The Orphanage

*Shiver*

It was that same sensation again. That same feeling ran through his body when Yetri interrogated him on that fateful day. Kalsen watched transfixed behind the door. He couldn't see Yetri's face from the back, but Kalsen knew it was not something that he wanted to see at that moment.

Sweat trickled down his body as he stayed still. Slowly like a wave receding, the feeling ebbed away, leaving Kalsen in control of his body once more,

'Terrifying...' Kalsen thought as he heard Yetri mutter, "...hmm guess he's not answering..."

"Are you letting him go? Isn't that dangerous?" Kalsen blurted out after seeing Yetri heading back inside.

"It'll be fine. He won't bother to come back here." Yetri stifled a yawn and made his way back inside. "Cook something good today. It's your last day after all."

Kalsen sidestepped, his eyes tracing Yetri's back. Glancing back at the shell of a man in the middle of the road, Kalsen headed back inside. Somewhere in the back of his head, Kalsen knew that he would never see that masked figure again.

But that was just a fleeting thought. The more pressing matter was how Yetri had subdued that masked man. With just mere words and a mysterious pressure, the man that had been following Kalsen for about a month was reduced to that state. Kalsen had lived with Yetri for more than two years now, and in all that time he had never seen anything to suggest that Yetri had such a mysterious power.

Taking a deep breath Kalsen removed the lid of the pot.

*Bubble* *Bubble*

A pleasant bubbling sound filled the kitchen. Accompanying Kalsen's thoughts were the sounds of boiling vegetables in the thick broth. And yes it was soup. A variant of a soup that used more ingredients and was tastier. At least according to Yetri. Kalsen could proudly say that he had become a master chef at making soup.

"Dinner~" Kalsen called out bringing in the bowls of soup.

Yetri raised himself from the bed that he had cocooned himself in and took the bowl.

*Sip*

"Haaaah~" A sigh of pleasure emerged from Yetri as the broth filled his mouth. His tastebuds were dancing in joy as the taste was not too overpowering nor was it too weak. The vegetables were an explosion of flavor each time he munched on them. Although he would never admit it, Yetri was going to miss the soup that Kalsen made.

"....so not going to ask anything?" Yetri asked curiously.

"Nope, not that you'll tell me anything. Also if you wanted to me you wouldn't have waited for so long." Kalsen answered.

"I could be keeping you for your soup," Yetri continued taking large spoonfuls of the soup.

Kalsen rolled his eyes, "You want seconds?"

Nodding Yetri handed back the empty bowl.

-------------------------------------------

The next day Kalsen jostled at another dip in the road. The autobus was crowded with no place to sit. That's why Kalsen was unfortunately between two sweaty fat men.

'This is going to be my grave....' Kalsen thought breathing in through his mouth to avoid the smell. But Kalsen could swear that he could almost taste the sweat from the air.

{NEXT STOP MUDDY PLAINS}

'FREEDOM!' Kalsen screamed in his head as he gasped for air outside. Almost everyone had gotten off the autobus, most of them spectators to watch the prelims live where they were going to take place. Buses, cars, and various modes of transport continuously arrived at the location unloading another batch of passengers.

Everyone who could afford the ticket from Terra - 013 was here. They were here to cheer and witness the anticipated race where participants from all over the planet were here to participate.

The crowds were overwhelming for many people, especially some participants who felt fear creeping into their hearts. Well, not all participants were like that. A wall of muscle walked forward, parting the crowds like certain someone parting the seas.

Several other participants were also confidently making their way to the participant check-in stalls.

Kalsen pulled up his hood and weaved his way through the crowd. A tingling sensation ran through Kalsen as he felt someone following him. He had honed this feeling for the one month that the masked stalker was following him and it was very accurate.

'Let's see who's following me this time..' Kalsen thought and suddenly disappeared to his stalker. Well, in reality, Kalsen had used the people around him to quickly cover his body and move from the direction that he was initially moving in.

Shifting to a different spot, Kalsen scanned the crowd trying to find someone who was confusedly looking around.

'Bingo.'

Rushing forward under cover of the crowd, Kalsen grabbed his stalker, a small boy, and dragged him away while covering his mouth.

In a corner of the event plaza, Kalsen removed his hand and hissed, "Why are you here Manu?!"

Manu immediately hugged Kalsen and started to cry, "waaaaah, big bro...waaah, I'm sworry!"

Kalsen suddenly had a very bad feeling witnessing Manu's behavior.

"Calm down and tell me what happened?"

Ten minutes later, Kalsen cursed his luck after hearing what had happened.

'Sh**, the orphanage knows now.'

The orphanage of Banster city. The head branch of the orphanages all over Terra - 013. The orphanage was just a cover for the shady business that was conducted underneath. Unfortunately, the police droids only monitored what was shown on the outside, never digging too deep.

Any complaints led to nothing of importance being found. The programming of the police droids didn't allow them to conduct deeper investigations. The orphanages exploited the sh** out of this fact. In the end, the orphanages were left off scot free proving that the droids were truly useless tools of peacekeeping.

Everyone in the streets knew of the notoriety of the orphanages. They used kids to beg, steal, surveil, and do any other menial task that was required in the day. All in return for a minimal plate of food. Of course the orphanage didn't care for the well being of the kids. In the city of Banster there were plenty of orphans just waiting to take their place.

All the funding of the orphanage went into their.....other business of drugs trafficking, illegal goods trading, and other unsavory activities.

Of course, the most popular activity that they conducted was ..... underground betting and match-fixing.

Betting was not illegal in the world of races, but it was mandatory to do it in a legal light. But for those willing to go deeper for explosively better odds, the underground world had plenty of places where you could do so. Of course the orphanage being the top contributor in this sense.

Now match fixing, that was a completely different beast. To ensure that the orphanage made a profit, they would try to fix the matches in such a sense that they could ensure who won and loss. Whatever happened to the racers after they left the planet was none of their concern.

Trying to gain as much profit as possible was the motto of the orphanage and its leader the big boss of the underworld.

Sorting through all the information that he had gathered during his time in the orphange, Kalsen grimaced.

'My chances of qualifying have decreased by a lot. I need to make sure that I don't get caught now.'

Turning to the sniffling Manu, Kalsen said, "You've made it very hard for me today Manu."

"*Sniff* I'm sorry....." Manu trailed off.

Kalsen sighed, "I know."

He didn't blame Manu. Kalsen knew that he had no choice when confessing the information to the in-charge. Afterall, he always seemed to know if you were telling the truth or not.

"Doesn't mean that I'm not angry!" Kalsen gripped Manu's head and gave a furious smile.

"Waaah! Sorry! Sorry!!" Manu wailed.

"Ok ok, don't shout. It was a joke." Kalsen calmed Manu down. "It was a joke," he repeated.

'Only partly,' Kalsen thought.

"Really?" Manu asked with teary eyes.

"Yea," Kalsen rolled his eyes.

"Meanie."

"Oye."

"It'll be fine anyways, I know big bro can take care of it." Manu hugged Kalsen tightly.

"Haah," Kalsen sighed once more. "Well I have no choice but to handle it."

'No matter.....this just adds to the challenge.' Kalsen tried and failed to convince himself that it was for the better.

'Sh**, this is going to be tough-'

{ALL PARTICIPANTS PLEASE REPORT TO THE CHECK-IN STALLS WITHIN THE NEXT 10 MINUTES OR ELSE YOU WILL BE DISQUALIFIED}

The announcement jolted Kalsen out of his thoughts. Ringing two more times, all the remaining participants made their way to the check-in stalls as well.

With his brain running furiously, Kalsen too made his way to the nearest check-in stall and to his uncertain fate.