A warm orange sky hung overhead as their little group walked down the city street. Upon reaching an intersection Rose nearly walked out into the street, pulled back only at the last moment by Sanji. Rose smiled at him, and Sanji sighed. At the same moment he felt a prick of pain in his arm, he cried out and looked down to see Eva had her face pressed to his forearm.

He shook her off and inspected his flesh to see two small, round indents. She flashed a plastic toothed grin at him and grabbed his arm, “Jutht keeping my thervsnt in check.”

Eva looked up to grin again, but then Rey reached over and took off the vampire girl’s wide brimmed hat. Eva at once cried out and held her hands over her head, “Hey, give it back!”

She slit out her vmsoire teeth and went in pursuit of Rey, who held the hat aloft and laughed makisciously.

Not getting a moment of peace, Niya stepped up right where Eva had been a moment prior, except much closer- practically pressing up against him- and said, “You know, one might think they're getting jealous over you.”

“What?” Sanji asked, taken aback, and doing his best to avoid looking at the sizeable amount of cleavage Niya was presenting. “Jealous about what?”

“About your attention, of course,” the cat girl replied and wrapped both her arms around his bicep, “But I know there's plenty of you to go around.”

“Hey stop that,” Sanji shook his arm free and continued to protest, “They're not jealous.”

“Really?” She Rose an eyebrow at him and then looked over toward the other three girls.

He follows her gaze and saw that all three of them- even Rose- were looking at him and Niya; there was what might have been contempt in their eyes, or.. no, not contempt, but jealousy?

Was Nina serious?

The traffic signal changed and they were all able to continue on their way home.

Eva had recovered her hat from Rey, and was now giving the girl a wide radius. Which left the perfect window for Rey to move forward, shoo Niya away- with maybe a more violent then necessary slap to what Sanji would consider a sensitive region- and take stride alongside him. Almost immediately she asked, “Well, don't you want to know what I have on them?”

“What do you mean?” Sanji asked, although he was pretty sure he knew.

Of course, she replied, “What I used to blackmail those two idiots.”

“I'm not sure…” Sanji replied, “Is it really something you think I would want to know?”

“Of course! You-” She began, then abruptly stopped, her mouth tightening into a thin line. “Actually, I don't think you would enjoy it as much as I do.”

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

Sanji tried not to seem too relieved, “Well, you definitely work fast.”

“Oh it's nothing,” she actually giggled and waved a hand, but her mannerisms were made a whole lot less cute by her next words, “It was super easy to follow them home, set up a few cameras. No, I've been doing that kind of thing since I was six. The trouble is going to come from getting the rest of their little gang wrapped around my finger…”

“Oh,” Sanji said, and in the awkward silence that followed her felt oddly compel,ed to think of something- or anything- to fill the gap. “Um, what do you plan to do with all of them?”

“You know,” she said nonchalantly, “Nothing special, just extortion, get some money, cause some trouble, maybe give Niya something to okay with, that sort of thing.”

“I see,” Sanji replied, not wanting to dig in to any of what she just said.

Fortunately, he was aged by the end of the trip. They reached the apartment building stairs and Sanji was quick to explain, “I have a lot of homework to do, goodnight all of you!”

He hurried up the stairs and all of their parting messages drifted up after him. He got into his apartment, shut the door, leaned his back against it, and sank to the floor. The day felt a whole lot lower than it had been, and he could have fallen asleep right then and there were it not for the daunting amount of homework weighing down his backpack.

Sanji dragged himself across the room, began to sit at his desk, looked at the window, and made sure to lock the latch before he sat down and got to work. It all took hours, so many numbers, sentences and formulas all jumbling together in the culmination of high school knowledge. Fortunately, it was a distraction from the other worries in his life and the time steadily ticked by, at least until near his bed time.

The homework was finished, a monumental task that Sanji was quite proud of, and he thought to reward himself with some gaming. But almost as soon as he turned on his computer a few strange sounds began to come from upstairs.

Sanji looked at his ceiling in horror, the noises weren't distinct, but they were definitely impossible to ignore. There was a rhythmic creaking of the floor boards, broken by the occasional… different sound. A sound undoubtedly made by Niya…

Sanji found himself again to be considering the relationship of the sadist and the cat girl. But all the pondering in the world would not make the noises stop, and he did not have the faintest dare, inclination, nor itch to go up and knock on their door.

The noises aside, Sanji didn't really feel like gaming either- he needed some fresh air. So, Sanji found himself putting his shoes back on, grabbing a jacket, and stepping out ontothe front walkway.

It was a nice spring evening, stars twinkled in a perfectly clear sky, and Sanji was almost immediately content with his decision to go outside. He went down the stairs and picked a direction to walk at random.

Given, it probably wasn't the smartest idea to be going out alone considering the gangs were probably still interested in him- Rett and Zach would probably try to get even for Rey at some point as well- but he figured it was dark enough for no one to recognize him. And, I hardly mattered considering just how empty the streets were.

He didn't follow any particular path, and after awhile he found himself back at the park where he, Eva, and Rose had their first encounter with the thugs. And really, without any outside influences, the park appears to be quite peaceful.

There are dense patches of trees, all with thick trunks and wide canopies, that encircle a small pond. A pathway stretched out from the city sidewalk and leads along that pond, disappearing into the trees on the other side. And all that path, overlooking the pond, sitting under a solitary street lamp, sits the bench Rose had been harassed on.

Someone sat in that bench now. Someone Sanji recognized by the shoulder length black hair, and- of course- by the long stick laying across her knees. He couldn't help but smile, anddecided to walk over to the bench.

She didn't react as he sat down, perhaps meditating as she had done before, and that was fine. Sanji leaned back and watched the ripples from the slight breeze dance across the top of the pond. He closed his eyes for a minute, taking in the sounds of rustling leaves and the chirps of insects. It was exactly the moment he needed to help cast aside the stress of the past few days.

Sanji sighed contenders and set his hands on the bench to either side of him, leaning his head back to look up at the stars. After a moment something touched his right hand, he looked down to see Rose had reached out. She sat stone still otherwise, giving no indication whatsoever of having moved, yet there her hand was- so he took it, winding his fingers through hers.

It wasn't the sort of thing he would normally do, in fact he wasn't even sure what he would normally do in a situation such as this seeing as how he had never been in one before, but it felt right. He gave her hand a slight squeeze and she returned the pressure. He looked st her face, the closed eyes, the small upturned nose, and the faintest hint of a smile on her thin lips.

Sanji couldn't help but smile as well, only a week ago the extent of his social interactions had been strictly with online gaming friends. Yet there he was now, sitting on a lark bench st night holding the hand of a girl… a cute girl.

He looked back toward her, and was surprised to find her looking back. She smiled broadly, her warm, comforting, smile, and said, “Hello, Sanji.”