Shadow Slave

Changing Star frowned. There was a hint of surprise visible in her cold, grey eyes.

"My… goal? Isn't it obvious?"

She gestured to the slum that surrounded them and the magnificent castle towering above it.

"I'm trying to help these people. What else?"

Sunny sighed.

Then, turning his face away, he asked:

"Hey, have I ever told you about my sister?"

Nephis blinked.

"No. Why bring this up all of the sudden?"

He smiled wistfully.

"I just was reminded of her recently, so I thought I'd share. You see… our parents died when we were little. She got adopted, but I ended up on the streets. Life wasn't really sweet for me. In fact, it was nothing but unsavory and bitter. So, young as I was, I simply imagined that it was the same for her. That's why I got obsessed with the idea of finding her. I had this fantasy in my head, you know, of saving and protecting her. Becoming a family again."

Sunny grimaced.

"But how could a penniless undesirable like me find anyone? You know how the city databases are. Even if they're functional, unsealing anything requires you to be a citizen, and one of a considerable rank, too. However, I was ready to do anything to accomplish my goal. So, I saved up money. A street kid can't earn much, but even then, I saved up as much as I could."

A dark expression appeared on his face.

amount of credits I had earned through doing all kinds of horrid crap. And after four or five years of this, by the time I was

He smiled.

weren't cheap, but I trusted him. Or in him, at least. So I gave all my money to that guy and told him to find my sister. And you know what? He did. One day, about a month after we made the deal, he gave me

for a few moments, then

what happened? Did you

glanced at the

didn't recognize her. You see, despite my lofty ideas of being her savior, I couldn't even really remember what she looked like. There was this girl, around twelve years old, wearing a tidy school uniform. She was walking in the same direction as me. I only realized

a while, then continued,

themselves. Just one family living in it, can you imagine? Well, I guess you can. Anyway… there was even

splendor of it, his own embarrassing astonishment, and tried to smile.

She had parents who loved her and treated her well. She had real food, and enough of it to never go hungry. She had pretty clothes and expensive textbooks. She even had cute younger siblings. They were all smiling, laughing, and having a great time

at

did

people. How he looked down at his own frail body, his dirty and ragged clothes, the bruises on his bloodied

even remember that he existed. More than that, returning into her life would not bring anything good to

] Out there on that dark and rainy night, while Sunny was standing in the shadows,

what kind of situation he would find himself in after this, nothing would really compare to the darkness he felt in that single

for a long time, he slowly backed away,

that, he began showing the first symptoms of being infected

the rest

off the unpleasant memories, Sunny pretended to be carefree

selfless thing that I have ever done. I turned around and went away.

slowly shook her

grinned, the anger finally finding its way into

to save didn't need his saving. So please tell me, Neph, why is it that you, with all your intelligence and clarity, can't seem to

a deep

lied about my intention to help