Faint rays of orange sunlight peeked through the boarded windows.
Mei groaned softly as she lifted herself from her bed, shaking away her sleepiness with a shiver.
"Asher, are you awake? Oh right..." She looked beside her, but Asher was nowhere to be seen. Only then did she remember what Sophie told her last night. Mei couldn't help but worry about the boy, as well as Sophie... and her hand...
A wave of guilt crashed into her, forcing her back onto her bed.
Mei didn't feel like falling asleep again, so she simply laid there, feeling bad about herself.
Only once she felt her bladder would burst did she stand up again and walk toward the door.
Mei flung open the door, but felt something lean against her legs. She shrieked in shock as strands of hair tickled her shin.
Leaping back, she quickly realized that the thing on the ground looked familiar...
"Ah! Asher, what are you doing on the floor!" Mei shook him awake, her voice filled with distress.
In her anxiety, she mistook the still figure for a corpse. She began to shake him even harder and whimpered softly.
"Sniff... Asher... Sophie- I'm so sorry!!"
Even when Asher mumbled a complaint about the sudden noise, Mei still didn't notice.
"M-Mei? What's wrong?" Asher opened his eyes and was greeted by Mei's hysterical face. Her eyelashes fluttered, wet with tears, as she wailed pitifully.
He couldn't help but brush out the disheveled hair from her face. His head was resting in her lap, but it wasn't a particularly enchanting moment as her tears kept dripping onto his cheeks.
"Asher? Asher... Asher!" Mei stammered as she pulled him up and into a tight hug. He tried his best to reciprocate, wrapping his arms around the petite woman, who was only a few inches taller than him.
"It's okay now, it's not like I'm dead or anything."
Mei's sniffles turned into a nervous laugh.
"Yeah... you wouldn't just die on me like that, h-hehe!"
Asher wondered when Mei grew so attached to him.
'Is she just a sentimental person? But that wouldn't make sense, considering she's used to her neighbors dying...' Asher subconsciously squeezed Mei tighter, wrapping his arm around her waist, lost in thought.
Mei squirmed as she found herself in a gentle embrace. Although it was comfortable, the hug put a painful pressure on her bladder.
"I have to go to the bathroom!" Quickly untangling from his arms, she rushed to the bathroom to relieve herself, her cheeks scarlet in embarrassment.
He sat there, mind blissfully empty, until Mei came out of the bathroom.
Mei turned away from him and started to prepare breakfast. She didn't talk to him at all, evidently still self-conscious about their previous entanglement.
Asher could only stand by the side and watch silently. The quiet peace wasn't such a bad feeling, actually.
Soon Mei set down two stacks of golden, fluffy pancakes onto the table and began to eat mutely. Whenever Asher tried to look at her, she jerked away from him to obscure her badly hidden blush.
"Um, thanks for the meal?" He tried to break the ice, but Mei only nodded timidly.
And so they ate in silence.
After they finished, Asher pulled out his sleek new phone, waiting for a reaction.
Mei flinched, and she couldn't resist opening her mouth.
"That logo... you registered as a Fixer? Was that what you were doing yesterday?" She leaned closer to him, admiring the smooth design of the device.
"Yup. Pretty neat, huh?"
Mei fished out her own phone from her pocket. Asher was surprised by just how stylish it looked; it was almost as big as his, too.
"Huh? You have a phone like this, but you're still living... here?"
"Well, yeah... L Corp's batteries make it really cost efficient, almost a must have for everyday life. Practically everyone who doesn't have one is saving up for one. Meanwhile, there isn't really a dedicated construction Wing... Anyway, open your phone, let's add each other on Line!"
Asher pressed a small button on the side of the phone. A blue light flashed out of a small camera on the top of the device, scanning his pupils and unlocking itself afterward.
He wondered when they could have possibly scanned his eyes while he was testing. Perhaps they did it when he was in the hospital?
'Wait, but how-'
[As per convenience, I automatically transformed your pupils into Sophie's. This action will also be performed for fingerprints, but not for life/aura detectors.]
'How convenient. Thanks, System.'
On the home screen, two apps stood out to him. There were a few others, but those were the ones he noticed. One of them was the 'Line' thing that Mei talked about, and another was simply named 'Hana', its design being a simple stylized H. He could guess what the latter was about.
"But what's Line?"
"It's a messaging service, dummy. Gimme your phone!" Mei snatched away his phone, tapping away on its screen. Soon she gave it back to him, and this time his empty contacts expanded to contain 'Mei'.
"Whew... with this you can tell me when you need to go out like yesterday." She sighed in relief, clutching her phone tight.
"Alright, I will! Oh, don't you need to go to work today?"
Mei checked the time, her eyes widening. She scrambled to the bedroom, closing her door to get dressed. In seconds, she was already outside as she waved him goodbye.
"Bye-bye! Remember to text if something comes up!"
Asher shook his head in amusement.
Next, he wondered what he should do for this new day.
The weight of the phone rested on his palm.
He locked the door behind Mei as she left, planning to explore the strange new device in his hand.
First was the Line app. There were a few simple functions it had, predominantly the 'calling' and 'messaging' functions. Since his only contact was Mei and he didn't know how to add anyone else, it wasn't that important to him now.
However, he did wonder whether Yan had a phone as well. The Messenger had helped him greatly with the advice she gave him about the Thumb. And she was about his age, too.
Either way, the Hana Association app that was pre-installed on his phone interested him more.
He honestly had mixed feelings toward the Association. Just looking at Harold, he could probably take out an uncountable number of clans like the Kurokumo, not to mention the Sweepers that wandered the streets at night. Why haven't they been eradicated yet? Was it part of the City's 'social order' that Harold mentioned?
Then again, he felt that not all the graded 'threats' were that bad. There were many people, like Pete and his group, who probably only committed crimes to survive.
And it would leave a bad taste in his mouth if a Fixer killed Yan, the Messenger who helped him with both Sayako and the Thumb.
His thoughts became chaotic, but he quickly reorganized himself. He tapped on the icon, opening the app.
Just like the icon, the app itself was also very minimalistic.
(Ranking), (Threats), (Forum), (Messages). Those four sections were displayed on separate tabs of the app.
He looked at the (Ranking) screen, which had multiple search criteria for Grades, ranks, achievements, etcetera.
(You are currently Grade 7, Rank 9807, as an unaffiliated Fixer. Tap your profile to see your achievements and general info.)
'Hah? Such a low rank? How many people are in the city, anyway?'
He obviously had no achievements yet, so he looked at the ranking of other people, like Finn and Yun.
(Finn: Grade 10, Rank 17665. Yun's Office Fixer.)
(Yun: Grade 8, Rank 13480. Yun's Office Captain.)
'Oh! And Harold, too.'
(Harold: Grade 2, Rank 393. Hana Association Fixer)
It turned out that Harold was pretty strong even among Grade 2 Fixers. As the Grades became smaller, closer to 1, fewer and fewer Fixers were in each rank. There were only about two hundred Grade 1 Fixers, and half a thousand Grade 2's.
After checking on them, he switched his search to Grade level in descending order. This would allow him to see the list of 'Colored Fixers', the Fixers that the Hana Association deemed special even among Grade 1's.
(Colored Fixers (9))
(Kali, 'The Red Mist': Rank 1. Unaffiliated)
(Iori, 'The Purple Tear': Rank 2. Unaffiliated)
('The Black Silence': Rank 3. Charles Office Captain)
...
The list went on for a few dozen names before it cut off and began to display Grade 1 Fixers instead. Tapping onto any Colored Fixer's name opened their profile and curated a list of hundreds, even thousands of achievements, which he could hardly be bothered to read.
Some of the Colored Fixers revealed their true names, while others didn't, yet they each had a unique title corresponding to a different color.
'Their titles are also pretty cool.'
Next, he went to the (Threats) tab, and again there were many filter categories, such as section, type, and grade. Section as in what Section it was in, grade as in threat level from Urban Myth to Star of the City, and type as in... Asher tapped on the information tab next to that word, 'type'. What was that?
'Hm... I see.'
The threats of the City were broadly categorized into three types, individual, group, and undefined. The first two were self explanatory, but the 'undefined' threats meant that the Hana Association didn't have enough information on it, or it wasn't a *physical* threat at all, in a sense that one couldn't beat it down with force.
Among the threats were the Five Fingers, Eight Chefs, and other miscellaneous things. Oddly enough, the Ruins themselves were classified as a Star of the City, undefined type threat.
Qualified Fixers or Offices could apply for a 'claim' on a threat, which meant that they would earn the reward money if the threat was neutralized.
Naturally, there was a time limit on how long one could claim a target, and people couldn't claim the threat that was already assigned to another group.
And even stranger, the Thumb and Index had no bounties set on them. No reward would be issued if they were eliminated, hence there was no one claiming them.
'That's strange. Shouldn't the Hana Association incentivize these syndicates to be neutralized since they control so much territory?'
Asher shrugged it off as another strange oddity in the City. Perhaps they had a reason to not set a reward for them.
He opened the Forum, interested in what he could find there.
In it, many questions and discussions were posted, some of which included various advice from high level Fixers, discussions about daily life, and recommendations of everything from good food to cheap bionic limb replacements.
As Asher quietly browsed the forums, a notification suddenly appeared inside his (Messages) tab. Someone must have sent him a message, but who would be sending 'Sophie' a message?
Harold, maybe?
It turns out it was Yun, Finn's Captain.
"Congratulations on becoming a Fixer. Are you interested in a quick Urban Myth case? I'll pay fairly. Meet me in the office as soon as possible if you are."
Asher smiled. He was just starting to get a bit bored, anyway.