nChapter 7: Protection

nTranslator: imperfectluck Editor: - -

nIt was a new day.

nAs usual, Seiji went out for a morning jog and returned home after working up a sweat.

nAfter washing up, he prepared to make his own breakfast. Truthfully, he was slightly disappointed that breakfast wouldn’t be provided for him every morning by a beauty.

nJust as he was thinking this, there was a knock on his door.

n

"Miss Uehara?

"

nThe pigtailed beauty pouted upon hearing this.

n

"…Mika?

"

nShe finally showed a smile of satisfaction.

n

"For you!

" She handed him the lunchbox that was in her hand.

n

"Oh, but this…

"

n

"She… she already got used to making them, so she made one extra out of habit… that’s what mom said this morning!

" Mika looked away from him and showed a hint of shyness,

"so there’s breakfast for you today as well, and in the future… well, we’ll probably make breakfast for you occasionally.

"

n

"Thank you so much, but wouldn’t this be too much trouble…

"

n

"It’s no trouble at all; it’s just food for one extra person. In… in exchange, if there’s some work that requires physical strength around our house, you need to come help out!

" She looked back directly into his eyes.

nSeiji was surprised for an instant, before a gentle smile suffused across his lips.

n

"Thanks… I will.

"

nHis smile was breaking the rules with how dazzling it was, ahh! Mika felt like her face was burning up again.

nAfter talking to her mom last night and confirming her feelings, she felt as if she was no longer able to look at Seiji normally anymore. Every time she did, she felt nervous inside, and her heartbeat seemed to increase severalfold!

nJust hearing his voice and seeing him smile would make her cheeks heat up.

nAhhhhh—she couldn’t take this anymore!

n

"I… I’m going to school!

" She turned around and scurried off, leaving Seiji with the impression of her back and those twin pigtails swaying in the air.

n

"Be careful!

" Seiji was slightly concerned she would trip.

nThen, he returned back to his room to enjoy his breakfast.

nWhen he opened the lunchbox, Seiji paused; he had noticed that the food inside was evidently different from before as every dish seemed to have been made by someone inexperienced.

nHe realized instantly that the previous breakfasts must have been made by the landlord, and this one must have been cooked personally by Mika Uehara!

nHe could envision that pigtailed girl waking up at the crack of dawn and clumsily cooking under the instruction of her mother.

nThe eggs were slightly burnt, the squid was twisted into a strange shape, and this cucumber… just how did she cut it into something that looked like it was an ingredient for dark magic?

nSeiji sighed deeply.

nHe didn’t have the ability to eat this type of breakfast calmly.

nMika Uehara was walking down the sunny street.

n‘He’s probably eating his breakfast now… I wonder what he’s thinking.’ Her heart kept pounding as she thought this.

n

"Ahh—Mom… she forced me to cook for him personally, but this will be exposed instantly… it’s so embarrassing!

" She touched her own cheek and found that it was burning.

n

"I… I admit, I do like him a little, but this is so… direct. Urgh, it’s all mom’s fault!

"

nNozomi Uehara sneezed as she washed dishes at home.

nNo matter how embarrassed Mika was, she had already made the breakfast, so there was nothing she could do.

n‘I hope that he’ll like it…’

nThis was the first time in her life that she made food for a boy, humph…

nAs she was lost in her thoughts, a figure suddenly darted out from a nearby alley.

nThe figure had filthy clothes, messy dyed-blonde hair, and bloodshot eyes.

n

"It was all because of you, you **ing bitch!

" Blondie was viciously glaring at the girl in front of him; he felt like he had fallen down into hell because of his family going bankrupt, and he had lost all sense of reason.

nAll because of this **** in front of him, he had lost everything!

nHe was going to take revenge!

nHe was going to ** this bitch up!

nHe was going f*cking to kill her!

nMika Uehara was terrified by the malevolent aura emitted by blondie, and her mind was frozen with fear; however, before long, she instinctively turned around and shouted for help.

n

"Help! Someone save me—

"

n

"Don’t run, you **ing bitch!

"

nWhile cursing, blondie brought out a glimmering dagger and chased after her.

nHe was very fast and managed to catch up to her swiftly.

nMika Uehara despaired upon feeling the blondie behind her catching up, but then a familiar figure abruptly appeared in front of her.

n

"Haruta-kun… Seiji!

"

nSeiji, who was crossing the street, opened his eyes wide in astonishment at this scene, before immediately rushing over.

n

"Mika!

"

nHe had to get there in time!

nBut it was too late.

nBlondie reached Mika just a few steps before Seiji did, and he viciously stabbed his dagger into her back.

n*Splurt!* Bright red blood gushed out incessantly.

nMika’s expression froze at this instant, while Seiji felt an icy feeling from the depths of his heart, followed by absolute rage.

n

"Bastard!

" He roared and kicked the blondie with manic fury.

n*Smack!*

nBlondie was toppled over, and he dropped his dagger.

nBut it was too late.

nSeiji caught Mika, who was collapsing, and saw her blood spreading quickly on her back.

nIn his arms, she blinked and looked at his face.

nAhh! Her body felt unnaturally cold.

nMika Uehara felt like she saw many things, and then nothing at all, and the last thing she saw was the anxious, worried face of a young man.

nHe went to all that trouble to become handsome; why was his expression so negative?

nShe wanted to smile at him, but she wasn’t able to, and something wet dripped out of the corners of her eyes.

nThe boy’s face was twisted; all his features were distorted and filled with endless self-regret and pain.

nIt’s not your fault… don’t have such an expression, Haruta-kun… no, Seiji.

nThank you for coming to save me.

nShe opened then closed her mouth, trying her best to say the words she wanted to express the most.

n

"Was breakfast… good?

"

nThen she saw nothing but darkness.

n

"Ahhhhhhh! Damn it!!

"

nSeiji hugged the bloody girl and began roaring uncontrollably.

nIt was only by a few steps—not even five seconds!

nThis incident which should have been over already instead led to this terrible ending!

nReality was definitely the worst game there was!

nHowever…

nLuckily, he still had save files.

nLoad!!

nThe world around became dark, before lighting up once more.

nSeiji was in his room, sitting on the bed.

nIt was earlier this morning, when he had just woken up.

nIn case of emergencies, Seiji would save a new file whenever he woke up.

nThis time he definitely wouldn’t allow the tragedy to repeat itself!

nHe didn’t go for his usual morning jog; instead, he waited silently in his room.

nAt the same time that he remembered, there was a knock on his door.

nWhen he went to open it, he saw a girl carrying a lunchbox for him.

nThere was no dagger, no blood, and she was still safe.

n

"Haruta-kun… your eyes are a bit red—is there anything wrong?

" Mika Uehara was concerned about him.

n

"Nothing, just some dust in my eye.

" Seiji smiled and blinked,

"what about you—do you have something on your mind?

"

n...

nOn her way to school, Mika couldn’t help sneaking glances at the boy beside her.

nShe wanted to go to school after giving him breakfast, but after receiving it from her, he adamantly insisted on keeping his promise to continue escorting her to school.

nShe couldn’t convince him otherwise, so that was how it ended up.

nWas his insistence on escorting her after receiving breakfast a roundabout way of telling her he didn’t want to be in her debt? Thinking this, Mika felt slightly disappointed.

nSuddenly, a figure dashed out in front of her.

nHe had filthy clothes, messy dyed-blonde hair, and bloodshot eyes.

n

"It was all because of you, you **ing bitch!

"

nMika Uehara was terrified by the malevolent aura emitted by blondie, and her mind was frozen with fear, but instantly, a huge shadow protected her from the front.

nIt was Seiji Haruta.

nHe stood firmly in front of her, just like a thick wall.

nHe was waiting for this bastard.

n

"Mika, stand back and call the police.

" He whispered to the girl.

"Leave this guy to me. I will protect you.

"

nHe remembered the sight of her soaked in blood and silently vowed that he would never allow time to repeat itself!

n

"Get the hell out of my way!

" Blondie roared madly as he lunged at Seiji with his glimmering dagger.

nSeiji fearlessly countered his attack, using both hands to grasp firmly onto blondie’s wrist which was holding the dagger, as his right foot aimed for blondie’s crotch and kicked out with devastating force!

n*BAM!* As they collided, there was the sound of something breaking.

nBlondie’s crazed expression had abruptly frozen.

nThen he screamed as if he was dying.

nI’ll never tell you that you succeeded the first time, so I had to load once.

nI’ll never tell you that in order to defeat you without getting injured, I had to load twice.

nI’ll never tell you that in order to take advantage of this perfect chance of claiming self-defense and crippling you for life, thus leaving you functionless down there forever, I had to load three times.

nI came back to this scene a total of six times!

nSeiji viciously knocked over blondie as he was shrieking madly and making inhuman sounds!

nMika Uehara watched all this with her mouth wide agape.

nShe was unable to comprehend how this boy, who was just a weak otaku not long ago, was able to fearlessly block someone so malicious.

nAnd there was no way for her to understand why his movements were so accurate as he defeated blondie.

nThe only thing she could see was his thick shadow, and his words rung incessantly in her ears.

n

"Stay back, Mika. I will protect you.

"

nSomething hot flowed out from her heart, burning her chest, scorching her entire body, and almost causing her to shout out loud.

nShe shouldn’t be like this; she should be calmly observing the situation and worrying if he was injured or not.

nBut she could only stay where she was right now and feel the impact of blissful fortune upon her.

nHer legs were shaking, and something hot was oozing out of the corner of her eye.

nAhh!! She couldn’t deny it any longer.

nAt this very moment, Mika Uehara was utterly certain that she had completely fallen in love with this boy named Seiji Haruta.

n...

nAfter that, everything progressed as expected.

nThe street-side surveillance cameras recorded everything. Blondie was the one who was intended to harm someone, and Seiji only acted in pure self-defense.

nIn that sort of situation, for a boy who wasn’t knowledgeable in martial arts, accidentally giving the attacker such a permanent injury was understandable.

nIn fact, for him to be able to calmly and accurately stop the crime was incredible already.

nAnd so, Seiji Haruta was judged to have committed no crime; not even his guardian was required for him to leave the police station. Blondie, however, had been charged with attempted murder.

nAnd with this, the incident had finally come to a conclusion.

n...…

nIt was a brand new day.

nMika Uehara held a lunchbox and was about to knock on the door.

nBut she hesitated, putting the lunchbox down and taking out a hand mirror to check her appearance once more.

nIf her mother could see her, she would definitely smile wryly and say:

"This child, you already checked your appearance several times before going out today.

"

nOkay, perfect.

nShe touched her chest and attempted to subdue her frantic heartbeat, before raising her hand to knock on the door.

nAt that moment, the door suddenly opened.

n

"I felt like you might have been standing outside.

" He smiled at the girl who was now frozen solid.

n

"A… argh! Don’t scare me like that!

"

n

"Haha, sorry.

" Seiji took a good look at her face and felt a sense of relief in his heart.

"Good morning, Mika.

"

nShe had a faint red tinge on her cheeks as she looked at him, and she somehow felt as if he was feeling the same way. A brilliant, alluring smile of peerless beauty gradually suffused across her face.

n

"Mm… good morning!

"

nThe girl who was smiling radiantly in the early morning sunlight seemed as if she could brighten the entire world.

n