Hearing Aiden's words, Wedge hesitated for a moment, but looking at Cloud holding the Buster Sword, he recalled the strength Cloud had shown during last night's mission at Mako Reactor 1, and was immediately shocked into stepping back.
———
At this moment, what Cloud was seeing was a different scene.
In his "vision," Aiden and the others in the bar had all disappeared, and the one who appeared before him was actually the person who drove him to join Shinra, his former idol, Sephiroth.
Because of the influence of Zack's memories, and because Cloud had already seen Sephiroth more than once in the spiritual world, he now completely regarded Sephiroth as an enemy. Even though he was once his idol, Cloud didn't hesitate to swing his sword.
"Heh heh..." Sephiroth didn't dodge, allowing Cloud's Buster Sword to split him in two, but what surprised Cloud was that the split Sephiroth left behind no body or blood, and just disappeared into thin air.
Cloud was stunned for a moment. In the blink of an eye, the scene before his eyes turned back into Seventh Heaven. However, in this Seventh Heaven, besides himself, there were also Aerith and Tifa.
But in the next second, Aiden appeared next to Aerith and Tifa. Then Aerith and Tifa waved at him, each hugging one of Aiden's arms, and disappeared together with him.
Seeing this scene, Cloud could only reach out to them helplessly, but couldn't say a single word.
"Is it painful? Are you sad? Fate... was supposed to favor you..."
Beside Cloud's ears, Sephiroth's voice appeared like a ghost.
"It's a pity... your fate was altered... perhaps... you could still walk another path?"
The voice continued to speak beside his ear, but he couldn't hear any of it anymore, because the noise and exclamations around him pulled him back from the spiritual world.
———
"Cloud, wake up. Cloud."
The moment he opened his eyes again, Cloud saw Biggs and the others standing far away, calling his name.
"Are you okay, Cloud?" Seeing Cloud's eyes gradually become clear, Tifa, standing beside Aiden, asked with concern, her eyes full of worry, of course, that was all. Toward Cloud, what she felt now was more of friendship.
"I'm fine." Cloud understood Tifa's expression, and a bitter smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"You just almost sliced Wedge in half. If it weren't for Aiden's quick reaction pulling him away, we'd be preparing Wedge's funeral today." Jessie glanced at the still-scared Wedge and said to Cloud with dissatisfaction.
Only then did Cloud turn his gaze toward Wedge. Seeing the frightened expression on his face, Cloud sheathed the Buster Sword again, nodded slightly, and said, "Sorry, Wedge."
"N-no problem, anyway, you didn't actually hurt me." Wedge gasped, trying hard to calm his wildly beating heart, but it clearly wasn't working, his legs were still trembling.
"What happened to you just now?" Seeing that Cloud seemed to have really regained clarity, Tifa brought him a glass of water.
Cloud picked up the glass and took a big gulp. After the cool liquid entered his body, his mind became even clearer. He sighed and said, "I'm not really sure either. It seems like a problem from those years I spent as a mercenary."
"Can it be cured?" Jessie asked from the side, "I don't want you suddenly going crazy on a mission and hacking all of us."
"Should be able to." Cloud wasn't certain either, but one thing he was sure of, this problem was definitely related to Sephiroth.
"Then that's good." Jessie let out a slight sigh of relief, though she clearly didn't really believe it.
After all that, everyone continued to enjoy lunch.
Cloud, who was already a bit reclusive by nature and had nearly hurt someone just now, sat alone at a table. But Wedge and Biggs didn't mind and directly sat across from him.
"Don't blame yourself, Cloud. You're just sick." Seeing Cloud lost in thought, Biggs and Wedge comforted him.
Cloud looked up at them expressionlessly, then forced a smile. "Thanks."
This "thanks" was truly heartfelt. Although they hadn't known each other long, he could still feel their kindness.
"No need to be polite. We're comrades who are saving the planet together." Biggs said cheerfully.
Just then, Aerith placed three bowls of meat soup in front of them. "Try my cooking."
"Thank you for the hard work, Miss Aerith." Wedge had learned from Jessie that Aerith made lunch. He thanked her and took a big sip, then said in surprise, "It tastes great!"
"Of course! Aiden always praises my cooking." Aerith said confidently.
As she was about to return to Aiden's side, she heard Cloud suddenly call out, "Are you... Aerith?"
Aerith looked at him and nodded. "Something wrong?"
"N-no..." Although Cloud really wanted to ask "Do you know me?", seeing her unfamiliar eyes, he could only lower his head and drink the soup.
But what he didn't know was, the moment he lowered his head, a faint flicker of emotion passed through Aerith's eyes.
However, she quickly returned to normal and, with a light and relaxed demeanor, sat back beside Aiden.
Aiden stopped his little eavesdropping action and picked up his bowl, blowing on the non-existent steam.
"Want me to help you blow on it?" As if she had guessed what he was thinking, Aerith's lips curved into a slight smile and leaned over to blow on it gently.
———
After lunch, there were still no customers. Since all the preparations were done, everyone idled again.
After chatting for a bit, Wedge and Biggs left. They were part of the Neighborhood Watch and had patrol duty in the afternoon, also going to switch shifts with their leader, Barret.
Cloud sat for a while longer, but only had a few more cups of tea. He felt like he was an extra person here. Although Aiden and the others didn't exclude him from the conversation, he still felt out of place, so he made up an excuse to leave.
Of course, maybe it wasn't just an excuse. Before leaving, Biggs mentioned that there were monsters showing up in Rubble Street, and nearby residents were willing to pay to hire mercenaries to clear them out.
As someone who saw himself as a mercenary, Cloud wouldn't miss any chance to make money, especially now, when his biggest goal was probably to earn enough money.
Watching Cloud's departing figure, Aiden felt a bit regretful. He actually wanted to go too. After all, he'd been in this world for a month and still hadn't seen what a monster looked like with his own eyes.
But besides regret, he had originally also wanted to talk to Cloud about Sephiroth. However, every time he tried to start a conversation, Cloud would look at him coldly, so he could only give up.
"Tifa, can you find me a wooden board? Also a thicker pen. Oh, and nails and rope. The rope doesn't need to be too thick, just strong."
Not long after Cloud left, Aiden suddenly remembered what he said in the morning about becoming a "Midgar City Hunter." Although he had immediately received his first job, completed it successfully, and was still savoring the generous reward, he couldn't just stop at one job, right?
Tifa also remembered Aiden mentioning putting up a sign outside the bar, and excitedly rushed into the liquor storage room, searching for a while before finding a wooden board probably taken from a wine crate.
"What should we write on it? Just 'Midgar City Hunter'? That might not be clear to others." Before Aiden could speak, Tifa grabbed the pen and stared at the board thoughtfully. "Cloud calls himself the 'Handyman.' That's much more recognizable than 'Midgar City Hunter,' and shorter too. It sounds better."
"Then Aiden can be called 'Multi-skilled,' or 'All-purpose Helper.'" Jessie chimed in, "Sounds cool enough."
"No, that would look too much like copying." Aerith objected. "I think we should just drop the 'Midgar' part and go with 'City Hunter' or 'Full-time Hunter.' What do you think, Aiden?"
She turned to Aiden, waiting for his decision. Aiden hesitated a little, this whole thing was originally just a whim. And with the story moving forward, plus Sephiroth now targeting him, who knew how long he could keep this up?
Thinking for a moment, Aiden decided to stick with the original name, "Let's keep it as 'Midgar City Hunter.'"
Seeing Aiden make the final call, the three girls didn't object further. Tifa wrote the words on the wooden board, Jessie, who was the most handy, tied the rope and nailed the sign onto the bar door. The whole process didn't require Aiden to lift a finger.
"All done." Jessie clapped her hands and turned to Aiden. "Now we just wait for customers to show up."
———
In fact, during the afternoon, before even reaching off-work hours, customers did come, though they were mostly there for drinks. Many paused to look at the sign, but that was it.
After waiting another half hour with no one hiring him, Aiden, having nothing to do, sat by the bar and started drinking.
Unlike the slightly bored Aiden, the girls were quite happy with the situation. They didn't want Aiden running around outside. Keeping him in sight was the best.
"Uncle! Sister Aerith! Sister Tifa! Sister Jessie!"
Just as Tifa was mixing a drink for Aiden, Marlene ran in from outside. After politely greeting everyone, she climbed into the chair beside Aiden and asked Tifa for a glass of juice.
But since Tifa was busy, it was Aerith who brought her the juice. After squeezing Marlene's little cheeks, Aerith asked, "You're by yourself? Where's your dad?"
"Daddy picked me up from school and then went back to the Neighborhood Watch." Marlene sipped through a straw and said, "He said there've been lots of monster invasions in Sector 7 lately. They're doing overnight patrols, so he told me to come find Sister Tifa."
"Then you have to be good, okay?" said Tifa, who had just finished mixing the drink.
Marlene nodded immediately. "Marlene will be very good."
"Speaking of which, the monster invasion situation really is getting worse. Every day there's news of people being hurt." Jessie sighed, "The slum people are all terrified."
"That's normal. The land within dozens of kilometers of Midgar has already become a wasteland. Those monsters need food. If they can't find it outside, they'll come into the city." Aiden took a sip of the drink Tifa handed over, and as he spoke, his eyes scanned the bar. A few more people had just come in from outside, all wearing masks and hats, completely covered. That piqued his curiosity.
But curiosity aside, this was a well-known bar in Sector 7. Strange people coming and going wasn't unusual, as long as they didn't cause trouble.
After hearing what he said, Jessie snorted coldly, "It's all Shinra's fault. If they hadn't drained the Lifestream near Midgar, this place wouldn't have turned into this."
Aerith, as the last of the Ancients and basically the spokesperson of the planet, deeply felt the same. "They're just a bunch of greedy bastards."
They didn't deliberately lower their voices, but in the noisy bar, only those nearby could hear them. A little farther away and it was just vague noise.
"Lower your voices, Aerith, Jessie. Don't let others hear." Tifa thought they were being a bit loud. Although no one seemed to notice, she still reminded them.
"Hmph!" Jessie snorted again but said nothing more. She picked up a clean cloth and kept wiping glasses.
Aiden smiled at her, gesturing for her to relax. Then he glanced again at that table, they had started talking.
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