Chase a Starlight

The red star

It had been a few days since the encounter when Alita decided to go to the nearest village to resupply, she usually does it herself in the forest, but this time she felt like if she was in a public environment, with a lot of people around, she wouldn't get attacked. She grabbed her favourite casual outfit, a black turtleneck shirt with gray jeans, and walked towards the village. She endured almost a full hour of boring walk, until she finally saw the sign that welcomed her to the village of Umira, it was not a small village at all. With a total of one hundred and forty-three habitants, it was one of the largest in the country. She asked one of the guards of the gate if she could get a map to know where the places she needed to go were. The guard was extremely friendly, even though he was at least 2 feet taller than her, and while he probably had enough strength to send her flying into space only by kicking her, he seemed rather peaceful. He gave her multiple warm smiles, he had beautiful black hair with a red streak and- wait a minute. Alita realized who that man was, and she tried her hardest to not show it, he knew her. But she had to make sure he didn't realize that she recognized him. So many questions started popping in her head. Is he really a guard? Or is he posing as a guard to follow her?

- Are you okay, ma'am?
- Uhm, yes. Sorry, I got distracted by the birds.
- Ah, an ornithologist, hm?
- "Uh..." She tried to get a coherent answer out, but she couldn't find anything to say. While she did love birds, she could only recognize some of them by the looks.
- I am passionate about birds, I love looking at them and listening to their peaceful songs. I assume you do too, you seem like the forest type.
- I do, actually.
- Neat!
- "Yeah..." She was unsure of what to say, she was actually pretty scared of him.
- "Are you new to this city?" He said as he was looking at a group of people entering the city.
- Uhm, no. But I haven't been here in very long.
- Ah, I see. The city has changed a lot in the past few months, let me go get you a brochure.
- Uh, sure.

And without another word, the guard hurried to a small hole in the wall that circled around the city, another guard took his place but he quickly went back to his original location after a minute or so when he saw the boy come back with a map.

- There you go, ma'am.
- "Thank you!" She grabbed the map and walked away quickly, trying her best to not be suspicious. "Who was this guy? She thought to herself

Her heart almost stopped when she felt a hand grab her shoulder, she tried her best to not let out a scream, but she couldn't hold herself back, the whole crowd around her turned to look at what was going on, she herself turned around to see the same guard, he had a confused look on his face, rightfully so.

- Sorry ma'am, didn't mean to scare you.
- It's alright, I'm just a bit nervous.
- "That's okay, and you should be. You never know when someone can jump out of the bushes and attack you, or in this case, the crowd." He said this with a very very subtle smile, he wanted to mess with her, she was sure of it. There was no way he didn't say this one purpose.
- ...Right.
- And that's why I'm here, this part of town is pretty dangerous, so I thought I could help you out a little.
- I appreciate it, but don't you need to guard the gate?
- My turn just ended.

She noticed that he didn't have his armor anymore, how the hell was he this fast? She hesitated for a bit, she really didn't like this situation but she agreed anyway.

- So where do you need to go?
- Oh, just loading in on some supplies.
- I see, what kind?
- Well, mostly mana cubes.
- Ah, sorcerer too! You remind me of someone I met not long ago.

He gave her a tap on the shoulder, he seemed really friendly, either he was incredibly stupid, or playing an act. But why would he act? And why was he there in the first place? He held out his hand and smiled at her.

- Name's Masuyo, nice to meet you, Alita.

She grabbed his hand and shook it, she kept her cool but inside her head, she was panicking. She was screaming for help, even though she knew nobody could help. He called her Alita. He knew her name. But what about him? Was this really his name? Or a fake one? He grabbed her by the hand and led her through the crowd. She had a lot of trouble handling so many questions and tried her best to not break down in public. She was pretty strong mentally, but in some situations, she became very vulnerable, with no apparent reason. They walked in silence for a few minutes before he stopped in front of a shop. It wasn't the shop she wanted to go to, but he still led her in, he noticed her confusion and grabbed her arm to calm her down.