Chapter 66 Part 2: You Are So Persistent

The unshakable seat.

The scenery outside the window that glides by.

The clean appearance of the city begins to change the moment you pass through the large iron gate.

An abandoned city that has fallen behind due to rapid development.

Smoke billowing from everywhere and homeless people lying on the streets.

People with wary expressions hide in the alleys at the appearance of unfamiliar cars.

“This is…”

“It’s District 18,” Amy answered as I blankly stared out the window and muttered.

A place where a full-blown slum was forming.

It was a city I had been to before.

“Why did you come here?”

“Because you can’t go the normal way.”

You can’t go the normal way?

I looked around diligently outside the window.

However, there is a limit to the information you can get from a child’s perspective.

I carefully watched Amy’s expression and raised my ability.

A thin, wide blue current spread out.

The current, which was so weak that it wouldn’t affect the machines, spread out based on me.

I followed the application technique used by the electric power user I encountered at the New Year’s event.

Of course, I couldn’t spread my powers so widely, but I could get more information than what I could see with my eyes.

The city was blocked everywhere.

An unidentified vehicle stood as if blocking the road.

The people standing in front of it as if guarding it weren’t ordinary people either.

Power users.

People with different wavelengths.

They were definitely rare in this 18th district.

It was like walking a tightrope.

The limousine we were in dug into the gaps between the alleys.

The power user’s encirclement was closing in precariously.

But we didn’t encounter them even once.

It was a strange feeling.

I blinked and looked at the bodyguard holding the steering wheel of the car.

A woman with long black hair.

She was wearing small glasses and was driving with her eyes closed.

“Hyde.”

As soon as she finished speaking, the vehicle stopped.

The limousine, which had been gliding silently, stopped next to a deserted road.

And that was just after that.

A line of countless cars passed in front of the limousine.

They didn’t even pay attention to us, as if they didn’t see us.

It was an ability I’d never seen before.

As I looked at her with curious eyes, the woman’s closed eyes opened.

The clear blue eyes reflected in the rearview mirror looked at me and smiled slightly.

“Jeff.”

It was the moment when I blankly stared at her eyes.

Shine, frowning as if she didn’t like something, grabbed my arm.

My body collapsed as if it was staggering.

I ended up in Shine’s arms.

It didn’t feel so bad, so I stayed still in Shine’s arms for a moment.

The stopped limousine started moving once again.

It didn’t make a single noise, and it slid like a snake.

The vehicle passed a large checkpoint.

A huge iron gate dividing the city’s districts.

The long, high walls took away the light from the underdeveloped areas.

From high to low.

From an ordinary city to a developed city, and then back to an underdeveloped city again.

It wasn’t an ordinary road.

I felt like I was going around in circles.

It felt like a meaningless game of tag.

They couldn’t find us, and we couldn’t move forward.

We kept going around the city, waiting for a path to open up.

Would we be able to move forward?

When I looked at Amy with a worried expression, she smiled silently and patted my head.

Rain showed a completely different appearance than usual.

A chick with a concentrated face holding a small tablet PC.

Rain, gently stroking her bright yellow hair, changed the arrangement of the cars that appeared on the screen.

A minimap that seemed to shrink the entire city.

Rain, who was watching it, started drawing lines with his finger.

“How’s it here?” Rain muttered into the air.

However, as if he wasn’t getting the answer he wanted, he frowned and drew a line again.

The long line was leaving the city of District 7 where we were now.

“Here?”

Another rejection.

Rain bit his lip and frowned.

A feeling of pent-up frustration.

That kind of atmosphere permeated the car.

I looked out the window.

The roads were neatly organized, as befitting a city in District 7.

The clean streets where not a single piece of trash could be found.

That was the image of District 7.

But what about now?

The store with the lights off.

Broken lights.

Black misting from everywhere.

As if to say that there had been a fire, the entire building was covered in black ash.

I swallowed dryly.

As long as I had my wits about me, I knew where this place was.

The structure of the city that the widely spreading electricity had told me.

The structures that were deeply engraved in my mind came into view.

Inside the collapsed building, a helicopter that was deeply stuck was being dragged out by a crane.

Knock knock.

I moved my fingers in a state of distress.

My little fingers tapped on the cold window.

“Amy.”

“Why?”

“___’s nothing.”

I mumbled, but in the end, I didn’t say anything.

Something that was charred black as if it had been burned was being carried out on a stretcher.

I turned my head away as I watched it.

The limousine began to move slowly.

Faster than a person walking, but slower than running.

However, it sadly moved forward.

And at that moment, I was able to find the thing I had forgotten.

The alleyway that passed by in a flash.

I could see it for a moment, but I could definitely see it.

A familiar-looking bag tucked away in the corner of the alley.

“Ouch!”

I shouted urgently and jumped up from my seat.

Everyone in the car’s eyes gathered at my sudden action.

“Jeff?”

“Bag! My bag is over there!”

I shouted to Amy.

This was my chance to retrieve my forgotten bag.

Thinking back on the contents of that bag, they were not things I could ever give up.

“Bag!”

“Amy! Stop for a moment!”

I pointed out the window and poked the window with my finger.

“It’s over there!”

I extended my finger as if emphasizing it.

Amy looked at me as if she was troubled.

She looked around and sighed deeply.

“No.”

“Yes?”

“It’s dangerous. Jeff, it’s not good to be talking like this right now.”

Amy put her finger to her mouth and made a hushing sound.

“…..But, it’s a precious bag,” I lowered my voice as I said.

Amy smiled at the faint words that came out.

“I’ll buy you more later, so bear with it.”

“But…”

“Jeff, you have to be a good kid.”

I nodded with a sad expression.

The gloomy feeling didn’t go away.

I buried my body in the soft seats, and Shine hugged me and whispered, “You want it back?”

“What?”

“The bag.”

Shine’s words flowed out quietly.

I slowly nodded.

Shine, who was hugging my body tightly, looked back and forth between Amy and Rain.

“Amy. Rain. Can’t you just go outside for a bit?”

“What?”

Their eyes met.

And then, click, the car door opened.

I blinked blankly.

The limousine stopped.

The door opened wide.

“Let’s go, Jeff.”

Shine grabbed my hand and stepped out of the car.

It was a strange feeling.

But Amy didn’t find it strange at all.

She just sat there in silence.

“Jeff, I need to find my bag,” Shine whispered, caressing my cheek as I looked at Amy with confused eyes.

I nodded.

Bag, that’s right.

I need to find my bag.

My precious bag…

I didn’t have time to do this.

I grabbed Shine’s hand and started running.

The fluttering hem of my skirt felt uncomfortable under my legs.

It was a short distance, but I was running with all my might, so I was starting to run out of breath.

I looked back at Shine, panting.

She was breathing heavily, just like me.

“This way?”

I turned into the alley I had passed earlier.

As befitting a city called District 7, the alley was also clean.

However, the surroundings were a bit dark due to the broken streetlight.

I took a deep breath and walked slowly toward the alley.

“Bag…”

Fortunately, I hadn’t gotten it wrong.

It was covered in dirt, but the bag was intact, without a single scratch.

It was a precious bag that Amy had bought for me.

I picked up the bag from the ground and hugged it tightly.

“Did you find the bag?”

“Yeah.”

“Let’s go back.”

Shine smiled brightly and held out her hand to me.

I smiled back at her.

She held out her hand gently.

Our small hands overlapped.

Gentle fingers interlocked.

Squeak.

That was the moment.

A sudden sharp sound.

The cars that had been gliding along the road all at once began to stop.

A strong smell of burnt coal rose.

The car braked sharply, leaving long black tire marks on the road.

I blinked, panicking, looking across the alley.

The cars that had just passed us earlier began to gather.

“It’s okay.”

As I felt anxious and trembled, Shine spoke as if trying to console me.

Her soft voice quickly calmed my anxiety.

When I looked at Shine with trembling eyes, she raised her hand behind her.

“It’s okay, Jeff.”

Countless cars lined up.

Countless people poured out of the stopped cars.

There were too many for my two eyes to contain.

“I’ll be okay.”

Shine muttered quietly.

The people pouring out of the cars fixed their gazes on us.

They approached us without saying a word, as if we were their target.

But at some point, they stopped and did nothing.

“Did you see?”

I just blankly blinked.

Shine, who was watching me like that, let out a playful laugh.

“I’ll show you something more fun.”

Clap-clap.

Shine’s hand that was holding my hand released.

And then the small sound of clapping began.

A familiar rhythm.

Shine started doing gymnastics.

Gymnastics to grow taller.

And then something strange happened.

The people who had stopped on the road all started moving at once.

People who started moving in the same position as Shine.

One, two, one, two.

Clap!

Shine took the final position with a strong clap.

However, the people who were following Shine did not take the final position.

They started over from the beginning.

They started repeating the gymnastics Shine had shown them.

“Let’s go, Jeff.”

Her small, delicate hand reached out once again.

Her small hand grabbed my hand.

Even at that moment, the people did not stop doing gymnastics.

I made eye contact with the person in front of them.

But even so, he did not stop doing gymnastics.

Her eyes were blank.

It was as if she wasn’t even thinking.

“Jeff, we have to hurry.”

Shine urged me to move slowly.

We slowly walked out of the alley.

Shine grabbed my hand.

She ran quickly toward the limousine Amy was riding in.

“Hurry up.”

“I can’t do gymnastics for long.”

I hooked back at Shine’s words.

The repetitive gymnastics showed no sign of ending.

We arrived at the limousine with the door wide open and immediately jumped into it.

I sat on the soft seat and stroked the bag in my arms.

“Jeff?”

“Huh…?”

“We’re going back now. Don’t think strangely.”

“What…?”

“Jeff. The bag has been with you from the beginning.”

“From the beginning…”

“Huh. I haven’t lost it.”

Shine looked around as if to make everyone listen.

“Jeff’s bag has never been lost.”

I nodded to her words.

Shine, who had been watching me like that, closed the limousine door with a satisfied smile.

Thump.

There was a small noise.

And then, the time that had stopped began to flow.

I blinked blankly and stroked the bag in my arms.

“Huh…?”

“What? Why did it suddenly stop?”

Amy, who had been sitting quietly, looked around, rubbing the back of her neck as if something was strange.