Hearing the sound of bullets cracking, I open my eyes just in time to see one whiz past me and embed itself squarely between the man's eyes.

Despite having very evidently felt the impact, the man registered this only with a barely audible oh before he, dropped to its knees and gently fell over, his face landing on the floor with a loud thump. This once fearsome man, the one who I'd say is responsible for this whole mess by initiating me in the first place, now laid bowing face-first on the ground as if to give us one final apology for what he did to us.

But that was not all that was happening.

This once quiet alleyway exploded to life as men clad in a whole hopscotch of green-black trench coat rushed out of nowhere and began to engage the Chinese men. Though their clothing weren't excatly uniform, each and every one wore an armbamd with the same 3 interlocking triangles embossed on them. The red white and black of each triangle shimmering in stark contrast to their bleak-looking uniforms.

The Chinese, on seeing these men, hollered in fury and raised their parang in a mini warcry before rushing at their attackers, intending without a doubt to cut down every last one of them

They didn't stand a chance.

With a quick whir of the machine gun, the Chinese were immediately stopped dead in their tracks by a hail of lead. Though some did get through the initial onslaught, managing a few slashes on the men, they were quickly checked by the swifts bangs of a handgun. Shot point-blank, courtesy of the remaining men. The candidness of their actions sending a very clear message of how much they treasured human life.

The Chinese, seeing the brutality of the forces they were up against and realising they were seriously outnumbered, opted for the wise choice of retreat. Thus one by one they started to fade into the backdrop eventually vanishing completely though not scot-free, evident from the handful of men in black hotly tailing them as they retreated.

As for the rest, they stayed where we were at the insistence of an older gentleman, probably their leader. Already, even before the last sounds of gunfire died down, he was delegating tasks to his men via a flurry of hand motions. One of them being, presumably, to check on our well being.

Speaking of our general wellbeing, on that note, we, or more accurately I, pulling Jacobine along, had wisely ducked the second we heard the whir of the machine gun. Only looking up briefly to get out of the line of fire before ducking back again.

Now, with the hum of the machine gun slowly winding down, we carefully raised our heads, still a little fearful that the fighting was going to break out again. Thankfully instead of being greeted by a hail of bullets like the very unfortunate Chinese, we were instead greeted by an outstretched hand, one which I gladly accepted.

Once on my feet, I swing back to face the owner of this hand a little curious as to how he/she looked like, and my gosh was this absolutely a right choice. In spite of my previous reservations of the character of these men, the mere sight of him was causing this fear to be shoved far far away, replaced by well sometHinG.

My man to put it simply, was an absolute chad. Although he was wearing a trench coat, you could just tell his was something else. His hat, though opaque and omnipresent in nature, left just enough space to make out a tich of his luscious blonde hair leaving the rest to imagination.

Imagination which would very quickly be replaced by reality as he slowly lifted his cap. Allowing his once-concealed eyes to shine a brilliant blue, further enhancing his already charming face. To give you a better picture of how dazzling he looked, just think of the most masterfully crafted sapphires, the kind that a gem smith would only manage once in his lifetime and now indent said gemstones onto his flawless face.

And with that in mind, you must be thinking damn you sure are simping hard for this guy. And you being a guy, that's kinda sus and to that, I say I am hella glad that I am a girl when I make these observations.

"Hi there," He says in the most dreamy of voices possible "Are you girls ok?"

"H...i there" I say stuttering, my heart having gone full cardiac arrest mode "I am fine I guess"

"That good to hear Fräulein, I was afraid that we wouldn't get here in time. Though I am guessing it must have been quite a close shave" He says, his eyes briefly glancing towards my partially exposed bosom before blushing furiously.

Now it was my turn to get embarrassed

"Yes..well...I" I say scrambling to covering myself "I really wouldn't know what would have happened if it wasn't for you. So umm thank you."

He smiles warmly "It's my pleasure Fräulein, though" He pauses "Though I am a little curious what you girls are doing out here so late?"

Uhhhhhhhh should I tell him the truth? I mean he is cute and all and I'll gladly do whatever he wants but if I know my Singapore law well, I'm pretty sure graffiti is kinda illegal in Singapore and the last time a white person grafittied in Singapore, things didn't go so well for him.........

Thankfully Jacobine sensing my indecision and having finally defrosted the better part of her body, took it from here.

"Actually we were just on our way back from an art project downtown. It being so late, we got lazy and took this shortcut back," she says smiling shyly, "A poor choice in hindsight as you can evidently tell. "

He gave an 'ah' look before he resumed talking in a rather patronising tone "Well in that case I hope you take this as a learning experience. These Strait Chinese are vile and uncivilized creatures and do have a pension for preying on those of Germanischekultur especially young girls like yourself."

"I...I've," his voice starting to break "I've seen first hand many such cases. Sometimes we get lucky and manage to save them from these thugs but other times...," A chill travelled down my spine. If stripping were just the beginning, I couldn't possibly even begin to imagine what would have happened next if they hadn't come in time "Us Ostasien-Kampfregimenter may be strong but our reach is limited especially in the south. You are lucky that you are still here, very lucky."

And I wholeheartedly agreed. Never for a second did I doubt what he said. While I am Chinese in my old world and he is more or less calling us uncivilised bastards, after going through this whole debacle, I couldn't shake the feeling that he was kinda right.

The thing they made me do, the consistent lack of empathy they showed towards me all felt so, inhumane. How would anybody with morals think that a pair of teenage girls deserve of all their stares, deserves of all their leers, their contempt. They may be gone now but their actions had already carved themselves a permanent place in my memory, never to be forgotten. He was right, I was lucky, very lucky.

He sighs a little "Well now that it's all over, I won't hold you girls back any longer. I believe it must have been a long day for you girls and you girls deserve some peace of mind, so if you would oblige," He said, gesturing to a group of men "We have prepared an escort for you girls to get both of you swiftly and safely back home."

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Hearing this offer, I was about to open my mouth to gladly accept it but Jacobine beat me to the punch "Thank you Herr but I believe we can handle this ourselves. Our houses aren't too far away from here anyways and we would prefer you not to waste anymore resources on us and instead focus on the real problem that plagues you, Herrenmenschen."

"Very well then," He says, looking a little disappointed "But just in case here," reaching deep into his pocket, he fishes out a quaint name card "take this, it has our number. if anything happens along the way or if you ever need anything don't ever hesitate to call us, we'll come down as soon as we can. And if you ever want to join us to keep the peace, well you know who to call" He says with a wink. I completely wrapped up in his charm, gratefully took the card from him.

Looking carefully at it, I could see it had a small printed number along with an additional handwritten number with a name beneath, Max von Möller. Huh So this was the man who saved me Max....

At this point, I was ashamed to say that my mind started to stray little too off tangent.

Thankfully a hard tap and a "come on let's go Katherine" from Jacobine quickly brought me back to reality and after a few sleepish waves of goodbyes, she and I took off back to the hospital.

Initially, we both walked in silence. I, still a little lost in my fangirl world, and Jacobine still presumably trying to shake off the last bits of ice from her previous stint as a frozen. Eventually, Jacobine finally back to functioning level, decided to break the ice.

"So Katherine did you really believe what he said?" She said a little indignantly

I, a little affronted that she dared to question the honesty of my Max von Möller, replied back a little more forcibly than intended "Why of course I do why wouldn't I? I mean he did save us you know?"

"True but don't you think he sounds a little I don't know a little fake, a little too perfect?" Jacobine implored

"That's because he is perfect." I blurt out "you've seen him yourself, how can you not say he is anything but perfect? Plus does it really matter, honestly?" I pause, before cheekily replying "Wait you are jealous that he didn't give you his number aren't you Jacobine."

"Pffftt please Katherine do I look like I give a single damn about that man? Huh? Let me tell you, that man represents one of the most repressive abhorrent organisation on this sunny island. He's a delusional racist, fooled by the lies and charms of a school teacher." She says, not skipping a single beat "Look I know he good looking and he did 'save us' but that doesn't mean he's the Teutonic Knight of your dreams or whatever. This is real life ok not another one of your make-believe worlds where fated meetings like this exist. And let me just say real life is a world where those with power like him use it to exploit the weak and the naive like you by preying on your trust. Trust me," she says more tenderly now "You are better off without him."

"Who are you to say huh?!" I roar. Her less than teasing tone to my candid question having triggered open the floodgate to all my repressed anger. I've been through so much, too much. In this past week alone, I have had to not only deal with all the mysterious, oh now you are in another world stuff go find out what to do haha but also paradoxically enough the you wanna find out information about this world that you got randomly got transported to? Well too bad. You are gonna have to wait till the plot suits it then maybe, just maybe I'll even give you a tinge of progression. And now, to add salt to my wound, my one and only saviour in this world is getting lectured by a girl who couldn't even pull her own weight when faced with danger?! Like are you seriously expecting me to tolerate all your 'preach' when you yourself had to rely on this 'racist abhorrent' scum of a man to save our asses. Really?

On a normal day, I would have been perfectly capable of ignoring these quote on quote 'problems'. However, with my current mental state having long since been smashed to smithereens and grievances like these stacked higher than the Empire State Building, I could no longer in any world, willfully ignore it.

I had to be let it out, and it had to be let out now.

"Jacobine let me put it bluntly I am pissed, very pissed and your actions just made it 10 times worse. Like I geddit, I always seem so happy and cheerful on the outside ready to do anything for my dear bestie, don't I? But let me let you in on this secret, this past week yes just this very week I have been doing anything but living being a mere marionette to the fates. My feelings, my actions are all completely out of my control, dictated solely by higher forces. Now the only reason why I haven't broke is because I have hope, hope that maybe one day in the not so distant future my saviour would come and break me out of my torment, free me from this endless cycle. And today my wish did come true, he did come to save me, in fact, he saved us, me and you. Yet despite all he has done for us, not only are you are ungrateful for his help but are here down here actively insulting him. Do you even for a second know how I feel or by even care? Does seem like I somehow enjoy this kind of life? Enjoy the life of a protagonist of some shitty isekai?? Huh?" I say sarcastically. "Oh wait then again," I say more spitefully this time, the viciousness in my voice lathering all over her like toxic slime "why did I even expect a side character like you know anything. You are just a peasant anyways"

At this moment, I felt something inside me crack. Somewhere deep down I knew I had crossed the line, there was no going back now.

"What did you say to me?!!" Jacobine bellowed "Look at me Kathrine, look at me." She says pulling aggressively at the ragged cloth that was her clothes "I may not have fancy clothes and fluffy hats like you Oreintal Junkers but that doesn't mean I am less of a human than you. I may be a peasant but unlike you, I worked hard to earn my place as a Herrenmenschen. What did you do to deserve your place in this society huh? Nothing, you did absolutely nothing. All you did was be born and this right was handed to you on a silver platter. People like me have to work graveyard shifts and till the fields night over night just to get even an ounce of recognition while people like you get to sip tea and picnic as thousands of maids wait on you. You know this full well Katherine and yet you still dare to have the cheek to look down on me?!"

She pauses, taking the time to wipe tears out of her eyes "You know Katherine I really thought that, you as mixed, could look beyond your parents and become more than just an extension of them, become more than what society desires for us. But now I know I am wrong. Your blood may be different but are just like the rest of them selfish arrogant and full of themselves. I was a fool to think a Junkers like you with a head stuffed halfway up your ass would even care to build a society like this and it's only right I pay the price."

With that finality, Jacobine turned and ran. Her figure, with her every passing step, getting smaller and smaller until it became only a speck in the distance. Just another dot among the millions. Another faceless entity in the sunny city.

As for me I just laid there, back against the wall, resting as the thumping in my head slowly replaced itself by a deep numbing sense of guilt of loss. Then I started to cry. My tears a trickle at first but soon fell like a torrent down my cheeks. Every drop of it soaking me with the grief that it contained.

What had I done

What had I done.