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.

of horrid crap. And after four or five years of this, by

He smiled.

for him. His services weren't cheap, but I trusted him. Or in him, at least. So I gave all my money to that guy and told him

moments, then asked in

what happened? Did you meet

face, glanced at

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

silent for a while, then

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

embarrassing astonishment, and tried

her well. She had real food, and enough of it

at

did

Instead, he remembered how he just stood there, watching those happy people. How he looked down at his own frail body, his dirty and ragged clothes, the bruises on his bloodied knuckles. And realized how utterly out of place he

faced with the simple fact that she… she never really needed him. She probably didn't even remember that he existed. More

on that dark and rainy night, while

matter what kind of situation he would find himself in after this, nothing would really compare

he slowly backed away, turned around, and walked into

the first symptoms of

rest

the unpleasant memories, Sunny pretended to be carefree

ever done. I

slowly shook her

grinned, the anger finally finding its way into

even a cretin like me was able to realize that the person he wanted to save didn't need his saving. So please tell me, Neph, why is it that you, with all your

stared at him, a deep

you implying that I lied about my intention