Nexus City could be either considered the greatest utopia made by mankind, where opportunities are limitless and their people are always on the peak of new technologies... Or more as the government test yard to create and test their new gadgets to improve their insatiable desires and endless hunger of power and wealth, it was the ideal place for anyone looking for any way to earn money and status even if it came from gambling, illegal businesses or just millionaire and not so millionaire companies which mainly dealt with technological improvements or new devices to improve the use of mana on.

But all of that wasn't something that worried Hannah, her only priority right now was to avoid being pushed by the crowd of people which runned and walked as if she wasn't even there, and the ones who saw her? They just gave her that unnecessary look of contempt or mutter any kind of insult against her.

Even if Hannah wasn't the best at social interactions or politics, she already had an idea about the behaviour of people in Nexus City; greedy, opportunistic and treacherous businessmen who sought to rise to the top of that classist society, where power was everything, public opinion was another tool to generate richness and influence, and no matter what, if the person next to you has less worth than you, or you lose your value in this society, you will be be crushed by someone superior.

And Hannah? Poor girl could be easily be at the bottom of the social chain... Well, at least there was the good old William there with her to keep company.

Hannah met William three years ago, when a baker's son threatened to beat her when he caught Hannah stealing a piece of bread that had fallen off the floor and ran away with it, before the baker's son could hit her when he cornered her in an alley, William emerged from some garbage containers that were coincidentally behind Hannah, the man who didn't expect the closest thing to a zombie with the smell of rats, grime and shit, screaming right at his face and throwing him another rat, he fell to the ground and crawled away from Hannah and William.

Since then, in exchange for William's help to survive, Hannah helped him to distract people and steal food for both. The old man was the closest thing of a father figure Hannah had since she became an orphan, he was kind and a good person if you knew him and were able to resist the smell of shit and rats he usually had, always giving the good part of the food for Hannah, teaching her the basic to read and write, telling her stories he read before ending homeless, and a long etcetera he taught the little girl. Thanks to him, Hannah got to live more time than she expected.

When the girl walked near a puddle, she could see her reflect. Hannah didn't really changed much since then, her dirty pink hair reached a little more than her shoulders, the ends badly cut with scissors as she was not able to cut them properly herself since William began to reach the age, she was still a little short due to poor nutrition.

Then she looked towards a bin with a happy face painted that William used to sit next to, his corpse starting to rot and being moved by the city cleaners, some flies molesting the once kind old man corpse. Hannah stood there watching as the two workers moved William's body to a black bag, throwing that same bag to the truck where more black bags were piling up.

Hannah moved weakly to the same spot where William sat, sitting there and leaning her head against the container and closing her eyes, projecting her own voice into her head since she could barely talk.

This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

She thought about William and his kindness, the flavor of the foods she was able to taste in her 11 years of life, her parents... the warm smile of her father and the great hugs of her mom crossing her mind, and the day a stranger entered their pharmacy in a desperate run to find some drugs, ending up shooting Hannah's mother and stabbing her father, and eventually the poor girl ending up in the streets at her own.

And there was nothing else to think about.

Her life was just like that, short and without time to do something barely meaningful, she didn't like that, she didn't want to end like that. Just more time, if she just had more time, maybe another chance, maybe some help.

At the end, the only thought left in her was...

I don't wanna die.

And the silence fell, the mumbling of the noisy crowd of people stopped, the breeze felt like entering a completely closed room, but also not feeling the air entering her nostrils. Hannah for a couple of seconds thought she died, that being dead felt like that, but the tinkling of some bells brought her out of that trance, opening her eyes and lifting her head to see the source of the sound, just to find a note written in front of her.

And a jester holding that exact note.

What's your name?

Hannah tried to read the note, her vision blurred by the fatigue making her squint her eyes to do so; confused by a lot of things a the moment but without having any remaining strength to pay attention to everything, she tried to talk.

"Hann-... Ha-... nnah" She tried to say, her throat too thirsty to do more.

Another jingle sounded, Hannah lifted a little bit more and with her blurry vision managed to see a color pattern of violet and white, a big jester hat where there were two ends of the cap with a golden bell on each one, but most notoriously, a big white mask with a happy face painted in it.

The jester throwed away the first note as he pulled out another one.

Come with me,

and I will give you the chance

to redo your life.

Hannah frowned after reading the new note and then at the hand that the strange jester offered her.

What is this, an offer for orphan isekai?

... or maybe he's just a perv with a very specific kink about jester cosplay.

Hannah snorted a little at her own joke, for her own surprise, she was actually considering it. After all, she had nothing left to lose, and Hannah refused at the idea of ending up in a black plastic bag, surrounded by other black plastic bags, and maybe end in a even bigger black plastic bag with more black plastic bags.

So she lifted her arm, taking the jester's hand as a violet light shone the moment both hands made contact. Suddenly feeling much lighter, Hannah unconsciously stood up, and while holding the jester's hand, they began to walk through the silent crowd.