Your eyes linger on Fuyuki's back as she leaves the room, but you make no move to go after her. You don't have it in you to fight - you realize, after everything you've been through. However, today has made it clear that returning to your normal life is not an option either. If you stay idle here any longer, you'll get swallowed whole in the imminent conflict whether you want to or not.
In the end, you decide to walk away from Neo One Han City.
It's much easier said than done. Although the borders of the city are almost deserted, they're still tightly surveilled by a relentless army of guardbots controlling the comings and goings of every citizen at all hours. You have almost no relevant information, resources, or connections - except for one. Your mind turns to Fu Ji again. You rifle through your bedside table and find her card, which still bears the advertisement for her protection service. You're more likely to die in the upcoming civil war than to ever scrounge up the kind of money needed to afford that. The price for an escape route, though - that's something you might be able to manage. Your fingers tremble as you tap the card for a second time and head towards a meeting that will forever alter the trajectory of your life.
Fu Ji has seemed almost taken aback by surprise, as you state your wish. For the right amount of Jade, however, she acquiesces to the request without questions, as you know she would. Within the same day, you're aboard a smuggler's ship, your course set for an uncharted sea.
You're taken outside of the city for the first time, to a strange land whose name you don't even recognize. At first, the sense of discovery and freedom feels almost thrilling. The local level of technology and infrastructure is much less advanced and ubiquitous than Neo One Han City's, but so is the degree of institutional control imposed on your actions. With your savings-Jade is a fairly precious commodity for exchange here, it seems-you're able to lead a comfortable life for a good while, albeit one that's simpler and more rudimentary than your previous habits. You take your time to relax and indulge in exploring your curiosity for the local culture and scenery, much of which is unlike anything you've ever seen before. Sometimes you find yourself missing the luxuries of holomovies and neuraverts, but even those can occasionally be arranged as exports from Neo One Han City.
The novelty soon wears off, however, and your carefree lifestyle also couldn't last for long. Before you know it, you have already run dangerously low on money, and you realize that soon you'll need some means to keep sustaining yourself. You've never had to worry about handling the cost of living or calculating your daily expenses - those were always taken care of for every resident in your old city. More importantly, you've never needed to work for your food, and subsequently have no abilities or experience you can use for gainful employment. Mahjong isn't a particularly valuable skill anywhere outside of Neo One Han City, it turns out. You drift through a series of transient, menial jobs, managing to eke out just enough to scrape by. The days blur together as you toil away. More and more often, you start to think back to the life you left behind.
Soon enough, news comes trickling in through the grapevine about an all-out power struggle in Neo One Han City, and even your safe haven is not immune from its consequences. Neo One Han had been one of the largest cities left standing in the world, and the now ongoing war amidst its border is synonymous with disruption to trade routes and mass shortage of supplies elsewhere. The result is an inevitable wave of recession and lay-offs, among which you're the first to be affected. As your chances in this place dwindle, you're back where you started - faced with the decision to either stay and weather the storm, or run away.
You choose to leave again.
It's much more difficult this time, without any assistance to speak off. When you can help it, you try to hitch rides from mercenary guilds in exchange for labor, or stow away in various cargo holds hoping you'll escape notice. When you can't, you're forced to wander on foot across the endless wastelands covering the gap between one region and another.
During your long, desperate treks, sometimes your mind turns to Fuyuki. You wonder if she's still alive. If she's still fighting among her comrades. In a different world, you could be fighting alongside her, or even against her on the opposite side of the battlefield. Maybe it'd change nothing. Maybe it'd have made a difference, however small. Either way, you'll never know now.
There is almost nowhere for you to go, you soon realize. The places you set foot on are often dependent on Neo One Han City and suffer similar repercussions from its civil war, or are lawless autonomous regions whose control is constantly being split and shifted among numerous warring juntas. Or even worse, they're barren deserts devoid of any and all life.
At some point, exhaustion gets the better of you, and you collapse onto the ground beneath. You don't know how long it has been, or where you're going anymore. And you're not sure why, but you recall once again the words a priestess spoke to you, a lifetime ago. "The only winning move is not to play." Her serene inaction in the face of death, as if at peace with her fate, had seemed borderline suicidal at the time. But you think you understand what she means now - how much of a relief it would be to finally just let go. After all, you don't have many choices left. Not when you've been on the run for so long, reluctant to commit to a side, a course of action.
You close your eyes and consider your last decision.
You could stop here for good. Like that priestess had chosen to, once.
Or you could get up again. Keep on going. And fight.