Side Story 2, Chapter 6: Wide Walkways
[Side Story 2, Chapter 6: Wide Walkways]
It's not 7AM yet… But some people seem to be awake now. We're looking for allies and friends to team up with, so we have help from every direction! I walked to a food truck, and Luca's there working in the early morning.
"Oh hello Sephine, kebab as usual?" Luca said.
"Actually, I'll get a barbecue, please!" Sephine said.
Sephine is one of Naiko's greatest sorceresses, she's a teacher in the Naiko School, but I never got to meet her in person. Sephine got her barbecue… I'll get some, too.
"Oh, Kasuri." Luca said.
"Luca, I want some barbecue!"
"One of your favorites, isn't it?"
"Yeah!"
"Say… Why are you awake at 2AM?"
"I just feel… Unsafe, you know? Without my mama, I feel like I could die any time… I really miss her."
[I made a sad expression.]
"Oh, I see why you seem upset all the time. I'll protect you." Luca tried to comfort me.
"I'll protect all of you!" Sephine suddenly got into the conversation.
"Sickkk!!!" said Luca.
I have both Luca and Sephine as my ally now, so I walked away, smiling. I invited Luca and Sephine into the "Cool Kids" group chat.
[Group Chat]
[10 Members: Kasuri !!!, Chris, yuguwa11, sephcakes, LucaLuca, Merikuri, GypsoKina, Ariel, Risuka !!!, Satoraea]
yuguwa11: omg sephine
Chris: Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!
Kasuri !!!: Don't forget about Luca, our No. 1 transportation assistant, or something.
LucaLuca: I ain't a taxi driver, but… I'll try. I got my food truck ready.
sephcakes: Your local sorceress is here!
Satoraea: Good planning, Kasuri. Adding me here for outside support, why not Raiyumi?
Kasuri !!!: Raiyumi doesn't accept group invites! But I have her phone number.
yuguwa11: for real???????
Merikuri: Huh?
Kasuri !!!: What about Ariel?
Ariel: hi ! i am cool .
GypsoKina: Hi Ariel
Kasuri !!!: Meet me at Naiko Apt. 101 Street N1 at 4:45 AM
Satoraea: I won't be coming, since I'm in Natoruyo.
GypsoKina: Me too.
Risuka !!!: I'm living in Pantora, sorry Kasuri! Good luck though!
We're not even planning anything in the chat, so let's meet in person.
[Some minutes later…]
Someone opened my door, and it was Meriku. She arrived WAY before 4:45 AM… It's just 2:55 AM. Meriku came here crying, and she hugged me. I hugged her back.
"Kasuri…"
"What happened, Meriku…?"
Meriku didn't say anything, but she hugged me even tighter, and cried even louder.
"My mama…"
"Mama…?"
I felt sad, after Meriku mentioned about a mom.
"Don't worry, she'll come back soon…"
I have a mom named Karumi Mano, she died some months ago from a bank attack. She protected me from the criminal, and it was her that died instead of me. I'm grateful that I at least survived… But I really wanted my mom to come back..
"Anyways, Meriku… Are you hungry?"
Meriku nodded. I opened my fridge and microwaved some food. I know what's Meriku's favorite food… Fish! She really likes fish! This one is really delicious, so Meriku enjoyed it. It made her happy, so I'm glad!
She looks happy now, and seemed to have forgotten about her mom!
[Chris, Yuguwa, Ariel and Luca came here. All of them walked through the door, except for Ariel who jumped in from the window. Luckily, the window was open, so nothing broke...]
"Aaaah!!!" Meriku was surprised! Not that they all entered early, but Ariel jumped through the window!
"Hiya." Ariel came in, with that pink hair and the immortal milk tea I bought him last month.
"Hiya!" Chris, Yuguwa and Luca said at the same time.
"Hello… I guess? That's a slightly weird way to introduce yourselves." I said, while thinking if this weird surprise was even planned. "I have a pretty basic plan, let's hide in my room. If there's no one, they'll kill no one!"
"What if they know we're hiding?" Ariel asked.
"Hmm, good question, we'll attack."
"Attack? What if we can't deal with them?"
"Just try to escape… It's gonna be super risky, I'm scared…"
"Hey, don't worry! I'll be there for you!"
"...Thanks."
[My expression made it look like I almost cried.]
"If anyone gets in danger, we'll help each other out, okay?"
"Helping everyone is… Good!" Chris said.
"Yeah, I've barely ever helped anyone before, but in a life and death situation like this, I'll rather help people than die. That's what people should be!" Yuguwa agreed with Chris.
"Thank you…" I felt both happy and sad. No one's ever cared for me as much as my mom… Friends are good, after all.
I used to lock myself in my room, while my mom tried to get me to make friends. I didn't want to make friends, so she understood me.
I used to get bullied by kids everyday when I went to the wide walkways, but that opinion has changed for me. I have some friends now, but… I still don't trust strangers.
I used to cry a lot, I still do. I used to hurt myself, I still do. I used to hurt people, I still do.
"I'm a terrible person, but why? Why are all of you befriending me? After all of the people I hurt so badly?" I whispered to myself, and cried.
[Ariel tried to comfort me, and make me laugh, but still, tears are flowing down from my eyes...]
[Some minutes later]
"Come on, Kasuri. Don't just cry like that and sit down. Let's go find some allies." Ariel helped me stand up and made me walk somewhere with him. We went to the sushi shop, and ate some sushi. Suddenly, we hear a noise from a cabinet in the shop. A loud bang was heard inside it. Ariel opened the cabinet, and there was someone inside it!
"Thank god someone noticed… This cabinet will not open from the inside…"
It was a white-haired girl with white eyes in a black dress. She didn't come out of the cabinet.
"Hiya! Are you okay?" Ariel asked.
"I am fine, I was hiding in the cabinet last night."
"Did you see anything last night?"
"I do not see anything important… But some months ago, some people left me behind for an adventure. I was in the same house as them."
"Oh… Do you have any cool stuff? It'll help us a lot."
"I have a portable charger."
"What's a portable charger? Can I use it to kill Ray?"
"A portable charger is the thing you use to charge a phone when your phone runs out of battery and there is no charger nearby."
"Sickkk! Can I use it to kill Ray, though...?"
"I do not know about anyone named Ray, but you can use the charger wire to strangle a person."
"Oh… Can you join our team though? You seem like a great help, and I think you can run fast!"
"Sure. I do not run fast, though, I can climb on buildings without using a ladder."
"That's sick!!! Did you learn it from Estelle Rosewood? Your words feel like Estelle Rosewood was saying it, it feels so cool!"
"Who is Estelle?"
"...Nevermind, let's get some supplies. Have some strawberry milk, it's one of my favorite drinks!"
"Thank you. My name is Inazuma Mochi, if you want to know."
"Inazuma, that's a pretty cool name! I think it means "Electricity" in Japanese, I think."
The three of us walked away from the sushi shop, and to the Statue of Naiko.
"Say… Can we ever get the crystal back?"
"Maybe, if we try hard enough." Ariel said. "Or maybe leave it to the government staff."
"We have to at least try. The government staff can't do everything."
"...Right, but… How do we reobtain the crystal to the statue?"
I looked up to the skyscraper where the crystal was on.
"I think some thief took it away. If it was the government, I think it'll be on the statue already. It's gotta be one of the criminals, right?"
"Yeah… Where do you think this crystal is?"
"Maybe it's in the headquarters of the attackers? Nevermind, let's go get supplies, like you said earlier.
We all went to the convenience store, and bought a lot of food. Ariel helped us microwave all of the food that needs to be microwaved, because there's not going to be microwaves that randomly spawns on the road. Well, I had to teach Ariel how to use a microwave since I'm scared the food will be too hot or too cold! The cashier and restocker seems like they're gonna try to restock the products and help everyone while they can. That's so cool of them.
[I heard 3 gunshots, everyone seemed surprised and ran to where the gunshot came from]
"Wha– I thought they only attack at night and before midnight???" I exclaimed.
"We're not sure yet! Yesterday was just the first attack, so... I think we need 3 more days."