Chapter Text
It was another sunny day in the city of Cyberraya. The skies were painted a clear blue with patches of clouds scattering here and there as the sun shone brightly down onto the bustling city of technology.
Within the edge of the city, out in the residential areas, there was a boy making his way to school on his electric scooter. He was zipping through the streets, moving between shops and barely missed from colliding with a few people.
The boy reached a sidewalk at one point in his path, then he took a sharp turn to his right and jumped onto the metal railing of a staircase that led to another sidewalk below. He skidded down the railing with such skill and safely made it to the bottom.
He continued his way to school but first things first, he had to stop by a food stall to buy his morning school lunch.
The young boy approached the stall, situated on the sidewalk by the side of the road, where a lanky middle-aged Indian vendor was preoccupied with the content inside his phone.
The kid greeted the balding man with a calm expression. "Hey pakcik, I wanna order!"
The vendor didn't pay him much attention and simply set his phone down before quickly preparing a plastic food container for the upcoming order.
"Alright, what do you want?" He asked without bothering to look at the boy.
"One nasi lemak to go please!" The boy ordered, unbothered by the fact he was ignored.
Besides, he had his yoyo in his pocket to play with anyway.
"Hmph, sure.." The vendor responded casually, filling the plastic container with some fragrant coconut rice, decorating the side with some sliced cucumber, dried anchovies and nuts. "What side dish?"
"Uhh.. Fried chicken and a sunny side up" The boy replied then quickly stopped toying with his yoyo when he remembered an additional part of his order. "Oh and hold the sambal, replace it with tempoyak if you have it"
"Tempoyak?" The man asked, pausing his actions.
"Tempoyak udang" The boy clarified.
The vendor suddenly became quiet as if the boy’s words had triggered something within him. In a blink of an eye, he quickly wrapped up a different packaged meal and handed it to the kid with a slight look of annoyance. “Why didn’t you say so earlier?”
The boy was surprised by this and a little confused by what the vendor had meant but didn't think too much of it and gratefully received the packaged meal.
When he wanted to hand over his money to pay, the vendor raised his hand to stop him. "Just take it, it's on the house"
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah yeah~" The man said, gesturing his hands at the kid with a lighthearted smile. "Go ahead! You'll be late"
The boy's lips slowly formed into a smile and he nodded his head gratefully at the vendor. "Alright, thank you!" He said and packed the food container into his bag.
The vendor nodded back to him, watching the boy step onto his electric scooter and take off, zipping away to school right before they could hear the school bell ringing.
But just as he left the stall, the boy could overhear the vendor's small remark.
"Can't believe they're relying on such young kids these days" He chuckled to himself before going back to whatever he was doing before.
When the boy heard that, his smile disappeared and he glanced back at the vendor with a sour expression. He sighed and focused back on the road in front of him, seeing the gates of his school getting closer to him.
' So I was right.. .' The child thought to himself, gripping the handle bar firmly. ' Well, at least I'm prepared this time '
' With all the plans I made, I'm sure I can avoid my previous fate... ' He added, his chest rising in anticipation as he stopped near the school, letting his scooter fold and attach itself onto the back of his bag.
He walked over to the gate, nodding politely to the guard that let him pass as he stepped onto the school grounds with both of his hands clinging to the straps of his school bag.
' Now all that's left is to play along until the time is right... '
He looked up at the school building, a glint of light shining in his eyes with determination.
A life-changing determination.
' Let's restart! '