City of Blades

Chapter one: A normal day

Today was a day like any other in the Slums, you got your daily mugging for a few people, others have to scavenge for food, but most people were trying to get on a bus to go to the City. In case you didn't know, there is only one bus that runs from the Slums to the City, and the reason people are trying to go to the City is because the annual Chugakko Junior High Slums Lottery is coming up. The Chugakko Junior High Slums Lottery gives parents in the Slums a chance to send their kids to one of the most prestigious schools in the City, and its completely free! Lots of parents try to go to the City at least a week before the Lottery to buy better clothes for their kids to wear to the Drawing Ceremony, where the Principle of Chugakko draws the winner of the lottery himself. The only thing wrong with him though, is that he's also the leader of the biggest corporate company in the world,  Kiracorp, who's responsible for the creation of the Slums in the first place.

 Anyways, I should probably introduce myself, I'm Ketsueki Ansatsu, pleased to meet ya! Now, you may be wondering, 'why would a sweet young girl be stuck in a place like the Slums?' Well, I'll tell ya, to put it simply, I was born here. Yep, I've lived here my whole life. Believe me when I say it was tough growing up, because It's brutal out here. Speaking of brutal, I'm currently trying to get my breakfast back from the punk who stole it. As I jump across the rooftops chasing the guy who stole my breakfast, I see an alleyway up ahead, so I decide to try and herd him into it, and take my food by force. The man hears me behind him, and glances back at me when his face shocked. I smirk as I speed up and cross in front of him and jump down off of the rooftop, blocking his path so he has to run into the alleyway. As he slams into the wall of the alley, I walk up behind him and kick him in the back so that he trips over a stack of boxes and I snatch my bread and make a run for it. "HEY GET BACK HERE BRAT!!!" The man yells after me as I laugh. "Ahh, I forgot how much fun this is!" I say with glee as I turn the corner of my street, if you could even call it that.

 My "street" is mostly just a collection of rundown shacks that families live in, and it just so happens that it's nicknamed "Shack street". As I walk into my "house", I see my mom's light jacket thrown over the side of her bed, which means she's home from the City and buying me clothes for the Drawing Ceremony. "I'm home Mom!" I yell out. "Oh! I was wondering where you got off to, silly monkey!" My mom says as she steps out of the small closet we have off of our bedroom, which is really the only room we have in the house besides the bathroom, and ruffles my short red hair. "What took you so long, I thought you were just going to the park to find food?" My mom asks me. "Some bitch took it, so I had to get it back." I shrug as I say while my mother frowns and says "Language!" "Sorry mom..." I reply sheepishly. "Anyway, since today is Saturday, you can go play with the other kids at the park." my mom says as she finishes folding the new dresses she got us. "Really? Thanks!" I say as I run out the door and down the street to the park. 

Once I get to the park, I see a couple of other kids my age throwing knives at a chunk of wood, probably got fished out of a dumpster or something. Oh yeah, we throw knives for fun. Nothing like letting not-even-junior-high kids play around with knives right? Yeah, when you grow up in an almost post-apocalyptic-wasteland town, you get pretty used to seeing 11 year old's playing with knives all the time. As I walk over to the kids with knives, I spot my best friend, Shi Haru, amongst them. "Shi!! Hey!!" I yell to him as I run over, almost making him drop the knife he was about to throw. "Crap! Ketsueki, how many times do I have to tell you, DONT YELL AT ME WHEN I'M ABOUT TO THROW A KNIFE FOR GODS SAKE!!!!" He yells at me. " Ha, sorry, I was just exited to see you" I say sheepishly. "Anyway, can I try?" I ask, holding my hand out. "Be my guest" he shrugs and says, handing me the five knives in his hand. 

As I take them and step up to the throwing line, I take a deep breath and close my eyes. As soon as I open them, I throw all five knives at once, all of them landing in the perfect center of the block of wood thats my makeshift target. I smirk at Shi, who looks between me and the target several times before saying "What the hell, Ketsueki?" "You could say I have a lot of... 'experience' with knives.' I say, still smirking at him. I did actually, but not killing anyone of course, after all, I'm only 12. I spent the rest of the day throwing knives and hanging out with Shi at the park until it was time to go home. "Well Shi, I'll see you tomorrow!" I say waving to him over my shoulder and running off to my house. 'well today was successful, although I did basically nothing' I though to myself as I crawled into my bed, and soon fell asleep.