1.
There were a lot of people.
Maybe because this was one of the few events held on the outskirts.
The Wandering Troupe had come to visit.
Here, it was time to put down your weapons and take a break.
If you started causing trouble, you’d be branded a public enemy and called a lunatic.
"...That’s kind of amazing. They’re even selling fish tanks at a street stall."
"They bundle it with the goldfish scooping game to encourage people to buy them."
A girl whose name I didn’t even know.
We followed after her.
"Damn, is that a girl?"
"Lucky bastard. Some people come all the way here just to look at stuff like this with a bunch of dicks."
Every time I walked down the street, I could feel the stares and jealousy pouring over me.
Even with Silver Wolf and the troupe’s errand girl beside me, those guys didn’t dare flirt or strike up a conversation.
"He’s the crazy bastard who ripped off three Rank 7s’ heads for no reason."
"Don’t make eye contact. And don’t talk behind his back either."
...I’d earned a pretty awful reputation.
The three days of madness had spread among the fixers.
The three Rank 7s I killed had been fairly well known in the office where the Rank 7s worked, too.
"Should I recommend something for you?"
"I don’t really know much about this stuff. Silver Wolf, is there anything you want separately?"
"Not really..."
Neither of us knew the first thing about goldfish.
Since we’d caught one, we were planning to take good care of it, but it seemed better to buy what this girl, who knew at least a little, recommended.
"Then, since there’s only one fish, you’ll need feed and a small tank..."
"What else do we need?"
"Hmm, if you’re going to raise it properly, it’d be good to get a filter and an oxygen pump too."
That cost a bit of money.
The funny thing was, even after buying the tank and all the miscellaneous supplies, it still cost less than what we spent on the goldfish scooping game.
"Thanks. You even guided us so kindly."
"Not at all. I didn’t have anything else to do, so it was fine!"
Hmm....
She was a different kind of girl from Silver Wolf, one who made me want to dote on her.
Silver Wolf’s sullen stare from behind was a little scary, though.
"Silver Wolf, are you jealous?"
"..."
"What, what, what! That pout is way too cute!"
After pampering Silver Wolf for a moment, I turned back to the girl.
The girl’s eyes were lowered.
As if she were swimming in the deep sea, some vague fear and envy could be felt in her gaze.
"Oh, right."
"What is it?"
"You helped us with the guidance and recommendations, so I should pay you."
"No, no! It’s okay. I just had some time to spare, so I wandered around for a bit."
"You helped us catch the goldfish too. It feels wrong to send you off empty-handed."
When I tried to hand over some credits, the girl firmly refused.
She was so small, looking up at me with those round eyes that she reminded me of a cat, so I wanted to help her out.
For now, we kept browsing the stalls.
There were Japanese-style snacks at each stall too.
We followed the places that smelled delicious and bought one each to try.
It really felt like we were at a festival.
This was paradise, bliss, pleasure. I could feel my mind healing little by little.
I’d been living way too hard lately.
A festival scene straight out of a Japanese light novel harem smut story...!
The downside was that we were still inside Neon City.
As we looked around the stalls, I found one selling hairpins and various accessories.
Silver Wolf had said she needed a hairpin too, and I thought it would be nice to get one for that girl as well.
"Silver Wolf, see anything you like?"
"I don’t like flashy stuff."
"...You’re wearing blue and gray clothes. That already stands out a bit, doesn’t it?"
What Silver Wolf chose was a simple black hairpin split into two pieces.
On top of that, she picked out a simple hair tie so I could tie her hair up too.
What remained was a gift for that girl.
My choice, one that would tug at a woman’s heart, was....
"This suits you best."
A red hairpin in the shape of a cherry blossom.
The edges were made of gold, so it didn’t feel cheap at all.
"You’re giving one to that girl too?"
"Yeah, I made her work for free. She helped us catch the goldfish too."
Thanks to Silver Wolf.
When I saw orphans or little kids looking dirty and ragged, I couldn’t help feeling sorry for them.
"Here, a gift."
"...Ah."
"You guided us around the stalls and even helped us pick a good tank. Just take it."
The girl looked at the hairpin.
Then she took it in both hands and bowed her head to me.
"Th-thank you."
"No need to thank me. I’m just returning the favor."
"..."
"Silver Wolf, why are you looking at me like that?"
"I don’t like it."
"Hey, if you’re going to act like that toward the person guiding us..."
"Not her. You."
"Huh!?"
After Silver Wolf kicked my shin, she spun around and headed for the center of the troupe.
Rubbing my throbbing shin, I watched her go.
"Hey!"
"What!"
"...Let’s go together!"
Just as I started running after Silver Wolf.
I didn’t notice that the girl behind me was looking at Silver Wolf and me with envious eyes.
2.
"What’s your name?"
"My name?"
The girl was still with us.
While we were waiting in line to enter the troupe’s interior, I asked her that.
Since this was fate and all.
I figured maybe we’d meet again someday, or maybe I could even make a friend for Silver Wolf, that friendless shut-in, so I asked.
"I don’t have one."
"...?"
"I never had a mother or father. So I don’t have a name."
Was this city just full of people without names by default?
First the pawnshop old man, and now this kid too?
"Huh..."
"That’s pretty common in Neon City."
Silver Wolf, her cheeks puffed out from eating takoyaki, spoke up.
I’d had to work a bit to cheer her up.
"Then what should we call you?"
"...Just call me ‘errand girl’ if you want. That’s what everyone else calls me too."
"That’s kind of messed up..."
Errand girl?
Wasn’t that too much?
Cute and pretty are justice.
Think about how cats are adored by people just for their looks alone.
"Don’t you want to have a name of your own?"
"Not really. I don’t think it means anything."
The girl looked off into the distance with the expression of someone who had already lived through everything.
A name matters.
It’s basically the word that defines who you are.
"Ah, if you feel bad that I don’t have a name, will you give me one?"
"You want me to name something that important for someone I just met today?"
"Does it matter? It doesn’t mean anything anyway."
She looked mischievous, like she was trying to put me on the spot.
"Hanabi."
"...Huh?"
"How about that as a name?"
The girl walked with a light, springy step, as if she were speaking politely, yet her movements were full of bounce.
Her reddish hair and the crimson eyes with butterfly-like pupils were beautiful.
"What do you think, Silver Wolf? Pretty good naming sense, right?"
"I’ll give you a pass."
"Haha, it suits her, doesn’t it?"
The girl, who hadn’t expected me to seriously give her a name, looked flustered.
She was ridiculously cute when she got flustered too.
This is why looks matter!
"Ah, um..."
"You can take it as a joke if you want. If you like it, you can keep using that name from now on."
Hanabi. Hanabi.
The girl repeated the name to herself.
Then she smiled faintly and said,
"I like it."
"Really!?"
"Yes. Please call me Hanabi from now on."
The girl, Hanabi, smiled brightly at me.
It was a freshness completely different from Silver Wolf’s blank expression!
As expected, I like women!
Smack!
"Why are you hitting me again!"
"Your face looked sleazy."
Silver Wolf smacked the back of my head.
I looked at her with a wounded expression.
My treatment and status had sunk straight to the bottom.
It was nice that I’d gotten closer to Silver Wolf, but...
"This is making kind Adrian Servet angry, you know."
"Don’t use third person."
"If you keep being cold to me, I’ll throw a tantrum like a kid right here, okay?"
Just as I was preparing to lie down and show off my ultimate spoiled-brat tantrum,
entry into the troupe’s interior began.
"I’ll stop here and head off."
"Huh? Why? Didn’t you say you work here? Can’t you watch it with us?"
"Even among workers, there are differences."
"I’ve got one extra ticket. Want to watch with us?"
Heh... in truth, I’m the one seducing you.
...would’ve been a weird thing to say, so I just acted without thinking.
What’s good is good.
And making a new friend is even better.
Why was I being so nice to that girl?
Intuition.
The same kind of instinct I’d had when I first saw Silver Wolf.
Sometimes, a person just feels like treasure.
That girl was like that too. An impression like fireworks. A dirty, ragged look, but a pretty face. That last part might have been my own selfishness talking, but my instincts rarely betrayed me.
"Why are you being so nice to me?"
"Because I had an extra ticket? I got it from someone I know anyway."
"Ah..."
"Were you expecting a different answer?"
I had one ticket left over.
I wasn’t going to come back and watch this again by myself anyway, so I might as well use it while I could.
"Take kindness as kindness. If you don’t want it, you can refuse."
"...Thank you."
Hanabi obediently followed us inside.
In the dim interior, people packed in tightly as the lights shone down.
It had been a long time since I’d watched something like this.
Back in Korea, I’d only ever seen Cirque du Soleil once.
After some time passed,
when it seemed like all the audience had come in,
a voice flowed out.
「I will never abandon you」
「I will never make you sad」
「I will never make you cry」
「I will never part from you」
「I will never hurt you with lies」
Next, I saw a girl with twin tails gliding across the stage like a fish.
The girl performed acrobatics while hanging various masks from her waist and switching between them.
"Oh...!"
For an unnamed Wandering Troupe, this was pretty entertaining.
Because it was real acrobatics and magic you couldn’t see in reality.
It had a different feel to it.
The girl floated as if she were swimming alongside fish and drifting through the sea.
Even from far away, it felt as though they were performing right in front of us.
The fish swimming beside the girl leaped toward the sky, then plunged back into the water, sending ripples across the surface.
With a burst of fireworks, the girl changed masks.
At last, the real [performance] began.
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