Kuro: A Land in Eternal Night

Chapter 2.2: A girl named Mina

Mina felt drops of water on her skin. She glanced up at the dark metallic dome that covered the Utter Darkness and cringed, realizing the implication as more droplets came. The Rains came without warning, an unwelcome phenomenon. By the time rainwater had filtered through Taiyou-Shi's Upper and Middle Plates, it had absorbed enough refuse to turn it into harmful acid water. Mina dove right into the sewer access without a moment's hesitation. She landed with a splash into the filthy water, a cesspool that reeked of refuse, of the city's many iniquities that washed down here, collecting in a sea of vile obscenities. She looked up to see her stalker staring down at her with disgust before he too, had to run for cover. Mina steered clear of the sewer opening as the Rains poured for a few moments. The pavement above hissed where the corrosive water touched, the entire area drenched in acid rain, the water tempering the smoke rising from the concrete pavement. Mina made sure she stood on higher ground letting the acidic water pass downstream. Mina took a look at her arms, rubbing them vigorously. No burn damage. She would sit here under cover and wait for the Rains to pass.

Mina heaved a sigh of relief. "Safe for now." She walked away from the sewer's waterway and salvaged what she could of her now soggy loaf of bread and boiled potato that had gone cold. A short walk later, she'd found a good place to sit down and have her dinner. Most of the people of Sector 6 let this dismal environment break their spirits. Mina refused to let that happen to her. Ever the optimist, she happily devoured her prize. She'd taken great care to make sure water from the Rains didn't touch her meal. She savored the soggy loaf bite by bite as if it were a delicious piece of cake. In between bites of bread, she bit into the boiled potato. Though cold, it was quite tasty. The old man at the potato stall did right by her. She'd taken from him the other day too, but paid him back when she earned surplus GEUs from an errand she ran for the pawnshop owner. That's when he realized what Mina was about. For a brief moment Mina imagined herself a daughter of an elite living at Upper Plates, perhaps a family from the Economic Assembly - somewhere she'd never been in her life. She quickly brushed away the thought. No sense in dreaming about something that would never be. Immigrating to the Middle Plates for a resident of the Utter Darkness was incredibly difficult, moving to the Upper Plates was all but impossible.

Old man Joab taught her all she needed to survive. The old man, closest she ever came to a father figure, found her on his doorsteps as a baby, raised her, and showed her the value of being happy. Resilience, Joab would say, lay in being happy. Happiness was not a function of money, nor of status. People make themselves unhappy because they feel they must become better than the other person. "The moment you tell yourself you're better than another... " warned Joab, "you set yourself up for disappointment time after time." Instead, happiness lay in enjoying life, the company of loved ones, and the passing of time. None of of those required money or status, and those that looked for happiness in such things missed the point of life. Mina learned those lessons well, often listening to the old man's stories with rapt attention. They made her strong, kept her going when times had been tough. Most importantly, they kept her alive.

Mina been very fond of Joab. She'd been very sad when he eventually passed away. When he did however, Mina had not been afraid, for Joab had prepared her for it.

Mina finished the last of her meal, the best one she'd had in a week, and got up. She had to make her way back to the street level. Fortunately, she knew her way around this part of the sewer. To the experienced street rat, the sewers were a remarkably convenient means of getting around. The triads avoided it for fear of encountering Taiyou-Shi security probes that patrolled the sewers, and it was brightly lit, one of the few areas the government was willing to make an expenditure of the Goddess Essence for, a small price to pay for ensuring no unlawful activity took place in this darkest of places.

She stretched and looked around. The walls, though dilapidated, were sturdy, a testament to the engineering genius of Diskarma Corporation who built all the sewer ways. She saw her reflection in a sewer puddle and frowned. A tiny girl, barely five feet tall with a slight frame frowned back at her from the water. Her dark hair was unwashed and unkempt, her face was grimy and her overall appearance disheveled. She thumbed her tiny nose at the reflection and it thumbed back. Mina couldn't remember the last time she had a bath. She'd seen the public one near the red light district and thought to visit it during the Waking, but realized she needed to save her money to pay back a few shopkeepers she had stolen from a few days ago.