Area 17 had not changed in the week Hide had been gone. The sky was still a dull, overcast grey, thick with the familiar dust and smog of the lower-tier district.
The streets were just as crowded, the buildings just as weathered, and the people moving through the commercial blocks possessed the same hurried, tired energy they always did.
For Hide, it had been a week of profound, world-altering violence. He had fought more than one Calamity Lord, completed a Spot dungeon, evolved his system. But the city had simply continued on, completely oblivious.
He walked from the Airbus terminal, navigating the familiar avenues without needing to think. He didn't head toward the school. His time at that place was officially over. There was no point in sitting in a classroom listening to Mr. Doren lecture about history and geography.
He headed straight for the residential blocks.
