Under the Veil of Night

"The lesson is over, do you want to wake up or not?" Misae prodded her friend slowly.

Kanae's eyes fluttered open. She blinked a few times before nodding her head. "I'm awake. I'll be going in a few minutes."

"Are you still working?"

"Of course, you know I have to work if I want to eat, right?" Kanae said nonchalantly.

"Be careful on your way home. This city is famous not for nothing."

"I know," Kanae nodded her head. "You should go, or your teacher will scold you for being late to your club."

"She's usually very lenient," Misae frowned. Nevertheless, she had already finished cleaning up her belongings, so she quickly bid farewell to her best friend.

As Kanae watched Misae disappear from her view, she took her bag. She did bring books, but because she fell asleep during the lesson, she did not have the chance to take them out.

She enrolled in Nolen School C. Nolen School was the most famous school in this city, so they divided into three. The most elite one was Nolen School A, but it was quite expensive and it accepted only the most talented students, so Kanae didn't even try to apply.

Nolen School C has relaxed rules and an easy-going atmosphere. However, because of the not-so-strict-rules, this was also the place where young people from the underworld usually gathered. The underworld was the common term they usually used for people who joined a clan, gang, or group.

Unlike most cities, this city was famous for the people who ruled the city from the street. In order words, this place still had rules: only the strong rule while the weak were ruled.

There was a government, but even it was not strong enough to completely suppress the clans, groups, and gangs. In the end, they struck some deals, which included the term that in public places people from the underworld would not bother the citizen. The exception was if the citizen was the one who tested their patience.

Kanae walked out from the school grounds after walking for some time. The school was quite huge because it had several buildings and the location of the classroom for the first-year was located quite far from the entrance.

She quickly made her way towards the street and continued into an alley before stopping in front of a small noodle store. Pushing the door open, she greeted, "Good afternoon, Old Man."

The one inside the room was an old man. Looking from the wrinkles he had, people would not be able to believe that this man was still under 50. Nevertheless, he was full of energy as he laughed good-naturedly.

"You have finally come, little girl. I thought you have grown tired of working here."

Kanae rolled her eyes. "There's no way I'm going to be tired of working when I have only worked for a few weeks."

The old man was not her father, but he was kind enough to let her work here. She was paid for the number of hours she worked here. The pay was not much, but for her, it was enough.

"Should I start?" Kanae put her backpack at the back of the store.

The old man nodded heartily. "Sure."

Walking to the counter, Kanae took the apron and wore it. She took the cleaning tools and started to clean the floor of the shop. During this hour, the shop was empty, and it was her job to clean up everything before the customers arrived.

"The store is empty today."

"There is some ruckus at the big street in front of the building. The police blocked down some of the roads, so today there will be fewer customers."

Kanae was not surprised to hear that. The problem of some random gangs attacking a store or something was already a common occasion in this city. It would instead be weird if nothing happened during the day or even night.

The police were not that quick and most citizens didn't really rely on them. It was not that they were too weak, but their number was too small compared with the gangs and all. The police needed more hands to help them, but the strict procedure made people unwilling to join the police. Even now, the number of detectives and police officers was extremely low.

This shop was not out of the range of the street either, but Kanae has never encountered any gangs' attack during her work in the store. Of course, she didn't hope there would be any since the damage might cause the store to close down. In the first place, the earnings from the store were not much and it would be expensive to do any repair should there be any damage.

Kanae finished cleaning and put the tools away. She sat down in the back of the room to wait for the customers to arrive.

"How's your school, Kanae?" the old man started a conversation.

"Just like the usual, Old Man. The lessons are mostly a repeat of what we have learned in the Junior High. There is little to no new materials," Kanae sighed. She might be sleeping most of the time, but the questions from Misae allowed her to know how far their lesson was progressing.

The old man patted Kanae's head, "Learn well, you will have a better future ahead of you."

"Thank you, Old Man," Kanae grinned.

The old man was always called Old Man by the people around him. It was not like he didn't have a name, but he loved this nickname. Even before Kanae met him, he always used that name, so she too called him by that name.

As Kanae talked with the old man, the door opened and a few people came in.

"Old Man, three bowls of noodles," one of the men yelled.

"Coming!" the old man answered. He turned to Kanae, "Time to work, Little Girl."

Kanae stood up and prepared the utensils the old man needed. During the time she was at school, the old man would do everything by himself. It was only during the afternoon that he could relax more because Kanae would do the job for him.

Moving around to do her job, Kanae completely forgot about the time. By the time the customers decreased, it was already 9 PM.

"Oh, Kanae, you're still working here?" a customer joked.

Kanae laughed, "I love to work here, Sir."

"The atmosphere in the store turns warmer with the addition of this little girl," another customer added heartily.

"Yup, the Old Man did a good job picking her up."

Kanae felt that they treated her as an item, but she still laughed when she heard their remarks.

Some of them also joked about her age and she responded kindly.

The legal age to work was 17, but no one really cared about it. In this city, a lot of people were working below the legal age limit, and the government couldn't possibly tell them not to work. Many of them had special circumstances and with the little power the government had, the government couldn't possibly pay for their living expenses too.

When the store was finally empty, it was already 11 PM.

"Kanae, your dinner," the Old Man passed a bowl of noodles to her.

Kanae accepted it happily. One of the perks working here was that she could get a free dinner every day.

"Go home as fast as possible after this."

"I know," Kanae answered.. She devoured the noodles as quickly as she could before departing to her home.