After some time, both of them where wearing their small backpacks. Aya has entered the room, where Katsuo was already and glanced the garden she has taken care of.

"I really haven't left this backyard since the time Eugene-san left." she said "I trained here, ate here, slept here. And now... Everything's changed in a couple of hours. Well I guess I can't help it." 

She closed the thin door and the room filled with a relaxing semi-darkness, as the light pierced through the walls and gave the dusty corners a beautiful sweet look.

"Off we go, then!" Katsuo said and opened the small door that led to the street. It's really great" the young man continued "starting to a new adventure. Who knows what kind of dangerous monsters we 're going to encounter or what other..." Aya, who was smiling, followed him: 

"Yeah, yeah" she said But you heard what Eugene-san said. We need to get stron...Ouch!" The girl hit her nose on back of the young man, who's stopped abruptly in front of her.

"Hey, what has gotten into you ?!".

The girl lifted her eyes to see the Katsuo, who ignored her, looking in front of him, fearful. 

"What...". Aya turned her look towards the street.

 There, and on some of the lower roofs of the buildings around, where some tatterdemalions who looked at them starkly. Her eyes went to their hands, some of which where holding wooden boards or sharp knives. The men where looking at them, smiling, with a face full of gloat. 

"Yo, kids. You don't seem glad we've bumped to each other..." a bass voice was heard, coming from behind the thieves and a large man with blond hair and sunken blue eyes, appeared.  He wore a thin khaki shirt and his neck was in such a good shape that it seemed as if it was lost, becoming a mere connection between his shoulders and his head. In his chin,  some sparse golden hair existed. From his mouth, a lit cigarette was hanging and  in his hand there was a small blade. 

"They are the ones we're lookin' for, right Dizi-san?" said slowly without removing the two kids that stood frozen in front of him, from his eyesight.

A slouchy and thin man appeared from behind the thugs and faltering to  reassure the large man that he'd made the right choice. Katsuo stepped back, surprised.

"The-the guy from the stables!"

"Oh, Dizi-san, they are on you!" said the man in front of the duo and laughed wholeheartedly in a mocking way, leaning back his head. He, then, stopped and with a fast move, repositioned his head: "Now...Why don't you give me your backpacks and get lost?"

Aya looked at Katsuo seriously. Before they left the house she had advised him to put the Stone in his rucksack, to be safe from losing it because of his inattention or a thief. That was were Eugene's letter was, also. We can't afford to lose our only connections with Eugene-san.

The young man seemed stressed, unlike her. Her expression changed subtly. Katsuo's eyes could detect her light smile that formed the words:

 "Follow.My.Lead." she said.

"Ehh? Whaddya say girl?" said the large man, behind them and started approaching. His comrades followed on his heels. Mimicking his example they had their weapons in hand, ready to use them on the kids, who had a clear disadvantage in numbers. "Heh, it doesn't matter. As long as the Kriezsa Bandits get their cut, it  doesn't matter." he added with a resentful smile.

Each one of his steps was succeeded by another as his bowed shoulders came all the more closer. Suddenly the man, stepped with great power and rocketed towards Katsuo's turned back. His knife seemed to cut the air and leave behind rainbow coloring as it descended with great speed and power. Katsuo managed only to turn his eyes towards him.  His face filled with wrinkles and countless small dimples as he realized he couldn't do anything to evade the blade. It was approaching him, increasingly closing the distance, deforming the air around itself.

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The girl blasted, behind Katsuo, with unbelievable speed. As soon as her hands reached Katsuo's body. she held him from his clothes and pulled him violently to her, making him lose his balance. After that, using the speed she had left, she turned her body in a way that her legs got to the man's side. Thee trajectory was conformed with the point his head was. He could only turn, wearing a surprised look. Then, the small boots hit him in his temple. 

His head stood still for a moment and after that, as if it had accepted the blow of a cannonball, his whole body blasted off, striking a wall in his right, with great speed. His cigarette, which continued to smoke, landed on the stone brick floor. The road was filled with dust, as the rocks at the point of his impact, crashed. "Boss!" someone of the staggered thugs yelled.

Aya landed gracefully. When she turned her face towards Katsuo, a smile was formed on her lips, something to accompany her closed eyes in a cute way. Suddenly, the husky blond man emerged,  from inside the dust that cloaked the room around her. His one hand was ready to grab the girl, whilst the other one held the blade, which was turned to her small body. In the face of the man an expression of unfathomable hate was seamed. His eyes looked as two whitewashed spots on his blood red head. The veins on his forehead and temples where bursting. 

"Now you did it. You 're dead!" he screamed and lowered the blade, as the muscles of his hands looked almost like they would explode. 

"Aya!" Katsuo, yelled. But it was to late to warn her. The blade reached the point that her body was, but it seemed as if it didn't pierce through anything more, than the clouds of dust. What? 

The girl fell with force on the road, landing on her two feet. A few moments before the man hit her, she had given an incredible boost against the floor and so she was able to fly to the sky, avoiding the, otherwise deadly, blow.

In her face there was a teasing expression that seemed to concentrate on her smile and her eyebrows. 

The man looked at her in the eyes, holding the position he had acquired when he finished his hit. His knees where bent and  the hand that had the knife was tensed between his legs. His head was lowered. Only his eyes where lifted, looking the girl wickedly. After she observed his murderous expression, she got serious for a moment only to mockingly get her tongue  , towards the giant who hid inside a cloud of thick smoke, right afterward. He looked like a dark form whose eyes glowed, having a blood red color. His body was going up and down, following his heavy breathing. He paused for a moment and flexed his muscles, managing a better grip of the knife.

The rest of the Kriesza Bandits where concerned and surprised. Nobody has landed a hit on their leader before.

My next move is my victory, he thought as he spit blood. 

His tight smile foreshadowed that his next move would be his stronger yet.