Metanoia

City: Chapter 14

    The city was an entirely different world during the day. With the towers that peeked past the clouds losing any sense of threat; and the once neon coloured signs becoming a dull bleak monotone as the businesses got back to more serious tones. The colours had quickly transferred from bright pinks and neon yellows to calm beiges and greys. There was hardly any belief in thinking anything could transform so quickly. However it never lost it's feeling of life and amazement, yet the city was still laid back in some sort. As if the party life of the night left it in a hangover. Still, the colours decorating the lower level of the streets were still something to be impressed by. Even if the bright hues took a step back.
    As Jeno walked around a small part of the gigantic area (if you could even call it that), he noticed how similar the day was to night. Besides the brightness and awe of the place being turned down, the busyness had never taken a break. It was hard to even find where he was supposed to go with all the people cramped into the walkways. Not even the traffic took rest whilst the cars appeared to be stuck in the same place, only moving inches at a time. It was as if the world had hit pause and play in two different parts.
    It was only a few days ago that the raven haired boy decided this was surely one of the seven wonders. But it still amazed him even after seeing it all for yet another time. Of course, not all the times he's seen the outside was from good reason. Even if it was few. But he couldn't dwell on that. Not at the moment where he was technically stranded in a sea of people running about their day.
    He snapped out of his little daydream and glanced at the signs strewn across the current street he was in. Tons of thousands of hanging words jutted from the buildings, placed high enough for the people to see and low enough for them to read. Everything you could think of was up there. From something so mediocre as small real estate companies to something as large as high class movie theatres or museums. All of it was quite overwhelming to the teen as the numerous signs near forcefully grabbed his attention.
    There was one however that was what he was searching for since he stepped out the hotel room.
    'Thompson's Grocers' His eyes caught the sign rather clearly. Unlike the others, this sign was rather quaint in nature, as it gave off a vibe that reminded him of home. The hand painted words and decorations on wooden backdrop drew him in. And so he started to make quick strides, not wanting to waste anymore time. He squeezed past as many people as possible and his words undoubtedly amounted to small apologies whilst weaving around.
    As he made his way past the citizens of the city, he started to see more kids than the other night. All in what looked to be the same uniform, walking in the same direction while talking amongst themselves. Some were as young as the age of four, who were accompanied by their parents, others appearing to be heading to some college classes. He even spotted teens his age whom he passed without eye contact. However he could still hear their whispers about him no matter how hard he tried to tune them out.
    "Did you say that guy?" Some would say.
    "I bet he's new and moved here from some other place." Others would add.
    And then there were the ones who would dare to say "He's pretty cute I hope he's in my class." In which Jeno would turn red and press on.
    When he finally made his way to the building he didn't waste time and pushed open the door.
    Unlike the other times, where the athlete had been amazed by the extreme differences the city brought, this grocery store was rather regular looking. It was the same as the one back home: with the cashiers poised near the front, checking out the customers buys; the aisles of dried goods and items for other use; the pharmacy and frozen goods near the back; a small corner of liquor and another small corner that held some flowers. Both on opposite ends of the store.
    Visage dampening to appear unamused, Jeno carried on walking into the store. He took Renjun's instructions to heart and nonchalantly took a basket, trying to give an unapproachable impression. Walking down the aisles, the raven haired boy went over the list of things they needed, starting to search the shelves carefully.
As he did, the runaway started to wonder how his friend was doing back in the hotel room. The memories of their first night in the city relapsed in his head. He felt hordes of guilt flutter around his stomach while remembering his participation in the events. All Jeno did was continue his rounds and try to find out useless information. He had wasted time moving around carelessly instead of contacting Renjun once in awhile. The younger teen found it even worse that he was unable to even hear the blond go down the stairs or even yell out. The only productive thing he did that night was drag the smaller boy away from the trouble. But then, even if he did that, he hardly noticed the dart in Renjun's back until they settled in the hotel room. And so he was forced to watch helplessly as the other went through so much pain.
Flinching, he went on to the next few isles to fill up his basket even more.
Jeno wondered what would've happened if he gotten involved with it all? Would things go better or worse? He tried to imagine how it would go. Maybe he could've helped taken down the guards. Maybe they could've escaped faster and less indiscreetly. Maybe they could've found more information. Renjun wouldn't be hurt, he could've been right by Jeno's side as they went on with their plan. But there was also the possibility that even the raven haired would become hunted down as well. There was the chance that he would've been hurt by the dart too. If he made the decision to step in there was no telling where they would be right now.
Then he thought about the teen and her little sister, Megan. Jeno heard what Renjun had said, people had been hurt in that chase, whether with intention or not. He hoped that they hadn't gotten in the crosshairs of the guards dart gun or received any accidental wounds from the blond. Because he knew deep down, that he would end up carrying that guilt to the ends of time. If it could happen with his past, than it could obviously happen now. Jeno wasn't keen on that happening any time soon however.
"Did you hear about the chase that happened two days ago?"
He froze.
"Duh, who wouldn't have heard that by now?"
Panicking, the raven haired boy swiftly turned the corner and shifted away from the voices. He glanced to his left as three boys about his age walked casually past him.
"I heard that a lot of people got wounded by the security guards as they tried to catch this blond kid."
"Why would they do that just for some boy though?"
Jeno could almost hear the shrug coming from the other. "I don't know man, maybe he is part of some underground company or whatever that was planning on taking down Hydra."
Head perking up, the athlete listened in more closely to their conversation. This could possibly the biggest piece of information he had gotten since driving into this place. He started to shuffle along behind them, pretending to look more for other groceries.
"Oh, that's probably why an agent was sent."
"But did you see his moves on the news?"
'They recorded that?' Jeno gulped staring intensely at one certain canned soup. 'Does that mean they recognize who Renjun is? Does that mean he'll be forced to stay in the shadows this whole time? Did we just fail our mission?'
"Of fucking course I did." One of the boys with red hair scoffed. "I can't believe they sent one of their best agents on the job and they still don't even have a lead on where the kid is."
"Well no one saw his face. And the guy who dragged him off was covering his own face. They obviously know what they're doing." The one with bright green eyes concluded, spinning a set of keys around his finger.
"Come on." Sneering, the other, with burgundy ombre locks crossed his arms. "They should've used a tracking device of some sort. What were they thinking using some weird chemical infused dart?"
The three obviously had no idea what they were talking about. And in the moment Jeno did in fact become relieved that Renjun wasn't hear. He felt that the scenario would've ended up taken a bad turn if that were the case. A small smile grew on his face imagining the smaller teen pretty much squaring up against the three boys.
Deciding that was enough information, Jeno made his way to the cashier and dug out the pile of money stuffed in his pocket. Enough for another week of supplies, giving him enough time to try and find a well paying job of some sort. He prayed.
He placed his groceries on the conveyor belt, trying to act casual and not suspicious at all. His eyes glanced up to see another kind teen around his age waiting patiently. Jeno found that the kid had a bob cut of bright, light blue hair that gave off a shining tone that matched extremely well with their calming dark blue eyes. They were rather androgynous in looks, especially since they were wearing the store uniform which was clearly the same for everyone. For some reason this sparked some sort of interest within Jeno.
"Hello." They greeted kindly, starting to scan the groceries and place them in a bag. "I hope you got everything you needed."
"Yes I did," The raven haired boy smiled back with the same amount of kindness. He read the name written on the teen's name tag. "Kuzma."
    The other nodded, face dusted pink while they continued on with their job.
    Jeno however, was in a state of thought. He had gotten his information from those three ignorant boys for sure. Yet he felt as if there was something missing, as if he should be digging a bit deeper for something more. Sure this Hydra company was a large leaping point for research, but he wanted more to use.
    During the duration of his thinking, his brown eyes kept going from the blue haired teen to the ground and back again. To anyone else he was clearly crushing on the cashier or was just nervous with social interaction. But his means were way different from that.
    'I should ask about Hydra.' The idea popped into his brain. 'I could get some more information for Renjun. Just in case he didn't get some.' It was a thought Jeno highly doubted since he knew his friend could find some way. Regardless, it was just a tactic that was better safe than sorry. At least that's what the athlete was thinking. In all honesty he wasn't used to this kind of stuff so really had no idea.
    "You look fit."
    Jeno reentered reality and stared at Kuzma, in shock from that rather blunt statement.
    Which the cashier had quickly caught onto themselves. Blushing they broke the eye contact and continued to work, much faster this time. "Sorry...."
    "You don't have to say sorry." The runaway reassured, not admitting how amused he was at the workers behaviour. "What were you trying to say?"
    Kuzma refused to raise his head again, however still answered. "Conversation starter...." They mumbled under their breath. "You know...... Hydra...."
    "The current events?" Jeno dared to question, despite his involvement.
    "Uh.... no actually." The blue haired teen seemed quite surprised by his acute hearing. (Which he developed from catching onto Renjun's snark remarks under his breath.) "I just thought you were getting ready for recruitment."
    'Recruitment?'
    The cashier noticed the cluelessness glazed across Jeno's countenance. "Hydra recruitment. You look like you're ready to become a trainee."
    Suddenly an idea popped into the athlete's mind. 'Oh Renjun, I can't wait for you to hear this..'