Chapter 22: Comparison

[Edited by ArchmageNaoki & Arthur300000]

[Deathbricks was sure he had an entry quote ready for this]

I ended up playing with those kids until dark... ugh, I went with the flow again. Well, it couldn't be helped. When one kid threw a snowball at me, I reacted. Then one thing leads to another, and I was dragged into it. They showed me the children's playground, their secret base, and an abandoned building. We played together until dark. But as the only grown up in this group I escorted them home one by one. Their parents thanked me with a lot of sweets and candies.

“Little miss, it’s snowing out there. Stay with us for a while, and I'll call your parents to pick you up.” The mother of the last kid I escorted suggested. However, it’s just 5 minutes walk from here, so I politely decline. I don’t want to trouble my family over something this mundane. So I waved goodbye to them and walks back to my house alone.

The night air was quite cold, and fog came out every time I exhaled. The snow on the street lamps has melted and frozen again, forming many shiny icicles. Because of those bright street lights, I can’t see the stars here as clear as when I was in the forest. It a full moon tonight, and It looks bigger than my previous life’s moon. It’s so silent here in the night, and there are no cars running anymore. Well, during the day the cars were already few in number as it was, so it’s not unusual that there would be no cars on the road right now. But compared to my previous world that’s full of traffic jams and honking sounds. This feels strange. I guess that’s because the cars here needs a medium monster core to run, so people here only use their car when needed. However, there are still a few people walking past me from time to time. Most of the people who passed me are just smiled at me. There was also a good-natured old man greeting me, so I greeted him back.

“I'm back!” I said while opening the front door of my house. The warm air from inside made me feel so comfortable after a long walk in the winter night. Well, the snowflakes that were stuck to my cloth started to melt, so it’s not that comfortable, but I’m not too bothered by it.

““Welcome back Kuro-Chan~!”” ““Welcome back.”” My family greeted me. The house is as I remembered. It felt like I grew up in this house, which is quite strange. I should have been living here for about only two days, yet why do I felt like this has always been my house?

“Kuro, what happened?” My father noticed me pondering.

“Well, it’s kind of strange. I've only lived here for a short time, yet I feel like this house has been my home for my entire life. Dad, mom, sister and brother, I don't know why but I feel like I've known you all for a very long time, even though we've only known each other for a few days.” I told them my concerns. Then my dad just sighed and said, “It’s about time.” He gestured at me to take a seat, so I sat at my usual spot on the chair around the dining table.

“You see Kuro-Chan, do you remember when we first met?" My sister told me about why they adopted me, their circumstances and my own, the reason why I never saw mom leaving the house, the amount of debt they have, and the thing that the Institute has done to me. My brother and dad also filled in some details and answered my questions from time to time. Those things are unbelievable, incomprehensible and difficult to digest. I have to cast calm on myself multiple times to keep hold myself together.

“So, you mean to tell me my feelings are all a lie?” I’m really confused. I truly love them. I deeply love my house. Yet, they told me it was all because of the drug that the Institute injected into me?

“Well, part of it. The drug only intensified your good feelings. They couldn't create love from nothing, so they just make it happen easier.” My brother elaborated, but I still felt like I was being manipulated.

“ Jus- just leave me alone, I need time to think.” I said that and went to my room and locked myself inside. I’m back to my previous self again. Locking myself inside my room. Will I...will I become a shut-in again? How should I feel about this? Should I hate them? Even so, I felt only love for them. Should I start rampaging and kill everyone in this world? No, the citizens here are innocent and don't have anything to do with my personal problems. Actually, the only one who really offended me is the one who ordered that drug to be injected into my veins.

My family shouldn’t be blamed, right? They are not the one who ordered them to inject that drug. Nevertheless, they also used me as a money-making machine. It’s quite understandable considering the situation they were in. In my previous life when I had no money left anymore I also thought about doing things worse than what they did to me. However, the problem is how I should feel about them? I love them so much but do they love me in return? Or do they just think of me as another source of income? I don’t know anymore. My mind was spinning around that night. My feelings, my future, what should I do? I really want to have dinner with everyone, but my feelings are more jumbled up than the flying spaghetti monsters from the forest. Like that, I passed out without doing my late-night ritual.

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I woke up at midnight. Staying here is very confusing for me. I’m also too hungry to think straight. So I took some snacks I got from those children’s parents from my hair clip. It isn't easy for the hairclip to fall off because it has a spell to fix itself to my head. I could remove it anytime I wanted to. However, I’m too confused to remove it right now. After I finished my third package of snacks, I jumped out from my bedroom window and landed smoothly outside. It’s too confusing, too much to be in that house. I need to go somewhere else to think properly

While organizing my feelings, I wander around in the snow filled neighborhood and found myself at the children's playground. My feet stopped because I noticed I wasn't alone. There was a child sitting on a swing in the middle of the night. It’s Bree. She is one of the children I played with this afternoon. She seems to be crying, so I walked over to her and asked her “Why are you crying?" How complicated a child's problem can be?

“My father came back drunk and started beating mama and my big sister. He also said that I am not my mama’s child but my big sister’s child.” … Ok, I give up. I lost. Your problem is far more worst than mine.

“Do you need my help? I could castrate your father for good, but you won’t have any more siblings. Though it should get him to start being nicer.” I ask the crying little Bree.

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“... What do you mean castrate? Will it really help?” Oops, I’ve done it, I introduced a bad word to a kid.

“Well, it’s an adult male pacifying procedure. So it’s a bit painful. Be sure to close your eyes when I say so, ok?” She nodded, and so I took the little Bree home. We rush to her house. I don’t know why she was so quick to trust me. I'll have to warn her to be more careful about trusting strangers later.

When we arrived at her house I could hear women moaning and the sound of flesh hitting flesh. That's not a good sign. Knowing what was going on, I told Bree to wait outside. I inhale deeply before I open the front door, it’s not even locked. The scene inside is a bit different from what I imagined. He wasn’t doing it with Bree’s mother, but he’s doing it with Bree’s elder sister. This scum, I'll quickly dispatch the offensive piece of meat that was dangling between his legs. I won’t go into detail, but the result was he was left rolling on the floor while I thought of washing my hands later. Taking a sword from my hair clip was too slow for my liking. So I used my hand.

“Agghhhhh!!!” He screamed as he rolled on the floor. Serves you right. I try to heal the mother who was unconscious on the floor next to the elder sister first with my healing spell. Thankfully It worked. Without the interference field, my healing spells seem to function properly. Then I moved to Bree’s elder sister next. The last one is that useless excuse of a man. I don’t really want to heal him, but I want to see whether my healing spell will regrow his missing limb or not. It turns out it doesn't. The wound closed, but he's lost his third leg forever. I noted to myself 'don’t lose any parts of my body.'

"Kuro-Chan?" Bree’s elder sister recovered first. She groggily tried to get up. I was going to help her get up, but I sensed that poor excuse of a man trying to sneak attack me. I can judge from his posture and swiftness that he's not a bad fighter, though unfortunately for him his luck had already run out when he met me. I quickly step back to get under his arm and use my centrifugal force from turning to punch him hard in his Solar Plexus. He doubled over and convulsed in pain. Well, the thing I tossed back at him was crushed because he was thrashing around. It’s not my fault, though.

I help Bree’s elder sister up and ask her how I should deal with him. She’s reluctant, and she said it’s because he’s the only one in the house who’s earning their income. If he’s dead, her family would be starving. Damn, I just got myself involved in another problem. For now, I have to subdue this man first. I tied him up and gagged him with the belts from some of my equipment. I also put some clothes on him for some decency. Well, after I knocked him unconscious anything is easy. I then threw him into a closet and locked the door from the outside. After Bree's mother and elder sister had looked decent enough, I called Bree inside. Then I used my communication device to call my brother… hm, not answering. Well, it’s past midnight, so it’s understandable. I try my sister next. She picks up after the phone rang three times, that was quick.

"Kuro-Chan! Where are you?!" My sister answered the phone with panic in her voice. I told her what had happened. She asked for the address and told me to stay here. Just when I finished helping them clean up the mess, my siblings and my dad came with police officers.

The police officers question us for a while then release Bree’s father from the bindings that I learned from some S&M site. He’s still yelling and thrashing around incoherently. He even called me “Bitch” which made my sister and dad almost charge at him. Luckily my brother and I managed to pull them back just in time. It’s quite a struggle for me to pull my sister back because she’s heavier than me, so I have to lift her up. Should I just have killed him and dispose of his corpse somewhere to avoid the current situation? Well if I did that Bree’s family would starve to death.

Fortunately, Bree’s big sister and her mother told the cops about the problem honestly, a bit reluctant but still honest. So that guy is going to be sent to jail. However, the problem is Bree’s family's income. How will they survive without him? Did I just create another problem?

The thing that I don’t understand the most is; I trespassed into his house, assaulted him, locked him up, and yet I got away scot-free. They said it was self-defense. How can this be possible? I even prepared myself to run for it when the situation took a turn for the worse. However, it seems unnecessary now. I thought of this while I was washing my hands. When I've left the bathroom, I could see my dad talking with Bree’s mom and her elder sister. It seems like my dad was suggesting a few places that would hire them.

“It’s fine Kuro. You've actually saved us.” This is what Bree’s mother said when I tried to apologize for butting into their business without asking for permission. I want to give them some money for starting their own business, but they refuse to take any.

“Is it really fine? I mean, I assaulted him in his house!” I still couldn’t believe that I wasn’t being blamed for doing that. So while we are walking back to my house, I ask again.

“No, you did the right thing, Kuro. That guy deserved worse than that.” My dad seems to be angry at that man while my sister is also fuming.

“I mean, legally-” this was still hard for me to believe but my brother cut me off.

“Look, Kuro. You were walking to their house when that man was doing obscene things with his daughter. The door wasn’t locked, so you did not break in. You found that man has been doing horrible things in their living room, and that man was also going to assault you. So it was a perfect self-defense situation. You subdued that man perfectly without permanent injuries, so you committed no crime.” My brother explained. It’s a bit different from the truth. Even so, there is one thing I need to confirm.

“What if there is a permanent injury?” Well, they don’t know that because I destroyed all of the evidence before they came. Still, I actually did it, though.

“Well, in that situation you would need to pay the fee for the cybernetic implant to replace that missing organ.” … Is that thing really replaceable? Well, I got the answer the next day. I got a letter from the police that told me I had to pay a fine of 5,000 credits for that guy’s cybernetic replacement surgery… it really existed. And it’s quite expensive. How can that thing cost 500 panties?! Preposterous! I guess the next time I help someone I need to make sure not to rip off their thing...