"So, this is my cut?" Arrow nodded at the money when Malu nudged a backpack towards him. "Is it all here? Two hundred and forty?"

"Yes, it's two hundred and forty, as we agreed. Want to check?"

"I'll take your word for it. We're partners, right?" He smiled, but for some reason, his smile made me uneasy. I couldn't say why. I just felt uncomfortable, as if there was something more behind that smile than mere friendliness.

"Yes, that's right, Arrow," he nodded.

"Well... then that's it," he clapped his hands. "You've returned everything... almost everything. You can spend your share. Although, I'll give you some advice, Malu knows, but you kids..." he looked us over eloquently. "Don't think about spending it all at once. That's too easy to trace. You're kids, nobody will be looking too closely at you. But start spending out of your league, and you could run into problems."

"We're not idiots," Syringa grimaced.

"Idiots or not, keep it in mind. And if anything, not a word about me. Because..." his face became serious, "I'll bury you alive right behind the repair box."

"We understand, Arrow," Malu nodded.

***

"What a jerk," muttered Syringa once we had loaded into the car and were pulling out of the repair box. "No, seriously, what a freak."

"Bite your tongue, Syringa, you're getting on my nerves," Malu retorted gruffly.

"He threatened us!"

"He threatens everyone."

"But we're not everyone!"

No one responded, either from lack of desire or strength. Or maybe both.

"What about the money?" Alex asked.

"What about the money? We split it, and everyone takes their share," Malu replied. "Although, if I were you, I'd listen to Arrow. And yes, Syringa, before you open your mouth, I'm just going to say: he's right. So don't even start."

"I wasn't going to," she pouted.

"Are we going to celebrate?" Alex suddenly cheered up for no apparent reason. Maybe he wanted to change the subject, or perhaps he was just shooting in the dark.

"Celebrate?"

"Yeah. Our first job, after all. I mean, the first big job. A step towards success, right?"

"It's a step towards prison," I muttered.

"Well, that too, naturally, but we're not there yet," he glanced at us. "And nobody seems to be planning on it. And someone even plans to leave us. So, while we're together, let's toast to our luck, right?"

"You were told not to show off," Syringa frowned.

"Oh, come on, we're not throwing a party! Let's go to the Chinese, they have a lot of cozy restaurants, nothing like downtown. We'll sit, eat, recall the good old days..."

"What old days? We've only been together for three months," Malu complained.

"Come on! You said yourself that we have a pretty nice team, that for the first time everything came together so well for you! Almost like a family!" Alex lit up with joy while Malu gave him a withering look. "Syringa, tell them!"

"I'll tell you to shut your mouth. Besides, I'm hungry."

"See! She agrees! Let's go eat, and we can bring your sister too!" he nudged Malu on the shoulder. "Box is a great guy, I'm her boyfriend, she knows Syringa, and you're her brother. We're like a little family here!"

"God, you're annoying," Malu muttered. "Fine, what do you suggest?"

"Let's go to a cafe. There are several small, cozy, and secluded places at the Chinese with purely Manchurian cuisine. We'll hang out, talk like normal friends, not homies from the hood. Syringa can bring her sister."

"No!" she shouted. "Don't you dare drag my sister into this. She's not going anywhere!"

"Alright, alright," he continued peacefully. "Me, Mari, Malu, Box, and you. All of us, isn't that cool? Let's take a deep breath! We just finished a job! We should shout it out, celebrate, and so on!"

"Get hammered," I corrected him.

"Well... maybe that too," he agreed. "But I'd call it letting off some steam. So? What do you say, folks?"

"I don't care. First, I need to bring the money home, then we can talk about it," I responded vaguely.

Not that I was for it, but I was not against it either. I don't know why, but I didn't mind this company. Even Malu. Yeah, he's mentally unstable and sometimes aggressive, but he's also responsible and always acts like a mentor. If he could be more restrained, he would really be a normal person. Syringa... well, she's a pain, bitchy, loves to argue, doesn't think before she speaks, a tough girl, but she's sane, you can talk to her, and she's quite nice to everyone, always trying to help. Alex, I just know him, so there's no need to explain.

You could say this is one of those rare instances where I don't mind hanging out with someone instead of staying at home. So... why not?

Three months had passed since I met them, and now, sitting in the car, I didn't feel like a fish out of water. I felt like one of them. However...

I shook my head, pushing away unpleasant thoughts. Decided to tell Malu about them later. They dropped me off practically on the next street, from where I had to walk a good kilometer. And carrying all that money in the backpack behind me... But I doubt something will happen, everything was fine before.

"Malu, come out with me. We need to rap about something."

Rap... I wonder how much I've picked up from them that I don't even notice myself?

When Malu got out, I beckoned him with my finger, leading him away from the car.

"Malu, we need to talk."

"I got it. You don't want to do it in front of others? Don't trust them?"

"Did you tell Arrow how much money we got?" I asked him bluntly. Malu immediately frowned.

"How should I take that? Are you asking it from me, or is it just a question?"

By "asking it from him," he meant whether I was making a claim against him or not.

"Nothing like that, Malu," I shook my head. "Just a question."

"A question..." he looked me in the eyes before answering. "No, I didn't tell him."

"So, someone from us informed him," I said.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

"A rat?"

"Snitch, rat, informant, call it whatever you want; it won't change the meaning."

"And what if it was me?" he smirked.

"If it was you, then it's all good. You're the boss and have contact with him. The link between us and him. But if someone else informed him... it means he asked for it. Specifically bypassing you, to know everything inside the group. Like he's watching us."

"Watching us?" Malu smirked. "I have nothing to hide. Everything's straight up. And why did you decide to tip me off all of a sudden?"

"Just felt like it," I replied indifferently.

"Okay... thanks, of course, but I doubt I'll do anything. I'm not planning a witch hunt in our team, it won't lead to anything good. And if Arrow wants to keep up with our gang's affairs, let him. I'm clean, you're clean, everything's fine."

"Doesn't that bother you?"

"Why should it? Let it be, okay. Besides, I wanted to join the clan at one point, which is why he started watching me. Although, we really should get rid of the rat."

'Could you?' I wanted to ask him, but I kept silent. Looking at Malu, it seemed to me that, yes, he could. Because someone like him might have maintained his dignity, but he was used to living by the code. And a rat, whoever it was, was like a spit in the face from someone he trusted. He could kill for such a spit.

"So, you don't want to join the clan now?" I changed the topic.

"I have new plans. Plans to tell everyone to fuck off and disappear into the sunset."

"You're a romantic," I smirked.

"What did you think?" he smirked back. "Alright, gotta go, you take care. We'll talk again, but probably not as teammates anymore. Yet, we'll have to celebrate our victory a bit."

"Got it. Bye."

My street always reminded me how low you could fall if you made a mistake. And now, walking down it with a bag of money, I felt it vividly.

Gray houses, looking like boxes. Painted blue or green. Yards, fenced with chain-link wire that reached my waist. Cars drove by, looking like they were stolen from a junkyard or transported from the last century to the streets of this city. Cracked asphalt, concrete sidewalks, rusty fire hydrants - everything seemed to indicate that this place was hardly more than a last refuge before vagrancy.

As I walked down the street, I could feel the stares of the local residents who lived like ghosts in these houses. Old women peeping out from behind the curtains, drunks sitting in their small yards on plastic chairs and watching me, punks drilling holes in my back with their eyes, and other fascinating locals.

And... I felt alive. It was a strange feeling, but... these three months, I felt like I was in a box with no exit. My world had narrowed down to my "work," school, and sisters. But even so, I couldn't remember anything about my school life and what I was doing at home, talking to my sisters, and so on.

But I remembered perfectly where I went, who I spoke to, who I squeezed information out of.

Work – sleep, work – sleep, work – sleep. The world really had become a straight line for me, beyond which I saw nothing. But now...

I took a deep breath, feeling more alive than ever.

***

We met in two days.

Malu called me and simply named an address, as he had always done before. It was at the Chinese. This was how we referred to Chinese Street. South of the city center, where there were many stores and malls, in which not the wealthiest layers of the population shopped, but who nonetheless could afford something.

Here, there were several large shopping pavilions, stretching almost a kilometer and incorporating everything - from a cinema to a kindergarten. Long corridors, balconies on the second and third floors, fountains below - sometimes it seemed to me that this was taken from American films, where they show such large shopping centers; it was too similar.

And the majority of stores here were owned by Chinese, who, in fact, built this place.

I got off the bus stop almost in front of the mall itself, looking around for my comrades who decided to celebrate. To this day, I could not understand why I felt more comfortable with them than with my own classmates, except for Alex. Because I went through dangers with them? Or maybe for more human reasons? If I understood myself and my own feelings as well as I understood mathematics, many problems would be solved.

"Hey! Hey! Fatso!" someone shouted behind me, signaling. I didn't even bother to guess who it was.

"Hello, Syringa," I turned to the car that had stopped in the middle of the bus stop. It wasn't her who was signaling, but the bus behind her.

"What 'Syringa,' idiot, we're not at work. Haven't they taught you to communicate by name?! Get in!"

I took the passenger seat under the gaze of many disgruntled people waiting for the bus. Syringa received especially many discontented looks, but she seemed not to care.

"Where are we going?" I asked as we drove away from the stop.

"I need to dump the car somewhere. There's a parking lot around here... Ah, there it is!" She abruptly turned into it, making the tires squeal. "By the way, call me Inna."

"Inna?"

"My name. You are Rud, right?"

"Yes, Rud," at least that's what my friend calls me. "Why didn't we call each other by name before?"

"Why should we?" she asked in return.

I didn't answer. The question "why" is one of the most uncomfortable, as one can answer it indefinitely.

We circled the parking lot, where numerous cars were parked, and people were walking, loading their purchases into the trunks of their vehicles, leaving.

"Oh! A spot! Right at the entrance! Such good luck," she squealed the tires as she pulled into the spot, somehow miraculously fitting in between the cars at full speed. "Like a goddess!"

"Good job, that was close."

"A pro, what else can you expect from me," she smiled brightly and winked at me. "Let's go."

We crawled out of the car, set the alarm, and entered the shopping center. There were an overwhelming number of people here. It... kind of blinded me, to be honest. I mean, for the past few months, I'd either been at school, walking on the street, or in some shady places where there weren't many people in general. On the street, I didn't really pay attention to people; they were like decorations. I hadn't been to places like this in a while, so I felt out of practice, almost like I had developed social anxiety.

But here... Here, life was teeming with a bright palette of colors. I felt too vulnerable and out of my element. It's surprising that before this, I felt out of my element in the company of gangsters.

"By the way, don't you think we rushed it?" I asked. "About relaxing too early and crawling out."

"Did you see the news, who they're looking for?" she asked.

"Four people?"

"Which ones?"

"Um... I don't know."

"Well, there you have it," she shrugged. "Nobody knows."

"But that doesn't mean they don't know who to look for."

"Did you ask your father about it?" she posed another question.

"Yes, he said they're stuck. But that's not certain. They might not be told all the leads, in case there's a rat within the police ranks."

"Sure, sure. Also, Arrow spread a rumor that it was the Chinese who did it. Yesterday, the news showed a search at their place, and there are a lot of patrols there, too. So don't crap your pants, softie, everything is going as it should."

By the way, Syringa had changed her clothes. More precisely, Inna had. Before, she wore nondescript jackets with pants and a hat, looking unremarkable and inconspicuous, as it should be. But now she had literally transformed - in a pinkish coat matching her hair color, and her hair was loose. Boots matching the coat, a handbag.

"Why are you staring?!" She gave me a dissatisfied look.

"Just... you've become brighter," I answered.

"Brighter? As in, prettier?" she immediately adjusted her hair, smoothing a few strands to hide the fact that she doesn't have human ears.

"Yes, you could say that. You are very different from the one who worked with me. I wouldn't recognize you if I met you on the street."

"Well, of course," she showed her sharp little teeth. "It's better not to stand out at work. And you, as I understand it, as soon as you started working, you immediately cut yourself off from the world?"

"What makes you say that?"

"Whoever finds it hard or isn't used to it, seems to hide within themselves. They don't notice anything around them, it's just work, work, work. It's like if you worked from morning till night six days a week - then for you too, nothing would exist besides work and home. Something like that."

That was a pretty accurate description of how I felt.

"Are you stuck? Let's go," she tugged on my hand. "At least we'll have a proper meal. Although it's not recommended for you."

Probably, I was the only one feeling out of place here. Moreover, I was dressed as I usually am, but look at her attire. We walked along the balconies and descended on an escalator to the first floor, where we started waiting for Malu and Alex by a large fountain.

"By the way, since we're on a first-name basis, what's Malu's real name?"

"Matvey," she answered, after which she took out a coin and turned towards the fountain.

"Do you want to make a wish?" I skeptically glanced at her, as if she was a child.

"Of course. Do you know whose statue this is?" She nodded at the figure of a girl in a luxurious yukata, holding a jug. Water was flowing out of that jug.

"The Maiden of the World. She's also called the Keeper of the World. The jug represents life that will keep flowing as long as the Keeper of the World is alive. The attire changes from time to time. Sometimes it's a yukata, sometimes a wedding dress, and so on."

Although Inna had already clasped her hands together, holding the coin between them, and bowed her head as if praying, she opened one eye, glanced at me, and smiled.

"You're quite knowledgeable."

"I read a lot."

"Being well-read doesn't mean you're smart."

"I never said I was smart."

"Really? Maybe, maybe... In any case, I need to make a wish. Hopefully, she will hear me."

"She doesn't exist," I stated categorically.

"You don't even know what exists in this world, you fool," Inna replied goodnaturedly. "The world is much wider than it seems at first glance, and I am certainly not the only its unusual representative. So don't annoy me, and don't anger the Keeper of the World."

She exhaled with a sound of "ah," tossing the coin into the fountain, and it fell into the water with a typical "plop." At that moment, Inna looked somehow excited and joyful at the same time, as if she had just done something she had dreamed of all her life.

"And what did you wish for?" I asked, watching as a crowd gathered around the fountain, and half of them were doing approximately the same thing as Inna.

"I wished for everything to be well with me. I will need luck," she excitedly looked at the statue.

"And for what?" I decided to find out.

"Well... there's something," Inna answered vaguely. "Everyone has something to dream about."