Chereads / path of despair / Chapter 8 - chapter 8 exploring the city

Chapter 8 - chapter 8 exploring the city

And here we are. An old man, two little girls and me. Sitting at a table and eating, I don't know what most of this is.

I have to say, it feels nice. I haven't had something like a family diner in a while. I missed the feeling of it.

Mom's cooking was great, even greater than uncle Ted's. She is possibly the best cook in this world.

'Stop! I keep thinking too much about that traitor. Dad's letter screwed my head up. I don't care about the reasons, she left us and that's all there is.'

We were soon done with the diner and after I paid uncle Ted, we left.

My first order of buisiness was getting a hair cut. I was getting tired of my long hair. Fortunately the city has a lot of barbers so we quickly found one.

Walking through the door, I saw a couple of people in the shop. One of them quickly came to adress me and took me to a seat.

"So sir, what kind of haircut do you want?"

What kind of haircut? I don't know. I have never really gotten a haircut before.

"Hey Alice, what do you think I should get?"

But it seemed she was as clueless as I was as she just shrugged her shoulders.

'Right, if I don't know about haircuts than how would she know anything about them.'

But it seems I was fortunate enough for another kid to help me out. "Ehm, sir Alan. Would it be fine if I were to choose your haircut?"

Rachel asked if she could choose it. It seems she was still a little nervous around me.

"Oh Rachel. Your from the city so you'd probably know about things like this. And you can drop the sir. Call me Alan if you want."

She became quite excited for reasons I don't know. I just told her to call me Alan.

"Okay Alan. Sir barber, give him a…..."

Rachel gave the barber some instructions but I really didn't understand much of it. It doesn't really matter I guess as long as it doesn't look too bad.

The barber seemed to like it as he immediately started to check my hair out and I think he was evaluating the haircut.

"You've got good taste young miss. Though he should eat a bit more, this cut will suit him pretty good."

Next the barber wrapped this cloth around my body and took a couple of scissors and went busy with my hair.

It took about half an hour but it was finally done. The haircut was pretty weird, or at least, I wasn't used to it. He cut my hair to about shoulder length and tied it up in a pony tail.

'I think it looks pretty good.'

"Phew, if you'd gain some weight, you could really pull some girls man." The barber said

Pull some girls? Why would I want to pull at a girl, isn't that rude.

"Well thanks I guess? And Rachel, thank you for picking my haircut. I quite like it. You really have some taste for this."

Hearing my compliments, Rachels cheeks flushed a bit in a red colour and she looked away from me.

"No,no. It's just that I thought it would look good on you, nothing more." She answered.

For some reason she turned around and for some other reason I saw Alice with this weird smile and she seemed to be wispering some things in Rachels ears which in turn made her more red.

'What's with them? Ah, I think I know. They became such good friends this quick and eh. Never mind I don't understand why she became red.'

Nope, I didn't understand a thing. Though they did seem to be good friends already.

How is it that Alice is so social compared to me? Aren't we both outcasts?

I had to say, I felt a little lonely cus of this. But I was also glad that Alice finally made a friend. And Rachel seems like a good kid so I don't have to worry about anything.

After I paid the barber a ridiculous amount, I mean, he just cut some hair, how is that worth 100 credits. But yeah, after that we left the barbershop and went to a couple of stores.

I bought me and Alice some clothes since we looked out of place. Though I have to say it was an annoying experience.

Most of the stores we entered seemed skeptical about us because we looked out of place. If it wasn't for Rachel we wouldn't have been able to even enter most of the stores.

It seemed her family's influence is really great as most of the rude store employees immediately got scared and even apologized to us.

Good thing I saved her I guess. I bought a lot of clothes for us but the ones I was currently wearing were these black pants, I think they were called kargopants, a black shirt with a skull on it and this black hoodie but with a zip on it on it. But it was pretty warm outside so I just strung it around my middle.

Alice, on the other hand was currently wearing this white dress without sleeves with a tint of red here and there.

And with her white hair and my dark hair we looked like a force of light and darkness.

After all of this we went to a place called an arcade. It's supposed to be a place where you can play games.

We went there because Rachel suddenly started to beg me to go there.

"Hey Alan, can we please go to the arcade? I know that you're going to drop me off today but I at least want to have some fun with you two."

I honestly didn't want to cus it seemed like a waste of time but Alice also seemed to like the idea and two against one so I had to concede.

We had to buy some tickets to play the games which seemed stupid to me. Can't I just immediately use money to play them?

And if you wanted to win prizes you need to collect a certain amount of tickets.

We played a bunch of games and it seemed like I was pretty good at them, unlike Alice and Rachel. There was this one game for example where you have to throw a ball through a ring and I got alot of tickets from it.

'I have to say, this was more fun than I'd expected. Life doesn't seem too bad right now.'

A smile got on my face. Can I really be happy? It seemed like something impossible, but for some reason I believed it could happen.

After we spent about two hours in the arcade it was already starting to get dark outside so it was time to end the day.

We went to the desk with the tickets we made. There wasn't really anything that interested me but I saw Alice and Rachel staring at this big bear thing. I made enough tickets to get two of them so I just got one for each of them.

"Thank you for your purchase."

I went to the two of them and gave each one bear.

Alice practically jumped as she hugged the bear." Thank you Al, you're the best. I really like this bear."

Rachel on the other hand seemed to hesitate a bit. "Are you sure it's okay for me to take one. You made most of the tickets and we don't really know each other so."

What's with this kid? "Rachel, if someone gives you simething you should take it. And we don't have to know each other for me to be fond of you."

Only an "ah" came from her mouth and then the gloomy expression got wiped from her face and a happy one followed. "Thanks Al. I love it."

It seems she also started calling me Al. 'Hmm? What's this?' I touched my mouth. For some reason I was smiling.

Most of the smiles i make are ones I make myself. But this one just came for some reason.

It seems I was more fond of this kid than I thought I was. Well it doesn't matter.

'It's a pity we probably wont meet each other after today.'

I walked out of the arcade with the two of them following me. I had to say, though I complained a lot, I have never really gotten as much fun as today in six years.

"How about we grab a bite again?."

"Okay."

For some reason, they always answer in core. I have a feeling they practiced it or something.

I was wondering what I wanted to eat when my thoughts were interrupted.

I was stopped by a figure a couple meters in front of me. She seemed to be about my age and I had to say, she looked pretty good.

What I did notice was that her features were similair to Rachel. She had long blond hair with these sparkling yellow eyes.She also had this angry expression on her face and a sword in her hand.

"You scumbag! You dare kidnap my sister? And it seems you also kidnapped this other girl. You will die for your actions."

Wow wow wow. What does she mean kidnapped. Is this girl stupid? What kind of kidnapper would give the ones they kidnap teddy bears?

"Hey holdup, I think your mist~" I tried to de-escalate the situation but I suddenly saw her disappear and reappear in front of me.

'She's fast!'

I barely managed to dodge her sword and immediately made some space between us.

'She is an awakened. And she most certainly isn't a mere G rank or F rank. If she were F rank I'd be able to handle her somewhat but she is much stronger. At least E rank.'

In terms of power I'd be no match for her. But I could see it, she lacks experience, otherwise she would have finsished me of there.

'It seems like I can't convince her with my words so I'll have to defend myself.'

The next moment she appeared before me again. Her sword strike came from above. To react to it, I went forward and aimed my fist at her solar plexus.

But she was much faster than I was. She easily reacted to it and stopped her attack to dodge my fist. After that she followed up with a kick to my leg and a punch to my face which launched me away.

"Arghh."

'How? I know for sure our skill is not in the same level so how? And only these two hits from her already left me like this?'

The difference in rank seemed to be too much for me.

'Am I really going to die like this? Because of a stupid misunderstanding?'

I was slowly starting to accpept my end.

Like hell!

I closed my eyes for a moment.

'It's quite simple how I can manage to live.'

I felt my emotions leaving my body and when I opened my eyes they returned to their dead state.

'I'll just have to kill her.'

But howdo you kill an opponent far stronger than yourself? It's natural to assume you can't defeat them.

WRONG!

If she's stronger, I'll have to be smarter.

I slowly got up. We stared each other in the eyes for a moment. The next moment she was in front of me already.

This time she decided to go for a piercing attack.

Unlike before, I got hit, the sword going straight through me.

But it was al according to plan. You see, it is basically impossible for me to attack her because of the difference in speed. She'll easily react to anything I'd do.

So, I let her stab me. I made sure that she wouldn't hit any vital organs and now I made sure to grab the sword with all my strength. It did hurt a lot but I've had worse.

Though she was much stronger than I was, I have enough strength to delay her for one moment. And one moment was all I need to aim my fingers at her face.

There is naturally a small problem in my plan. What if she were to let go of the sword? But I was sure she wouldn't. How was I so sure? Someone like me who has been in a lot of life and death situations can tell that this girl isn't very experienced. Such decision making isn't something she is capable off.

I could already see the fear in her eyes as my hand was approaching.

But right when my hand was only a couple of inches from her eyes, I got stopped by a scream.

"STOPPP, DON'T HURT MY SISTER AL. PLEASE!"

I turned to look at my right and saw Rachel crying at the side.

'Ah, it seems I lost myself there for a moment.'

But as I was still processing the entire situation, the girl in from of me threw a kick at my head

and I felt myself crash into a building.

'Is this how I die? I would have killed her if I knew this was going to happen.'

But my thoughts of regret faded away as my vision grew dark.