The city wasn't like they had imagined. Somehow, Yuki had anticipated a much more dystopian hellscape. But the city was bustling with people going on about their days.
"Ring!"
A bell sounded as she opened the door. A sound she had grown familiar with.
They had stayed for a week now.
Turned out, the city wasn't called Night City just for aesthetics, but because of the never-ending night sky hanging still above the city.
The city itself was unlike any other part of the Death Realm. It had an edge, contrasting the common theme of the realms being endless, because so far, every other realm had been so.
The further one goes from the center of the city, the less of the city can be seen. No more are the towering heights of black concrete or the lively atmosphere of cyan neon. Until all that's left is a familiar sight of blue-tinted wastelands and the familiar highway.
"The Night City isn't a natural construct," Vivian once said. Which explained the disconnect between the city and the rest of the death realm.
"Ah, welcome Yuki. Same thing?" A middle-aged woman wearing a dark shirt greets her— That's Miss Raven. Her smile hides her age, making her seem more youthful. But even her usual look can be deceiving as it is said that she had been dead for over a decade.
This is one of the things she had learnt; when a Soul Reaper died, they stayed at the age they died. She could still remember how shocked she and Azam were when Vivian dismissed his biker suit and a young man appeared. Hell— if there even is one—, he looks even younger than Yuki herself.
"Yeah, same thing." As soon as she said that, a delectable aroma of coffee tickled her senses. Somehow, someway, she could still recall this delicious aroma from her past life.
"How's life here? Good? You haven't been on a mission yet, right?" Miss Raven said, handing her a cup of white latte. Yuki just nodded, picking up the black paper cup before sipping some of the drink inside.
Vivian had told both of them about missions, but since the team leader hadn't come back from their own mission yet, they had been told to relax.
But it had been seven days now and there was no news yet from them. So today Vivian had said that he was bringing them to "train".
Yuki explained it all to Miss Raven, who just listened with a smile on her face. Unlike Yuki and Azam, Miss Raven and a lot of the people in Night City didn't belong to a team such as theirs. After all, not everybody knew how to fight.
Well, Yuki would also much rather sit at home, but she also didn't know any specialty to open such shops. Miss Raven here has a coffee maker as her recollection. While Yuki does have a kitchen knife, she doesn't exactly know how to cook and isn't really interested in getting into it.
She was sipping her drink when her system rang beside her. It shook wildly while displaying a name:
"Azam"
It read. She picked up the call and Azam's voice cut through the line.
"Yo, where are you?"
"I'm at Miss Raven's, why?"
"Alright. We'll pick you up at her place then."
"Okay."
The system shut down as she hung up the call. Finishing the last bit of coffee, she put down the paper cup.
"5 SP is it?"
SP or Soul Points. A common currency for exchange between Reapers. There were no other uses for it as far as Yuki knew. And there was no other way to acquire it other than other Reapers giving it to you. At least, no other way that she knew of. Even her own SP was given to her by Vivian.
[Name: Yuki
Rank: E(Soul Reaper)
Recollections: (Snow White), (Gray Sands), (Eternal Acquaintance)
Souls: 5]
She touches Miss Raven's hand. One of the ways SP can be transferred is through physical touch. But you can also use Eternal Acquaintance to send it to someone inside your friend list.
Seeing the counter of [Souls] on her screen trickle down, she finalized the transaction before going outside. Miss Raven waves her goodbye as she exits the cafe.
In front of the store, Vivian had already waited. Azam sat at his back, holding Vivian's waist. Yuki got on the black motorcycle. Its engine roared before the vehicle disappeared into the night.
———
A smoke arose from the ground before a black motorcycle materialized out of it. Once again, they were on the Highway. Without a single moment of rest, the motorcycle sped through the road before Vivian steered it to the left, going off the road into the expanse of the blue-tinted wasteland.
"Wait, where are we going?" Yuki shouted from the back. Looking around, the fog that covered the wasteland got thicker and thicker.
"To train." Vivian answered with an even tone.
"Where?"
Vivian pointed his finger upwards. "We're going to the middle layer."
Suddenly a huge ravine appeared in front of them. Azam and Yuki panicked as they saw how the blue wasteland just ended and a huge maw of absolute darkness opened up.
Meanwhile, Vivian kept revving his engine, ramping up the speed as they got closer and closer to the ravine.
"Woah! Slow down!"
"Hold tight!"
Both rookies screamed. The bike sped off the ground. And they began to fall.
However, they weren't falling into the cavern. As if gravity had changed, the motorcycle began to fall upwards. And they began to fall towards the starry night.
Yuki and Azam almost lost hold of the motorcycle, but Vivian managed to flip the vehicle. But they were still falling.
"Ahhhhhggg!!!" A pair of screams broke the silence of the wasteland before disappearing.