Chapter 29: Bus

Taking off his helmet, he looked at the clock. "11:00 p.m."

He went out of his room and there was no one in the kitchen. 'They must have slept. Let's see what's left for me in the refrigerator.' However, his hopes were soon shattered. "Ah man. I guess I'll have to go to Uncle Ben's Night Restaurant. I have no choice…" Gripping the card given by his mother, he sighed.

Before logging in to CHAOS, he had checked the balance of the card. Usually, his monthly allowance was 4500 Credits, which is moderately enough. The best way to put it into words would be with 4500 Credits, you could attend parties with alcohols but couldn't host. The card he received had an astonishing amount of 30,000 Credits - sweeping 6.667 times increase! With this muc money in hand, how could he not be inclined to use it?

Rewen wore a blue leather jacket before going outside as it was snowing. The street lamps were lit and he saw a few people. A few of them were his neighbours and he greeted them politely.

"Ey kiddo, having a date?"

"Uncle, you really know how to joke."

"Aha, see ya. Don't stay out for too long though!"

Rewen nodded, then walked forward. His face was neither fast nor slow. While having an objective in mind, he didn't forget to experience the snow. In his village, winter comes once in four years and it doesn't even snow. So this kind of experience was very new to him and he was enjoying it.

In a bright mood, he came to the bus stop and went to the ticket counter standing in a queue. He wasn't afraid of not getting a ticket because there were an abundance of buses at this time.

"Give me a N-563 ticket as well as a return ticket."

The man in the ticket counter handed over two tickets to him. "That will be 12."

***

Five minutes later, the bus finally arrived.

As people rushed to the bus, Rewen unhurriedly walked up to the bus. It would be good if he was able to sit but he didn��t care much if he was standing because late night buses are usually packed full. Getting on the bus, he looked around hoping to spot an empty seat. "Oh!" He found a window seat a few meters away from him. Taking large strides, he captured the seat. A grunt came from an officeman who was competing for the seat with him.

Pretending like he didn't hear, he observed his surroundings. There were normal everyday civilians in the front seats. Elders in the middle and the last seats were largely occupied by a group of yellow clothed men and women in their early twenties.

"I gotta say, Lina, you got him real good."

"I ain't someone to brag but that was a given!"

"Not gonna lie, but this branch is at best mediocre. Like my first opponent, that dude had absolutely zero idea about syncing. Not only was his offense sloppy, he was also terrible at reading moves."

"I think so as well. It also reflects poorly on the fact that this town has a Eastern Dream Academy. Not trying to be arrogant but look at us, aren't we from a second-tier institution?"

"Come on man, we can't be crying about this forever."

Rewen was unintentionally listening to them because they are loud. Listening to their conversation, he got the general idea of who they are. Almost every recent graduate who doesn't view "Combatant" as an achievable goal visits from town to town to participate in district competitions, sub-district competitions and so on. Upon winning, they gain a special kind of score. That score determines the job they want to take.

'If I'm not wrong, they must be talking about the Shinu District competition which was held tonight in the evening. My Nuan District will have the yearly competition next month. I wonder if it will be a good idea to participate?' The only condition of the competition is that candidates should be less than 25 years of age. He then shook his head. 'Of course, it's not a good idea. Let's not be too much of a show-off.'

He leaned on the seat and closed his eyes but didn't fall asleep.

The bus stopped.

A few passengers got off and a lot more got in. Rewen remained seated and moved his eyes around. 'The bus has really exceeded its capabilities…' He was about to close his eyes again when a pregnant woman came by and stood near his sea causing him to fall into a dilemma.

If this was in CHAOS, there is no doubt that he would give the seat to her without any qualms. 'But if I did it here, I would be judged. In simple and harsh words, it has become almost a trend to mock guys who help people out.' He remembered an incident from a few years ago.

…

(Flashback)

He along with Gill and Cal went to watch a movie and were returning when they saw a woman having her bag snatched by a man passing by her. The trio halted. As they thought about what to be done, Gill dashed towards the thief and threw a stone on the man. The stone hurt the man as he turned out and angrily shot a twin-sided blade from his hand which injured Gill's arms heavily. Rewen and Cal ran upto Gill.

Cal: "Can you stand up?"

���Y-yeah, I'm fine."

Leaning Gill on the wall, Cal gestured to Rewen to help his friend with the wound while he walked to the woman.

"Don't worry. He will be caught soon."

"I hope so… do you have a smartphone?"

"Sure. It's fine if you call the nearest division's ambulance."

"Ambulance? Why? Oh! I'm sorry for being so inconsiderate. As you can see, with the very recent event… I am not feeling very well. Nevermind, let me just give a quick call to the cops."

Cal couldn't understand her. 'It doesn't matter which is called first. It's just a difference of seconds but why isn't she taking the obvious hints? Nevermind.'

He then turned to Gill who was gritting his teeth while Rewen was wrapping clothes around the wound. "I can only pray that your parents won't make things too difficult for me."

"Hah.. uk!" Gill tried to laugh but the pain resurfaced.

"Shut up." Rewen and Cal said in unison.

A few minutes later, an ambulance arrived and took in Gill and Cal was talking with the ambulance men. Meanwhile, Rewen was quietly standing waiting to go home when he heard several voices.

"You can't be serious, right!? A middle-school kid acted as a white knight? This should be a first!"

"Seriously, kids along with their delusions." A man in his late-twenties spat his saliva on the ground.

Hearing the conversation, Rewen got mad. He stopped eavesdropping and stared at the woman who got her bag stolen. "You aren't even good-looking."

"Oh? Thank you." The woman sounded calm but only she herself knows what her heart is going through.

"Listen here, kid. Who gives the right to judge her looks? I demand you apologize to her right now!" Her female friend chimed in.

The man in his late twenties glared at Rewen but didn't say anything.

"Rewen! Let's go home!"

Cal called from behind. Rewen hasn't vented yet but he knew he would get nowhere with this. He could only turn around and walk away.