24: Gas station cashier

They visited the bakery one last time for bread before they leave the city. At the edge of the city, they also stopped at a gas station.

While the Red King was filling up the tank and a back up bottle of gasoline, JJ took the baby into the mini mart. The transmigrator was walking quickly to catch up with his caretaker, and JJ slowly down a little for him. Once inside, she began taking some canned food.

The redhead teenage girl working at the register smiled at them, and she scanned JJ's items quickly. His female caretaker picked him up and made him sit on her hip so that he could see the procedure. Canned tuna, canned chicken, canned broccoli... Oh, and baby food!

"How old is he?" The cashier started small talk as she put away the items inside a plastic bag.

"He just turned one." JJ replied with a smile.

The cashier shook her head, but she kept her smile. "I can't imagine having a kid anytime soon, but my dad already got me a date, so wish me luck."

"Good luck." His female caretaker nodded at the red head as she handed them their groceries.

"I think I saw you somewhere." The cashier comment offhandedly. "Probably from school years ago. Before the war. Can't you believe I went to Equinox?"

"You're Regina McLean." The teenage girl paused for a second when she saw the redhead looking at her wide-eyed. "Ranked twelveth out of two hundred at Equinox Academy."

Now that JJ mentioned it, the transmigrator noticed "McLean" on the cashier's name tag.

"Holy shit..." The cashier mumbled to herself. "I... Yeah. I'm Regina. Don't tell me your name..." Her bright green eyes narrowed as she tried to dig into her memories. "I know I knew you from the academy. You're one of those preppy ten years old who made it into top ten."

"Yeah." JJ let out a chuckle. "You were there on scholarship, which is a lot more impressive."

Ah, they're getting a glimpse into his caretaker's life before she was stuck with Jay and the Red King. From what the system told him, the transmigrator remembered that JJ came form a prestigious family, killed her father and ran away from home.

"Don't flatter me. None of those achievements means anything now." Regina chuckled back, and her eyes softened in sadness. "I mean... You have a kid, and I'm trying to find a way out of an arranged marriage."

JJ nodded, and her voice didn't drop. "I'll visit sometimes."

"I didn't get your name!" The cashier let out a laugh. "I can't remember it to save my life."

"You'll remember when my son and I come by again." The teenage girl grinned back, and she shifted her hips to alert Jay. "Say bye-bye, sweetie pie."

Well, the transmigrator waved goodbye at the cashier, making the redhead laugh even more.

The glass door creaked open, interrupting their end of the conversation, but the person who opened it didn't come in. The Red King stepped just close enough so that the door was automatically opened. Well, isn't that rude?

"You ready?" He asked rather casually, and his voice was a bit muffled by the motorcycle helmet.

"Yep." JJ nodded, and she held the baby along with the plastic bag of groceries.

Violet eyes moved from the teenage boy to the cashier, who gave them a rather condolencing look.

"I'll see you around!" The redhead waved at them one last time.

As soon as she's out the door, her companion took Jay off her hands. The baby yelped at his caretaker, which only earned a chuckle.

"Come on, little guy." The teenage boy put the white helmet back on the baby's head. "We gotta keep going. We need to get there before night falls."

Jay pouted at his caretaker, but he nodded anyway. He wanted to stay a little longer at the store to hopefully listen in on JJ's conversation with Regina. Curiosity was already planned inside of his head, and one day he'll find out about the details of his caregivers' pasts.

JJ took out her helmet and put away the groceries inside the storage bin behind the passenger seat; then, she picked up Jay once again. The Red King swung his leg over the seat, and just like an expert, he started the engine and turned his head back to look at his partner.

The teenage girl sighed as she balanced the baby on the seat. It's kind of funny to watch the girl trying to get on the tall motorcycle, but she made it with two steps. Jay was sandwiched between the two teens, but he didn't mind because JJ will give him plenty of space to look around. As long as his little helmet was on, she won't fuss.

Regina was staring at them through the glass window, and the transmigrator saw the longing on her face. Of course, women in this world are horribly disadvantaged. The wheel of progress has been turning backwards since the United Earth said people should procreate as soon as they can, meaning they basically said child marriage is okay.

Even though the System said that child marriage was made illegal, it won't stop parents trying to pair their teen children up with another teen as soon as they hit their mid-teens. It's one thing to get the world population back to where it was before WW3, but laws shouldn't be implemented at the expense of their citizens' rights.

Grim reality check aside, the view of the city was mesmerizing. When they're back on the hill which leads to the mountains, Jay could almost the entire city of Esther. Downtown, many skyscrapers displayed their lights and advertisements, but one stood up taller than the rest.

"USC" was in bold white letters, right underneath the United Earth's logo displaying proudly on top of the building. The USC's logo is just the three letters merged together, but the United Earth's logo was a branch of leaves wrapped around a globe.

Since the United Earth heavily endorsed the USC, it made sense that they're in the same building. Because he's a transmigrator who knows the future of this land, Jay is pretty sure that in ten or so years, that tallest skyscraper will become the United Earth's headquarters, and the USC's head quarter will be the newest and shiniest skyscraper down the block. That shiny skyscraper will be 50 floors high and 10 floors down. At the very bottom of those floors will house Kaon the Red Rain or Kaon the Blood Prince.

Oh, Jay can't wait to be imprisoned. Sarcastically.

For now, he'll enjoy the warmth of being in between his parents and the beautiful view of the city from afar.