Rinsho City was divided into two worlds.
The first world, the one of wealth and light always sat high on the cliffs, protected by tall walls and shimmering gates. That was where the nobles lived, where the Guardians patrolled proudly, where clean water flowed and children laughed.
The second world, the slums, was a place the light refused to touch.
A place where roofs leaked and people starved.
A place where the strong ate and the weak disappeared.
A place that pretended to be part of Rinsho, but Rinsho was never a part of it.
It was a world that never smiled.
Kaizen knew this truth better than anyone.
Or so he thought.
Morning came slowly, dragging gray clouds across the sky as if reluctant to begin another day. Kaizen sat by the edge of the broken bridge, his arms wrapped around his bruised ribs. Every breath hurt, and every shift of his body reminded him of the beating from the day before.
He sat alone, listening to the creaking wood beneath him and the distant yelling of vendors who had nothing left to sell.
Alone.
Just how he liked it.
Or pretended to.
As he threw a small pebble into the muddy river, he heard footsteps approaching behind him. He didn't look back.
Only two people walked in the slums with those light, uneven steps.
"Kaizen!" Riku's cheerful voice.
And right behind him was Hana's soft, quiet footsteps.
Kaizen didn't turn. "Go home."
Riku laughed. "We don't have a home."
Hana sat beside Kaizen, legs dangling off the edge. "Neither do you."
Kaizen felt a twitch in his chest but ignored it.
"You two shouldn't be near me," he muttered. "If those thugs see you again"
"We'll handle it," Riku interrupted triumphantly. "I'm getting stronger!"
He swung a stick through the air like a sword. It snapped in half immediately.
Hana sighed. "No, you're not."
Riku slumped. "I will be…"
Kaizen almost smiled.
Almost.
He looked away. "I don't need friends."
"Then we'll be your shadow," Riku said simply.
"Shadows don't leave."
The word "shadow" hit Kaizen strangely, echoing somewhere deep inside him, but he shook it off.
Hana reached into her ragged bag and pulled out a small cloth bundle. She placed it in Kaizen's hand gently.
"Bread," she said. "Fresh this time."
Kaizen's fingers curled, the memory of his mother flickering painfully. He wanted to refuse, wanted to throw it away like before, but his stomach growled loudly.
Riku snorted. "See? Even your stomach wants friends."
Kaizen glared at him, but he didn't release the bread.
Instead, silently…
He ate it.
Riku's grin widened.
Hana's eyes softened.
Kaizen didn't say it out loud, but in that moment…
He accepted them.
The three of them spent the day walking through the slums together. It was the first time in years Kaizen moved with people by his side. Riku talked endlessly, about scraps of adventure he imagined, about the Guardians' flashy armor, about how one day he would climb the cliff and see the upper city.
Kaizen let him talk.
There was something comforting about the noise.
Hana, meanwhile, listened quietly, only speaking when needed. She walked with her hands clasped behind her back, chin lowered, as if she feared taking up space. But every few minutes, she would glance at Kaizen to make sure he was still there.
At noon, they climbed onto the roof of an abandoned warehouse, where the whole slum was visible below them:
Kids chasing rats for food.
Men fighting over scraps.
Women begging at empty doors.
Old people coughing under torn blankets.
Hana wrapped her arms around herself.
"This world… doesn't smile at anyone," she whispered.
Riku lay down on the roof. "That's why we have to smile for ourselves."
Kaizen stared at him. "You're weird."
"Thanks!"
"That wasn't a compliment."
"I know!"
Hana smiled faintly for the first time.
Kaizen felt something unfamiliar in his chest again.
Not fear.
Not anger.
Warmth.
It scared him more than he liked.
He cleared his throat. "Why are you two like this?"
"Like what?" Riku asked.
"Trying to be happy."
"Trying to talk to me."
"Trying to survive without becoming monsters."
Riku shrugged. "Because giving up is boring."
Hana shivered at the cold wind. "And because… what's the point of living if we stop being human?"
Kaizen looked at her.
Something in her eyes told him she had lost far more than she let on.
"Tell me," he said. "Both of you. Why are you in the slums? What happened to you?"
Riku sucked in a sharp breath, and Hana stiffened.
Kaizen was about to take it back, he didn't want to reopen wounds, but Hana shook her head.
"It's okay," she whispered. "If we're your friends… you should know."
Kaizen's heartbeat stuttered.
Friends.
He didn't reject the word.
Hana sat at the roof's edge, feet dangling. Her voice was calm, but her hands trembled.
"I was born with weak lungs. Always sick. My parents used all their money to get me medicine. They worked day and night. I always felt guilty…"
Kaizen listened quietly.
"One winter," Hana continued, "I got worse. The doctors said it would take four gold coins for the treatment."
Four gold coins was an impossible amount for anyone in the slums.
NOTE: For y'all who don't know in Japanese fantasy anime a gold coin is enough to sustain a family of four for a year with not difficulties, so four gold coins will sustain a family of four for four years.
"So my parents… tried to steal from a merchant caravan."
Kaizen's eyes widened. "They risked that for you?"
"They had no choice."
Hana's voice cracked for the first time.
"They were caught. Dragged through the streets. And hanged… in front of everyone."
Riku lowered his head.
Kaizen clenched his jaw hard.
Hana touched her own chest. "After they died… I got better. My lungs healed on their own. As if the sickness left with them."
A tear fell.
"I didn't want to live. Not after that."
Kaizen felt his breath hitch.
"But…" Hana looked at him. "Then I saw you. Always alone. Always fighting. Always surviving. You reminded me that I shouldn't disappear. At least… not yet."
Kaizen felt something burn behind his eyes.
Hana wiped a tear away and exhaled shakily. "That's my story."
Kaizen swallowed. "Hana… you"
"I'm fine," she said with a soft, shaking smile. "I'm still here."
Riku nodded vigorously. "She's tougher than she looks."
Hana nudged him. "Your turn."
Riku sighed dramatically. "Fine. But my story isn't sad, okay? I'm strong."
Kaizen raised a brow. "Riku, every story in the slums is sad."
Riku puffed out his cheeks. "Don't ruin my confidence."
But his smile faded as he began.
"My parents were gamblers," Riku said quietly. "Bad ones."
Kaizen had expected something painful, but not this. Gambling was a death sentence in the slums.
"We lived in the outer ring near the docks. At first they only gambled small things… bread, clothes. Then they started selling stuff we needed. My toys. Our pots. Then my father's tools."
Riku clenched his fists.
"But losing wasn't the worst part."
Kaizen frowned. "What was?"
"When they lost, they blamed me."
Kaizen stiffened.
"They said I brought bad luck. That every time they saw my face, they lost more money. So they started leaving me outside at night. Even in winter. Even during storms."
Hana's eyes filled with tears.
"Riku…"
"One day," Riku continued, "they bet their last coins, and lost everything. They screamed at each other all night. And in the morning… they were gone."
Kaizen frowned. "Gone?"
"They ran. Left the slums. Disappeared. They didn't even look back."
Riku forced a smile. "I'm strong, so I didn't cry."
Kaizen stared at him. "Did you eat that day?"
"…No."
"Did you sleep?"
"…No."
"Did it hurt?"
Riku's smile trembled. "Yeah."
Kaizen looked away, feeling his chest twist painfully.
These two…
They weren't smiling because the world had been kind.
They smiled because they had nothing else.
They smiled because crying didn't change anything.
They smiled because if they didn't, they would break.
For the first time in a very long time…
Kaizen felt understood.
The sun dipped behind the cliffs, painting the slums in cold shadow. The three of them remained on the roof as night slowly crept in.
Riku stretched. "So! Now we all know each other's tragic backstory. We're officially friends!"
Kaizen snorted. "That's not how friendship works."
"It is for me!"
Hana giggled softly. "Me too."
Kaizen looked at them, at their fragile smiles, their bruises, their tired eyes, and for once, he didn't feel the instinct to push them away.
He felt something else.
Something warm.
Something frightening.
Something addicting.
Belonging.
He exhaled slowly. "Fine."
Riku blinked. "Fine what?"
Kaizen looked down at his hands. "You two can… stay. With me."
Both of them froze.
"…Are you saying we're friends?" Hana whispered.
Kaizen didn't look at them. His voice was low, almost embarrassed.
"I'm saying… I don't mind it."
Riku yelled, "YES! WE DID IT!"
He hugged Kaizen so suddenly that Kaizen nearly fell off the roof.
"GET OFF!" Kaizen shouted, face red.
Hana laughed, clinging to Kaizen from behind.
"STOP WHY ARE YOU BOTH TOUCHING ME!?"
But as they clung to him, laughing and shouting…
Kaizen felt something he hadn't felt in years
The feeling of being loved.
And maybe, just maybe, happiness.
Later that night, as the three of them walked down the alley together, Kaizen glanced at their shadows stretching behind them.
Three shadows.
Side by side.
But in the corner of his vision…
He saw a fourth shadow.
Long.
Thin.
Crawling along the wall.
Watching him.
Waiting.
Kaizen blinked, and it vanished.
Riku didn't notice. He was busy poking a rat with a stick.
Hana didn't notice. She was humming softly beside Kaizen.
But Kaizen felt it.
The world never smiled at him.
The shadows never left him.
And now… they were growing curious.
Still, for tonight,
He walked with friends.
For tonight,
He wasn't alone.
But the world had already begun shaping their fate.
And Kaizen's descent into darkness had already begun.