Welcome to the City

She looked left and right, trying to make sense of what was going on. She reached out her clammy and shaky hands, as the rumble of her stomach could be heard.

As she took the paper box and opened it, her expression changed for the better or worse.

I simply walked away, not minding the extra stare that she gave to the other portion that I kept. Well, she might be planning to loot over my dead body, as much as I don't want to think so, I couldn't dismiss the possibility.

Well, her footsteps were silent and well concealed. I swung my spear behind, altogether with my face, only to see the lass was trying to sneak with a worn out knife in the air.

Before she could fling it as a last ditch effort, I grabbed the knife rather easily, with her body still rigid in surprise.

"Listen, I know that you won't definitely-survive with one portion alone, but it's better than biting the hand that's feeding you, especially if he's holding a spear on the other."

I sighed as I leaned my spear onto my shoulder again.

With her face complexion still trying to look tough, tears began streaming. Soon, a whimper followed as she sniffled her nose.

"S-soeey…" she mumbled in a small tone.

"Lass, taking an opportunity is encouraged, but you need to assess your prey first. Don't act like a Crawler."

I patted her head, trying to calm her down. Eventually, she went with a poker gaze rather fast, despite her pursed lips. I took the opened paper box of food and put it in front of her.

She gazed at the food and my eyes again and again before feasting on the treat. There was also a plastic cup of water inside. I don't need to fetch one.

If I'm being honest, the sound of her mouth chewing on the chicken tender made me quite hungry.

I checked the area to see any hostile threat nearby before concluding that there won't be anyone going to this part of the alley.

Before I knew it, she had already finished the meal.

"You!"

She spoke in a deep and tomboyish tone. I almost mistook it for a growl when I was not focusing on her side anymore.

"Yes?"

"Why… why are you always smiling like that…"

"Why did you want to know, little missy?"

"... Are you happy?"

"Hmm? If you mean my current mental state, I'm not."

"Then… why do you smile?"

"Many reasons, actually. One of them is simply to mask my heart. The other benefit is that it allows me to trick the people around me. Heh."

She was lost in her thoughts as she glared at me in a funny way, squinting one eye.

I took out one of my stiletto daggers and one of the gloves that I wore. Gently, I took one of her hands, and put the glove and the stiletto dagger on that hand.

She didn't resist while I did so and was quite confused.

"What is this?"

"A Workshop's weapon. Try pushing the fire symbol on the blade with your thumb."

Nervous, she did it with less hesitation than what I expected.

As she pressed the fire symbol at the start of the metal body right above the handle, the steel began to heat in red and electrical current began to buzz immediately after. In which of why I put the glove on her hand first.

The design was beyond idiotic, but it was energy efficient, more so than the product at the same price.

She was petrified, but she didn't throw away the weapon. As she stopped pressing the symbol, the stiletto dagger returned to normal.

Normal kids would immediately throw this dagger in response. She had potential.

"You're giving this to me…?"

"Yup. Don't worry about it, that old used stiletto only cost 2,100 Solus from a black market vendor. They sell things cheaply, so if you meet one settling in an alley, try to bargain with them."

Her face looked more hopeful than usual. It might be her first time to get rewarded in such a manner.

As much as there was a chance that she would die at midnight today, I couldn't give more than needed.

This child was smart, she would probably survive another day if she could survive one or three day before.

I could just leave her alone now.

But alas, I couldn't keep my mouth shut.

"Regardless, you can try the abandoned broken store over there. There is a hidden room under the rubble of the desk."

I said that as I pointed to the location.

With that, I have nothing to offer. Just as she tried to analyze the place that I pointed, I merely walked away and continued my journey to my apartment.

"Wait!"

"Hmm?"

I looked back, seeing her standing firm with a determined gaze.

"What's your name?" she asked.

I widened my smile.

"Faust."

Her eyebrows relaxed.

"Roger, mine is Roger!"

"I see." I subconsciously chuckled. "I 'Roger' that!"

I gave a flimsy salute with my forefinger as the box I held dangled with it.

Continuing to walk away, I looked up to what Roger was gazing at, back then.

Of course, it was the neon skyscraping infrastructure of the Hive, since when did I hope it to be something else?

Alas, the children of the City only gazed at the neon stars.

They wished to be included in the City's night.

Such a colourful world that didn't need joy. I already accepted that reality a long time ago.

In a world where nothing even mattered, the only thing that moved someone forward was the hopeful ceiling and the scathing view of those who lived from above.

To be simple about it, everyone has their own kind of light. A ray of light that guides them, either to the end of the tunnel, or an unrecruited end within the veins of the City.

Mine had already dimmed, but it was better to move forward regardless—

Instead of succumbing and ending my own life in a premature way, that is.

I'm neither a member of a Syndicate, a Patcher, nor even a justice-filled Vigilante.

I have no aim, nor light that could guide me in this maze of life…

O sorrow, is this your way to sink into my space?

In which I lament and preach.

To the newborn children and patches of grass, to the wriggling insects that have just come out from their cocoons and evolved, crafting their senses to perceive—

To anything and everything that arrived and realised that they had stepped upon this ill of a world—

To those who soon will read my past, my future, and my heart.

Welcome to the City.