"Are there any people from Flower City on board?" someone asked, looking around excitedly.
"Over there, aren't they?" Someone familiar with the people of Flower City recognized the pair. "See the floral trim showing at their cloak collars? That's a distinctive mark of Flower City."
They were a mother and child. The child was only six or seven and still being held in his mother's arms. Under everyone's gaze, the mother stood, intending to leave, but a nearby passenger reached out to stop her. "Don't be in such a hurry. Are people from Flower City all this arrogant? You can't even be bothered to talk to outsiders?"
"I have something to do..." The mother was eager to leave, but before she could finish, the person blocking her yanked off her cloak, revealing an outfit specially made by the Flower City government for all its citizens.
In a city with such generous benefits as Flower City, the government took care of its citizens' food, clothing, housing, and transportation. But since the clothes were mass-produced, they all looked much alike. Flower City also favored vivid colors, so most of the clothing had floral embroidery on a white background, with the patterns changing according to the season...
What surprised people was that this outfit seemed to make others hate its wearers.
Those who had been gathered together discussing all the benefits of Flower City now looked at the mother and child with instinctive hostility.
"I thought the people of Flower City were all some kind of superior breed. Didn't expect they'd have people like this, too." The man who had pulled off her cloak burst out laughing.
The onlookers laughed along. Someone said, "Some people just get lucky from the moment they're born. They land on a good fortune and never have to