-fitting yoga pants and a black sports bra. “We can’t let them show us up with their community project, ya know? They’re cleaning up the park, remember?”

“Oh right,” Spoon replied and shook her head. Admittedly, she had more or less forgotten about their community project and had her mind elsewhere. “Well, what have you got in mind?”

“I was thinking we could volunteer at the old folks’ home--”

Another young lady called out from nearby, “Ew, gross! I don’t wanna deal with yucky old people!”

“How about we do something that’s actually fun?” another soro-sister called out, “Like volunteering at Equestria World?”

“No, you dope!” Filament brought her palm to her face out of disbelief, “We need to do something that will actually look good to the public and the dean.” She then glanced at Silver Spoon, “You. You and Tiara’s parents are loaded, right? How hard would it be for them to make a donation to a charity?”

Silver Spoon sat down on one of the barstools next to the kitchen’s counter. “They do that all the time anyway. Charity work is how we keep our good PR going. But I don’t wanna just rely on my family’s money for everything. Let’s think outside the box for once.”

Outside…

The cat-eared individual, a young woman, had been listening in on their conversation and purred to herself. “...couldn’t get anything out of that bloke at the fraternity, but these ones will do perfectly.”