Yuka showed a strange reaction just after Koto Ne and Fukuda entered the bathroom.
Sitting in her place, Yuka suddenly lifted her head and looked back.
Her expression was stiff as a board.
“Yuka?”
I called out to Yuka, who jumped up from her seat, but she was already leaping toward the direction she was looking at.
“Nanami, wait a moment—”
“I won’t!”
As Sota was about to ask Nanami to take care of Shii, Shii shouted immediately.
“Shii, wait a moment.”
It seemed that Nanami had grasped the situation as she placed a hand on Shii’s shoulder and spoke.
In fact, not only Nanami but also Shii understood the situation. That child, who had been threatened by the yōkai, was Shii. Yuka had saved Shii and Sota back then.
“It might be dangerous outside.”
“What about O-nii-san?”
In response to Nanami’s words, Shii spoke. Receiving Shii’s slightly anxious gaze, Sota was momentarily at a loss for words.
“O-nii-san is in danger too.”
Given that it was already a crowded place, it was impossible for Shii and Sota’s conversation not to be overheard. The eyes of those around them gathered in this direction.
“I’m sorry, Shii.”
However, even with Shii saying that, Sota had to follow Yuka.
He had witnessed Yuka getting hurt while fighting a yōkai multiple times. He didn’t want to just stand by and watch while his friend fought for her life.
At the very least, Sota had the strength to keep yōkai at bay.
Above all, he thought that he had never not helped out until now.
Sota hurriedly followed behind Yuka. She was already running ahead.
The sound of Shii calling out to Sota from behind was pitiful.
*
Fortunately, Kurosawa stopped at Yuka’s words.
Sota himself was unsure of exactly what was about to happen.
All he knew was that one of the men surrounding Yuka and Fukuda was bleeding.
Koto Ne and Fukuda were in a side alley next to the park, but fortunately, it wasn’t a place they couldn’t get past. Conversely, since they were already in the men’s line of sight, it would be hard to escape. If they tried to leave, those men would block the way immediately.
Yuka was clutching Kurosawa against her body.
As if trying to prevent Kurosawa from doing something.
There was a thin wound along Kurosawa’s arm, with a trickle of blood flowing as if he had been cut by a razor.
“Wait, wait a moment, Kurosawa. Don’t go any further.”
Even while panting, Yuka was saying that.
Kurosawa turned to look at Yuka with a blank expression.
Yuka took a long breath and said, “If you kill someone, it will be troublesome.”
“What’s that?”
One of the men reacted angrily to her words, but Yuka continued to look at Kurosawa without turning her gaze.
“…They started it first.”
“Right, I know. They probably did. They must have.”
Yuka stepped back slightly from Kurosawa, grabbing his shoulders and turning him towards her.
She locked eyes with him and said, “But… still. Kurosawa, you just want to live like us.”
Blink.
Kurosawa’s eyes blinked at those words.
“You just want to go to school without getting bullied and live a normal life among friends. You want to eat something delicious on your way home after school and hang out somewhere else.”
Yuka smiled faintly at Kurosawa.
“There are days to go out, like today. After the festival, we’re supposed to go on a journey. If you kill someone, you won’t be able to do that.”
Kurosawa stared blankly at Yuka.
“Hey, it seems like you’re not grasping the situation.”
One of the men, who had been looking at the situation in disbelief, took a step forward and said, “I don’t know what trick you’ve used, but did you think you could just walk away after pulling that stunt?”
Sota faced the approaching men with determination.
Fortunately, the man bleeding in the back wasn’t coming this way, nor were the people next to him. Was it because they had seen Kurosawa’s face directly?
“Let’s go, Kurosawa.”
Yuka spoke without caring about the others at all.
“We’re going to see the fireworks.”
“……”
Kurosawa slightly glanced away.
To the side of Yuka, down below.
At the end of that gaze directed at the ground, there was a goldfish lying on the ground.
The plastic bag was brutally torn apart. Thankfully, the goldfish seemed to have survived the shock to some degree, but fish can’t live out of water.
It couldn’t even flop around, with only the gills of the goldfish flailing pitifully.
Kurosawa passed by Yuka and then walked past Fukuda, who was clutching his stomach.
Slowly crouching down to the ground, she cautiously picked up the torn plastic bag. There wasn’t much water left in the bag, so it looked quite dangerous in that state.
Kurosawa looked up at Yuka.
“I see.”
Yuka nodded as if she understood Kurosawa’s gesture.
“The fireworks are going to be on the other side of the river. If we get there, that kid can live.”
“Hey, are you even listening when someone is talking?”
The man who had been looking on in disbelief until then spoke.
Yuka turned towards that man, responding with a nonchalant expression.
“You guys better step aside if you don’t want to die. Human emotions don’t work the way you think.”
The men exchanged glances at Yuka’s words. The girls who had been with them—oh, those were the ones who had been bullying Kurosawa. It was only then that Sota began to understand how the situation was flowing.
With the laughter that followed, Sota clenched his fists tightly.
“Hey, what are they talking about?”
The man’s words were cut short.
As he was looking at his companion, Sota had already delivered a solid punch right to the man’s face.
He had been training somewhat to be of help to Yuka after all. Even if it was just practicing alone during the time left at home, he could still deliver one good blow to the unsuspecting man’s face.
Looking to the side, Yuka was also landing a punch on another guy’s face. Even without a knife, Yuka was strong.
His hand hurt a lot, but Sota didn’t stop there. Seeing the two men topple over, while others froze for a moment, Sota shouted.
“Kurosawa! Fukuda! Run!”
The moment Fukuda heard those words, he grabbed one of Kurosawa’s arms and ran. Even in the midst of that, Kurosawa kept her hands tightly clasped together. Because in them was the goldfish.
As Fukuda was passing by the man who was trying to get back up, he stomped down hard on his foot. The man screamed and toppled over, and finally, his other companions began to snap back to reality.
Apart from the bleeding one, the other men began to shout and chase after them.
Fukuda was jumping remarkably well despite looking like he had been hurt somewhere. Kurosawa, still with a dazed expression as if she were not quite grasping the situation, followed closely behind Fukuda.
At some point, the shouts from behind stopped.
As Sota and company entered a crowded place, it seemed that the others had stopped following them as well.
But for some reason, their group kept running.
No, there was a reason. Because Kurosawa was holding a goldfish in both hands. It had already been lying on the ground for quite a while, so was it slowly becoming really dangerous?
For a moment, he wondered if it was even okay to release a goldfish into the river, but—somehow, it didn’t seem like that mattered to their group.
“O-nii-san!?”
Once they reached a good spot for watching the fireworks, Shii immediately recognized Sota and ran over.
“Shii!”
“O-nii-san, are you okay?”
While keeping up with the vigorously running Sota, Shii asked nonstop.
“Sota, what’s going on? All you have is water over there!”
Nanami followed along a bit later, asking.
“I know! Right now, we need water!”
As they dashed through the crowd, they caused a wave of discontented voices around them. Did it seem like Sota and company were running to watch the fireworks at the closest place?
“Hey, you kids!”
A person who appeared to be a safety officer shouted, but by then the kids had already dashed past him, right next to the riverbank.
They pushed through the crowd and arrived at the railing right next to the riverbank.
“Kurosawa.”
Yuka breathed heavily, looking at Kurosawa, who then looked up at Sota.
Sota nodded.
“You want to save that child, right?”
Fukuda also chimed in. While still clutching around his belly with one eye closed, he managed to gasp out those words.
Nanami and Shii quickly grabbed onto the railing.
“…Yeah.”
“Then, do as you wish.”
At Fukuda’s words, Kurosawa looked at her hands.
The torn plastic bag and the nearly empty water. And inside, a small goldfish was pitifully fighting to breathe.
Kurosawa quietly gazed at the goldfish, then gently let it drop toward the river.
Splash.
With a very tiny sound and a small splash, the goldfish sank into the water.
For a brief moment, everyone held their breath as they looked at that spot.
After a few seconds, the distinctive red of the goldfish surfaced near the surface.
The goldfish swam around for a brief moment and then swam away.
Everyone stared blankly at the retreating figure of the goldfish, speechless.
“…It’ll be okay.”
Yuka said to Kurosawa.
“…Yeah.”
After a moment of pondering her response, Kurosawa briefly answered like that.
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