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It was after midnight and Reina was running late. She was moving through the city trying to catch up to the others before time ran out.
In a taxi, at a stoplight that seemed to be taking forever to change, she sent the following text to Bk:
SORRY! I'LL BE THERE SOON! WAIT FOR ME BEFORE YOU GO IN!
The cab was self-driving, so Reina could do whatever she liked inside the dark interior. She decided to spread out her tattered fur coat like a blanket on the cold leather back seat and lay down.
She was tired. Months of being late to work, sneaking around, and being evasive with the others were taking their toll. It was hard remember the last time Housekeeping had been fun. Why was she so scared to tell the others that she wanted to leave? Why would she be scared of her own crew?
Bk was the only person Reina was still close to, but she was so young that she couldn't understand the way things worked outside of the program, or why anyone would want to leave.
Quitting meant giving up everything: a place in the dorms and the income that New Beginnings gave out. In her five years with the program, Reina had only heard of two people who got out legally and safely.
Sometimes there seemed to be an actual plan for taking action; sometimes there was just a vague feeling that things would work out by themselves eventually.
Reina believed that getting another job first – a real one – might help her chances of making a break and moving on. She didn't know where that idea came from, but it seemed to make sense.
Large areas of the inner city were shattered from the missiles and bombs that had fallen haphazardly around Tokyo, but some industries were finally starting to come back after years of nothing. There were supposed to be opportunities in fashion and apparel again if you could find a spot or knew someone who could make an intro. Reina thought she could work as an assistant, help manage a shop, model (maybe), make accessories... anything if given a chance.
And so she had spent the last few months going to different events, shows, and openings, trying to network and make connections. But nothing seemed to come of it. She wondered if people could sense that she was part of New Beginnings and maybe that scared them away.
Tonight had been another dead end.
She had skipped out on dinner with the crew and instead went to a brand launch event in Aoyama held in an abandoned parking garage. There was supposed to be a scout there looking for makeup assistants and testers to hire, but Reina didn't know what he looked like in person, so she just wound up against the wall by herself scanning the crowd.
Then she had to go. Time was running out and the crew would be wondering where she was.
Reina hated herself for not trying harder. She wanted to change her life, but there were so many things in her way...
