Welcome to the City of Dust (5)

Jin finally arrived at a rundown restaurant, its outer appearance matching the decay present throughout the Tenth District. 

He had grown accustomed to such sights, though his nature as a clean freak still made it difficult to ignore.

Thirteen spoke to him the whole way, but it was as if Jin couldn't even hear him over the rumbling of his stomach and the singular thought of finally being able to eat. 

Jin entered the restaurant with purpose, navigating it effortlessly as if he knew every nook and cranny by heart. He had frequented this place enough to memorize its layout, having ordered their pizza countless times before.

Walking up to the counter, he waved to the woman behind it. She was a young woman, barely younger than Jin, around the age of nineteen.

"Hello, Jasmine!" Jin greeted warmly, eliciting a smile from the young woman. She waved back in response.

Jasmine had bright red hair, almost orange-like, and auburn eyes, along with freckles scattered across her face. 

"Good to see you Jin, is it going to be the usual?" Asked Jasmine with a smile from Jin who had a who had a similar, wide smile on his face while he was gazing at the menu on the wall.

"Yes, the usual." Said Jin with a large smile.

"It's going to be 12 credits," Jasmine informed him as she pressed a button on her cash register, displaying the total on a terminal in front of Jin.

"12… Jasmine, this was 11 last week, and even that was steep…"

He then used his watch to make the payment, and the new balance on his currency display: 1270.

A significant sum of money for anyone in the slums, but for Jin and Thirteen's purposes, it was not even close to being enough. 

"I'm sorry, Jin. It was upper management; I could never afford it either… wait, you already paid?" Jasmine asked in shock, having just listened to his concerns about the rising prices.

"I'm still hungry, but it's going to be less satisfying now that it's more expensive."

"Well, anyway Jin, your pizza will be ready in twenty minutes," Jasmine informed him as he made his way to one of the corners of the restaurant, providing him with a view of the city.

The sight wasn't pleasant in any way, nor did Jin look at it for this reason, he needed it so that he could look at the outside in any way if he was getting under attack.

"I have the camera feed from almost every place close to here. I can't see any suspicious movement so we're good, at least for a while," Thirteen informed him through his earpiece.

"Thank you, Thirteen… I'll bring you a slice," Jin said patiently while waiting for his own order.

"Seriously, just one?" Thirteen responded in disbelief at his partner's shamelessness.

"I would bring you more, but we both know that I need more food to sustain myself. I only eat so much because I burn calories in moments," Jin explained, hoping to persuade Thirteen.

"Stop lying, you're going to be just fine... two slices," Thirteen insisted.

"Okay, I can live with that," Jin agreed with a sigh. 

"I would hope so, that this is not going to hurt your poor heart, Jin," Thirteen teased before breaking into a series of hacking and coughing from nowhere. 

*Cough, cough, cough* 

It was a rough series of hacking coughs that made him barely able to speak or breathe, his voice growing increasingly tired.

"You have been up for a while, Thirteen. Go and rest for a bit. Even if someone attacks me, I can defend myself or run away at least. No one is faster than me." reassured Jin, hoping to convince him to rest.

"I think I can go and rest for a while. Just leave my slice in my room," Thirteen requested with a sigh.

"Then I'm going. Be careful, Jin," Thirteen said as he left for bed, aiming to rest for as long as possible. 

Taking in Med X required Cyphers to rest and let their bodies fully absorb the med; otherwise, it would do more harm than good.

Jin heard the call disconnect, no longer able to hear even the slight background noise from Thirteen's side. Now, he only heard the ambient noise of the world around him.

Something he hated with a passion: loud, chaotic, and just all-around unpleasant.

'I would rather listen to that scolding; these days, that's all he does…' Jin sighed, but that small sigh turned into a loud one due to fatigue.

He was still injured and hungry at the same time, leaving him more tired than usual, his exhaustion was piling up.

Being one of the Cyphers made him different from others; for instance, his healing speed was slower than that of normal humans or even those who enhanced themselves.

Jin's sped-up healing process came with a cost: it depleted his reserves more quickly, making him need to eat more to sustain himself.

He was deep in thought about their next course of action. Thirteen's body grew weaker by the week, and he couldn't hold on for much longer; he needed the Med X. But that meant Jin wouldn't be taking it for a while either.

"No, I can still push on. I still have more left in me," Jin repeated to himself as if trying to convince himself.

His hand was shaking, and he felt drained, but he did the same thing he always did— pretend to be fine.

'I can push through… this is just two bullet wounds…' He began to chuckle and almost broke into hysterical laughter, making most of the customers of the run down restaurant. 'who am I kidding.' Chuckled Jin to himself.

'It can't go on like this. We're running out of time, and we're still stuck in District Ten. We need to hurry up, and Thirteen is resting now... If I go to the doctor now, that would cost us another 800 credits or more. I can't afford that,'

 Jin's mind raced, searching for th

But no matter how hard he thought about it, there was only one way path to go walk forward, and that wasn't a pleasant one.

As he was deep in thought, he could hear the cheerful voice of Jasmine, bringing him his order— the family-size cheese pizza.

"Here is your order, Jin. Anything else you need?" asked Jasmine with a smile on her face.

"Yes, could you prepare a container for me to take two slices of this for takeout?" asked Jin, a polite smile resting on his lips while his eyes were half closed, his smile was fake.

"Of course, Jin," answered Jasmine with a wide smile, leaving his table to retrieve a container for the two slices of takeout.

As soon as she left, Jin resumed his thought process.

"He really is not going to be happy about this… maybe I could even die in the state, but I need to pick up a headhunting mission. That could even pay 1500 or way more credits depending on the target…" He already decided in his heart. 

Jin was going to take out the highest possible target, be it B or A rated. He was in need of money as fast as possible, and this was his best source of income.

'Let's figure out the current price of a life.'