Still... he looked exhausted.
I noticed him the moment he walked into the outskirts.
A dirty kid dressed in torn clothes wasn't exactly unusual around here. But what really caught my attention was his bag. My mum had one just like it. She treated it wonderfully and would always get annoyed whenever I touched it.
'I think it was called... Balenciaga?'
Eventually, he sat down right beside me in the alley without me even realising it.
I wanted to ask him about the bag. Maybe he knew something about my mum.
If only he looked a little less scary.
And he ignored me as well, staring at the wall in front of us without saying a word.
I was afraid to talk to him.
'No... I can't stay like this forever.'
'Always scared. Always worried.'
I reassured myself with those thoughts.
'That's right. From now on, I need to have the courage to at least talk to other people.'
Then suddenly, he opened the bag beside him.
And started throwing rocks out of it.
One by one.
Clunk.
Clunk.
Clunk.
I've missed my chance to ask.
No, wait.
Even worse was where he was throwing them.
The rocks were huge, and they landed right on top of my bed. Well, I call it a bed, but really, it was just a piece of cardboard laid out on the ground.
He was throwing them onto the other side of the alley where I slept. So I could understand if he didn't recognise it as a bed and accidentally tossed them there without realising.
But still...
'No, it's okay.'
The other kids talked to strangers all the time.
Well... not strangers, but mostly each other.
Still, talking couldn't be that difficult.
'I just have to ask him.'
My hands were already sweating. Not that it really mattered. They were dirty most of the time anyway.
No, no... focus.
'It'll be over once I ask.'
Besides, he probably wouldn't even remember our soon-to-be conversation, so it's fine.
People rarely did.
'I just have to talk to him... he'll understand.'
And honestly, anything that could happen would still be better than spending the rest of the night wondering about that bag.
"Uh... hello?"
There was no response.
Maybe he didn't hear me.
I tried again.
"E-excuse me."
What if he's actually angry? And what I'm doing is poking the bear right now.
The last time I accidentally annoyed someone, they threw my dinner into a puddle.
I still ended up eating it anyway.
"..."
No.
This was different.
He looked strange, but he hadn't actually done anything bad.
Well...
Other than throwing rocks onto my bed.
But that was probably an accident.
Probably.
I glanced towards the bag again.
It was gone, nowhere to be seen. No, I could've sworn he was just holding it.
D-did he throw it away?
N-no, no, that was my only chance.
"Hey, you!"
"WHAT?!"
I blurted it out without realising, and the response I got was instant.
"Can't you see I'm trying to plan my very elaborate and clever strategy right now?"
Ah...
Now I've done it.
I just wanted to ask about that bag, but now look what's happened.
That stupid bag.
No, I only have myself to blame here.
He's staring at me right now... making weird faces like he's talking to himself.
This guy is actually mental, is he asking himself how he should beat me up?
This is what I get for trying to get ahead of myself.
'Please... please, just make it quick.'
I wanted to cry at this moment. No, maybe I was already crying. But his next words truly made me realise I was done for.
"Wassuuuuup."
***
"Wassuuuuup."
The child looked even more frightened somehow.
'Did I get the tone wrong? Lemme try another one.'
"Sup, bro."
"Y-you're insane."
'Alright, why everyone gotta be so rude?'
Naoki scratched the back of his head. He wasn't used to apologizing much, well... apologizing to people you can consider "below" him in a lot of cases. Because of that, he didn't really know what to do right now.
Usually, if he messed something up, he'll just keep repeating himself like:
"Sorry, I'm sorry. I won't do it again, sorry."
Over and over and over again, until the other person either got tired of reacting or just walked away.
That usually worked.
But this time... it didn't feel like that would help.
The kid wasn't angry in a normal way, actually he wasn't angry at all. He looked as if Naoki was one wrong word away from either making the kid bawl his eyes out or faint.
'Yeah... that's not gonna work here.'
He let out a small sigh.
"I'll just... leave you alone for now. Until you calm down a bit."
With that, he turned around. It wasn't exactly "leaving," but with the limited space of the alley he didn't really have anywhere else to go. So for now, turning around was the closest thing to giving the kid space.
'No, I just didn't want to stand up.'
"..."
'There's going to be a long and awkward silence huh.'
Naoki thought so, until he heard the child call out to him from behind.
"Hey!"
"Oh, that was fas-"
He turned around, excitedly, not expecting the child to calm down within such a short period of time.
But what met him wasn't the calm and collected face of a kid.
No.
Instead, it was a steel rusted pipe.
Already in front of his face.
Twack
It hit him. Hit his palm at least.
Thankfully, Naoki managed to swerve his head to the side and put his hand just above his shoulder fast enough to catch the rusted pipe in its momentum.
"Should've never have yelled hey like that."
The kid looked shocked. He probably didn't expect a bruised up, dirty, smelly child to move that fast.
'Hey, too much.'
Naoki used this moment to swing the pipe from side to side, making the kid's hand let go of it. It was a simple thing to do since he had a much stronger grip on it.
'Like taking fent from a child.'
Ignoring his strange use of idioms, Naoki tends to be underestimated for his lack of proper knowledge, small physique, and doll-like face. Often times when he doesn't show his strength, he might get regarded as stupid or weak.
But maybe except for the first ones, these are all contrary to reality.
Naoki can actually be considered stronger, even faster than Saitou. Especially his recovery, it was never to be underestimated.
He still couldn't be considered greater since those accounts for brain power as well.
And he doesn't really have any feats to show his greater strength.
Well... except for that one time he beat him in a race.
'And that's enough to show how great I am.'
"I-I'll do anything you want. So p-please."
"Woah, woah, I'm not mugging you or anything so calm down."
"Hrngk, whaaaaaaaaaaaa!"
'Alright, now he's actually bawling his eyes out.'
Naoki threw away the rusted pipe to the side. He then raised both his arms, palms facing forward, before trying again to calm the kid down.
"Calm down, let's take a deep breath together. One, two, three, and..."
He took a deep breath in, but the child didn't follow.
Sniff, sniff
"I just w-wanted to know where mum is."
'Oh god, is he going to trauma dump? Not saying that's a bad thing. But right now, I have better things to do unfortunately. Plus, it isn't my responsibility to look after a child.'
That's right, it's the parent's responsibility.
'... He doesn't have parents like that huh.'
"Look, I'm sure that's very... traumatic and all. But how about we-"
The kid dropped down to the floor, as if he no longer had the energy to stand up.
"I-I just want to go back home! I don't want to be here anymore, I don't, I don't! Whaaaaa-"
"Hey now-"
"I want to sleep in an actual bed! Not some damp piece of cardboard! But now I can't even do just that because those stupid rocks are in the way!"
'Ah... maybe I do actually have some responsibility to take care of regarding that.'
"Stupid rocks!"
"Stupid rocks!"
"Stupid rocks!"
***
A few moments later.
Naoki was wondering how exactly he ended up in this situation.
He remembered starting off confident. Even daring to try a new ice cream flavor, stepping out of his comfort zone to face the dangers of mint chocolate.
And his planning was great too. Yeah, it depended a lot on the chance of him getting kidnapped at the start. But it was still a... semi good plan if you looked past that part.
So how did it end up like this?
Naoki was kneeling down, leaning on the side of a wall and facing forward.
Meanwhile, the child was...
The child's head lay resting on his legs.
But not in a grotesque cool evil warrior kind of way.
The child was sleeping soundly while using his lap as a pillow.
Naoki sighed, it was a really, really long sigh.
"Damn... I can't feel my legs."