Chapter Text
In a city as large as this one, there's no doubt that crime rates skyrocket from time to time.
From your average pickpocketers, to street vendor scams, robbers, anything that can be committed has probably already been done.
As someone whose part-time job was to sell newspapers, they've seen their fair share of crime reports located in newspapers.
They range from small to major, it's always a gamble on which crime will be posted in the newspaper next, or if there'll even be a crime big enough to report on.
That's one reason why Es likes their job.
They get paid, and they get to read about interesting things that happened throughout the day.
It's what motivates them to get up early in the morning, an hour and a half before school starts, to get ready for their job.
In all fairness, the Director said that they should do something besides school, but he never said when.
Although, it does have its disadvantages.
Like trying to get ready while not waking any of their roommates up. They always get antsy whenever Es does that, even if it wasn't intentional.
So far, it seemed that today was another morning that they'd spare all of them from the hell that is waking up early.
They'd have to get up for school anyways, Es didn't see the point in waking them up; They hated mornings too.
They put on their uniform (as they had to go straight to school once they finished up selling), brought out their messenger bag from underneath their bed, and started to set out.
Before they could, even though they were as quiet as humanly possible, they were stopped at the door.
They would've been annoyed if it was anyone else, but it was just Amane.
She had an identical messenger bag to Es' hanging around her neck, and they were reminded that it was Wednesday.
They both worked the same shift that day. Mainly because the Director wouldn't let her go out without someone to look after her.
According to him, Es had the safest job out of everyone else (who somehow decided that factory work was their best bet), and was "mature enough."
...Honestly, what's up with adults? Age didn't always define what you could and couldn't do.
That was something both they and Amane could agree on.
Speaking of which...
"Took you long enough..." She spoke, clutching her messenger bag.
"Shut up. You wake up too early..."
"I need to have a productive start to the day, unlike you."
"...I am literally one of the only reasons you're allowed to work this early."
"Hmph." She turned around, opening the door. They both walked outside the orphanage, and into the streets of Milton End Road.
"...Where do we go again?" She asked.
Es facepalmed, "Left. Just to left, and to the right once we reach the crosswalk..."
And with that, they officially set out, walking quietly towards Main Street, which was only filled with businessmen and street vendors setting up shop.
They had a minor stop to gaze at the birds, flying above them in flocks, before coming to a stop at the newsagent shop they worked for.
It had the same old panned windows, the familiar old wooden door, and the neatly printed sign...
Milgram.
That was the name of the newspaper business they worked for.
It was a good enough pay for what it is. Just make people come up to you out of curiosity for what the latest events, crimes, and gossip were. Easy.
They stepped in, and the bell attached to the door let out a loud chime.
They were greeted by the loud clicking of the printing press, and the all-consuming smell of ink.
Upon hearing the bell, the owner of the shop turned around from his post at the printing press.
"Who is it—Ah, it's just you two...Good morning." He said, smiling.
"Good morning," Es said, "Are you still printing the papers?"
"Yep, it'll only take a few minutes though. You kids must be quite eager to work if you got here this early..."
They shot Amane a look as if saying 'I told you so', and she rolled her eyes at them.
"Can we grab the ones that are finished?" She asked, choosing to ignore Es.
"Of course, that goes without saying." He said playfully, "We got a good spark of luck this time around, there are some interesting things in this issue..."
They both approached the side table where a stack of newspapers was neatly set.
Es grabbed the first one and opened it delicately, that way they didn't rip it.
Amane tapped on their right arm, and they let go of that side of the paper so that they could both hold it together.
So far, it wasn't anything special. Just some job listings, news about celebrities, stuff that they'd always seen in these papers.
They heard Amane mumble something about a new pancake shop opening, and laughed quietly. Even if it earned them a light shove.
Then they turned to the next page, as Es froze.
They were used to seeing crimes listed on the paper, they'd been in the industry for a little over 8 months now.
It was interesting to read about, but they could never rid themself of the disturbed feelings they got when reading them.
As they looked over the article, having its section taking a quarter of the page, they realized that today was no different.
The unease stayed the same.
'16-year-old girl found dead in a nearby pond.' The title said, and Es's eyes widened in shock.
"Ah, so you guys reached that part of the paper..." They heard the owner say.
Was it that obvious from the look on their faces that they read that part?
Amane stammered for a bit, eyes staying on the paper, before finally saying "Where was...this?"
"Let me see if I remember...." He said, tapping idly on the table, "You know where the rich side of town is? I believe it was around there."
"Is that so?" Es whispered to themself. An unexpected happening on that side of town was rare; they didn't see much of it written in the papers.
But then again, the chances of something happening are usually low, but never zero.
"You think she fell in or something?" Amane asked.
"That's everyone's best guess. It's unfortunate, but life must go on." He said, placing the last of the freshly printed newspapers onto the desk.
They both grabbed a few papers each from the stack and places them into their bags.
"We should get going now...do we give you the money on the way back?" Es asked as they both moved back towards the door.
"Yep, same as always." The man said, before starting to wave goodbye, "Be sure to stay out of trouble, you hear?"
"We will," Amane replied before they both left the shop, the bells chiming once more.
A brief silence filled the air before Amane pointed to the right of the street.
She made a gesture as if asking if they should go over there, and Es nodded. Together, they set off towards that side of the street.
Throughout the morning, they sold papers to the people flooding the streets, eager to get to where they needed to be on time.
It was difficult, considering that both Amane and Es were trying to sell while staying in view of each other, but they made it work.
By the time school was about to start, Amane had sold all her papers, while Es only had one left.
They considered waiting it out and selling it, before shrugging it off.
Maybe they could keep this issue to themself or something. What the shop owner didn't know, couldn't hurt him, right?
While walking to school, they tried explaining it to Amane, who didn't understand the point of keeping it.
"There's no use for it." She replied, "If you want, I could go sell it later since I'm clearly better at it than you..."
"Oh shut up. This was just a one-time thing..."
Before long, they reached the block their street was on.
Fortunately for Amane, she encountered a few of her friends walking to school. She ran over to talk to them, leaving Es to try and catch up behind them.
...They should seriously start to consider finding a friend group of their own. It kind of stung to be left alone, but oh well. Nothing they could do about it.
Their thoughts were interrupted by the rustling of bushes. Surprised, they turned around and saw a row of bushes outside somebody's house.
After a moment of silence, they concluded that they must've been hearing things, and started to turn away.
That was until the rusting continued.
"What the—?" They said aloud, crouching down to where the bushes lie.
As they were about to reach out to move the leaves away, the head of a rabbit poked out of the bushes.
They fell backward out of shock, and the rabbit jumped out of the bush, looking up at them.
Now, Es wasn't the most animal-loving person out there. That title would go to a kid in their science class.
However, they did have an affinity for rabbits. They never understood why, but it didn't matter to them.
They looked over to the left and saw that Amane and her friends were further ahead.
'She'd be fine on her own for a bit...' They thought, impulsively reaching out to pet the rabbit.
It seemed to flinch back, before reluctantly letting them pet it.
Now that they had a chance to look closely, it seemed to have...antlers? Huh?
They didn't know that a rabbit could have antlers...they'd have to find out what species it was later.
While lost in thought, the rabbit moved away from their touch and jumped up.
It grabbed their hat with its teeth, and looked up at them once more, before turning around and running off.
They were in shock for a moment—because a rabbit of all things just stole their hat—before going to run after it.
Hopefully, they'd get their hat back and make it back to school on time...