It was on the morning of the 14th of May that it all started.
"What started?"
What started, was a story that was about to put the world upside down, so to speak.
It was the start of a story, that was going to change the world, as everyone knew it, but I know, your next question...
"How did a story like that even begin?"
Well, it all started with a chance encounter, an encounter, between a boy and a girl that had no relation to one other.
That were from different worlds and yet, they were both about to do great things together, things that many, could not do and this is their story.
But once again, I know your next question...
"How did it all start?"
Well then, without further ado, let us begin this story...
As I have said, it all started, on the morning of the 14th of May, with the waking up of Kurokami Tatsurou, to be precise.
A boy that if anybody asked was just your average 15 year-old, first-year high-school student.
There were only two things, that made him stand out, and they were, his black messy hair and his sharp eyes, that gave him a piercing glare, these two things made him look in all honesty, similar to a delinquent.
Tatsurou always had a hard time waking up, he always had to put at least 5 different alarms, all on repeat, to wake up on time to school.
That's just how he was and we were about to witness how dealt with it, and so, the first alarm rang and nothing happened.
Then the second one came and again nothing happened.
Then the third alarm rang and Tatsurou just turned around to the other side of the bed and kept sleeping and by the time the fourth came nothing happened, again.
But when the fifth alarm came, something rather unexpected happened.
What happened was that the door of Tatsurou's room was swung open with such force, that it made Tatsurou jump on his bed, both scared and confused.
"What the...!" Tatsurou said, while he was still in a state of half-awake, half-asleep, looking in every direction, it was just when he looked to his right, that he saw the cause of all this.
"Just how long do you plan on sleeping, and let that alarm ring, Tatsurou?!" The person that asked this to the still half-asleep Tatsurou, was Kurokami Hime, a woman that was already in her 40's, but looked more like she was in her early 20's, she had short dark blue hair that reached to her shoulders and very sharp eyes, and she was wearing a navy blue dress that reached to her knees.
"So? What do you have to say in your defense?" Hime asked with a very angry tone, as she placed her hands on her waist, and waited for a response, as she approached Tatsurou's bed.
"Come on, Hime! Why do you have to scream like that, so early in the morning?" Tatsurou asked while he scratched his head and yawned, while he acted as if he hadn't done anything wrong, this made Hime snap.
"Why do I have to scream so early in the morning, you ask? That's pretty simple! if I don't do this, you never wake up on time for school, you idiot!" Hime said with a very angry tone, as she pinched Tatsurou's cheeks to wake him up for good.
"Ow, ow! Ok, I get it, I get it! Please stop pinching my cheeks already, Hime, it hurts!" Tatsurou said with a pained tone, as he moved his hands a bit, Hime then stopped pinching Tatsurou's cheeks, as soon as she heard him.
"Good grief! I still have my doubts about leaving you alone starting today, will even be able to wake up, Tatsurou?" Hime asked with a worried tone and expression, as she looked at Tatsurou rubbing his cheeks to ease the pain.
"Don't worry about that Hime, I'll manage somehow..." Tatsurou said with a reassuring tone, as he stopped rubbing his cheeks and smiled, but this just got Hime angry again.
"It's not "I'll manage somehow" and more like, "I will manage it!" understood?" Hime asked with a angry tone, as she pinched Tatsurou's right cheek a bit.
"Yes ma'am!" Tatsurou said again with a pained tone and once again Hime let go of Tatsurou's cheek, as soon as she hear him.
"That's more like it! Now, get dressed and come eat breakfast, before you make your way to school!" Hime said with a happy tone, as she turned around and left Tatsurou's room.
"God...another wild morning..." Tatsurou thought, as he let out a sigh, while he tried to process a bit of what happened just now, but it wouldn't last long, as Tatsurou quickly jumped out of it and went to his wardrobe to get dressed, before Hime came back to pinch his cheeks again.
"It's always the same with Hime...why can't she wake me up gently, every once in a while..." Tatsurou thought, as he sighed once again, while he got himself dressed and for many asking themselves, who this woman might be, let's just say that it's kind of complicated.
But one thing is sure, Hime isn't Tatsurou's real mother, but she is in fact, the closest Tatsurou ever had to one, and regardless of what we just saw, Hime cares deeply for him and the same was also true for Tatsurou as well.
"Done! Now the only thing left, is getting my school bag and I'm ready to go..."
Tatsurou, that had changed from his black t-shirt and shorts to his school uniform, that was a gakuran that he wore with a hoodie underneath, said with a happy tone, while he adjusted the jacket of his gakuran and went in the direction of his school bag, that was on top of the chair close to his desk.
After grabbing the school bag, Tatsurou also picked up his phone and finally left his room to go to the kitchen...
When Tatsurou got to the kitchen, he saw Hime, that was now wearing an apron over her dress, on the counter of the kitchen finishing up breakfast.
"Hime is a bit distracted...I might as well just grab a piece of toast and be on my way...
Tatsurou thought as he looked at the kitchen's table and saw two plates with two slices of toast with butter each, but just as Tatsurou was about to pick up one of the said slices, he felt an aura of impending doom, hovering around him.
"Don't even think about it, Tatsurou!" Hime said with a faint angry tone, without even looking at Tatsurou, it felt as if she somehow knew what he was about to do.
So upon hearing Hime, Tatsurou complied and pulled a chair, where he took a seat and proceeded to wait for his breakfast and after about 4 minutes, breakfast was finally ready.
"Here's your milk, Tatsurou and be careful, it's still hot!" Hime, that was holding two mugs with chocolate milk said with a happy tone, as she turned to the table and placed one of the mugs in front of Tatsurou and the other mug on her side of the table, while giving Tatsurou a wink.
"Thanks Hime!" Tatsurou said as he looked at Hime, turning to the counter again, to get two plates with fried eggs and a bit of bacon.
"Done, at last!" Hime said with a relieved tone, as she placed the two plates she was holding on the table, she then took off her apron and finally took her seat facing Tatsurou.
"Very well then, let's eat!" Hime said as both she and Tatsurou put their hands together gave a slight bow, before they began eating.
But while they were eating, Hime began looking at Tatsurou, as if she was analyzing him, something that Tatsurou took notice of.
"Is something wrong, Hime?" Tatsurou asked with a curious tone and expression, as he tilted his head, Hime just looked at Tatsurou in the eyes, before she let out the biggest of sighs ever heard.
"Tatsurou, you still need to tell me, just what you have against wearing a standard shirt with your uniform, just like everyone else in your school..." Hime said with a depressed tone, as she sighed again.
"Oh! So that's why you were looking at me! I honestly thought, that you were still angry about trying to sneak out without eating breakfast..." Tatsurou said this while he scratched the back of his head and laughed a bit, while he grabbed his mug, but Hime on the other hand looked kind of depressed and for those wondering, the school Tatsurou goes to has a uniform policy.
The boys wear a classic gakuran, while the girls wear the classical sailor fuku, with both of these uniforms being black and white.
However in Tatsurou's school this uniform policy, isn't very strict, boys can wear what they prefer under their gakuran and girls can wear a cardigan over their sailor fuku and in Tatsurou's particular case, he usually wears a hoodie with is gakuran, much to Hime's dismay.
"Honestly, all of this makes you look like a delinquent more than you already are and those sharp eyes, don't help either..." Hime said with a stoic tone, that made Tatsurou almost choke on his milk, upon hearing her.
"What is this all even about, Hime?" Tatsurou said this, while he placed his mug down and coughed a bit.
"I'm not saying this to mess with you, Tatsurou...I'm just saying that with that look you might give people the wrong idea and that's not good, right? And I still doubt that you can any make friends looking like that..." Hime said this with a serious, but also worried tone and expression, as she looked at Tatsurou.
Mostly because, from a very young age, Tatsurou had quite a hard time socializing with people, and with his rather rough look and sometimes awkward attitudes it was hard for people to get close to him and despite the fact that Tatsurou got better as the years passed, Hime couldn't stop worrying.
"Come on, Hime! You don't worry about those kind of things and after all, its not like I dress for people to like me..." Tatsurou said this with a rather stoic and humorous expression, that made Hime hit him with a strong chop in his head.
"I worry about you, and this is how you act, seriously, your such an idiot sometimes, hmph!" Hime said with a very angry tone, while she pouted and looked away from Tatsurou.
"I shouldn't have said that..." Tatsurou thought while he sighed and patted his head a bit, to ease the pain.
"Listen, Hime...I know that you worry about me a lot, but you don't have to, I might not have a lot of friends, but the ones I consider friends, are good people and I cherish them very much and it might looklike it, but I'm always doing my best every day to become better, so please rest assured!"
Tatsurou said with a very honest tone as he gave Hime a big reassuring and comforting smile and of course, Hime was a bit taken aback by what Tatsurou just said, since it was something unusual for him to say.
"I see...but you better not be lying about this, you hear!" Hume said with a angry tone, that quickly turned into a happy one, as she looked at Tatsurou and smiled.
"I would never do that!" Tatsurou said again with a reassuring tone, as he also smiled and then, both Tatsurou and Hime laughed before they started talking about other things, while they finished eating they're breakfast...
"Thanks for the food!" Both Tatsurou and Hime said as they finished eating and as Tatsurou got up from his chair, he grabbed both his and Hime's dishes and took them to the sink and after putting them there, Tatsurou pulled his sleeves back as he prepared to clean the dishes, but that was when Hime gently taped him on the shoulder.
"Say, aren't you forgetting something, Tatsurou?" Hime asked with a curious tone, as she tilted her head and that was when Tatsurou realized that the dishes had to be cleaned later, as right now, he had to go to school.
"Right, I have to get there early, since I have class duty today!" Tatsurou said with a very faint tone, as he turned away from the sink and grabbed his school bag, that was close to his chair and after that, Tatsurou went straight to the front door, but as he was putting his, black and white converse sneakers on, Hime slowly approached him from behind.
"Tatsurou, I know that we already talked about me going to Japan for a while yesterday...but once again, please try to go to bed early, try to have proper meals or ask Wise, to make you something if you don't feel like cooking, and also please don't sleep during classes and..." As Hime kept going on and on with what Tatsurou should do and not do while she was away, Tatsurou finished putting his sneakers on.
"Alright, alright, I will try to do all of that...so don't worry about it, Hime..." Tatsurou said with a monotonous stoic tone, as interrupted Hime, while reaching to the doors handle, but that was when Hime pulled Tatsurou close to her by grabbing his ear.
"It's "I will do everything you just said!" right, Tatsurou?" Hime said with a stoic angry tone, as she pulled on Tatsurou's ear a bit.
"Yes, ma'am!" Tatsurou said with a pained tone, as he moved his hand a bit.
"That's more like it!" Hime said with a happy tone, as she finally let go of Tatsurou's ear and placed her hands on her hips, while she smiled.
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"Well, with that said, I believe that I should be on my way then...!" Tatsurou said as he gently rubbed his ear, before placing his hand on the doors handle again, but Hime suddenly interrupted Tatsurou, by giving him a very big and tight hug.
"I'm going to miss you so much, Tsu-chan!" Hime said this with a very happy tone, as she kept hugging Tatsurou, that blushed quite a bit, as he looked at Hime.
"W-What are you doing, Hime?! Don't call me by that nickname, so suddenly!" Tatsurou said with a very embarrassed tone, as he heard Hime, calling him by the nickname, that she used to call Tatsurou when he was younger.
But make no mistake, despite the reaction that Tatsurou had upon being called by his nickname, he did not dislike it, the thing here is that, there was someone that Tatsurou holds very dearly, used to call him that and needless to say that everytime Tatsurou heard it, he got hit with some very unpleasant memories, but let us save this for another time.
"I-I'm so sorry, Tatsurou...I didn't mean to, but I just couldn't help it..." Hime said this with a apologetic and worried tone, as she stooped hugging Tatsurou, that sighed a bit, as he looked at Hime.
"Come on, Hime...you don't need to apologize like this every you call me like that, it's ok! But to be honest, I would rather not be called like that..." Tatsurou said with a reassuring tone, as he gave a rather cute smile to Hime, that briefly smiled as she heard him.
"I know that, Tatsurou...but I won't be able to see you for a while and I just couldn't resist it..." Hime said with a embarrassed tone and expression, while she looked down and pointed her index fingers at each other.
"It's alright, Hime and I understand so don't worry about it!" Tatsurou said again with a reassuring tone, as he gave Hime a quick thumbs up, while he smiled.
"Now then, I'm already a bit late, so it's off to school with me! So have a safe trip and lot's of fun at work, Hime!" Tatsurou said with a happy tone, as he placed his hand on the doors handle again, but this time Tatsurou finally opened the door and walked outside of his house that was, a small apartment on the second floor of a private apartment complex, where Tatsurou lived alone with Hime.
"Likewise Tatsurou! Have a safe trip and lots of fun at school!" Hime said also with a happy tone as she smiled and waved at Tatsurou, that sighed.
"I will try..." Tatsurou said as he sighed again before giving Hime another smile, and then when all the goodbyes were said and done, Tatsurou finally left his apartment and prepared to make his way towards school.
But as soon as Tatsurou put a foot outside the gate of the apartment complex, he was greeted by a tall female Wolf Beast-kin, that had long silver hair and two equally silver pointy wolf ears on top of her head and black fur, that was wearing a white sweater with a equally white apron over it and light blue jeans, from where a black fluffy looking tail poked out.
"Oh! Good morning, Wise-san!" Tatsurou said with a calm and respectful tone, to the wolf Best-kin, that was cleaning up the sidewalk of the apartment complex with a red straw broom.
"Well, well! Good morning to you too, my cute and little Tatsurou-chan!" Wise said with a very joyous and cute tone of voice, as she stooped cleaning the entrance and looked at Tatsurou for a bit, before getting close to him.
"Say, is everything alright, Tatsurou-chan? Do you need something for school or is it Hime-chan that needs something?" Wise asked with a very curious tone, as her ears pointed up and her tail wagged around a bit.
"No, everything is alright, you don't need to worry about it, Wise-san..." Tatsurou said with a reassuring tone, as he smiled a bit.
"Oh, I see! But if you need end up needing something, you know just where to find me, Tatsurou-Chan! Oh and have a safe trip to school!" Wise said with a happy tone, as she gave Tatsurou a wink, before she began to walk in the direction of the complexe's gate.
"Thanks and don't worry, I will!" Tatsurou said with a happy tone as looked at Wise entering the complex as she waved at him and for everyone wondering, this female wolf Beast-kin was called Wise Loupargent and she is the landlord of this apartment complex, that she has been running for about 20 years and Tatsurou as known her, since he was a kid and Wise was to him, a type of an older sister, if you will.
But I know, why is there a Beast-kin that runs an apartment complex and just why isn't Tatsurou, taken aback by it, at all?
Well, that's rather very simple answer.
The reason as to why there's a Beast-kin running an apartment complex and Tatsurou wasn't taken a back by it, is because these creatures of myth and magic are a normal sight and occurrence.
Something, that I should probably have said in the beginning, but well, no time like the present.
Now you know, that in this world, both mythological creatures such as beast-kin and magic exist.
To be more precise, upon revealing to the world that magic existed, most of it was concentrated in one single place and that place was an artificial island, made out of iron and magic, that was bigger than Switzerland, but smaller than Austria, that was located in the pacific sea, between Hawaii and Japan and the name of this island, was Takamagahara.
Takamagahara, was basically an independent country and it was structured with a central island, that has a very tall tower built right in the middle of this main island and this tower that stood there tall and imposing, was the Tenko-no-to.
Shortened to Tenko tower, by the inhabitants of Takamagahara and around that main island stood other, smaller islands, that specialized in different types of magic research, referred to as districts.
There were a total of 10 districts, but to be fair every district, felt like a small country of their own.
"And what was the purpose, of such an island?"
Well the purpose of, this island, was in short to research magic and give a place to live to both people that use magic and magical creatures.
But to be honest, research was the most wanted thing in Takamagahara, to protect and help everyone that uses magic and mythological creatures, was mostly to look good in front of the press.
But anyways, this is not important right now, what was important, was the fact that Tatsurou, should be on his way to school and surely enough, as Tatsurou finally left the apartment complex, he began walking towards his school, that was rather close.
It was quick 20-minute walk from his apartment, 15-minutes, if you ran or simply just 4 or 5 minute, if you took the monorail, but Tatsurou prefers the first.
A calm and evenly paced walk towards school, with his hands inside his hoodie's pockets and with his mind lost in random thoughts, well, mostly random thoughts.
"Why does Hime need to go to Japan so much nowadays...I know that it is for work, but...I don't really like to be all alone for months..." Tatsurou thought a bit sad as he looked at the sky with a sad expression for a bit and this was the reason why Tatsurou wanted to come to school without eating breakfast with Hime earlier.
To be direct and to the point, Tatsurou wasn't very happy with the idea of having Hime going out of the country to work, as it basically meant that Tatsurou, would be all alone, until Hime came back, something he disliked quite a lot.
"I just hope that she doesn't stay out for half year like last time...oh, well I might as well invite Yumeko or Wise over for dinner tonight...!" Tatsurou thought again, as he looked forward, after letting out a depressed sigh, but suddenly, something quite unexpected happened...
"Kurokami-kun!" A cute voice of a girl shouted Tatsurou's name from behind, and upon hearing this voice, Tatsurou stooped and looked behind him to see who it was and as he did Tatsurou saw a girl with long black hair that was tied into a low ponytail, that reached to the middle of her back and as for her clothes, she was wearing a black sailor fuku, with a bege cardigan over it and a long skirt that went past her knees.
"Oh, it's just Sachiko..." Tatsurou thought as he looked at this girl for a bit, before he turned forward and proceeded to walk away again, but that was when Tatsurou was pulled back by an invisible force that made him fall with his back on the sidewalk, and shortly after the girl, finally caught up to him.
"Morning, Sachiko-san..." Tatsurou said with a stoic tone, as he looked at Sachiko, while he kept lying on the sidewalk.
"Good morning to you too, Kurokami-Kun!" Sachiko said with a happy tone, as she briefly tried to catch her breath.
"Seriously, Kurokami-kun! You could have at least waited for me, so that we could go to school together! and also, don't act like you don't know me, when I call you!!" Sachiko said witha vvery angry tone, while she put her right hand on her hip
"Sorry about that, Sachiko...I was just messing with you a bit and after all, it wasn't like you couldn't catch up with...pure as the white clouds today, huh?" Tatsurou said with a very stoic tone, as he made a small stop, that confused Sachiko a little bit.
"Huh? What are you talking about...!" Sachiko asked with a confused tone as she tilted her head a bit and it was only when Sachiko moved her gaze down that she finally realized what Tatsurou was talking about.
"K-Kurokami-kun you...perv!" Sachiko said with a very embarrassed tone, as her face turned bright red, as she finally realized that since Tatsurou was lying on the ground, he could see under her skirt, and by consequence, he could also see her underwear.
"J-Just who told you to look!" Sachiko asked still with her embarrassed tone, as she took some quick steps back, so that Tatsurou couldn't see under her skirt again.
"Well, Sachiko, this is not my fault, you were the one that pushed me back with your telekinesis and then you got close...I guess you could say "You reap, what you sow" right?" Tatsurou asked still with his stoicttone as he slowly got back on his feet and the fact that this girl could push Tatsurou, without touching him was proof that she had a magic ability, called telekinesis, that fell somewhere in the magic chart, in the Esper category.
"Your just the worst, Kurokami-kun! Now I can't get married anymore!" Sachiko said this with an embarrassed and distressed tone, as she looked at Tatsurou brushing the dirt from his uniform, before he adjusted it.
But after doing that Tatsurou looked at Sachiko with a rather guilty expression, but it quickly turned into a rather serious expression.
"Alright then, Sachiko! I will take responsibility and marry you!" Tatsurou said with a determined and serious tone, as he looked at Sachiko that became even more embarrassed, upon hearing Tatsurou.
Sachiko became so embarrassed, that her face got even redder than before and you could almost see smoke, coming out of her head.
"Y-You...you idiot, don't joke about things like that!" Sachiko said with again with a embarrassed tone, as she kept blushing even more.
"I'm not joking!" Despite saying this Tatsurou was in fact joking and just messing with a bit with Sachiko.
"Your such an idiot Kurokami-kun! Don't even talk to me ever again!" Sachiko shouted with a very angry and embarrassed tone, before she ran away from Tatsurou.
"Wait, Sachiko!" Tatsurou called Sachiko, but It was useless as she was already too far away and too angry at to listen to anything that Tatsurou might say.
"That girl, honestly..." Tatsurou said, as he let out a sigh, before crossing his arms and shaking his head a bit, and for those wondering, this young girl was Sachiko Aiko.
She was one of Tatsurou's classmates and the only person in his class that wasn't afraid of talking with him and that was because Sachiko knew, that behind Tatsurou's rough delinquent appearance was in fact, a good and normal person that unfortunately, most of his classmates, refused to see and acknowledge.
"God Sachiko is going to be angry at me for a while...I better get something to apologize for this..." As Tatsurou said this he began brainstorming ideas to make Sachiko, forgive him for what happened.
At first Tatsurou thought of going to the convenience store to his left, but then again, there was probably nothing there that was good enough to make Sachiko forgive him, but as everything seemed lost, Tatsurou saw a office worker that was eating a cupcake and drinking a coffee and that was when Tatsurou got hit with a ideia.
"That's right! I should buy Sachiko a sweet and she will probably forgive me!" Tatsurou said this with a rather confident tone, as he hit the palm of his left hand with his right fist.
Then instead of going to school right away, Tatsurou made a little detour to buy Sachiko an apology gift and after a quick 5 minute detour, Tatsurou found a small building that was a cake shop, that Sachiko had been telling him about for the past few days, and from what she told him, apparently this cake shop, had some pretty good strawberry cake.
"So this is the place huh? I better get this strawberry cake, before I come in late for class..." Tatsurou thought as he went inside the store to buy the cake for Sachiko and after a few short minutes, Tatsurou came out of the store holding a white plastic bag with a square box and a can of milk coffee inside it.
"This was a bit expensive..." Tatsurou said as he briefly looked at the plastic bag he was holding, before he let out a quick sigh.
"But well, it's a small price to pay, if it means that Sachiko won't give me the cold shoulder!" Tatsurou said with a confident tone, as he prepared himself to go and make this apology happen, but as I said, this was the day that things would change and they were about to in this precise moment.
"It's already late! I better go before...!" As Tatsurou said this, he began to walk away from the cake shop, but he stooped dead in his tracks, as someone that came running out of nowhere, towards Tatsurou and crashed against him.
"Ow!" The person that crashed against Tatsurou said this as she fell on her butt, while Tatsurou remained standing.
"Hey! You should watch...where you going...!" Tatsurou said with a faint angry tone, that slowly turned into a embarrassed and surprised one, as he looked at the person sitting on the ground.
That was in fact a young girl, with beautiful silky-smooth pale pink hair that went past her shoulders and from the top of her pink hair sprouted a big and equally pink ahoge, as for her eyes they were light blue and round, something that made her face look similar to that of a porcelain doll and as for her clothes, she dawned the classical shrine maiden attire, that gave the impression that she was born to wear these clothes.
Tatsurou simply couldn't take his eyes off this girl, he kept looking at her in complete silence mesmerized by her beauty, but then the shrine maiden girl, broke this silence, seemingly unending silence.
"Oh my! I'm very, very sorry for this! You're not hurt are you?" The girl asked with a rather worried and polite tone as she lookedat Tatsurou and her voice, was just as her looks, beautiful beyond compare.
"I think that's my line...but yeah, I'm alright...how about you?" Tatsurou said, while he grabbed the girls very small hand and helped her getting back on her feet, but as Tatsurou did tha, he looked a bit away from this girl, as he was both astonished and embarrassed about having given her such harsh response, when she bumped against him.
"Yes, I'm alright! Thanks for asking...!" As the girl said this, she suddenly stopped, as a angry shouting voice of a woman was heard.
"Just where the hell did she go? Find her right this instant, before she runs away again!" As Tatsurou heard this angry voice saying this, he looked behind him to see who this voice belonged too.
But that was when he noticed that the girl started hold his hand tight, and when Tatsurou looked at her, he saw the girl with an expression filled with fear, that Tatsurou thought he would never see again in his intire life, and so without thinking, Tatsurou also held the girls hand tight as he ran to the closest back alley he saw, that thankfully was next to the shop he was just in.
"Stay behind me and don't make a sound, alright?" Tatsurou said this to the girl as soon as they entered the back alley.
"O-Ok" The girl said as she nodded, and after hearing her Tatsurou began to peak around the corner, to catch a glimpse of the girls pursuer.
The person that perused this girl, was a woman perhaps in her 30's, that had long red hair that reached to the middle of her back and sharp red eyes and as for her clothes she wore black and red priest robes, that made her looked quite intimidating.
"God damn it, not again!" The woman said as she stopped at the exact place that Tatsurou and the girl had been standing not so long ago as she proceeded to look left and right, as if her life depended on it, and then, after a short while the woman gave up and began to walk away again.
"Shit! Where the hell did she run off to?" The woman said with a very angry and annoyed tone, before she completely vanished, as if she never was there, to begin with.
"Looks like she's gone..." Tatsurou said with a relieved tone, as he sighed, before turning towards the shrine maiden.
"W-Well...that's good and all...but you can let go of my hand now, right?" The girl asked with a shy and embarrassed tone as she looked a bit away from Tatsurou and as one could imagine, Tatsurou got pretty embarrassed, as he finally realized, that he had been holding the girl's hand ever since, they entered the alley.
"I-I'm sorry..." Tatsurou said with an embarrassed tone, as he blushed, before letting go of the girl's hand.
"You don't have to apologize like that, mister! You did that to help me just now and I could never get angry at someone, because of something like that!" The girl said with a reassuring tone as she looked at Tatsurou and smiled, while her ahoge wiggled around a little bit.
"I see..." Tatsurou saidaa bit embarrassed, as he once again was shocked with the girls politeness and demeanor in a way he just wasn't ready for.
"Well then...I am very sorry for all the trouble I caused you just now and once again, thank for your help, mister!" As the girl said this she gave Tatsurou a small bow, before she began to walk out of the alley.
"W-Wait, a second...!" As Tatsurou was about to ask the girl to stop, to ask her name and more importantly, why that woman with red hair was after her, the girl collapsed on the ground.
"What the!? Are you alright? " Tatsurou asked with a very worried tone, as he approached the girl but as he did that, he heard a big and somewhat scary growling sound.
"I'm...I'm so hungry..." The girl said this while she lied on the ground with her stomach growling louder and louder, with each passing second, this took Tatsurou aback a bit, but not for long as he put a determinated face on.
"Alright then! You're coming with me!" Tatsurou said with a determined tone, as he helped the girl getting up, and once she was back on her feet, Tatsurou gently held her hand, as he began walking slowly.
"Wait, what are you...!" As the girl was about to ask Tatsurou, what he was doing, he interrupted her.
"Just, follow me...ok?" Tatsurou said with a reassuring tone, as he briefly looked at the girl that simply nodded, upon hearing him.
"Ok then, let's go..." Tatsurou said as he looked forward and began to make his way out of the alley and into the streets, as he kept holding the shrine maidens hand...