Nighttime arrived sooner than I would've liked, but it just meant I had more time to flee and ask for help than expected. The light from the moon outside is more than enough for someone with enhanced vision like me, so when I am sure that all members of the family that let me into their home are asleep, I bail out of there.

I'm not a bad person for avoiding trouble, okay? I just don't want to die without a fight, and with that many soldiers, if I choose to fight, then I would not even make a dent in their forces. It was better for everyone if I bailed and left them behind.

{ 討伐作戦 - Kenichiro Suehiro}

Under the darkness of the night, moving around isn't so complicated. I just had to avoid making too much noise or being seen by anyone, which was easier said than done once I noticed a couple of people still walking around their homes even though most were already asleep! Shit!

I focus most of my attention on the people walking outside, and I fail to see the person slowly following me around in the darkness of the night. "That was some good beer! UGH! That lame bartender, however! Closing the tavern so early! Not fair!" A man struggling to walk around says while trying to move along with his other drunk friend.

Since the town was small, it only took me around seven minutes to leave the building side of the city and reach the crop fields, where I soon noticed something strange chasing behind me, trying to be sneaky. At first, I thought it was maybe a squirrel or something, so I kept going for now since I didn't think anyone saw me.

Walking through the crops, I start feeling a gut feeling that I would be sent to hell for being such a coward until I remember the words of Darwin! It's just natural selection, right? There is nothing to be ashamed of; I am just doing this for survival in a world ruled over the survival of the fittest!

{Crack squeak}

There it was, that noise between the grass again. Now convinced something or someone was trailing behind me, I finally turned around and tried to get whoever was following me to show himself. "Who is there? Why are you following me?" I ask while staying low, hiding in the wheat crops.

The person following me soon stopped moving and responded with a voice I knew too well. "Where are you going, big sis?" FUCK! How the hell did this fucking kid follow me all this way without me noticing him!? Wasn't he supposed to be super young and dumb!? Damn it! What do I tell him!?

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"That's none of your business, Chimaru; now, just go home; you can't come with me," I respond with a cold answer and tone. I feel proud of myself for once being able to muster the courage to be a jerk. Still, Chimaru doesn't seem to get the memo as he approaches me, finally letting me see him all sweaty.

"I can't let big sis go into the woods alone in the dark! That's not what a man does!" Chimaru exclaims carelessly, forcing me to put my hands over his mouth so he won't keep yelling like a total idiot. Goddamit, this kid was going to be trouble! I didn't want to beat him up, but at this rate, did I have any other option?

{Sigh}

"You can't come with me even if you wanted to; I am leaving the town to keep you safe," I say to Chimaru while slowly taking my hands from his mouth so he can respond, but this time, I make it clear not to yell. "Why are you leaving? Why like this? Weren't you going to say goodbye?"

"I'm a fugitive Chimaru. The empire wants me dead; that's how I ended up in your town. I'm not a good person; please go home." I say this to Chimaru, but he refuses to let go of my arm. His eyes started tearing up like I'd suddenly said something sad.

"Why didn't you tell grandma and papa? They would help you!" Chimaru goes yelling again. "You don't understand, Chimaru. The people who helped me escape the empire are now dead; I can't have any more corpses behind me; please understand I don't want more people to die because of me."

Chimaru soon starts crying while I resume my walk away from the town. Thinking I've left Chimaru behind for good, I move on while trying not to cry or seem like I gave a crap, but I did. Still, having him following me would've ended badly, so it was better if he let me go and returned home, for I wasn't sure the empire would even damage them. It was all speculation.

Minutes later, I finally left the crop area of town and headed straight onto the road to the closest city, around two days away. Moments later, I took a deep breath and continued walking, followed by random footsteps quickly approaching me until I felt a small little thing hugging me from behind.

"Let me come with you! I don't want to let you go, so let me come with you!" Chimaru's reaction and actions startle me a little as I fail to understand why a child like him would choose a complete stranger like me over his own family. Not only that, but he had shown deep interest in me since I arrived at his house. Could he be in love with me?

"Why would you choose to be a fugitive with me and not stay in the safety of your home!? Do you understand the risk of coming with me? You could die!" I tell Chimaru this, but he simply responds with words that soon reveal why he was so attached to me in the first place, which is quite surprising.

"Because I want to make sure you don't die! You're too pretty to die! I want to see you forever!" Yup, the kid was in love with me, just what I needed. A small child about my age in love with a criminal girl like me, what a joke. Was the author smoking pot or something? This series was being called pedophilic by modern standards, for sure!

"Fine, you can come with me, but I won't let you slow me down, right? I can't take care of you and me simultaneously, so you must keep up."