“Your debt’s finally gonna be paid off today, huh?” Sigmarus muttered, leaning back on the small couch.

“Yep,” Grace replied with a wide smile. Then, she fidgeted nervously and added, “You told me Fallen Leaf would give me work and give me and my sister a place to stay or something, but you never said what I’ll do there.”

“You okay with janitor work?”

“Cleaning? I don’t really know much, but I can learn.”

“Yeah, you’re a quick learner,” Sigmarus muttered, sighing to himself. After all, two months were enough for him to teach her how to fully read, write, and do basic arithmetic. She was still slow in terms of reading and writing, but her surprisingly sharp mind made him a little envious.

“Will they pay me?”

“Yes. If it’s not enough, just ask me for more.”

“I’ll feel bad taking more from you, so just getting paid is fine.”

“Credits would only collect dust in my account, so may as well give you some.”

Grace hesitantly nodded, but Sigmarus could see the unwillingness in her eyes.

Guess I’ll let her face it on her own again now. If she’s desperate, I can just sneak more into what Duke pays her.

“What about my sister?” Grace asked.

“They’ll give you two a place to stay.”

“That… Moving might be hard. You still haven’t met my sister, have you? Can you… walk home with me today?”

Sigmarus raised a brow and glanced over at the girl. Her eyes lowered and her hands clenched as though worrying about something.

“Sure.”

Later on, Sigmarus waited in the dark alley behind the brothel for Grace to change into normal clothes. He leaned against the wall with his hands in his pockets.

Ignoring the piles of trash and skittering rats, he stared at the ground and thought, Shingle Alley, eh? It’s been a long time since I last went there.

His nose and forehead wrinkled as his thoughts drifted to a dark place, but the door nearby abruptly swung open and interrupted him. Grace stepped outside wearing loose-fitting frayed sweatpants and a similarly frayed hooded sweatshirt. Both were dark enough in color to look black in the dim alleyway. Even her thin makeup had been washed away. She was still more attractive than most of her peers, but there was a dirty plainness to her current appearance that made her look like any other muskrat.

Since it was the first time he saw her in something other than the fancy and risque attire provided by the brothel, he couldn’t help staring at her like they had just met for the first time. Up until now, she had dressed the part for appearances’ sake, but Sigmarus definitely preferred this look. Talking to her would be much easier if she dressed like this from now on.

“Ready?” He asked, but then he raised a brow upon seeing Madame Lee rush outside behind Grace moments after the door clicked shut.

“Just a minute, Sig,” Grace answered him before turning to face Madame Lee with lips pressed together in a pensive expression.

Resting her hands on her hips, Madame Lee sighed lightly and said, “You’re finally going to leave us, huh?”

Grace nodded and opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out.

Madame Lee smiled gently like a mother looking at her child who was about to move out on their own for the first time and said, “Take care of yourself, okay?”

“Mhm. Thanks for taking care of me while I was here.”

The two ladies stood inches away from each other. Both struggled to find words to say. Eventually, Madame Lee finally smiled again and said, “I’ll miss you.”

Returning that smile with a bright smile of her own, Grace quietly replied, “Mhm. Me too.”

“But,” Madame Lee added, her smile darkening with a hint of self-deprecation, “please don’t come back. A nice girl like you shouldn’t have to suffer here.”

Suddenly, Grace lunged forward and wrapped her arms around Madame Lee’s waist. Her face rested in the Madame’s bosom, muffling her voice as she said, “You take care of yourself, too.”

Startled by the sudden hug, Madame Lee froze. Then, she glanced over at Sigmarus with anxious eyes, but he immediately turned away and pretended not to see anything. She almost clicked her tongue, but held it back. She lowered her gaze to the girl in front of her, and her eyes softened once again. Although stiff and uncomfortable due to the long-forgotten feeling of an affectionate embrace, she raised her arms to return the hug. However, she stopped halfway, and settled for rubbing the girl’s hair instead.

Out of the corner of his eye, Sigmarus saw Elizabeth suppress her emotions by avoiding the hug, and he sighed. Although he could relate to an extent, he also wanted to rebuke her resistance towards affection. Wasn’t that exactly what she had displayed a desire for during their conversations over the past two months?

She’s more of an idiot than I am. Too scared to grab hold of what she wants even when it’s right in front of her. Should I scold her later? Not sure we’re close enough for that, but I really want to.

A few seconds later, Grace let go, and, with teary eyes and a slightly trembling voice, said, “Goodbye, Madame. See you later.”

“...I hope I see you again,” Madame Lee said. Then, she immediately turned toward Sigmarus as though fleeing from her own emotions and asked, “You’re leaving in two days, right?”

“You knew?”

“I know a lot of things.”

“Right…”

“So, I guess this is goodbye with you, too.”

“Want to get rid of me that badly, eh?”

“Hmm?”

“I don’t recall that favor having an end date.”

Madame Lee’s eyes widened, but then she smiled and said, “Thank you. I’ll hold you to that, then.”

“Get better tea, though. Yours tastes like shit.”

“What?! You think I can get better tea down here, you pale bastard?!”

“Heh.”

Watching the sudden banter from the sidelines, Grace frowned and narrowed her eyes. Starting to feel like some sort of third wheel, she glanced back and forth between the two, and noticed for the first time that the two were on pretty good terms.

When did this happen? She wondered.

“Anyway, I’ll see you later,” Sigmarus said, waving goodbye to shut Elizabeth up. “We’ve got a lot of stuff to do before I leave.”

Madame Lee sighed, crossed her arms, and said, “Fine. I’ll contact you if anything comes up.”

“Same. So, you ready to go, kid?”

“I’m not ‘kid’. When are you going to call me by my name?”

“In the future, maybe.”

* * *

The moment a familiar sewer stench tickled his nostrils, a wave of nostalgia flashed through Sigmarus’ mind. None of the feelings wrought by it were pleasant, though. He couldn’t help wrinkling his nose out of disgust.

“Are you alright?” Grace asked, “Most people avoid this place, so it might take a little while to get used to everything.”

“Don’t worry. I’m fine. Just some bad memories.”

“Bad memories?”

“Believe it or not, I used to live here.”

Grace blinked out of surprise and then looked at him with wide eyes.

“What’s that look for?” He asked.

“I’m just surprised because it’s the first time you’ve talked about yourself ever since the first day you came to the brothel.”

“That so?”

“Mhm. I figured you didn’t like talking about yourself, kinda like that one character in the novel you lent me last time. Tabby called him… brooding? And gloomy.”

“Tabby? Oh, the protagonist of that shitty romance novel.”

“It’s not shitty! It’s a good story!”

“Wait… isn’t that character the antagonist to the main love interest?”

“Yeah. He dies at the end.”

“Damn. I feel insulted for some reason.”

“Hehe. Oh, we’re here.”

Finally, they rounded a corner from the dimly lit side street to the dismantled road everybody called Shingle Alley. Crumbled buildings had been rearranged into walls of rubble or shacks built from debris and scrap metal. Many of the residents within eyesight sat in small groups around pit fires or hid within their shacks, occasionally peeking through the cracks with wary eyes. Many of the people here had minor negative strain mutations, such as bone protrusions, fused fingers, warts, puckered eyes, or even mangled limbs. Nobody with overly severe mutations sat among the crowd, though.

A few of the people watched them with devious intentions visible in their gaze. They didn’t even bother to hide it.

Both Sigmarus and Grace traipsed along the decrepit and gravelly road without saying anything. They spared no more than passing glances at any of the people who glared at them, causing most of those people to lose interest and return to their own conversations or personal business.

It’s a bit more crowded than I remember. If I hadn’t left my wrist-com at the gym beforehand, we might not have been able to avoid trouble, Sigmarus noted as they walked further along the road. After a while, Sigmarus furrowed his brows and asked, “Do you live close to the hole?”

“Yeah.”

Damn. Hope I don’t see any familiar faces.

Eventually, the ‘hole’ came into view. Rather than a hole, it looked more like a crater where the land had caved in many years ago when the foundations were still a new concept. Numerous buildings had fallen into the sinkhole, but somehow the sewer system underneath could still function properly even to this day, though it had been opened to the ground above. It served as a landmark, but also as an entrance to the sewers.

While Sigmarus noted the slight differences in the sinkhole from eight years ago, Grace interrupted his thoughts by saying, “We’re here.”

“Gotcha,” Sigmarus mumbled, turning towards the small shack she had led him to. Unsurprisingly, it was a cobbled-together hut built mostly from scrap.

Stopping at the shabby scrap entrance covered by a ragged cloth, Grace looked up at him and asked, “I probably should have said this sooner, but can you promise not to freak out or anything?”

“Sure…” Sigmarus replied, raising a brow.

“You promise you won’t be disgusted or anything?”

“Kid, I’ve seen more than you can imagine down here.”

“Umm, alright. Come in, then,” Grace muttered while slowly pulling the cloth aside.

Following behind her, Sigmarus held the cloth open and ducked slightly through the small entrance. Inside, he saw only a few articles of rugged clothing stacked neatly on a piece of rubble which obviously served as a makeshift table, a couple of run-down folding chairs that looked like they might fall apart at any moment, and two ruddy mats which served as bedding.

What fully caught his attention was the small person laying on one of the mats. His eyes widened slightly as he tried to come to terms with what he was seeing. Although he knew this person was Grace’s older sister, her gender wasn’t apparent by just looking at her. Her short arms and legs looked mangled as though someone had beaten them with a bat. They looked like flabby skin atop bone with no muscle in between. Her bloated stomach and hairless skull both bulged like balloons. Warts and red spots covered a majority of her skin. Her body itself was only as large as the average ten-year-old child. Although her eyes were closed, they looked swollen and inflamed. The more he stared at her, the more his heart clenched within his chest.

This is her sister? Her parents must have been very sentimental people. Anyone else would have tossed this girl in the sewers the moment they saw her…

Thinking such, Sigmarus looked over at Grace, who was now crouching next to her older sister with a gentle but pained smile on her face.

“Merci, I’m back. I brought a friend, too,” Grace quietly said in an overly gentle tone.

The severely mutated girl’s eyes fluttered open, revealing half-intelligent brown eyes which contained a pure innocence completely divorced from this depressing and dilapidated alley she lived in. Merci looked at her younger sister, and her clefted lips widened into an ugly yet bright and innocent smile. She mumbled something like a greeting, but it was hard for Sigmarus to comprehend any semblance of meaning from the sounds.

“Yep, it’s me. And, this is Mister Sigmarus. He’s my friend.”

Upon hearing those words, Merci’s eyes focused on Sigmarus, and her ugly smile suddenly looked incredibly bright and friendly to his eyes despite the pity he felt toward her. He returned the smile almost by instinct.

Grinning at Sigmarus’ unintentional smile, Grace giggled briefly before turning back to her sister and saying, “Merci, I’m going to talk to Mister Sigmarus for a minute. We’ll be right back, okay?”

A sound of agreement came out of Merci’s lips without any hesitation or worry. After rubbing her head a few times, Grace stood up and led Sigmarus outside. She studied his expression for a few moments and said, “Now you know why it’ll be hard to move, right?”

“Yeah… It’s still doable, but…” Sigmarus’ words trailed off, and he looked at the girl with a hint of admiration. Until now, he only found her actions of selling herself out to help her sister somewhat respectable, but now that he’d met that sister of hers…

This is a whole ‘nother can of beans… He thought, rubbing his chin.

“How long do you think your sister has to live?” Sigmarus bluntly asked.

Eyes lowered and shoulders drooped, Grace quietly answered, “Maybe another year or two thanks to the medicine I got before.”

I thought her sister was only sick, but to think Grace was doing all she could to keep her alive just a bit longer when others would have tossed her out. Shit. I’m about to tear up.

“Alright, I get why you wanted me to come here. I’ll go see what I can do.”

“Mhm. Thank you, Sigmarus. Really. Thank you.”

Suddenly, tears started to stream out of her eyes as though a floodgate had broken after straining against the tides for far too long. She wiped away the tears with her sleeves, but they didn’t stop.

“Sorry. I didn’t, hic, know I’d cry,” She mumbled through her tears.

Unsure how to react to this situation, Sigmarus awkwardly shifted his weight and hesitantly placed a hand on her head which was still covered by her hood. After a brief sigh, he said, “You’re a good sister.”

A small smile appeared on Grace’s face behind her sleeves as she said in between sniffles, “Thanks... I feel like I can finally be really, truly honest with you now. It’s nice. In some of the books you lent me, they said stuff about weights being on their shoulders and then losing it. I think I get it now. It’s really… freeing.”

“...Yeah. Yeah, it is.”