I stopped outside of rather fancy-looking apartments. It was in a nice enough section of the city, and I could see Squires and FSA Troops patrolling around the streets. Even the occasional merc walked around in full combat armor. Definitely a lot nicer than where I lived, but then again, that wasn't all that hard to do. Simply having real walls elevated this place far above my home. Probably less breezy too.

I found a parking spot and entered the building. Or at least tried to. The front door was code-locked. I called her for the code and then worked my way up the building to apartment 7132. I felt out of place here, and I'm sure the few people I passed thought I was up to no good. I shuffled to the apartment and knocked on the door.

The door flung open and a blonde practically lunged at me. "Shiro! It's been so long!"

I tried to wiggle out of the overzealous hug, feeling like my lungs were caving in from how hard she squeezed me. Has she been working out? No- wait, she's always been strong. "M-Mira. Can't. Breathe."

"Sorry, sorry. I'm just so excited to see you! Come in, come in!" Her long, blonde hair flicked around with her peppy movements. She practically pranced into the apartment, pulled me along. "Has it already been a year?"

If the way up wasn't obvious enough, the entryway was. I could tell it was quite a nice place. The furniture was built into the apartment itself, each piece perfectly fitting into the space so as not to be in the way. The only flaw I could make out was the roving bands of holographic ads around the room. Probably some kind of deal for lower rates, but constant ads. It was a common enough arrangement.

I followed, nearly running into her as she half-turned. "You comin- oh, sorry. I didn't hear you…"

"Ah. Right. You still have that cyber audio suite?" I felt a flush of guilt. It was quickly buried under a flush of annoyance. Damn Fox's Paw still causing me issues! No- no, it's fine. Just calm down, Shiro. No point getting upset right now.

"'Course! Never regretted getting the KairoTech Sentinel CAS. Well, rarely regretted… there's been a few times-" Her cheeks flushed red. She shook her head and led me into the living room.

"Oh? Tell me more…" Her blush turned redder, so I decided to offer her a way out. "Still don't know how they didn't get sued for that."

"Right?" She asked a tad too quickly. "Quite ballsy to name their product Sentinel… so, how have you been?"

I rubbed the back of my head. "Umm… been better? Just finished a job that paid quite well, so not too bad overall."

Her smile slightly dropped as a look of mild irritation creased her face. "Still working for that drunkard?"

"You know how it is…" I smiled helplessly. I'd really rather not talk about my situation. It depressing every time. "How about you though? Have you been well?"

"'Course! Pa' and I've been all over. Oh! we even crossed the pond! Vurn was quite pretty for being called the Shattered Isle." Her eyes glowed and then a TV built into the wall flickered on. A picture of her looking out the edge of a flier popped up. Directly behind her sat a city built upon fragmented chunks of land. Half the city was even built upon the water. "This is Veyth, the capital. Pretty cool, right?"

"Yeah, super cool…" Here she was going off on these adventures while I was still a lowly kleptoid… haah.

It's not that I was jealous, no, I was definitely happy for her. It's just… well… It was selfish more than anything. She was the closest person to me, and I maybe only saw her a couple times a year. Stupid- it was so stupid. Her remaining here would mean staying in this cesspool of a city.

"How were the people there?" I asked with as much cheer as I could muster.

Mira smiled and flicked to another picture. This time it was of an ancient looking wooden sailboat. "They were interesting. Lots of piracy over there, but otherwise everyone was alright. They were heavily against federal governments though. Everywhere on the shattered isle was owned by warlords and 'Vurn' in name only."

"Right. Makes sense. The feds did fuck with BosSpace enough to find out." The OP hitting full impact was one of the most destructive events in human history. I wasn't alive at the time, of course. I'd heard stories though. It's said earthquakes could be felt globally without an issue.

She swapped to a different photo, this one of a massive crater in the middle of the ocean. Water poured seemingly endlessly into it and mist rose up, constantly obscuring the depths. "Yep! This was the impact site. They say it punched all the way through the mantle. Insane, right?"

It was insane. We, everyone on this cursed hunk of a planet, were just lucky BosSpace was the one with the Orbital Piledriver and not a power hungry corp like Raijin. The amount of destruction Raijin could cause if it had its own OP couldn't be calculated.

"Ah, but enough about me." She turned back to face me. "Wow! You look so pretty! Did you cut your hair or something?"

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Weird. She was the second person to say that… "Um… no? W-what made you think that?"

"I dunno really? Hmm… maybe it's because your hair looks more luxurious than it did in the past? Or your face is smoother? Did you go to a sculptor?"

"You think I could afford that?" Body Sculpting was an amenity for the rich. No way I could afford that.

Now that she mentioned it though, I also noticed the same thing the other day… Maybe it was an effect of Fox's Grace? Foxes were known for being beautiful. So it would make sense-

I felt a rock drop in my stomach. A connection I hadn't seen before cropped up. Was the interface related to the eidolons? The effects were pretty magical, so it wasn't completely out there. If so, did that mean the fox back at the pavilion was actually the Fox? It had six tails just like her-

No. There's no way! That would be crazy… unless… no, it was probably just a simulated fox in no way related to the Fox… If I was directly connected to them though? Shit- I had two things with a potential direct connection to her. So much for staying away from magic-

"You okay, Shiro?" Mira asked, her eyebrows knit tight in concern.

I phased back into the conversation and forced a smile. "Chek. J-just got lost in thought is all. What were we talking about?"

She froze for a moment. "Um… what have you been up to?"

I forced a laugh as I had a flashback to Fox's Paw. Nope! Definitely can't share that with her. "I've been, uh, been investigating recently."

"Are you finally giving up on B&Es? You could always join the FSA you know-"

I cut her off. "And spend my whole life fighting mutants and Dune Walkers? No thank you. 'Sides, too young to enlist, remember?"

She shrugged her shoulders, tossing her blonde hair everywhere. "All good, chum. Just- you have a few options, you know? You don't have to stay here if you-"

The front door popped open, cutting her off as we both looked over. I more so flinched toward the noise, but she lazered onto it.

A man, absolutely ripped with pure muscle, stood in the door. At a glance? Obviously a soldier. His skin was slightly warped, giving away his subdermal armor. He had a few other bits of chrome here and there, but for the most part was flesh and blood. He had the same blue eyes as Mira, though his hair was a shade darker.

"Pa! Shiro's here!" She practically bounced over the back of the couch.

He chuckled as he carried in bags of what smelled like fresh food. Not the cheap stuff either. "I see that. How've you been, Shiro?"

I smiled at the man. "Same old, same old. You, Uncle Ezra?"

"Been better-"

"Shiro said the same thing!" Mira snickered lightly and snatched the bags of groceries. She bounded over to the table, emptying the bags as she went. Looked like burgers?

He smirked at me. "Great minds think alike and all that."

"Yeah yeah. You great minds better hurry up before I eat it all!"

I popped up from my seat. I knew from past experiences she could, and would, eat all of it by herself if given the chance.

— — —

I sat across the table from Uncle Ezra after the meal. He wasn't technically my uncle, at least by blood, but he was closer than anything. Definitely closer than my actual blood uncle. He was my dad's best Mikato before he died. So close, in fact, they were like brothers. Hence the whole uncle thing. Mira and I took after them. Close like sisters.

After Mira left and headed to the kitchen to make the promised cookies, he spoke up. "Are you sure you're alright? I've seen that look in your eyes before."

I smiled, acting as innocent as I could. It was difficult. Innocence was a rare commodity in this tattered world, so I didn't really know how to copy it. "What look?"

He sighed. "Come now, Shiro. Don't gaslight me. My subordinates have had the same look after a particularly bad op."

Right… he'd probably been through far worse than anything I suffered as a FSA commando. No telling the horrors he'd seen, nor the monsters. Especially in the fight against the Dune Walkers.

"Ch-chek. I'm good. Just uh, working through some things…" I lowered my eyes to the table. I couldn't bear to look at his serious face and still lie.

"Right. Well, if you ever need help you can tell me." Uncle Ezra said. "I can only do so much with the FSA shipping me around all the time, but I can pull some strings if need be."

I smiled, a rare genuine smile, at his offer. It hadn't been the first time he's said such a thing, and, knowing him, probably not the last. "Thank you, but I'm fine. Really. For now, it's nothing too serious. Might even be something good in the future."

"When it does become serious-"

"I have Mira's number. I- I'll reach out if I'm in serious trouble." Damn, why did lying feel so rotten? I was already in serious trouble between the gang affiliation, stolen Sentinel papers, and sadistic interface.

"Alright…" We remained silent for a moment, listening to Mira butcher a song by The Sandbar Fight as she cooked. "You still have that Sidewinder I got you? Oh, and the emergency shiv from Mira?"

I chuckled and popped the peashooter onto the table. "Never leave home without them. The shiv is in my boot."

"That girl," He chuckled, "emergency shiv? I still have no idea where she got that head of hers."

'Probably from you? You're the one that used to make me carry around a bowie knife.' I kept silent though. We sat there for a moment before I decided to attempt and clear up the moody atmosphere. "How's life?"

He shrugged in a way far too similar to his daughter. "Same old. Mira tell you we were sent to protect a summit in Vurn?"

"No. Just that you guys went. She didn't mention anything about a summit." Classic Mira. Always leaving out basic information.

"It was pretty boring anyway. Some stuff about the DarkNet, but most of it was technical jargon that went over my head." He leaned back into his chair, our serious conversation thankfully over.

"That's… interesting." The DarkNet referred to the remnants of pre K-10 Convention internet. It was a very, very dangerous place, yet it offered a massive bounty to those who could survive its hellish landscape.

The DarkNet had millions if not billions of rogue AI roaming about. At any point, a runner could be attacked and fried by said AI. For some, it was worth it. The multitudes of AIs had been innovating and inventing bigger and better tech for decades, and even just one bit of said tech could sell for a lot of money. High risk, potentially high reward.

Mira strutted back into the room with a 'kiss the chef' apron and comically large oven mitts. "The party has arrived!"

As if by mutual understanding, the previous conversation was dropped. Uncle Ezra snatched four cookies from her tray. "Goofball. Did you make chocolate chip?"

"Hey!" Mira flexed backward, nearly toppling over in an attempt to dodge past her dad.

I watched the duo for a moment before I too stood up and attempted to take a cookie. Right- life was good.

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