Half a month ter.

  Hayami Reina opened her eyes in bed. Yep, same old ceiling she’d grown used to. She tossed aside the bnket, got dressed in her freshly washed but still tattered clothes, and walked to the window.

  “Raining again... It’s always raining here.” Reina sighed softly.

  It was time to leave. Time to look for more food.

  Technically, the dog meat and the stash of dried rations in the house hadn’t run out yet. Her bizarrely low appetite meant she barely needed anything to keep hunger at bay.

  Unfortunately, with no refrigerator and zero knowledge of how to cure or dry meat, the dog meat had gone bad quickly. She’d even considered bartering the corpse of that unfortunate man—who had let down his guard from hunger and died by her hand—for meat with the wild dogs outside. But unlike that eccentric old man, Reina wasn’t a lunatic or a survivalist, so she decided not to take the risk.

  With a small bag of dried food slung over her back and an oil-paper umbrel in hand, Reina set off on her journey to find a new human settlement.

  There weren’t many homes left nearby. Most people had moved out long before the war ever touched this pce. Those who stayed behind had their own problems to deal with.

  Without her cloak—which had been shredded during her fight with the stray dogs—Reina stepped out into the rain, the oil-paper umbrel her only protection.

  …

  Following the faint traces of human activity through winding, rugged mountain roads, Reina finally stumbled upon a small town—one far more lively than the deserted residential area she'd been hiding in.

  Rows of houses stood neatly aligned. There weren’t many people out, but it was still a huge improvement.

  The rain hadn’t stopped. Reina switched the umbrel to her left hand and shook out her sore right.

  Ahead was a market, bustling with voices and calls. This was her destination. After careful thought, Reina had concluded the most stable way to secure food now was to find a job. Work for someone in exchange for food. The only problem was… would anyone actually hire a child?

  At the Market

  “Fresh eggs here! Big and nutritious—id by my own hens! Come take a look!” shouted the egg vendor.

  “Fresh veggies! Cabbage, green peppers, baby bok choy—got it all! Look all you want, it’s free to browse!” another yelled from his stall.

  “Firewood for sale! Top-quality wood chopped with the finest bck tungsten steel axe—hand-forged over forty-nine days by a master bcksmith! The handle’s ebony stone, tough as nails! Firewood from this axe is the best you’ll ever burn!” cried a vendor, hoisting his axe theatrically.

  “Fish for sale—look at the size of this one! You won’t regret it—fresh as can be! Poke it and it’ll still wrig—YAAAH! Holy crap, it really moved!” The fish vendor shrieked and fell ft on his butt, startled by his own wares.

  “…?” Reina stood in stunned silence. Were these sales pitches for real?

  These vendors were characters, no doubt. Honestly… Reina was starting to consider staying here long-term.

  “Come take a look! Fresh fruit, I—” a fruit vendor was calling out when he suddenly felt a tug on the corner of his shirt.

  He turned around.

  Whoa.

  A dainty little girl, no older than eight or nine, stood there like a porcein doll. Her shoulder-length, ash-bck hair was unkempt, strands slipping over her eyes. Each time they did, she’d furrow her brows and lift a pale hand, long fingers brushing the hair neatly behind her ears.

  “Something you need, kiddo? Uncle’s real busy. Business is booming,” said the vendor, squatting down to meet her eyes and fshing a wide grin—though there was no booming business in sight.

  Opportunity. At this angle, one strike would do the job—

  No. Reina caught herself and resisted the urge to draw the hunting knife tucked against her side.

  “Kind sir,” she began, voice soft and tremulous, “my parents and I traveled from a distant nd... but misfortune struck…” Her gray eyes shimmered with sorrow. Her voice choked slightly. “Now I’m all alone. But ever since I was little, my parents taught me to stand on my own—”

  “Whoa whoa whoa, slow down, kid. Speak pin. I don’t have much book learnin’, I can’t follow what you’re sayin’,” the vendor cut her off, waving his hands impatiently.

  “…Uncle. I’m an orphan. I’m hungry. I want a job,” Reina said ftly, face bnk.

  “Tch. Here I thought you were about to call me ‘Dad’ with all that parent talk. Got my hopes up for nothin’.” The vendor—clearly blind to gender distinctions—waved dismissively. “Shoo. What work could a little girl like you do? Still got baby fuzz on your head.”

  Reina turned and walked to the next stall.

  “Excuse me, ma’am, I—”

  “You wandering around alone, little miss? Don’t you know this area’s crawling with kidnappers? Where’s your ma?” the auntie interrupted her mid-sentence, looking flustered.

  “My parents are—” Reina began again, only to feel the veins bulge at her temple.

  “Oh no, you don’t have a ma? That’s bad, really bad! If a kidnapper sees a sweet thing like you, they’ll snatch you right up—how awful!” The auntie didn’t seem to notice Reina’s carefully practiced “adorable smile” had completely vanished.

  “…Ma’am. I’m a boy.” Reina said coolly. This stupid smile tactic was officially dead to her. Never again. All those tips from that book “8 Facial Tricks to Control the Human Heart”? Total garbage. Just look at that cringey title. Why did she even believe it?

  “A boy?” The auntie looked her up and down. “Pfft, what’s the point of lying to me? Go lie to the kidnappers—though honestly, not even they’d buy it. You’re way too cute. Can’t even fool a blind drunkard.” She stopped paying attention and wandered off, muttering about how a little girl without her ma was doomed to suffer.

  “…?” Reina’s worldview began to crack.

  If one person mistakes your gender, they’re an idiot.If two people do, they’re blind.But if everyone does...

  Reina knew what she looked like. Or at least, she thought she did. To her, her face didn’t seem much different from her previous life—two eyes, a nose, and a mouth. What was the big deal?

  Yes, Reina suffered from a very specific kind of facial blindness: she could easily tell others apart, and even distinguish men from women—but when it came to herself, she had zero clue if she looked attractive, cute, or anything in between.

  Just then, she saw a girl with blue-violet hair run up to the fruit vendor’s stall.

  Wearing a sweet, innocent smile, the girl said in a sugary voice, “Uncle, how much is this fruit? My mommy’s sick, and I heard eating more fruit helps you get better.”

  “Aw, such a thoughtful little dy. Fifty taels for ten jin. Want Uncle to pack it up for you?” The fruit vendor beamed, giving her a thumbs-up.

  “Thank you, mister! I’ll take apples, oranges, and pears—ten jin each. Please pack them in three separate bags,” the girl giggled, sticking out her tongue shyly. “Hehe, I’m not very strong, so I’ll carry ten jin in each hand and put the st ten in my backpack.” She turned to show him the small pack on her back.

  “Sure thing! I’ll get it all packed up. That’ll be 150 taels, thanks for shopping!” The vendor turned to wait for her to grab the money—completely unaware that behind him, a red-haired boy was sneaking up and reaching for the stall’s fruit.

  “Ah! Thief!” the blue-haired girl shrieked suddenly, covering her mouth with one hand and pointing dramatically with the other.

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