Rei is currently walking animatedly through the crowded streets toward her school. On her small and cute face blooms a smile so radiant it could even be comparable to the sun illuminating the morning.
"It won't be long until Arata also attends school."
She murmurs happily to herself while taking little hops.
"Hehe... then with him nearby classes won't be so boring anymore. We'll even be able to spend the whole day together. And when Arata finally becomes my boyfriend... Uhhhh..."
Thinking about those romantic things her cheeks begin to blush intensely until completely painting the tips of her ears red.
She hugs her backpack against her chest as she continues walking.
"Now that he's Saya's adoptive onii-san, she can't be his girlfriend, right? So he'll be just for me."
She feels clever thinking that.
In fact, for a long time she's known well Saya also has romantic feelings for Arata. But Saya is too tsundere to show them openly. So now that Arata suddenly became her adoptive brother, or is about to become one, Saya must be in crisis.
Saya doesn't know whether she should reject him being her onii-san in order to be his girlfriend later, or accept him being her onii-san at the cost of losing the opportunity to have him as a boyfriend. If she chooses the first, she feels it's too cruel to him since he's never had a family, and if she chooses the second, she'll lose her love and Rei will take him.
"Hahaha!"
While thinking about Saya's frustrated face every time she sees her, Rei laughs out loud while holding her stomach and closing her eyes.
That's why she doesn't see what's in front of her.
—Thud!
She crashes into the solid body of a person. Since she's quite small and the other party seems to be a tall adult, she's pushed roughly backward by the impact.
However, her mother has trained her with spear techniques since she was little. And every day she does specific exercises to be flexible and know how to coordinate her body weight.
Thanks to that training she manages to stabilize herself without falling to the ground.
Looking up she sees the face of the person she crashed into.
It's a man around twenty years old or maybe older. He has very cold and emotionless eyes fixed directly on her.
Rei gets scared, taking a few steps backward.
The man clicks his tongue with irritation while looking down.
"My purchase fell because of you."
He says in a flat and annoyed voice.
Only then does Rei look at the ground and sees many individual instant coffee packets scattered everywhere. She's somewhat stunned observing the quantity.
'Is it really necessary to buy so much coffee at once?'
Drinking a lot of it is quite bad for your health, right?
But she has no intention of continuing to think about that since she knows it was she who wasn't paying attention and crashed into the other party.
She instantly bows her head forward in an apologetic bow.
"I'm very sorry!"
The man looks at her with emotionless eyes for several seconds. While she feels there's something wrong with this man, he finally speaks.
"Pick them up."
He orders coldly.
"Ugh..."
Rei wants to complain but since it's her fault for not looking, she presses her lips with resignation. She crouches down and grabs the fallen plastic bag. She picks up each of the coffee packets before putting them all back in the bag.
Once finished she stands up and hands the bag to the man.
As he grabs the bag the man suddenly shows an extremely wide smile full of yellowed and sharp teeth.
Rei gets scared by that disturbing smile.
When she tries to quickly move away the man firmly grabs her slender arm and pulls her forcefully.
"Follow me now."
He orders as he starts to drag her.
Rei despairs. It's not normal for a stranger to grab her arm and order her to follow him. This man definitely plans to do something bad to her!
She looks around seeking help with pleading eyes.
There are many people walking down the crowded street. Seeing dozens of adults passing nearby she's relieved and screams with all her might.
"Help! Please someone help me!"
However, seeing that a small girl is about to be kidnapped in broad daylight, people merely deliberately looked away and pretended not to have seen anything.
They continued walking as if nothing was happening.
Rei's expression freezes as she's dragged by the man toward a dark alley.
"Please! Someone call the police!"
Her father is a policeman and is nearby, so he'll surely come quickly.
In response to the desperation perceived in her voice, the people heading to their jobs ignore her.
'Why? Why is no one helping me? Shouldn't they help a child in danger?'
Tears begin to form in her eyes as terror consumes her.
She puts all her strength into her arm and legs trying to pull herself backward to escape the man's clutches. But she's definitely no match for an adult's strength.
Passing near a small store she grabs a broom that's leaning against the wall. She uses it as if it were her spear trying to hit the man. Thanks to her mother teaching her, she knows how to wield a weapon like this.
Then...
The broom bounces and makes a breaking crunch. The man's body is abnormally hard.
"Behave, brat."
Says the man in an irritated voice.
Then he raises his free hand in the air. He seems to intend to slap her.
Rei gets even more scared seeing his hand approaching her face.
'Arata...'
She thinks desperately as she closes her eyes preparing for the blow.
—Crack!
A sound of bones crunching is heard.
A small but strong hand firmly grabs the man's arm and squeezes it forcefully making his bones crunch.
Not feeling pain in her cheeks, Rei slowly opens her eyes.
She sees Arata's indifferent face looking up at the man's eyes. He's considerably smaller than the adult man in height, but he was able to stop his attack.
She's amazed by that before coming out of her daze.
"Arata! It's you!"
Those words come out of her mouth and convey her immense relief at seeing the person she loves, and had thought of in her moment of crisis, coming out to save her.
Soon, however, she worries. Will Arata also be dragged away by this man?
The man, seeing it's just a small child who stopped his arm, shows a sneer of contempt on his face. Although he's a child, his strength certainly doesn't correspond at all to that of a normal child.
"So that's how it is."
Says the man as his eyes narrow.
"You're also..."
It seems he's about to reveal something important about what Arata is. But Arata speaks first in a kind and calm voice.
"It's just an innocent mistake, sir. She's a very dear friend and I don't want anything bad to happen to her. If you want to continue with this I'll have no choice but to immediately call the police. So would you be so kind as to let us go peacefully?"
The gleams in the man's eyes dim greatly before recovering their brightness. It happened too quickly, and it's impossible for anyone without supernatural senses to notice it. Without saying a single word more he turns around and walks away with stiff steps.
"Huh...?"
Rei is confused about why he suddenly changed so drastically and left without fighting.
'Before it seemed like he wanted to kidnap me...'
However, since she was so terrified just a few seconds ago, and Arata suddenly appeared like a hero to save her, certainly now the emotion of deep relief covers every corner of her heart without leaving space to think about anything other than hugging him tightly.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
She sobs.
"People are so scary... A strange man tried to kidnap me and take me into a dark alley, but no one helped me. Everyone just looked away... Are people really this cruel?"
Arata runs his hand over her caramel-colored hair carefully to comfort her.
"Everything's fine now. You're safe. And to answer your question, it may not be everyone. But there are definitely many people of that type who prefer to ignore problems and not get involved in others' lives. Even if a kidnapping or violent crime occurs in front of them, they won't move to help. At most they'll leave feeling a bit ashamed."
Rei tightens her arms more firmly around his waist. She buries her face in his chest while continuing to sob.
"At least they should call the police..."
She murmurs as her body trembles.
Arata nods.
"You're right. They should."
'Well, it's not just that.'
Humans are starting to become aware that there are human-devouring monsters due to the immense amount of news coming to light every day.
So it's likely normal humans are starting to feel afraid. And that's why they don't want to get involved in others' affairs. After all, the person who was calmly passing by them on the street is very possibly a hungry ghoul.
What would happen if they tried to talk to them? Much less go against them for wanting to stop a kidnapping?
After a few minutes Rei moves her wet face away from his chest and looks at him with red and swollen eyes.
"By the way... what are you doing here, Arata?"
He smiles tenderly.
"I don't have anything interesting to do when Saya and you aren't around. So I go out to wander the city aimlessly. I saw you being intimidated by that strange adult and quickly rushed to help you."
"I see..."
She murmurs feeling a tickle in her stomach. It's the first time she feels it, and she associates it with what she's read before in a book. Is it what's called butterflies in the stomach?
Arata continues.
"You know? I was very angry and wanted to break that guy's face. But unfortunately I'm still just a small child. But I'll train a lot to become stronger and be able to always protect you."
"Hehe..."
Rei laughs softly as she wipes away the remaining tears.
"It's wrong to hit someone. But since the others also ask for it then I guess it's okay. I'll support you, Arata!"
Then she stands on tiptoes and brings her face close. Her small lips press against his cheek.
"I have to go to school or I'll be late!"
With a blushing face, Rei says those words and runs off.
"Take care!"
Arata was thinking about calling Rei's father to come and take her to school, but she's quite impulsive and left directly after giving him a kiss.
He wipes the saliva on his cheek as he watches her walk away.
Seeing her disappear around a corner, his smiling face gradually fades. Only a cold face devoid of all emotion is shown.
He turns around. He starts following the ghoul walking through the alley. The ghoul who was mentally manipulated by him moments ago.
It's time to kill the bastard who tried to kidnap his dear friend.
×××
20 advanced chapters on Pa-treon.
pa-treon.com/OlwinMoriarty