FALTER

CHAPTER 15: The heart of the matter.

Imti seemed to exude joy and alacrity wherever he went. So infectious was his joy that Rachel was able to behold the sight of an ear to ear grin from Marci who, as they got deeper into the venue, latched onto Imti's arm. The sight of this caused the three teenagers behind them to share a look of surprise, but eventually, even they couldn't stop themselves from bursting out with a laugh.

Youth City was known for its diversity and yet, the endless swathes of population that pushed past Rachel left her breathless. It seemed crude to think, but the girl had no idea people came in these new shapes and sizes. A stark contrast to the anti -implant crowd of her neighbourhood, almost every customer at the stalls, the sellers, and even the guards were all adorned with metal. Some people had their limbs replaced with metal ones, while others were far more subtle: pipes trailing from the nose, eyes not exactly human and other such modifications. Rachel herself had implants - two in each ear to help with her hearing - so she fit right into the crowd. She couldn't spot any on Imti, however, as he turned around to face the kids.

"Follow me. I know the best octopus spot here." He turned back around with a flourish.

Ichiro leaned into whisper to the others "There's actual octopus here?"

"It's gonna be octopus flavoured crickets " Yuki said, sounding miffed.

"You guys have no idea how wrong you are," Imti grumbled from in front of them, causing Yuki to cover her mouth in horror.

After Imti had bought the teens and himself a stick of fried octopus, they stood there by the stall enjoying the taste. Rachel had never had anything like it before; It had a strange chewy texture which was complimented well by the sweetness of the sauce covering it. The smells wafting from all the other shops surrounding them were battling for dominance in Rachel's nose. She couldn't help a smile from forming on her face as she continued chowing down on her treat.

"Hey, where's Ms. Marci?" Ichiro inquired in the middle of trying to pull the last of the meat from his stick.

Imti's eyebrows furrowed, before relaxing again. "Ah, she loves the scarves you can find in this place. Probably wandered off somewhere that sells them..."

Rachel finished the last of her food and realized she had a sudden hankering for something sweeter. She looked around a little before seeing a pink stall at the end of the long, crowded alley they were in. It was labelled "Caitlyn's Cupcakes" and Rachel knew she'd find what she was looking for there.

As she started walking away, though, Imti suddenly grabbed her shoulder. She instinctively slapped him away, before gasping in horror.

"I'm sorry, I- You surprised me!"

Imti brushed his hands together. "No, uh, no, that's my bad. You started zoning out I thought- is everything alright?" His nervous smile was trying its best to covered up the look of concern on his face.

Rachel's face was flushed with red. Did she just slap away her number one most listened to artist of the past year? She felt like she should run back to the Falter mission, open her bag and rip the new posters she had gotten of him into a million pieces in order to apologize.