They stole my idea!!

"Battle Uniform Technologically Hero Oriented? He stole my idea! Word by word!"

The boy was angry, yelling, waving his arms and jumping up and down all at once.

"Come on, come on, it's a fluke, these things tend to happen in the world of inventors. Besides, the name is different and so is the design." Akira was trying to calm down the furious Ano. "I like your design better than that multinational's."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT HAS A DIFFERENT NAME? Look here!! Look carefully at what it says. Hero!! It's the same as my idea!!"

"Listen Mi-kun, these kind of projects usually take years to develop, you never know who came up with the idea first. But money talks and they've managed to get it out sooner."

"But I spent eight years working on it, with my own money and gathering materials from the trash! They've probably been spying on me through my Cyber Hut and plagiarized my design. It wouldn't have taken them more than two years to develop it with all the resources they have. Clearly, I had the idea before!!! I've been ripped off."

I’ll make you pay for this, Yu Asu!!

The boy had good arguments to back up his suspicions.

With a tender look, master Akira approached Ano and put his hand on his shoulder. "How about we teach those from Asu a lesson, and we make a better suit than theirs."

Ano nodded. And so the next two hours of the day passed. For the young inventor, this workshop was a better learning center than the school, where he was forced to learn about things that he didn’t care about. With master Akira, he could learn what really interested him for four hours every day.

****

Between formulas, sketches, calculations, and discussions, they finished their daily study session and gadget development.

"Well. I think that's enough for today, don't you think Mi-kun?" Said the tired master, looking forward to resting. "Let's go and have some dinner. I have curry from yesterday and I can make some tempura too." He said with a smile.

"WooooW!! The master is the best chef in district C! No! In all of Neo Shibuya!"

At dinner, Master Akira used to pay Ano 1,000 yen daily for the help and work he did at his workshop.

"Here, buy yourself food for later. And save the rest for your suit." Akira always smiled at Ano and looked at him fondly.

"Sure, master!"

Once dinner was over, Ano said goodbye and returned home. The master's workshop was not far from the brothel where he lived, just a few streets away. On the way to his little apartment, he used to buy something to eat in the early morning, since going out at that hour could be dangerous.

****

As the young boy walked back to his apartment through those neon-filled streets devoid of people, a girl, accompanied by two other children, waved to him in the distance from the entrance of a hostel.

"Heeeeyyyy!!! Ano-kuuun!!!"

The group of three children called themselves The Northern Stars. It was composed of two 10-year-old boys, Bo and Shin, and the one leading the small group of stars was a 14-year-old girl named Hana. The girl had hazel eyes like her hair, which she wore in a side ponytail, made with a scrunchie decorated with a yellow star.

Orphans like them were stripped of their surnames and given only a random first name from an obsolete database. The children were poor; wore the same tattered clothes every day; lived in a communal hostel with other people; and since they were the only children there, they spent the day playing with each other. At some point, they decided to create a group that would protect the adults in the neighborhood.

"Man, but they sure are The Northern Stars trio." Said the young inventor happily.

The young boy was so happy to see his childhood friends that he started running to where they were. Those were friends who had accompanied him over the years. Especially Hana. His earliest memories in that city were filled with days of playing with his young friend. As Ano approached, the children waved and smiled as if they hadn't seen him in years.

"Welcome, subcommander Ano!" Bo said.

"Stop calling me that. I got out of the gang last year." I'm not a kid anymore. "What are you doing here at this hour? Get in the hostel now before the drunks and delinquents start hanging out around here."

That doorway where they were standing was the hostel where the group of three lived. They had turned the entrance into their meeting area. They often proudly boasted that the entire street was their territory.

"Relax, Ano-kun. We're just making sure everyone gets home safely. If you need us to escort you home, let us know." Said the girl, smiling.

Ano became serious. "More important than that, master Akira told me that you didn't go to class today either. I thought I told you last week to go to school so you guys wouldn't became dumb. Besides, you guys can eat every day for free if you go there. Idiots!"

"We don't need to go to school!" said the leader haughtily. "You don't go to school and you're a genius. We're smart too! Besides, people feed us for protecting the neighborhood!"

Little Bo interrupted to answer what Ano said.

"Today they gave us each an apple, and mine had a worm in it! How lucky I got to eat fresh meat today." He said, smiling as snot dripped out of both of his nostrils.

"You see? You don't have to worry about us."

*GROWL!!!*

"HAHAHAHAHA...!!! Don't worry about our bellies!! We already swallowed our [V.Pills]. Even if they don't satisfy our hunger, they provide us with everything our bodies require!!" Said the leader, blushing.

"Yeah, I know hot the [V.Pills] work." Answered Ano.

The leader of The Northern Stars seemed interested in asking her childhood friend about something else.

"So Ano-kun… How was yesterday's date with that millionaire girl?"

"She's not a millionaire."

"Sure she is! Look at what she was wearing! Plus she smelled nice and had makeup on!"

The young girl seemed to show admiration for Ano's date. Or maybe it was another feeling.

"Those clothes are worn by many people. You can buy them at the stores in the C-21 district. The perfume was cheap, and so was the makeup. She might have some money, but she's not a millionaire." Ano turned around and moved on his way to the brothel where he lived. “Go back home, you brats."

"Goodbye, Ano! Rest assured, we've already chased the crooks away." Said the three children, smiling at the same time.

That was the signature phrase of their gang.

****

A few steps from where the kids stood was a store where Ano used to buy his dinner to eat in the early morning. There wasn't much to choose from, but it was cheap and allowed him to save up for parts he bought at the junkyard and underground markets.

"Ooh!! Ano-kun." An old cook received the young inventor.

Tom, the elderly cook, was a veteran of the war. His body was full of mechanical prostheses. Not because he lost parts of his body in the war, but because he was turned into a human weapon. But once the war was over, his components became obsolete and he was abandoned like everyone else.

"You've come just at the right time. I'm about to open, and I just got a fresh batch of chicken! It barely expired two days ago. Surely those incompetents at the metropolis made a mistake in making the shipment, hahahahahaha!"

In Sector C, it was common to receive shipments a week late. Despite having a bridge connecting directly to the metropolis, the suburbs are numbered according to their priority. Inhabitants of sector A received recently expired food, recently discarded goods, second-hand materials, and obsolete technology. On the other hand, inhabitants of sector C received food that perished a week ago due to delays in shipments; they took materials from the dumps in sector B and resold them in underground markets. The lowest and worst sector of all was sector F.

Ano had the 1000 yen that Akira had handed him. A ration for him would be 500 yen, too cheap a price. This would allow him to save 500 yen to buy more pieces for his suit; this was what he did every day.

"Give me two servings of chicken rice." Said the boy confidently.

"Two huh? No wonder, you're almost 16 now, so you have to feed yourself well! Hahahaha!!" Tom prepared the portions for Ano right away.

Food was reserved only for the wealthiest of the metropolis. However, the government provided free of charge to all the inhabitants of Neo Shibuya two pills that provide the vitamins, minerals, glucose, liquids, and other components that a human needs on a daily basis. They were known as [V.Pills]. The pills did not take away or alleviate hunger, but only allowed people to stay alive and maintain a healthy body. Ano took the portions of food he had bought and set out to go home. But, first and foremost...

"Hey, brats! Here." Ano walked over to where The Northern Stars were and gave them both portions of food.

"HA! A tribute for our protection guys!" Said the leader.

"Hooray! Ano, we accept your payment. We will protect your house all week!" Shin, the shy one, said as he smiled and felt embarrassed after realizing he had started talking without thinking.

"Go inside the hostel and eat it all. I'll make sure the neighbors get home today." Said the boy as he smiled and pointed his thumb proudly at himself.

The children ran inside the lodge as Ano walked away on his way home. Then he felt a hand grabbing his shirt from behind.

"ANO!!! MARRY ME!!!"

While the multicolored neons illuminated the lonely street, Ano turned around, and there was Hana, looking at the ground, steady but on shaky legs.

"MARRY ME, ANO!!" Ano's childhood friend repeated.

"Eeeh? Marry you? You are still a silly little girl!"

The girl let go of her friend's shirt. "I'm not silly! Besides, you're a little kid too!"

"Hey, how dare you…! Besides, I'm older than you and I'm 10 centimeters taller..."

"SHUT UP AND MARRY ME NOW!!!"

Ano was silent, and reflected on what was going on. He walked towards Hana, put his hand on her shoulder, calm and confident, and looking into her eyes, he replied.

"Let's make a promise. Ahem." Ano cleared his voice. "When you turn 18 and graduate from school, I promise we'll get married. But for that, you'll have to start going to school at least three days a week."

"How much is three days a week?" Hana asked.

A desperate Ano answered. "Go to class every day and study hard. Or don't you want to marry me and you were just saying that as a joke?"

"I'M NOT JOKING! I'll marry you! I'll get good grades and then I’ll help you create your inventions! I promise too!" She said, while blushing.

"Then it's a promise. In 4 years, we'll get married.”

Ano finally felt relaxed and stopped thinking about what he had heard on the news. After saying goodbye once more to his friend, he finally made his way to his apartment.

****

On his way home, Ano always saw the same people leaving the same places. There was a lot of silent activity near where he lived. But he preferred it to be noisy, as silence always hides things. It was not unusual for him to see people being stripped of their prostheses because they had lost consciousness from an overdose.

Ano entered through the main door of the brothel. The first customers had already started to come in. Women, men, genders he didn't knew about... the supply and demand were infinite. If you wanted something, you’d get it. There were no limits. The boy always went straight to his little corner. When he opened the door to his apartment, he was always greeted.

"Good night, master. I'm afraid we have no food, so it was impossible to make your dinner."

M.O.M always greeted his creator.

"I know M.O.M I told you I had dinner out. Don't worry." Damn meal subroutine.

The young kid turned off the robot, took out his main chip, and, with his own Cyber Hut, which he assembled from parts he put together when he was younger, began to modify the parameters of M.O.M’s subroutines.

****

The little inventor liked the night because of how quiet it was in his area. But that was not the best thing about it. The best thing was the neon lights of his metropolis. They were not a big deal; vivid and over-saturated colors no matter where you looked. In fact, the best thing was the sky. Technology had advanced so much that even though the city was fully illuminated with neons, there was no light pollution. Ano spent half an hour every night looking at a sky full of stars with the contrast of a city full of colors.

"Damn, I just got engaged to be married." He realized as he looked up at the northern sky.