Ren moved slowly through Mika's clinic. His legs were strong enough to walk now, and either way, he felt he could use the exercise.
He looked around, trying to measure what he was seeing against what he already knew about Mika in the little time he interacted with him. He did it slowly, like in a museum of sorts, each item being a curiosity to understand.
The medical instruments were hung with perfect spacing. Every surgical wire and cloth had its own dedicated space, while a few benches were cluttered near the door, yet symmetrical. He noticed a small basin set into the wall as well. It was ceramic, old-world, and beside it, a nerve-link stabilizer kept blinking with a blue light. It struck him as odd how this person welcomed history as well as technology in such a small place when everyone else seemed so frantic to enhance everything they had.
He paused a moment longer at the threshold, then kept walking.
The outer door clicked as it opened, releasing him into the street.
The noise hit him fully as he stepped outside. Everything had that fluorescent glow that never seemed to pale, regardless of the time of day. The alley where the clinic stood curved into a wider street lit by all sorts of signs and moving kanji. The wet pavement doubled it, turning the ground into a moving reflection.
Yes, he remembered this well. The underworld hadn't changed at all, but he had.
Then, for a moment, something deep inside him stung. Haruki had fought hard to get them both out of there, to build something that resembled a normal life... Yet here he was, right back where it all began under circumstances he could barely explain.
Suddenly, his eyes drifted upward.
Beyond the scaffold maze, one could see the higher levels of the city of Kagutsuchi shimmering through. They were covered in gigantic cascading holograms depicting beauty and perfection like in a dream. It's where the high society and Clans resided, untouched by the filth of the slums below.
As Ren was taking all that in, something else passed through the chaos. Something massive, floating like a ghost. But it wasn't a ghost. It had the shape of a translucent jellyfish gliding unbothered through the skyline. It glowed in places where it touched different parts of the architecture, but it kept floating onward, untouched by gravity or steel.
Ren watched it fascinated. He had never seen anything like that before.
"Don't worry," a voice nearby said. "It's not gonna bite."
Ren turned.
The girl was leaning against the side rail of a stairwell, which ended upwards with an ad panel that kept buzzing overhead and covering her in all sorts of colors. One hand rested in her pocket, while with the other, she held a cigarette between two fingers and puffed carelessly. She didn't seem to be bothered at all by the smoke curling around. Then, Ren noticed her legs briefly reflecting the neon glow of the alley. They were augmented.
She looked young, somewhere around his age, or maybe a little older.
He glanced back at the floating jellyfish as it drifted between the buildings above. Its shape and glow rippled in the windows nearby, multiplying its patterns until it looked like there were dozens of them. Like ghosts caught in glass.
"What is it?" he asked.
She blew some of the smoke out, puckering her lips. "It's a spell remnant. It was left behind when some idiot from up there tried to bind a pact they didn't understand."
Ren kept his eyes on the creature.
"It's beautiful," he said.
"It's a parasite," she corrected. "It's harmless now, sure, but it did cause havoc back in the day. Whitches have no amount of decency to really care about the mess they make. Now that thing's been stuck looping around for years like a moron. Some even call it an attraction." She couldn't contain her laughter.
Ren glanced at her again. "I don't remember seeing those when I was a kid."
"You wouldn't have. They appeared five or six years ago, I don't even remember anymore."
Then she stepped down a level. Her boots clinked slightly against the metal and made a little splash on the wet pavement.
She stared at him for a few moments.
"I'm Iori," she said. "I work with Mika at the clinic here sometimes."
She paused a little, analyzing the situation. Analyzing Ren.
"If you're coming out of this building, I would assume you know him, right?"
Ren nodded slightly. He couldn't help but feel her sharp look sizing him up, but he was determined not to make it easy on her. Whatever her prejudice, it was really her problem.
"So..." she continued, "Are you the latest rescue?"
Ren raised a brow. "Rescue?"
She dropped ash off the edge of the railing. "Mika likes to find broken people and offer them... you know... the illusion of a choice. Most of them leave after a while, of course. Why would they care?" she asked ironically.
Ren had no real answer to that, and honestly, it felt like a drama that he wasn't really looking to be part of.
Iori didn't push for an answer as she already knew anyway. She turned her head toward the upper streets again as the jellyfish remnant drifted out of view.
"Do you hate all witches?" Ren asked.
"Yeah," she replied. "Pretty much."
"Why?"
She smiled a little, gave another puff of her cigarette, then threw it away in a puddle and watched it die.
"Because they twist people up inside, they are manipulative and selfish creatures," Iori explained, still holding her gaze fixed on the puddle where the cigarette had faded in moments earlier. "They should be banned indefinitely."
Ren watched her for a moment as her gaze was lost in that puddle somewhere, in depths he couldn't know. But he still felt like giving her a little nudge. Just in case.
"Maybe they are," he said. "But people twist each other too, and nobody's calling for them to be banned."
Iori's gaze snapped back to him.
"You think you're being clever?"
"No," he replied, still calm. "Just honest."
Then, another voice cut through the air.
"You're instigating the patients again," Mika said as he stepped out from the clinic entrance. His words were sharp, but he said them with a faint and gentle smile at the side of his lips.
Iori turned her head fast. "I am not," she snapped, maybe a bit too quick and defensive for Ren not to notice.
Mika raised an eyebrow.
She looked away, clearly irritated at being read so easily. And yet, a faint blush pushed through, warming her cheekbones.
"Welcome back," Mika said, smiling at her more fully.
Iori rolled her eyes, mumbling something as she stepped off the railing.
Mika turned toward Ren. "You should still be resting, you know. But since you're up, I might as well give you a proper checkup." Then, louder, over his shoulder: "And if anyone's hungry, there's soup."
Ren stood there a moment longer, still lingering in the neon silence as Mika and Iori were already entering the clinic building.
But then, he caught movement.
Up above, perched along the roof's ledge, Kagami sat with her tail curled neatly around her paws. She didn't say anything, just watched him with that impenetrable gaze of hers that hid a million secrets. Like she'd been there the entire time.
Ren met her gaze and tried to hold it for a while, but there was something in it that made it heavier than he could hold. He couldn't tell if she heard the way he'd defended witches and if she was amused by it. Wait. Had he really? The thought struck him only now, rising in the back of his mind like an aftershock.
She blinked slowly, then her gaze moved away, toward the skyline. Like he was not there at all.
Ren exhaled softly, unsure as to what to make of any of that. Then he turned and followed the others inside.