Lonely Thieves

Act III, Part IV

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An hour later, Daryl and Hikaru were driving through the streets of the Horizon district. Daryl was a little shocked by how bad things were. Sure, it wasn't as bad as the Dusk district, but it in a way, that made things worse. There were a lot of poverty-stricken families and homeless people living in the Dusk district, but since patrols there were light, they were able to make do wherever they could. However, while the Horizon district was a little better off, being poor or homeless here was harder. Unlike the Dusk district, the government did care about the Horizon district, so it was still patrolled by Overman forces. That meant that vagrants and homeless people were often chased away from parks and neighborhoods to avoid bothering the others, making it hard for them to find shelter. That was only one example of how it was a struggle to be poor in the Horizon district – at least, that was how Hikaru explained it.

Daryl was pretty sympathetic, but unfortunately his priorities were more focused on finding Megumi. To be honest, there was always the possibility that Norah had found Megumi again. He'd hoped she'd call him just in case, but if she decided that keeping contact with him was too much of a risk, she might have decided to leave him in the dark.

Per Hikaru's suggestion, the two of them drove off to the orphanage that he and Megumi lived in for most of their childhood. Unfortunately, there weren't really any clues there; the place was abandoned, and while there were signs of people living here recently, neither of them could find any clue to Megumi's whereabouts.

They tried driving around a bit more as Hikaru suggested a few more places to check out. Eventually, they stopped at a diner where Hikaru knew a few acquiantances that might have had information.

"You're asking if I've seen Blessing?" said a elderly man with a large beard. "I would've thought you knew better than I would."

"It's a complicated story," Hikaru said evasively. "We got separated, and I can't contact her. I know she was in the district recently, so I was wondering if she tried to get in touch."

"Unfortunately, I haven't seen hide nor hair of her, so I can't help you there," the man sighed. "Honestly, all everyone's talking about is this whole redevelopment plan, so I would've noticed if anyone mentioned anything else."

"Redevelopment plan? What is that?"

"Just another one of Hayasaka's endless failures to improve life in this district. It only ended up with more homeless people on the streets."

Hikaru smiled sadly. "Guess this place never changes."

"It's this city. People get trapped in their own worlds and don't realize what's important."

"That's all well and good, but we should probably be going if there's no information here," Daryl said, trying his best not to sound too sympathetic.

"Now now," the old man said with a toothy grin. "Just hold on a second. Talking about unrelated things actually made me remember something."

"What is it?" Daryl said impatiently.

"It was a passing rumor, but apparently there's a fairly large community of homeless people under a highway a few miles south of here. They're mostly composed of people who were evicted due to the redevelopment plan's failure."

"And?"

"Well, an old friend of mine was wandering around the area recently and said he saw someone who looked like Megumi there yesterday."

"Is that true?" Hikaru asked.

"It's a rumor. You always gotta take it with a grain of salt."

"We don't really have any other leads," Daryl cut in. "We're better off checking the place out just in case."

With that, the two of them got up and left the diner. They only had a faint idea of which highway they were looking for, but they found it fairly quickly. It was pretty obvious, since the homeless encampment stood out distinctly from the cold concrete of the pillars holding up the road.
As the two of them approached the underpass, the homeless people there seemed to panic. Daryl raised a hand to call out to them, but he was stopped by Hikaru.

"Wait!" Hikaru hissed. "Right now, we're just strangers intruding on their space. Let's make it clear what we want before we make any demands."

"Alright. I'll leave it to you." Daryl lowered his hand and stepped back. From the encampment, an old man emerged with two larger men behind him.

"Are you lost?" he asked derisively. "Sorry, but there's no reason to come down here. Please go back the way you came."

Hikaru raised his hands to show that he wasn't a threat. "I just want to ask you a question. We're looking for a friend of mine. Her name is Megumi. Have you seen her?"

Two small heads suddenly popped out from behind the old man. "Are you friends of Megumi?"

"You two!" The old man shouted as two young boys ran out from behind him and toward Hikaru. "I thought I told you to stay inside!"

Hikaru knelt down until he was eye level with the older boy. "Yes, I'm Megumi's friend. I heard she was here. Can I see her?"

"She was here... but now she's gone."

"Gone? Where did she go?"

"I don't know."

Hikaru looked to the old man, who sighed regretfully. "It wasn't our proudest moment. If you really are her friend, then I have some unfortunate news for you."

"Tell me what happened," Daryl said, stepping forward. "Everything."