After sneaking through the alleys—I hate it when people stare at me like I'm some kind of beast—I finally managed to spot the bar, and luckily for me, there weren't any patrols around yet.

  Crossing the street, bumping into anyone on the sidewalk, I flung open the bar door and ran towards Steel.

  "Hey, what's the rush, miss?" he asked. "Want an energy drink?"

  "Look, can you tell me where Saul lives?" I leaned against the counter, looking around in paranoia.

  "What are you going to do to him?" He raised an eyebrow. "I doubt you'll hurt him, but I need to be sure."

  “I need to win him back before he turns against me completely. I'll have a breakdown if I gain another enemy.”

  “Alright, just turn the corner to the right and look for house number two hundred and twelve. I just ask that you be careful; he may not be as scared as he was on the day of the incident, but he has certainly lost his spark.”

  “Thanks, Steel.”

  After running over a few more slowpokes—seriously, haven't they ever heard of the concept of "hurry?"—I came face to face with a building.

  As I entered the building, the receptionist gave me a strange look, but didn't react.

  "Morning," I greeted, "do you know which apartment Saul Smith lives in?"

  "Number twenty-five on the fourth floor." She replied, trembling.

  “Thanks.”

  After getting on the elevator, I walked around the floor a bit until I found his apartment. Looking through the peephole, I could see that he barely bothered to clean his space and didn't care about his privacy at all, to the point of not covering the peephole.

  I knocked on the door… no answer.

  I opened the door… still nothing.

  I took a step forward… just staring at the TV with a beer in hand.

  It was only when I spoke that I got any reaction:

  “Saul.”

  "What?" He replied, slumped on the sofa, lifeless.

  “You good?”

  “Nope. The stadium here is ruined.”

  “Ah…” I scratched the back of my neck “aren't there any other stadiums around here?”

  “There are, but that one had the cheapest tickets.”

  “And the rerun?”

  “It's not the same as seeing it live. Can you get me a can?”

  “Sure.”

  Going over to the mini-fridge, Saul's eyes widened slightly when he realized who he was talking to:

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  “Cacto? What are ya doing here?”

  “I…” I sighed “I wanted to see how you were doing… after that happened.”

  He didn't even answer. Tired, I decided to remain silent, handed him the can, and sat down next to him on the floor.

  The fan next to the TV was spinning while a sitcom played on TV.

  "’Colleagues,’ I remember my sister constantly yapping about it. What's the point of this program?”

  "I like its lighthearted comedy." He replied dryly.

  “I suppose that sort of thing is good in this crazy world of ours.”

  “Don't get me started.”

  I then felt a light touch on my shoulder.

  "Mate," he curved hesitantly, "now I'm curious, how are things going on your end?"

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. Come on, before I change my mind.” He chuckled.

  “It's a long story, so I'll summarize: I went with Kassidy to beat up Hideaki, Hideaki escaped and Kassidy attacked me for it, I ran off to finish the job with the maniac, the pretty boy decided to redeem himself, we went to the bar, Leona dragged me over, we saw Kassidy being demoted as Tsundora took control, and I was attacked by Kobalt at the stadium before coming here…”

  "Wait, what's Kobalt doing here?" he asked.

  “You know him?”

  “Not personally, but I know of his stuff.”

  “Well, he just came here for a payment from Tsundora to hunt me down, so almost no one here knows about him.”

  "Look, he may have just arrived here, but his real story was in the South District—the place I come from! The guy was feared by any bad fellas, but the people loved him. However, he was always kind of cold and foul-mouthed, he was only there for the money from his contracts."

  “So your people worshipped a mercenary? Couldn't they find anyone better?”

  “We did have, but they liked him because he was the one who dealt with the criminals there.”

  “What if his employer pays him to kill someone who isn't necessarily evil?”

  “That's a question of how expensive the payment is.”

  “Strange, when I fought him, he didn't hesitate for a second.”

  "Money talks." He shrugged.

  Wow, that guy's code is unwavering. In the midst of all that fighting, I even forgot about the bigger world's problems.

  After thinking for a moment, I said:

  “Is there something holding him back, regardless of the amount of money?”

  “Actually, yeah. Besides the money, he also does the job for the thrill of the fight, even if he doesn't get as excited as ya do. If there's one thing that ruins his day, it's when his opponent refuses to even try to fight him, no matter how weak he is compared to him.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “Well, one afternoon, Kobalt was seen raising his cleaver against a little kid; some sicko musta hired him for some kind of prank. Anyway, the kid musta soiled his pants, he was paralyzed staring at him. After a few minutes, he disappeared.”

  "That's basic empathy." I scoffed.

  “The same thing happened other times, always ending because the target didn't raise their fist.”

  "Alright. First, I wanted to thank you." I stretched. "It's not every day that I see someone as down-to-earth as you, and that's the kind of thing I'm missing most in my life right now! And even after all that, you still choose to help me!"

  “Sorry to interrupt your party, but please don't bring that up. As you can see, I'm having trouble recovering.”

  "My bad." I stood up. "Continuing; do you intend to leave here someday? Because I'm certainly losing patience with the cowardly people here in the Central District. When all this mess is over, I want to get out of here."

  “For now, I plan to stay here, but I think you'll like it there; the people are more welcoming and there's a sense of community.”

  “Okay, I think I'll be going now, I can't put you guys at risk for much longer. Make sure you show up at the bar again, okay?”

  "Sure! Just give me an afternoon to clean up this... little mess." He laughed.

  Leaving the apartment, I decided to wander the streets a bit more, aimlessly. But then I heard Lotus's voice crackling through my headphones again.

  “Magnum!” She yelled, worried. “Leona's in trouble! That crazy woman went off-plan to ‘teach Tsundora a lesson.’"

  "It was only a matter of time before this happened." I grunted. "Okay, I'm going to the HQ."