For many people, retirement is considered to be a reward after many years of hardworking, where one gets to settle down in peace, using their pension to live the rest of their life with their family.

But for Old Man Tetsu, he couldn't stay settled down in his old house, lounging and doing nothing. He had retired from his job as an electrician after working for many years, and he had been enjoying his pension for three years now.

Sure, being an electrician wasn't a glamorous job, but he did pretty well over the years that when it was time for him to retire, he had saved up enough money for himself so that he could live a comfortable life in retirement. In addition to his pension money, he didn't have to worry about having no food on his table.

But he couldn't stay idle, with him living on his own. All his sons already had families of their own, and his wife died about seven years ago. With no one else at the house except him, it was pretty lonely.

That was one of the reasons why Tetsu spent most of his time going out for a walk, watching the neighborhood and interacting with fellow retirees and old people. And it was partly due to health's reason. His doctor advised him to exercise, and walking around the neighborhood could be a good exercise for a retired electrician like him.

Every morning, dressed up in plain clothes, the rotund old man left his house to buy newspaper and breakfast for himself. Then he went around chatting with other elderlies, talking about various subjects and matters like most retirees would do in their retirement.

"Ah, Tetsu! It's good you're coming!" Takeshi, the owner of the bookstore that Tetsu frequented, seemed delighted when he arrived to buy newspaper. It was a small neighborhood, and most people here knew each other quite well. "I'm sorry that I have to bother you first thing in the morning, but can you take a look at my TV? The screen's been showing nothing but statics since last night."

"Hrm…" Tetsu let out a grunt as he stepped into the small bookstore. "Let me look at it." He tapped the mini utility box strapped on his belt, which he often carried around for this occasion. He might be retired, but he still retained his skill as an electrician, and he was pretty skilled at fiddling with electronic devices. Thanks to his skill, he was able to feed his family over the years.

"Thanks! You're a lifesaver, Tetsu!" The bookkeeper led Tetsu to his television set, which was pretty old. Tetsu kneeled next to the TV as he took out his tools from his mini utility box before he started working on it.

Tetsu first learned how to handle electronic devices when he joined a vocational school, and from there, he worked steadily under an electronic company as an electrician. Now that he had retired, he had become a local handyman, repairing electronic devices for free in the neighborhood. This made him a rather respectable figure in their small neighborhood, with many people affectionately calling him Old Man Tetsu.

He might be gruff and a little unfriendly to younger people, but many people respected him for being such a handyman.

"Say, Tetsu… I know you won't accept money, so how about I treat to breakfast today instead?" Takeshi offered as he watched Tetsu working on the television set. "Since you're living on your own, I thought that you probably don't cook breakfast, so how about it? I'm sure Satoko would be delighted to have you join us."

At first Tetsu considered declining, but after a little bit of deliberation, he nodded wordlessly, accepting Takeshi's offer. His initial plan for today's breakfast was a bowl of soba at a nearby restaurant, but since Takeshi was offering, then he saw no reason to refuse some free food.

"Still… you should at least have someone keeping you company at home. Don't you feel lonely? I mean, your sons are living in big city now instead of here." Takeshi spoke to Tetsu. He knew about the circumstance behind Tetsu living on his own, from his wife's death to his sons having their own families.

"Heh… already got used to it…" Tetsu replied tersely as he continued fiddling with the TV. He never expected his overachieving sons to leave their jobs behind just to take care of their old man. They had their own families to take care of, so he didn't really mind being on his own. "And it's not like they never visit…" He added, telling Takeshi that his sons did visit him once in a while. "They still have their own families to take care of."

From his marriage with his late wife, Tetsu had five sons, and all of them were considered overachievers, graduating from top universities, unlike their father who only graduated from vocational school. But Tetsu was proud of them all the same. Now all of his sons had their own families, hence why they never visited him frequently.

"Speaking of families, I heard some of your grandkids are in college now." Takeshi said, changing the subject. Hearing that from the bookkeeper, Tetsu smiled slightly.

"Granddaughters…" Tetsu said. From their marriages, his sons somehow got a daughter each, the oldest one already in college and the youngest one still in high school. "They grow up so damn fast I almost didn't realize it…" He sighed. He recalled the times when they came to visit. They were a handful bunch, but he was happy to have them around.

Tetsu continued with his task at hand before he finally completed it. He gathered his tools and put them back into his mini utility box before he looked at Takeshi.

"It's finished now. Let's take a look at this thing." So, he got the TV hooked before turning it on. The screen was no longer showing statics, and Takeshi was very delighted.

"Thanks again, Tetsu! Like I said, you're a lifesaver!" Takeshi exclaimed. "Come, I'll treat you to breakfast today as payment. I'll ask Satoko to cook more for you."

And so, Tetsu joined Takeshi's family for breakfast. After that, he bought today's newspaper before he left to continue his morning walk. He stopped by a park to read the newspaper and look at the recent news, taking a seat on one of the benches there.

"Huh… disappearance again. That makes it the fifth one this month…" Tetsu muttered to himself as he read the news. The town he lived in, Sakamoto Town, wasn't big and news travelled fast. The disappearance started early this month where a girl disappeared without a trace. Not even the police could track her down. Not only that, more girls disappeared and the neighborhood started to worry. The local high school even issued a reminder for its students, especially female ones, to stay safe and return home as soon as possible after school.

At the mention of high school girls, Tetsu was reminded of his granddaughters, and he couldn't help but worry about them. While they were living at the big city, the disappearances left him rather anxious. He thought about calling his sons and telling them about the disappearance so that they could be careful. Sure, he might sound like a worrywart to them, but better safe than sorry.

Now that he had finished reading the newspaper, he folded it and left the park. He spent the rest of the day catching up with his fellow retirees, hanging out with them at local bar before heading back home at evening.

Tetsu first thought about buying something for dinner before he was stopped by a familiar sight.

"Grandpa?"

On his way back home, Tetsu stumbled upon a girl with chin-length strawberry blonde hair, clad in high school uniform. The girl in question is his granddaughter.

"Haruka?"

From the look of it, the girl, Haruka, seemed delighted when she saw her grandfather. She closed in excitedly before giving him a big hug.

"It's been a while, grandpa!" Haruka let out cheerfully, hugging the rotund body of Tetsu.

"Yeah, it's been a while, but…" Tetsu was a little confused. Why was Haruka here? Wasn't she supposed to be at the big city? "What are you doing here?" He asked.

Letting go of her grandfather, Haruka excitedly said, "I'm moving here! Tomorrow I'll start attending Tennozu High School!"

"Huh?" Tetsu blinked in confusion. He didn't remember Haruka's father telling him that she would be moving to Sakamoto Town, even attending the local high school as well. "Your father didn't tell me…"

"Ah, dad's so busy with his works that he probably forgot to tell you," Haruka said. "But no matter. You should call him and ask him all the details." She moved over to Tetsu's side and grabbed his arm. "C'mon, let's go home. I bought some stuff earlier, so the fridge's full. I'll cook some dinner for us tonight."

Tetsu couldn't bring himself to argue and as he was dragged by his petite granddaughter, his lips curled up into a small smile.

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"Sorry about that, dad. I forgot to tell you about her coming over. I'm so sorry."

"Hrmh… it's fine. Just tell me next time."

When Tetsu and his granddaughter, Haruka, returned home, he immediately went to call his son, Haruka's father and asked him about Haruka coming to the town. Now that he got the full gist of the situation, he now understood that his granddaughter would be living with him for now on, and she would be attending Tennozu High School, the local high school.

It seemed that when he was away, Haruka arrived at the house with most of her things. She went to bring her things to one of the rooms in the house and she would be staying there. Apparently, she also brought a cat with her. He was fine with it, as long as the cat wouldn't be causing trouble.

Now that they were home, Haruka immediately went to the kitchen and start cooking dinner. Tetsu took this opportunity to head to the bathroom and take a bath to refresh himself. Then, he went to the living room and watched the news on the television. Just like in the newspaper, the news mentioned about the disappearance, and once again, Tetsu couldn't help but feel worried for his granddaughter.

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From what he knew, Haruka would be attending Tennozu High School as a second-year student and while he didn't know the details, she was pretty active in sports back in her old school. He didn't know how long she would be staying here, so he had no idea if she would be joining school clubs. He could only hope that she could return home as soon as possible every day due to the risk.

"Grandpa, dinner's ready!"

Haruka called him out, and Tetsu grunted as he went to join his granddaughter. The dinner was a simple affair, but at the same time, he was delighted. It had been a while since the last time he had someone to eat dinner with.

Haruka was a cheerful girl, and as they ate together, she talked about a lot of things with him, and despite himself, Tetsu couldn't help but feel happy. He was glad that he could have such an enjoyable time together with his granddaughter like this. After the death of his wife, he didn't have much to do, especially after his retirement, but every moment he spent together with any of his granddaughters was something that he would cherish for the rest of his life.

As he ate dinner together with Haruka, Tetsu somehow noticed from the corner of his eye that his granddaughter's cat was staring at him. He didn't pay much attention to it, though it was a little weird that the cat was looking at him with such attention.

Well, it was just a cat, so he didn't mind much about it.

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The next day, Haruka went to school. She was officially enrolled into Tennozu High School the day before. She woke up early in the morning and prepared breakfast for Tetsu. Before she headed out, Tetsu decided to remind his granddaughter to be careful.

"Return home after the school ends," he told his granddaughter. "I don't know what it's like in the big city, but here, girls have been disappearing. Be careful out there." He reminded her as Haruka put on her shoes.

Haruka grinned, bobbing her head. "Don't worry about it, grandpa. I'll head home as soon as possible." After giving her grandfather a quick hug, Haruka then left the house, and once again, Tetsu was on his own. Well, Haruka's cat was still there, but he paid it no mind.

While he already ate breakfast, that didn't mean he had to forget about his daily walk. Dressing up, Tetsu locked his front door and headed out, doing another round in his neighborhood. As usual, he went to buy newspaper to see the news, and like before, there were three more disappearances happening in the town.

"Oh my, that's horrible…" A fellow elderly, Otsumi, had a scandalized look on her face as she saw the newspaper's headline. She was one of the familiar faces that Tetsu usually saw during his daily walk. While she wasn't a retiree, being a housewife, she had been a rather active members in their neighborhood, being someone who often talked to her fellow elderlies about the current events. "I heard Ichiro's granddaughter was one of the girls who disappeared. Oh, poor Ichiro!" She shook her head sadly.

"Hrmh… police's been doing nothing so far…" Tetsu grumbled, clearly annoyed by the lack of actions from the authority. "You should tell your own granddaughter to head home quickly after school."

Otsumi nodded. "Of course! I can't imagine how it feels if my precious Remi somehow disappears!" She then sighed. "I heard one of your granddaughters is living with you now, right?" She asked Tetsu.

Tetsu let out another grunt. "Yes. Already told her to be careful and head home as soon as possible. Still…" He looked up, wondering about what was going on in their town. "It's strange, don't you think? Teenage girls have been disappearing, and there is nothing we can do to stop it." He sighed. "If I were a bit younger, maybe I could…" He couldn't finish his words. He knew the brashness of his youth was still inside him. Like many people, he wished he could do something about the disappearance. He wished he could do something to protect his neighborhood.

In the end, the fact that he had grown old remained. He never regretted growing old. He never regretted having a fulfilling life. Still, he wished that he could remain young so that he could do something about this.

"Well, I doubt that you can do much if the police can't even solve the case," Otsumi reminded him, and he sighed again. She was correct. It would be unrealistic for him to actually solve the case, if the authority itself couldn't even figure out the reason behind the disappearances. "All we can do is hope for the best and pray it won't happen to our grandchildren…"

Hoping and praying. Those were the only things they could manage right now. Tetsu himself wasn't really a religious sort of person, but he knew that all he could do was to pray that nothing would harm his family. He was sort of glad that Haruka was the only one among his granddaughters to live with him at the moment, because he didn't have to worry about others.

"Oh, I should finish my shopping now. I'll see you soon, Tetsu." Otsumi headed over to the convenience store, leaving Tetsu with his thoughts. Folding the newspaper, the retired electrician decided to continue his walk, watching the neighborhood and chatting with fellow retirees and elderlies.

Like Otsumi, some of them voiced their concerns about the disappearances, worrying if their own granddaughters might be next. He told them to remind their granddaughters to return home as soon as possible after school. Many of them were worried about their granddaughters and Tetsu could understand their worry.

As Tetsu continued on with his day, he didn't notice that a cat was following him.

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"I'm home!"

Haruka returned home after school and Tetsu was already at home by the time she arrived. He grunted as she passed him, heading to her room as he busied himself with repairing an old radio. It was a neighbor who asked him to repair the radio, and he decided to bring the old radio home because he didn't bring his tools earlier.

As Tetsu worked on the radio, he noticed that the cat was staring at him. He wasn't sure what to think of this. The cat was brought here by Haruka, and he didn't know if it was hungry or not.

Then, he heard Haruka's footsteps, and the cat walked away from him. Tetsu couldn't help but be weirded out by the cat, though he then shrugged it off, thinking that was probably a strange quirk his granddaughter's cat had picked up. Now that the cat had left, Tetsu focused back on the radio, fiddling with the device while Haruka went to the kitchen and cooked the dinner for them both.

Once he finished repairing the radio, he joined his granddaughter for the dinner and they chatted a bit, mostly about Haruka's first day at school.

"How's school?" Tetsu asked his granddaughter as the two of them were eating dinner.

"Well, nothing special. People were busy talking about the disappearance than a transfer student showing up." Haruka responded. "I made some friends, though we couldn't hang out because of the cases."

"Hrmh… well, if you want to hang out with your friends, make sure you go somewhere safe, and don't forget to tell me beforehand." Tetsu reminded her. While he was still worried about his granddaughter's safety, Haruka was still a growing teenage girl who needed to socialize with her peers. It would do no good for both of them to deny her that. "Avoid going to dark and isolated places and make sure to not get involved with anyone you don't know."

"Alright, grandpa. I'll be careful." Haruka nodded and smiled. "Thanks, grandpa."

"Hrmh…" Tetsu grunted as he continued eating. "I'll be heading out after this. Going to visit Takeba for a bit to return his radio. It'll take a while since his place's a little farther from here, but it should be fine. While I'm outside, make sure to lock the door, you got it?" Tetsu told his granddaughter.

"Alright." Haruka nodded.

So, they finished their foods before Tetsu got ready to get out, bringing the repaired radio with him. Haruka saw him off. Since it was already night, Tetsu put on his tracksuit.

"Stay safe, grandpa." Haruka told him. Tetsu responded with a grunt.

It was dark outside, and the only sources of light were from the street lights. Despite his age, Tetsu still got good eyesight, and he made his way down the street, heading over to his destination. He would be delivering the repaired radio to his neighbor, Takeba, who was a few houses away from his. He just had to take a few turns around the corners before he finally arrived at Takeba's

"Aah, thank you so much for the help, Tetsu!" Takeba, a middle-aged man expressed his gratitude to Tetsu as he accepted his repaired radio. "I'm sorry that you had to walk here at night. Here, my wife prepared this for you." He handed over a food container to Tetsu. "It's fish dumplings. I heard you're living with your granddaughter now, so I guess she can cook some dumplings for you."

Tetsu grunted as he accepted the container. After exchanging a few words, the retired electrician excused himself and made his way home. It had been twenty-five minutes since he left his house. Hopefully nothing bad happened at house while he was away.

Bringing the food container with dumplings in it, Tetsu was thinking about many things. About the cases. About the way he lived. About his granddaughter. About the future. Even in retirement, he couldn't avoid thinking about many things. So many things to worry, and with no one to share his worries with, he wished that his wife was still around.

He already accepted his wife's death, knowing it was unavoidable. Still, he sometimes missed her. During the times when she was still alive, she was always there to offer counsels and kind words, and during some of the lowest points of his life, she was there to offer support. But now she was gone, he had no one else to share his worries.

He could try talking to his sons, but all of them were out of town, already having their own families. He didn't want to bother them with his worries, as he was sure that they already had their own problems that they had to deal with.

"Help me! Help!"

Tetsu broke out of his musing when he heard a cry for help. It was a girl's voice! Without hesitation, the old man rushed over to where this voice came from. It had been a long time since he last broke into a sprint, but here he was, running as fast as he could, turning around the corner, knowing that someone was in trouble.

It had to be the one responsible for the disappearance, Tetsu thought to himself. And he was about to catch the culprit in the act, but as soon as he turned around the corner, he froze.

There was a young girl, probably a high-schooler, crying out for help as she tried to get away from the one restraining her, which happened to be some kind of black mass made of tendrils that were wrapped around the girl's limbs. The black mass itself seemed to be vaguely humanoid in shape, and there was some kind of sickly purple light coming out from what was presumably its head.

Tetsu couldn't move. This creature, while still vaguely humanoid in shape, was constantly shifting in a way that made it seem nebulous and amorphous, and it was keeping the girl in its grasp. The girl screamed out as the chest part of the creature started to open up, revealing a maw full with sharp teeth.

Tetsu knew that he should do something, anything, to rescue the girl. But how? If it was just a simple kidnapper, he might be able to do something like rush over and give the kidnapper a good punch to the face. Sure, it might be unwise, but at least that was something. But now, against such an inhuman creature, he could only do nothing but stare.

He was about to watch a girl being eaten alive by some kind of monster, and there was nothing he could do about it.

"Stardust Streams!!"

Suddenly, there was light. Tetsu had to cover his eyes due to how bright it was. The creature let out a shriek as parts of its body were disintegrated by some kind of light beams coming out of nowhere. And then something descended from the sky before Tetsu heard another shout.

"Starfall Kick!!"

The creature was brought down to the ground as someone stomped right onto its head. The girl seemed to have fallen unconscious but unharmed. When the light faded, Tetsu was able to see the one who stomped the creature, causing the pavement to crack.

"Phew, thank goodness I'm right on time."

Tetsu heard a familiar voice, and he blinked. The unconscious girl was held by her rescuer in her arms in a bridal carry, and the rescuer happened to be another girl clad in frilly dress with short skirt. And the girl's body seemed to be emitting some kind of glow.

Seeing the frilly dress, Tetsu was reminded of those magical girl shows that his granddaughters used to watch when they were still young. Girls clad in colorful dresses, equipped with tremendous powers to fight dark forces, Tetsu always thought that those things belonged to the realm of fictional works. But before him stood an honest-to-God magical girl!

"Eh?"

Tetsu looked at the magical girl's face, and he was stunned. Despite all the frills and bright colors, there was no way he could mistake that face for someone else's.

"G-grandpa?"

It was his granddaughter, Haruka.