+ + +

Later in the day, Kiu found himself standing in front of a dingy apartment door in a more "affordable" district of the city.

Although it was the 25th Century, inequality remained widespread, and this six-story concrete apartment block lacked even an elevator. A short while ago, he had huffed and puffed his way all the way up to the top level — a slight workout that Kiu always hated even though he only came here once every two weeks. The area was somewhat removed from public transit, and it was challenging to access without a personal vehicle.

Thankfully, his mom's business had three or four company vehicles parked in the garage at home at any given time, so it was quite easy for Kiu to travel anywhere. 

Only self-driving cars were legal in the 25th Century, so it didn't matter how old Kiu was or whether he had a license to drive. Earlier, he had gotten dropped off, and Kiu would probably summon his vehicular "chauffeur" later on when he felt like leaving.

For now, he'd spend some time in reality.

+ + +

Kiu pushed the doorbell once.

He shook off the umbrella that he had been carrying, sending a light shower of water droplets onto the stairwell.

It had only been drizzling outdoors today, but lots of people were saying that one should avoid getting caught in the rain these days. There were many reports in the news that the acid content in rainwater was at an all-time record high. Doctors claimed that chronic rain exposure was linked to cancer, and people with increased occupational exposure to the outdoors and acid rain had dramatically increased medical problems. Supposedly, it was supposed to be as bad as smoking.

Kiu set the umbrella on the ground against the concrete wall and looked back at the door to his dad's apartment.

Thirty seconds had passed, and there was still no response.

He pushed the doorbell twice more, and then leaned back against the far wall.

The teenager wondered for a moment if his dad wasn't home. As far as he could tell, there was total silence on the other side of the door, and Kiu knew that the walls to these studio apartments were rather thin.

He opened his PD¹Personal Device (PD), and absentmindedly scrolled through his notifications. 

No matter how Kiu thought about it, he still felt like it was extremely unlikely that Dad was outside. Technically, his dad was a self-employed freelancer who "worked from home" — which to some extent meant that he had odd sleeping hours. These days, it was rare for him to wake up before noon, and Kiu had been previously told to not bother coming in the morning.

Even 1PM or 2PM was "early" — and oftentimes Kiu's dad was still in pajamas when Kiu came to visit at that time of day.

+ + +

There was a beep on Kiu's PD, so Kiu looked down.

There was one new unread message from his dad.

He clicked on it.

[VR] Hugh Lee (Today, 13:18): 『  With a client right now. Go play outside for 30 min  』

Kiu glanced back at the peephole that was built into the front door. 

In the current era, it was standard for digital cameras to be installed on doorways. Not only was it a basic form of security, but it also allowed homeowners to check who was visiting their residences from their remote devices. It was convenient for making sure that Amazon packages were delivered properly, and it reduced crime because it stored security footage. The fancier models even had facial recognition software and other biometric authentication features.

The black-haired boy stared at his PD again.

The message had been sent from 「VRChat」, a ubiquitous messaging software that came pre-installed by default on most virtual reality consoles. Although it had a reputation for trashy preteens who mostly fucked around with the "novelty" of virtual reality, it was also common for business professionals to use it to set up impromptu long-distance conference calls.

The main appeal of the app was that it was extremely easy to create a generic "throwaway" avatar. Even if one didn't have a dedicated universal 「NetID」 account, anyone could participate in 「VRChat」 so long as they provided a username and email address. Any other forms of identity verification were completely unnecessary. Essentially, it was unfiltered anonymity in the style of the "Wild West" days of the Internet, back when computers were invented in the 20th and 21st Centuries. 

Evidently, his dad was online right now, and couldn't get away from the VR console for the time being. 

Kiu looked out of the glass window that was built into in the stairwell.

It was still raining outside.

"How am I supposed to 'play outside' when it's still raining?" He muttered to himself.

+ + +

A few minutes later, Kiu ended up making his way back down the stairs. He sat down on the front steps of the apartment complex, just underneath the threshold that shielded the main entrance from the steady shower of rain that continued to fall from the sky. Just beside his feet, there was a plastic bag with a few containers of freshly cooked greens. They were still warm at the present moment, but the ambient temperature was slightly brisk. It would not take long for them to cool down.

Kiu stared at the puddles that were gradually collecting on the sidewalk.

In his thoughts, he wondered whether there were any ants that drowned every time it rained.  And even if they didn't drown, were they affected by the carcinogenic properties of acid rain? Would there be mutant ants wandering the Earth in a couple hundred years?

Kiu knew that there were giant rats in the sewers of all the major cities. However, he wasn't sure if it was the consequence of acid rain or merely the byproduct of the enormous amount of waste that was produced by the human species every year. 

He closed his eyes and contented himself to just listening to the rain.

+ + +

"Oh, what are you doing here, kid?"

Kiu was interrupted by a voice from behind him, as well as a familiar hand that settled on his shoulder.

He looked straight up, and found himself staring upside down into the rich amethyst eyes of a dark-skinned man. His bangs were long enough to hang freely, and they were faintly damp with moisture — presumably the rain. Kiu recognized him immediately.

"Sean?"

"Aren't you cold, dressed like that?"

Kiu glanced at himself, and he was only wearing a simple long-sleeved cotton shirt and sweatpants. He hadn't even brought a raincoat, as Kiu had originally thought that he wouldn't be spending very much time outside. He had figured that an umbrella would be sufficient for the short amount of time in the rain, anyways.

"I'm okay," Kiu answered regardless, his expression blank. "I thought you were in Japan."

"Well, I'm back now. Got off the plane earlier today. You don't sound too happy to see me."

"Neutral." Kiu replied.

Sean Hunter — twenty-three years old — was his sister's ex-boyfriend. They didn't exactly have a poor relationship, but at the same time they certainly were not best buddies. The age gap aside, things were rather awkward between them. It was sort of inevitable given the connection he used to have with Kiu's sister.

The dark-skinned man laughed.

"Blunt as usual," he said.

"What are you doing here?" Kiu asked, ignoring the comment. "My dad lives here."

"Oh, I'm just moving in. Just got my keys from the landlord. Still need to move my stuff from the car."

"...Why this place? You could have gone to literally anywhere with your degree."

Sean shrugged.

"It was cheap," he said.

"...You're not poor," Kiu retaliated.

The 23-year-old laughed out loud and ruffled Kiu's black hair.

"I've got big dreams," he said. "I'm going to go to Mars."

"You're crazy."

"Who isn't?" Sean spoke dismissively and stepped out into the rain.

He shielded his eyes from the rain with his hand as he loosely pivoted around on one foot.

"Hey kid, you're not busy, right?" Sean's voice was unwavering and solid. "Help me out with moving in, 'kay?"

Kiu was about open his mouth in protest.

However, before he could utter a single word, the young adult man had already turned around and disappeared into the streets. Kiu could only stare at the back of the male figure splashing his way through puddles. He was clearly unfazed by the fact that he was getting wet, or if he was, he didn't show it. 

People like him — they were simply incomprehensible.

+ + +

A few minutes later, Sean returned with a pile of stuff. He dropped a fairly heavy lump of clothing on Kiu's lap.

"Here's a coat. Wear it. You're making me cold just by looking at you freeze your ass off." He spoke plainly.

Kiu looked up and tilted his head. "Pardon?"

"Your sister would have killed me if I just left you sitting outside... if she had been around."

Kiu didn't say anything in response.

Sean placed a plastic pet carrier on the ground right beside the seventeen-year-old boy.

"Keep an eye on my cat, will you? Sam hates to be boxed in, so if you can find a way to keep the little fella entertained while I move the rest of my stuff in, I'd appreciate it."

Kiu tilted his head to get a better look through the grid-like meshwork of the cat carrier.

...Sure enough, the occupant inside did not look particularly happy.

"Is he socialized? Friendly?" Kiu asked.

"She, actually." Sean corrected him as he made his way up the steps. "And yes. She's not a stray. Got her from a shelter when the previous owner died."

"Sam..." Kiu thought it was rather strange name for a cat. "Short for Samantha?" 

"Wrong again. It's short for Samoyed."

"Isn't that a breed of dog?"

There was a cheerful look on the older guy's face as he opened the door to the main entrance.

"Correct! Though, I have no clue why the previous owner named her that way."

"Weird."

"Yep. Weird."

"Huh."

 

∎