For the first time since he could remember, Ryu woke up early on a Sunday.

“Where are you off to?” said his mother, Caragh, as Ryu rushed for the door.

“Out. I’ll be home for dinner.”

Ryu lived close to the central city, which meant there was no shortage of places he could offer his assistance. Feeling unusually confident, he walked into every store he came across.

“Sorry, we’re not hiring.”

“Leave me your CV and I’ll take a look.”

“This is an entry level role. You need at least five years experience.”

“I can offer you an unpaid internship with the possibility of a paid position in six months.”

Needless to say, things did not fare well. Ryu visited every store he knew of without anything to show for it. What was he to do? He needed money.

“I need a computer. Huh? I need a computer?”

Ryu was lucky no one was around to hear him talking to himself. He knew the city well enough so found himself a quiet bench to rest on. But now he had an idea. Well, it - which he really needed to find a name for - had an idea, and it’d popped up in the forefront of his mind.

“Ah…”

Ryu got up. A net cafe he used to frequent was nearby, and today seemed like the perfect day to pay it a visit. Getting there didn’t take long, especially so when he knew the exact location.

Upon arriving he paid for an hour and took his seat.

“PRESS R!”

*Furious typing*

Ah yes, just how he remembered it.

Ryu placed his fingers on the keyboard and began to type... something. He wasn’t sure what, but the characters came to him. Like a puzzle, the more he typed the easier it became to fill in the gaps, until he stopped. It was done, but it wasn’t what he’d typed. At least not what he saw.

[01101001 01101100 01101111 01110110 01100101 01101000 01100101 01101110 01110100 01100001 01101001]

The code was fragmented and mostly unintelligible to Ryu, but the logic was there.

“I can’t run this.”

A glance and he’d interpreted it, seen what it would do, and he knew what the repercussions were. Was money worth taking such a risk? What if he got caught? He didn’t care about money. His family was always short of it such that he’d grown tired of hearing about it, but it’d also made him bleakly aware of its value.

“Maybe… just a little.”

A new headset would cost 300 dollars, less if he purchased second hand. It wouldn’t even be a drop in an ocean.

The stream of characters flowed again.

[01101001 01101100 01101001 01101011 01100101 01101000 01100101 01101110 01110100 01100001 01101001]

Ryu popped his head up to look around the room. No one was watching. He took a deep breath before clicking “run”.

“That’s it, huh?”

Ryu quickly checked his balance.

[$307.00]

He wanted to smile, he really did, but he couldn’t. What if his mother asked how he got the money? Or Ruri? Neither of them would believe he had 300 dollars lying around. His job didn’t pay that much, and what it did pay went to the bills.

“I need an alibi.”