They'd left the bar out the back door, with plans to meet up with the pair of mercenaries that evening. Apparently, Viper's source wasn't someone he could meet with during the day, but Rika seemed confident it wouldn't be an issue. Alden was trailing her by a few steps as usual, trying to guess where they were headed. At the moment, they were passing the destroyed library, which still sent chills down Alden's spine.
It was such a stark contrast to the well-kept town. Alden had never seen such clean streets. Being from a larger city, he always assumed a small layer of trash was simply natural, but the residents of Rallsburg were proud of their town and kept it orderly and neat. To see this wrecked, slowly decaying building totally abandoned by everyone and left to rot seemed completely out of place. Whenever Alden got near, though, he could feel it urging him away. It was silently screaming of dangers hidden within the ruined pillars.
He was so enraptured he almost missed Rika trying to talk to him.
"Why do you keep doing that?"
"Doing what?" Alden asked, tearing his eyes away to look at her. He always felt a bit intimidated by her. Rika may have been shorter than him by half a foot, but she practically radiated strength and competence. He was jealous of that confidence, but it was invigorating as well. She was tough, she could take care of herself and she knew it. He found her mesmerizing, and mentally styled himself as her companion in this adventure.
"You keep poking in, stopping me or defending me or whatever. Why?"
"I dunno," Alden said. "Why not?"
Rika frowned, taking a break behind a few bushes lining the street. She was still avoiding being seen when possible, but Alden got the impression she also didn't want him to see her face right then. He leaned against a nearby wall, watching for any onlookers. "I told you I'm not exactly popular around here, right?"
"Yeah."
"Well, someone jumping in on my side means a lot, okay? So I wonder why."
"I just want to help."
"But you've got your own shit, don't you? What about your lost sibling?"
Alden shrugged. "Kendra hasn't said anything yet, and I have no clue where to start besides her. I'd rather be helping you than sitting around trying to think of something new."
Rika laughed weakly. "Who the fuck are you, Alden Bensen?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"The one actually selfless person in Rallsburg, apparently." Hearing that from Rika gave him a warm glow. It was how he envisioned himself. A hero of the town—or at least a hero to this strange, exciting girl he'd met.
"Come on, I can't be the only one," Alden said, trying to be modest.
"Everyone else has got an agenda, trust me. I'm pretty sure I warned you that from minute one." Rika stood, rolling her head round her shoulders and stretching out her neck before setting off once more. "So, where are you from anyway?"
"Kent, just outside Tacoma. My family has a house up in the hills over there."
"No wonder you think this place is nice if you live in fucking Tacoma."
"Near Tacoma."
Rika grinned. "So what's the rest of the family, then?"
"My parents are both teachers," Alden said. "High school."
"Eww, did you have to have them as teachers?"
"Nah, I went to a tech magnet school. I never had them. My sister did though."
"Sister? Thought your sibling was a total mystery."
"That sibling is probably older though. My sister Margaret's only fourteen. Way too young for college."
"Hey, I've known some damn smart fourteen year olds."
"I thought you didn't go to college?"
Rika shook her head. "Nah, but I still end up meeting a lot of interesting people. Consequences of my parents."
"Your dad was something to do with software, right?" Alden filled in eagerly.
Rika grinned. "Top of the class, Alzack. Yeah, my dad founded NishiSoft, because he doesn't have a creative bone in his body and named a company after his family name. They wrote database analysis software for trends in data mining. Boring as fuck, but super valuable to all the ad companies these days. Kendra's family bought us out so they could resell the software to western companies, since no one wanted to learn Japanese to speak with our sales reps. I was probably the only one there who actually liked speaking English."
"You worked for them?"
"'You grow up in the Nishimura household, you serve the family from the minute you can walk'," Rika intoned mockingly. "My grandmother on my mother's side was Canadian, and she taught me English while my mother taught me Japanese. Between that and the Internet, I grew up a nice bilingual asset for my father's company."
"Why not your mother?" Alden asked.
"Because she wasn't permitted to use English," Rika spat. "My family acted like it was still the fucking Meiji era and told my mother she was to raise children and keep the household, and nothing else. She couldn't even work on her novels, just draw occasionally when she found some time to herself. If she'd actually been a Japanese citizen, maybe she could've done something about it, but she didn't want to give up her homeland. She refused and stayed inside all the time rather than face all the judgment." The bitterness in Rika's voice was mounting with every word.
"...What happened to her?" Alden asked quietly.
"Dead," Rika said shortly.
Alden stopped walking and looked back at her, half-shaded by the nearest building. Her eyes were burning with a cold fury he recognized from the diner, when they'd first met. He hesitated, casting about for something to say. "I'm so sorry."
"Not your fault," Rika said, her eyes softening a little. "I owe her everything, so I'm going to find the one responsible and deal with him."
"...Your father?"
"Yup," Rika said, a brief crackle of lightning sparkling up the blue lock of hair.
"What can I do to help?" Alden asked firmly.
Rika smiled, but shook her head. "That's a family matter, but I appreciate it. Really. And if I can help you find your mysterious brother or sister, you just say the word. I've got your back."