As I desd the hill, I'm struck by how dark the winding streets have bee, even though the st rays of daylight still reflects off the marble ns of the Geika Izar estate, as if it were a legendary isnd that night ot reach. The stones, once warmed by the sun, now exude a soft ess, and the ambient bustle that filled the air before I began my climb is now reduced to a distant eessenger of life. With a deep sigh, I try to shake off the frustrations of the day and make my way to the stables, where, at least, I won’t have to tolerate the disdain of my peers.

  ～ It’s only been a day since I arrived in town, and I already long for the pany of animals... Unlike people, they don’t judge based in, status, or appearance.

  Being in no mood for sleep, I decide to take a detour before heading home.

  As I walk along a narrow path through one of the city's few green spaces, my sensitive ears catch the faint sound of whispers ing from a nearby thicket. Intrigued, I pause to listen. Three unseen voices seem up to no good. Instinctively, I slip behind a tree trunk and y eyes to focus. My surroundings soon appear in shades of bd white, and my vision broadens. I easily spot the three thugs crouched behind a bush he edge of the path.

  – Shhh! Someone’s ing, get ready, murmurs suddenly one of them while shifting nervously.

  The men grip their ons, eyes locked oh, not moving a single muscle. I reopen my eyes and do the same. In the faint glow of Someon and Daria, the twin moons, a slender figure approaches, carrying shopping bags that seem a bit te for her small frame.

  ～ Could it be... She's in danger!

  Before I react, the three men have already jumped out of their hiding spot, blog the woman's way.

  – It's risky to walk alo night, miss. Now, hand over everything you've got, and we’ll be geh you.

  As they ugh, clearly fident they've found an easy prey, the faint light from the cardinal headlights sweeps over their yellowed teeth and identical tattoos — probably a symbol of belonging to some bandit group.

  ～ Is it a habit of city robbers to offer advice that could damage their business?

  Stupid as they may look in their oversized clothes and fragile stahey haven't chosen their spot at random. The fireflies that roam the city at night don't veo isoted pces like this, and there's little ce of anyone being able to hear the screams of the victim. Added to the fact that they are three against one, and all of them armed, I decide to step in, using a replica meticulously prepared during my six years of wandering.

  – Is it local to give warnings before attag, or are you just unusually polite thieves, I ask while drawing my knife, assuming my best bat stand putting on my most fident expression.

  Old Tak oold me that bluffing works wainst small-time criminals like these.

  – What?!

  Their fused looks suggest my grarance didn’t quite nd as I'd hoped.

  ～ Old Tak had warned me that appearaters as much as attitude when trying to intimidate someone, and in that regard, I'm sorely g! But it doesn’t matter, the important thing is to buy time so the victim escape.

  – Who's this guy? Looks like a pest. Should I kill him?

  The casual tone of this death threat sends a chill down my spine. One-on-one and unarmed, I might have a shot, but this situation is far more precarious. I tinue bluffing, hoping to buy more time.

  ～ Maybe, with some luck, I’ll get to escape as well. After all, a day without a chase would ck that little touch of adrenaline I’ve grown aced to.

  With a discreet yet firm gesture, I urge the woman to slip away while keeping my focus on the danger.

  – Do you think you're sg me with those toothpicks?

  ～ They absolutely do.

  – And there are only three of you? You don’t stand a ce against me.

  – What’s this guy on about, asks casually one of them while actually using his dagger as a toothpick.

  ～ Damn, it doesn't seem to be w. I suppose I was too optimisti thinking I could scare men aced to fighting creatures as tall as a tree.

  – Brigands like you, I’ve beaten up hundreds of them! Haha-hahaha...

  – Boss, there’s a mosquito buzzing in my ears. I stab it?

  ～ It seems that her my edic skills nor my forced ughter — cruelly g in vi — were enough to ceal my nervousness.

  – Mind if I ask what’s going on here, suddenly asks the woman behind my back.

  The voice seems devoid of panid I would even say it carries a slight hint ance.

  ～ Why does no one in this try seem to grasp the seriousness of a situation?

  – Is this one of those old flirting tricks, she asks, leaving me puzzled as to what she's referring to. You know, where your friends threaten me so you swoop in, save me, and I’ll owe you?

  ～ Wait, that’s a thing?! The people of this town are uling in so many ways…

  – Am I wrong? Doesn't matter. we just get this over with already?

  The aggressiveness of the three men has now given way to fusion, which soon turns to irritation.

  – That little bitch is mog us.

  – Boss, let’s kill the boy and take the girl!

  ～ Where does this girl get all her fidence from? At this rate, we'll have no choice but to fight.

  – Pff, it's always like this when I e to town. Why are there so many rats these days? Are you breeding in the bushes or something, she throw with a bored voice.

  Despite the tension in the air, I ’t suppress a chuckle at the indignant looks ohugs' faces.

  – Okay, jokes time is over. Restrain her without causing too much damage. We’ll have our fun with her before selling her off. As for the boy, kill him if he resists.

  ～ It seems, after all, that the merdise of these gentlemen is not limited to the creatures of Historia. I was right to follow old Tak’s advices and not i with their colleagues during my journey.

  – They don't seem to have a sense of self-deprecation. You'd better—

  I don't have time to finish my warning before the girl abruptly hands me her shopping bags, a gesture that stirs a strange feeling of déjà vu ihe ued weight nearly topples me, and by the time I recover, I reize my savior as she walks past me, crag her knuckles. Dumbfounded, I watch the silver rays refleg off her vermilion hair and fall once again uhe spell of her athletic figure. Her hair, dang like fmes in the wind, fills me with a gentle nostalgia, evoking winter evenings when old Tak would tell me stories by the fire. Lost in this reverie, my awareness drifts away, and my mind is no longer part of the presey. My doubts and fears dissipate, swept away like dust in the wind by her unwavering fidence, and I stand here, my gaze fixed on the bad-forth of her fiery hair as she faces two armed oppos.

  By the time I snap back to reality, the situation has pletely shifted — both men are now unarmed, oh a broken arm, and their mog ughter has turned into screams of panic.

  ～ The prey has bee the predator.

  The first bandit is sent flying when the foot of the enraged beast, who once was a charming young girl, makes tact with his right cheek, before I could even see her leg lift. A sound of breaking bones escapes the bandit's mouth, apanied by a thread of red-tinged drool, as he is hurled like a stone against a cedar trunk. He is quickly joined by his colleague who, his wrist oriented in an unusual dire, finds himself upside down iime than it takes to realize. Both men crumple to the ground like overripe fruit, unscious, uhe horrified look of the third. The predator now directs a feral gaze toward her st victim, twhtening red glints pierg through her fringe.

  – A... A monster! It's a monster, yells the st bandit in panic, falling onto his backside before scrambling to his feet and fleeing in a hurry.

  I almost feel pity for these poor men who’ve clearly chosed the wrong target. I remain stunned as the girl now heads in my dire.

  – Sorry for ending the party, but I still have a long way to go. I don't know who you are, but could you hand me my bags now?

  As my body no longer reacts to my brain's ands, she ends up taking the bags out of my hands.

  – Hey, hello? you hear me?

  She leans in, her face getting very close to mine, and I hold my breath.

  – Wait a sed... I know you! You’re that weird boy from yesterday!

  I finally mao shake off my lethargic state.

  – Uh, yep, that’s me again! As strange as it may sound…

  – What was your name again? Ishi... Ishimura?

  – Ishizora!

  – Yes, that's it! Yoshimura, she excims, snapping her fingers.

  ～ Is she doing this on purpose?

  – So, what are you doing out here so te? Are you stalking me?

  – What? No! I didn’t even reize you until you handed me your shopping bags. Small world, isn’t it? Hahaha…

  I try to break the tension with an awkward ugh. I at least uood that I shouldn’t make her my enemy. Surprisingly, a slight smile appears on her lips.

  – And once again, I had to save your butt. Are you the type who stantly finds himself in trouble?

  ～ Teically, she was the target this time, but it’s probably best not to mention it.

  – Anyway, thanks for not running off with my bags.

  – Do I look that desperate?

  She shoots me a gre, and I already guess what’s i.

  – Holy... yes. Don't tell me you've taken up residen a local bush?

  – I'm not an animal!

  – Says the guy who lived in the forest for years.

  – It’s pletely differ… Wait, what? How do you know that?

  She lets out a long sigh, as if the mere thought of tinuing this versation irritated her to the highest degree.

  – It’s obvious. You don’t develop such muscurity and a keen sense of danger by staying cooped up behind these walls. Besides, I don’t know of any town in the dire you were ing from whe.

  – Well, I firm that. But your strength doesn't seem to e from here either. Where did you learn to fight like this?

  – If you don’t have anything else to say, I’ve got a long way to go, she says before starting to walk away.

  This time, I refuse to let the discussion end here.

  – Wait, wait!

  – Wait for what?

  Her furious gaze would probably make anyone swallow their words, but I’m already used to the stare of ferocious beasts. However, I still feel the o swallow noisily before proceeding further.

  – Could I at least know your name?

  She hesitates for a moment.

  – Kana! And don't you dare fet it, she says although she fot mine.

  On this terrifying threat, she disappears into the darkness of the night, leavih a final, sarcastic warning.

  – And take care of yourself! I won’t always be around to save your butt.

  ～ I have to admit, that oung a little bit. She's definitely not an oppo against whom you let yuard down.

  I won’t lie, this little woman scares me more than any wild creature from Historia. Yet, as soon as she disappeared from my sight, I felt the immediate o see her again.

  – Kana...

  I repeat her loud to make sure I don't fet it, but it's unnecessary. Her name is already engraved in my memory like marble, and I have the feeling it will take more than a violent fall on my head to make me fet it.