In the godless city –– Kanna, where the sun had long since set, the city, covered in gloom, lit up by only the light of the moon, not noticed by anyone, people were slowly breathing in and out, deep asleep. Others were drinking rainwater to stop the rumbling of their stomachs.
The people who lived in that city yearned for dawn.
However, there was no meaning in the rising of the sun. That would not fill their hungry stomachs and wet their thirsty throats. What it did do was give them a sliver of hope as it shone down on them.
“Aren’t you cold, Nemu?” a voice called out to a girl sitting leaning against a rotting wooden wall that seemed like it could collapse at any moment.
The girl –– Nemu, opened her sleepy eyes a little and slowly looked up.
““…””
A familiar boy stood in front of her.
““…””
She squinted at the bright light of the moon shining in the sky behind him––
“………Zzzzz”
And fell asleep.
“…Haha,” the boy laughed contently, looking around.
His gaze rested on a couple of young children sound asleep in their little dreams in an alleyway between two houses.
“…”
He looked at them happily, then quickly pulled out the dagger hanging at his waist and turned around towards the darkness.
He watched as a shadow stepped out of the alleyway slightly lit up by the moon he was looking at.
“…It’s me,” said a girl wearing black clothes to the boy.
The boy sighed in relief, put his dagger back in its sheath, then once again turned towards her.
“The city feels even more murderous today. Do you know anything?”
“…It seems like an outsider has come to the city?”
“…I see. To this city, huh…” the boy murmured with a slight smile.
His green eyes, however, didn’t smile along with his face.
“So?”
“…What do you mean?”
The boy smiled bitterly at the girl’s response.
“An outsider came to Kanna. That certainly explains the residents being more malicious,” the boy said quietly. The girl listened to him in silence. “It’s not normal to come to this rubbish heap of a city. I imagine they’re someone who ran away here for some reason or another.”
“…”
The girl didn’t say anything. No –– she could tell the boy still had more to say.
“However, merely that wouldn’t cause the organisation to move, would it? There’s signs of the Numbers mobilizing. And even you at that,” the boy said, causing the girl to smile.
“Sharp as always. …It’s just as you guessed, Lance. He doesn’t seem to be just any outsider,” the girl said happily, and the boy –– Lance, smiled in confusion.
“…That’s a little harsh, don’t you think, Chloe?”
“Ara? That’s a surprise. A single word can make all the difference, it seems. Always watch out for your opponent’s thought patterns, and try and guess their personality. Llo-… no, he said so, or have you forgotten?”
“As if. There’s no way I’d forget our benefactor’s teachings. But that only applies to hostile people… right?”
“…I guess,” the girl –– Chloe said, slightly embarrassed.
Her long, black hair blew in the wind.
“Still, it’s important. We can only live like this thanks to him having brought us into the fringes of the organisation,” Lance said, and Chloe nodded in agreement.
Lance and Chloe had both just turned ten.
However, as the oldest amongst the children sleeping in their surroundings, they had taken on a leader-like role.
Children who were thrown out by their families. Children who ran away, and ones whose parents had passed on. And those who had been born in this evil city.
The children living in Kanna out of those reasons amongst many were usually to be found on their own.
The city of Kanna provided a harsh environment for those boys and girls to survive on their own.
Not to mention food, even water safe to drink was a valuable commodity in this city. Add to that the many criminals and former adventurers that were residents of the city, and the children really had to put their wisdom to work to survive.
They were vulnerable on their own, but if they grouped up and worked in coordination, they could do more.
Vaguely aware of that, the boy and the girl and the others had all grouped together and formed a group.
That was who the boys and girls sleeping like logs in those dark back alleyways were.
However, while they could certainly achieve more thanks to their numbers, there were also many downsides to be had. One of them was food.
And for food, they needed money.
The two leaders of the group had clutched at the straw that was the rumour of ‘the organisation’ that was handed down as a rumour in the city.
“Here, today’s earnings,” Chloe said, giving Lance a small hemp bag filled with coins.
“…Good work. I’ll go out to buy things while the sun is still down. But first––,” Lance put the hemp bag into his pocket, then looked at Chloe again.
“…I don’t know much. The person who came to this city seemed to have business with them, though.”
“I see… with the organisation… Actually, wouldn’t that mean they were invited here by the organisation?”
The organisation –– Shadow Moon was shrouded in mystery.
In fact, only a small number of people knew that its headquarters were in Kanna.
“I hope nothing bad happens,” Chloe said worriedly. Lance gave her a bright smile, trying to cheer her up.
“It’ll be fine. The Numbers’ strength is the real deal. You should know that very well yourself, right?”
Lance knew that the words ‘for better or for worse’ could be added onto that statement, but decided that there was no need to say so.
The only way the weak could survive was by clinging to the strong.
To the children sleeping there, the boy and the girl, and grown-ups were the strong, and to Lance and Chloe, Shadow Moon and Numbers were the strong.
And so, Lance and Chloe took turns carrying out their mission of gathering information and watching over the other children, so that they themselves could survive, so that the children could survive.
The two of them relied on the executives of the organisation, the symbols of strength, who, while scary, knew a thing or two about life.
“We have to make them think we’re just people they’re using. We should first try to get directly under the control of one of the Numbers. We’d probably be given more money, and be treated better.”
“Right. But… without strength… we won’t have results either,” Chloe agreed with a sad smile.
“Let sleeping gods lie, they say. All we can do for now is carry out the jobs we’re given. Like today.”
“…Right.”
Then, right as the two of them had come to that conclusion, there came a small sound from nearby.
Lance and Chloe both shrugged as they turned towards the sound.
Their gazes were directed at the little girl sleeping leaning against a rotting, wooden wall, who had fallen over while asleep, causing a tiny cloud of dust to rise up from the ground.
Nemu slowly opened her eyes, squinted around, then fell asleep again.
““…Fufu.”” the two of them smiled at her, then turned back towards each other.
“The fact that she’s here…”
“Yeah. The children also noticed the air around the city changed. Quite a lot of them cried, too.”
“…I see.”
Nemu wasn’t a part of their group. But, she routinely showed up whenever the other children started to cry, and they would snuggle up until they fell asleep, like today.
The only time they ever started crying was when Lance was on guard duty.
It wasn’t like he was bad at taking care of them. Chloe was just too good at it.
“She really is kind.”
“Yeah. She’s appeared next to me when I felt down countless times.”
“We should get her to join… what was her name again…”
“I call her Nemu.”
“Ara? That’s different from what the children told me earlier.”
“…She doesn’t seem to have a name,” said Lance.
She had no name. Amongst the children of Kanna, it was not that unusual of a thing.
“Also…” Lance glanced at the sleeping Nemu.
Chloe also glanced at her, immediately understanding what Lance wanted to say.
She had frizzy, navy-blue hair.
Beneath her bangs was a burn mark covering half her face.
That bright red mark stood out terribly on her snow-white skin.
“…They’re the worst,” Chloe murmured, balling her hands into fists.
Lance looked away from Nemu, a shadow falling across his face in agreement with Chloe’s words.
“I asked her once. Whether she wanted to join us. Since quite a lot of people said heartless things to her. She didn’t answer. The only time I’ve ever heard her voice in the first place was when I asked what her name was.”
“…She must have her own circumstances. Or it might be trauma––”
Chloe stopped mid-sentence.
Nemu’s eyes slowly opened.
“““……”””
She slowly, sluggishly stood up, still squinting.
She turned her back to Lance and Chloe, and slowly ran off with a pitter-patter of footsteps.
Lance’s eyes widened in surprise as he watched all that happen.
“…What a surprise. I’ve never seen her run before.”
“Eh!? That’s her running!?”
The two of them looked at the little girl running away at walking speed, her unkempt hair swaying along with her steps.
“It’s rather late. I’ll go check on her, just in case.”
“Right. Thanks. You can leave here to me.”
Lance gave Chloe a small nod, then ran off into the darkness to protect the little girl.
“…It’d be nice… if nothing happened,” Chloe murmured to herself, looking up at the full moon in the night sky.
The boy and the girl didn’t know.
The girl they called Nemu –– was a stray god.
No, they had no way of knowing in the first place.
The way the city was had hidden her identity.
So off ran the stray god, and after her chased the boy, Lance.
And fate, as always –– spun its magic.
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