If anyone had expected anything to change after the message that night, then they would be grossly disappointed. When the rays of the sun fell onto the people around the world, nothing seemed to have changed.
Or, the more accurate term would be to say that nothing had changed visibly.
Everyone felt as if they woke up from a long dream, a film over their mind peeled over and their eyes saw the world in its true colour for the first time the next night but nothing truly began till two days later.
When Mark woke up in the evening, it was to a terrified squeal of a sanitary worker letting out terrified squeals at Kuro's general direction. The kitten seemed to be stretching her body, amusement clearly floating toward Mark's mind.
However, the same could not be said for the sanitary worker who looked to be about to pass out. This had never happened till now which was the first indication that something had changed.
When Mark made his way over to the pair, the terrified worker looked a little relieved before his eyes met Mark's own and the human bolted away with a scream. Mark only watched this whole process through tired, sleep-heavy eyes.
The normal routine followed after the confrontation and the day followed pretty much as a normal occurrence - have breakfast in his room and head out.
But today was different from normal days and it was a glaring difference from hours before. Generally, people were happy to ignore him and treat him as air, but today seemed to be different.
Whispers seemed to follow him as he moved through the corridors and they were not quiet or polite either. Kuro's sensitive ears were picking them up and he could feel her quite discomfort over the tone people were using.
However, all he did was ignore it and opened up the indoor shop, just as he had two days ago and the other at the counter stood up to leave, but not before a glare was aimed over his shoulder at Kuro.
This was becoming a regular occurrence ever since the night - people glaring at him or being rude. No one really said anything because of a single factor and that was -
"Mark, you have work today too? It seems like you suddenly have no time for me" the teen, Alan, was right on time.
Mark had taken up the shop counter two days ago when Liam suggested it to him and it had helped him keep low. Alan had not been impressed at the post, the teen himself placed in Luna's combat unit but Mark was happy with that.
"I do have time for you but you're generally busy at the time so I call it even. What are you doing here though? Don't you have to practise?'' Mark asked and the teen twitched visibly. Looked like he was skipping practise today to meet Mark.
Mark himself had aching joints from his own practice he had to force in his busy schedule so he understood the appeal of rest but did Alan have to get him in trouble with Luna? The guy was already not happy with him and every time he was here, he made Mark uncomfortable.
His aura even put Kuro at unrest.
"I'm here to meet you and all you can talk about is me skipping. I see how it is - you call on me when you need me but I'm disposal the rest of the time" Mark kept his face smiling but he winched internally because it hit close to home.
"It's not like that" Mark tried to reason out but before he could actually say anything convincing, the noise on the other end drew all the attention and as one, almost every eye and head turned that way.
"So this is where you are hiding Alan. Too afraid of this delicate girl, are you?"Jean's voice was clear and cutting, a mocking edge in her voice ever so present and Mark knew the second Alan fell for the taunt.
"Who's afraid of you aunty? At least act your age once in a while or are the old bones too rusty to do so?" The words were enough to see a flame visibly manifest in the female's eyes and Mark ducked before the flying object could hit him.
Alan also dodged out of the way and the object, bomb, hit the back wall and exploded. The wall was intact since the bomb was not high enough in intensity but had it hit a person, it would have hurt.
"I'm 17 you hear me, 17" the female was enraged and likely not in a frame to listen. Her character was of a typical rowdy, outgoing girl - really popular among the players apparently.
"Hey, brother said not to do this outside training" Alan complained but his words fell on deaf ears as the female finally caught him in a chokehold and proceeded to drag him out.
This was also a somewhat regular occurrence and by that he meant, it had happened every day since he took this post.
"Excuse me, I would like a roll of healing bandages and ten containers of food" a timid voice called out to him and Mark finally diverted his attention toward a small female who was asking him for food.
Her face was thin and unremarkable at first glance and the dirt on her face did not make her look presentable at all, but there was something about her looks he recognised.
Maybe in brief passing, he had seen her before or maybe she had been in the files. He'll have to check.
"Ten containers of food? And how many packages of healing bandages would you like?" Mark asked, making his voice sound as interested as he could make it out to be.
It would soon be approaching the emergency time where only essential items and emergency items were available in the form of vending machines. To have a shopkeeper at that time was all but a formality so Mark was rather free and he was looking forward to it.
"Ah, maybe around 20 if you have them? The team would appreciate them" The girl's voice was soft and hesitant, almost to the point of a question rather than an order but her words did give him a pause.
"A team?" Mark asked. He had been on this post for two days now and a lot of teams had visited in that time. There were not a lot of teams established right now because people were not trained and Mark thought he would have recognised her team logo had he met her.
Were they a newly established team?
"Ah, no. It's not like that. We - I and my teammates belong to the research department and since most of the higher-ups take the funding for the chief's experiment, we're left with nothing much - neither the money nor the materials. So, we just thought that we should go and gather our own materials this time" there was finally determination in the female's voice.
She seemed passionate about her work and Mark hummed. Now she seemed more recognisable - she was a named character after all. One who was important but not as a fighter but rather as a scientist who worked toward weapon development.
Rika Jones was a remarkable name in his list but nothing much was written about her. So even she had started from the bottom to work her way up.
But not Mark's problem.
"I see. Here's your purchase but isn't it rather small" Mark asked and he managed to insert worry in his voice. He was not personally interested but still, it was his job to ask.
"It is but we can't really afford to buy a lot. We actually need the money for a different request and we don't get a lot as it is" Mark felt something click in his mind at those words and he got a feeling he knew what Rika was about to ask for.
"I would like to access the shop's escort service and We'll pay in advance. Whoever you could space, we'll take" yup, he knew that it would be this when he heard about the escort service. Generally, the shop gave out these requests to the combat teams who were available but today was a free day.
It was just not in Mark's luck to get away.
"I'm sorry, can you come tomorrow? Today's an off day" the girl's face wilted at his words and he could see her shoulders slump. Mark felt bad for doing this to her but he had no other choice but to do this.
He did not want to get involved himself but with the directions, things were going, he would not be able to escape.
"Oh, I see. I'm sorry but this is the only off time we have and we have to do this now. Please, isn't anyone available to help us?" Mark found himself in a bind when faced with the pleading look.
If he did not give in, he would just attract attention since it was so out of character for a shop owner to do so, but with the way things were changing, it might be acceptable.
"I'm sorry, we don't have people to spare today" Mark held firm on his decision, his eyes avoiding the ones who were losing their hope.
"Oh, I see. I'll be back tomorrow then. Have a good evening" the female left and Mark felt something heavy going down his throat. He had a terrible feeling about it all.
He slept a few your when his shift ended and hurried to his shop post way before his time the next day. When asked, he knew that no one had requested the escort today and he waited for Rika or someone to show up.
No one did.
And then a message pinged signalling that he was being called by Liam.