The two burly thugs I had seen that day stood in front of me, both looking my way from beyond the door. My eyes fell on Anna, sitting on a couch.

Her hands were tied. Her eyes were red; tears seemed to have dried. A small swelling was on her cheek, probably from a slap, and a bit of blood was on her lips as well. She didn't say anything as she saw me; only shock filled her face. This was more natural than someone screaming in her position; confusion made more sense.

Clothing a little ruffled, hair messed, but not much.

One of them was near her, a little cautious, with his hand on his waist; the other was at the entrance, probably the one who had thrown the knife. Amateurs, both of them. They hadn't even kept her as a hostage.

"There you are," I said, walking into the room as I ignored the two amateurs. "I was looking for you quite a bit today, Anna."

Revenge. Making them go through the same pain. None of those thoughts crossed my mind.

"Hey, hey, aren't you quite a brave scoundrel?" the one at the front said. "James, maybe this kid will sell too."

"Hah... I was a little worried," the one named James continued. "But seeing you now, you are just a kid. Are you too scared to understand your position?"

When I didn't bother responding and continued straight toward Anna, the one who had thrown the knife, John, came closer and put a hand on my shoulder.

"Hey, kid. Snap back to reality—"

I immediately grabbed his finger with one hand and reached for my knife with the other. In a single breath, I twisted his finger back until a snap rang out.

"GAH!"

"JOHN—"

There was no time for them to process things. Before I had even let go of the broken finger, I dived in closer to John and stabbed him in the armpit with my knife. Blood gushed out as I pulled the knife out and completely twisted behind John.

I grabbed his hair and kicked the back of his knee, lowering him to my height as the knife went to his neck, at the carotid artery.

"Ah, nuh-huh," I turned John toward the other guy. James already had a pistol out and was moving to grab Anna as a hostage but was too late. I wanted to whistle; a pistol was nice, but his brother had been captured. They were overconfident, thinking a child would be no match for them.

Sure, these two were different from the riff-raff below.

But a slightly bigger bug was still a bug.

James raised his hands as I looked at him. His brother was a hostage; there was no way he could move. His brother, on the other hand, was screaming in agony as he tried to hold his wound shut with his working arm.

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A gesture made him drop his knife. I pointed away from Anna with my chin, and James, having dropped his weapon, moved away.

"Anna," I called out to my friend, dragging John closer. She was still trembling, and her eyes were still just as wide, but she recognized me, and that seemed to have calmed her down ever so slightly. "This one brought you here, right?"

Anna nodded.

"Did he slap you?"

She nodded again.

"I see..."

James moved back, and I moved closer to Anna. Slowly, with John in hand, I moved behind her, and James came to a stop a few paces away. Behind the couch, the window looking down was just behind us now.

The rest was just as fast as the start.

Instead of reaching for Anna, I pulled John's head and smashed it on the window behind me.

—SMASH!

The window shattered, and with the falling shards of glass making their way down the building's height, I sent John along.

"W-wait! AHHH!"

His scream echoed for a second before dwindling in the distance; John had fallen out the window. Without wasting a breath, I switched my grip on the knife in my hand and lowered my stance. My feet slid on the ground.

In front of me, James, the other brother, had dived for his gun. His hand was about to reach the weapon when—

The knife cut through the air. A gruesome, gnarly sound of a blade skewering something wet rang out. Instead of the gun, my knife had embedded itself into James' eye.

"That's how you throw," I said, standing upright and dusting my clothes. I still didn't go to Anna but rather walked up to James and stepped on his hand.

"GAHHHH!"

A crack resounded as his fingers broke. I kicked the gun away, and then with the same leg, kicked him in the jaw.

The man fell on the ground, thudding to a complete stop. That was it.

"Where was I...? Right." I turned to Anna again. This time, I knelt in front of her and looked in her eyes. Relief, confusion, shock, surprise, pain—a bunch of emotions were mixed in her pupils.

"Anna, I've been looking for you. Shall we leave here?"

Mixed with them was a shred of fear.

I pursed my lips as I untied her hands. This was for the best; helping her once was enough from me.

She would probably be safe now, and I would be free from this connection as well.

As soon as her hands were opened, Anna dived ahead and wrapped them around me. I flinched in surprise at the sudden embrace.

"What the fuck was that..." I could feel her shaking in my hands as she whispered softly. "What was all of that? T-they just showed up at my home..."

Her words turned into whimpers, she was barely holding herself back from crying again.

"And then suddenly you showed up... oh god, I was so scared."

"Huh?"

Anna clenched her fists, still hugging me. Her body lost strength but her voice was tense.

"You could have gotten hurt, idiot! Why did you do that? I thought it was over for me, I almost accepted it, so why?"

"D-did you not see all that?" I asked, a little confused as I gently embraced her back. "I was not the one getting hurt—"

"Shut up! Idiot! Bastard! I hate you, why did you come here!? Ahh..."

Tears fell from Anna's eyes, drenching my shoulders. Her grip around me only tightened.

"I was so scared..." she said. "I was scared for you."

In the end, the words that I wanted to say.

"What would I have done if something happened to you, idiot?"

She said all of them as she cried.

As if...

I was the one she was here to save.