The following day Loki was awakened to a smell he had become accustomed to in the past six months.
Loki opened his eyes and sat up in his makeshift bed and saw Machi holding a rotting wooden bowl in her hand.
Using a makeshift spoon, she scooped the dark goop from the bowl inside her mouth.
"You're awake?" she said without looking.
"Ah… Indeed I am Miss Machi! Though I must ask you something, why not eat some of the food I had instead of this?" Loki asked quizzically as he pointed at the bowl of goop in her hand.
"I wanted to save it for emergencies..?" she said blandly.
As Machi said this, she scooped more of what seemed to be black sesame seeds into her mouth.
"Oh no… This simply won't do my dear. If need be I can simply run to get some more, so why save it." Loki said, waving his finger.
Machi looked incredibly thin with not much fat on her entire body and it was clear she wasn't getting enough food.
Although he wouldn't usually care about things like this, she was the one who helped him, and for that, he owed her a bit.
This kind of food did not look good, did not smell good, and it certainly didn't taste very good. This is his own experience from staying in Meteor City for the past six months.
"What do you mean..?" Machi said, realizing that Loki was looking at her food.
Loki smiled underneath his mask.
"Oh why of course our kind neighbors roaming the outskirts of Meteor City. Although they tend to be a bit mean, they happen to have much better supplies than this! So please my dear, eat up!" Loki said quickly, grabbing some of the dry food and handing some to her.
"As they say, you can't start a day right without a hearty breakfast. Wouldn't you agree, dear Miss Machi..?" Loki said with a smile showing in his eyes.
Machi looked at the food handed to her as her eyes widened after thinking for a moment.
"Is that why you were injured?" Machi asked blankly without eating the food.
"Ah… A mistake on my part I'm afraid. The neighbors I chose to visit this time happened to be a bit more unpleasant than I had thought. I have always been quite unlucky with these types of things you see." Loki said, holding his head dramatically.
Machi looked at Loki blankly.
"Oh you need not be worried my dear Miss Machi. I can assure you that none will come to bother us. I happened to introduce them all to a "new place of residence" if you will. I promise you won't be hearing from them anytime soon." Loki said with his eyes narrowing slightly.
Machi ignored him before glancing at the dried piece of meat in her hand and taking a bite.
"Thats the spirit Miss Machi." Loki said as he sat down with his own piece of food.
"Before I rescued you from the trash I took your clothes and cleaned the blood off. Now that you live in my house, you need to pay a certain price in exchange for me helping you." Machi said after finishing her food.
"Oh my… Where are my manners? What can I do to repay you my dear…" Loki asked as his eyes narrowed towards her.
He didn't mind repaying the favor but that didn't mean he would be her slave.
"Wait until later. You can follow me to the landfill to find some supplies." Machi said before picking up the previous bowl of black goop.
Although she had eaten enough meat she didn't want to waste food.
"I'll get you a set of protective clothing in a while too. Although it is the lowest level, it should help you a bit," Machi added.
"Oh that won't be necessary my dear. This set of clothes will be fine for me." Loki said signaling to the clothes he was currently wearing.
He was dressed in a white dress shirt with a tattered red jacket. For the bottom half he had black pants with some beat up dress shoes.
He had found this outfit in the six months he had searched through the trash and he liked it quite a bit.
"If you say so…" She said as she started to get up.
Loki smiled slightly and started to follow after her.
"Ah before we leave Miss Machi, you wouldn't happen to know where I could find two knives would you?" Loki said, tapping her shoulder.
Machi turned around and raised her eyebrows. She glanced towards the door and there where two knives sitting on a shelf.
"Oh would you look at that! I had thought these would be lost! You truly are a life saver my dear." Loki said, grabbing the two knives and placing them on the inside of his jacket.
"Onwards my dear, time waits for no one!" Loki said, opening the door and holding it open for Machi.
*************
Outside in the trash heaps were Loki and Machi heading back to her house for lunch after a couple hours of scrounging around.
While walking back Loki decided to appease some of his boredom with some light conversation. He moved slightly ahead of her and bent forward to look Machi in the eye.
"Miss Machi~," Loki said in a faint voice while..
"Yes Loki?" Machi said, annoyed.
"Oh don't be that way my dear. I simply wanted to ask you a question." Loki said with a mischievous light shining in his eyes.
"I was simply wondering what you think is the most important thing to survive in Meteor City?"
Hearing this, Machi didn't think much about replying.
"Survival supplies such as food, weapons, and medicines," she said and paused for a second before adding.
"There is also the will to survive," she said lightly.
Hearing this, Loki's smile underneath his mask widened a bit.
Food is indispensable for survival, weapons are essential for surviving a battle with people, and medicines are for medical treatment after fighting or getting injured exploring the garbage piles.
Without these items, it is indeed hard for ordinary people to survive.
The first few were answers he was expecting but hearing her say that will was necessary was a surprise.
"Oh my… What a great answer Miss Machi. I truly did not see you wrong." Loki said before straightening himself up and continuing to walk back to the house.
Machi quietly followed behind him before beginning to talk to herself.
"And what do you think is the most important Loki?" asked Machi.
"Well my dear if I had to say what the most important thing to survive within Meteor City would be…" Loki trailed off, before once again looking towards Machi.
"It would be strength, my dear Miss Machi." Loki said with his eyes narrowing.
Hearing his answer, Machi's eyes widened a bit before returning to normal.
"Although a pure will can help you overcome your circumstances and move forward my dear, at the end of the day, you will always be at risk of running into someone stronger than you." Loki said lightly.
"You see Miss Machi, our world follows a very simple fundamental rule. In this world, there are the strong and the weak… Although you could spend your time gathering supplies such as food, medicine, and weapons… what prevents someone with higher strength from taking them?" Loki said, continuing.
Hearing this, Machi paused for a moment.
"The world is actually quite unfair, Miss Machi. There happens to be a saying I like a lot. It says that he who has the larger fist does the talking in this world… So while I agree that the will to survive is quite incredible, It's sadly quite pointless without strength to back it up." he said in a cynical tone.
"Is that why you got beaten up the other day?" Machi said blandly, regaining her senses.
"Well why of course! Sadly this world does not view me as exempt from this rule so I had to suffer the consequences…" Loki finished softly.
Loki thought back to his previous life and couldn't help but get lost in thought before quickly snapping back to reality as he realized they were back home.
"As it stands now however, I am actually quite strong within Meteor City so you need not worry, Miss Machi…" Loki said entering the house.
"I wasn't worried." Machi said blandly as she entered.
Machi quickly grabbed some food before handing some to Loki as well.
"Well I'm thrilled that you have such confidence in me my dear… but are you interested in becoming stronger yourself?" Loki asked curiously.
"And how should I do that?" Machi said, staring at Loki like an idiot.
"Oh my… You wound me with your gaze my dear." Loki said, clutching his heart dramatically.
"And here I was about to teach you something as a repayment…" Loki said, looking up to stare her in the eyes.
"And that would be…?" Machi asked.
"Why the power of Nen of course." Loki said before flaring his aura and narrowing his eyes.
Almost instantly Machi felt a suffocating pressure descend onto her. Her eyes instantly filled with a sense of dread as her instincts screamed at her.
Just as quickly as the pressure descended however, it was released, leaving Machi gasping for breath.
"Oh I must apologize my dear… I simply wanted to demonstrate." Loki said, standing up and looking at the weak Machi.