As soon the man that was on the ground, which presented himself as Kevin Blitzrock a few moments ago, grabbed and held Rito's hand, the black-haired guy carefully but firmly pulled Kevin's arm to help him get up of the ground. He just hoped that the poor man didn't break anything as it looked that he had quite a fall, but at least he managed to save himself of been squashed like a bug by a truck.
Once Kevin was finally on his feet, Rito let go a sigh of relief when it turned out he was okay. Still, his butt must be all bruised and he's probably going to feel a sudden wave of pain in the morning. It's always like that, so the only thing Rito could do for him right now is to pray and feel sorry for him.
"A-Ah, you're welcome, Blitzrock, san," Rito replied with a faint smile once Kevin thanked him for his help with a pat on his shoulder. Now that he took a closer look at him, he somehow looks kind of familiar. Even his voice. Maybe he has seen him in his school or somewhere else? As he thought deeply about it, Rito was pulled back to reality when Kumiko spoke to him. Blinking with surprise, Rito slowly moved his head while turning his body to completely face her, a faint pink shade already covering his cheeks. By this point, he just can't resist the urge of feeling excited every time Kumiko is near him or when she speaks to him.
However, even when he tried to say something, he felt as if his words got stuck in his throat. It was really weird. He usually could interact with her, still with the faint blush, but could properly make a conversation with her. Maybe this time it was kind of hard for him as they weren't alone this time?
"For the love of God, Rito, tell her something!" he thought with a panicked voice, finding himself just staring at Kumiko with a dumb smile. "Say something or else you will look like a stupid creep staring at her. She can even think you're looking at her breasts like a pervert! JUST. SAY. SOMETHING."
Swallowing hard and sweating nervously, Rito took a deep breath before opening his mouth.
"Ah... Hanabusa-chan... You look really pretty tonight."
It took him a few seconds to realize what he just said. Then, a deep shade of red covered his whole face, and the poor Rito just wished for somebody to just bury him alive a thousand feet under a freaking grave. This was it for him. He was so nervous that the poor guy couldn't think straight and said the first thing that came to his mind. Too bad this wasn't the right moment to throw in compliments, .especially when there's a person right next to him. This was a total trainwreck for the poor guy.
"I-I-I'm sorry, I d-d-didn't mean to say that! W-Well, you're pretty, but I..."
It was useless. Rito tried his best to save himself from such an embarrassing and awkward moment, but the only thing he was doing was burying himself deeper into this whole mess. Honestly, the only thing he wanted to do was to just turn around and run the hell out of the park while screaming and cursing to his bad luck. That wasn't an option, though. That actually will make this whole situation worse. Ugh, somebody needs to save him already!
And just like that, Kevin finally mentioned the weird dream about the girl named Sonia, which caught Kumiko's complete attention. A deep sigh of relief escaped Rito's mouth, and he slowly turned his head to look at Kevin with happy tears in his eyes as if he was staring at his savior angel that came down from the skies with the merciful mission of saving his ass from his awkwardness. He was glad to know that God didn't hate him completely.
So, Rito wasn't the only person that had that weird dream about a white-haired girl that presented herself as Sonia, that, by the way, she actually interrupted his dream about living in a world with cute dogs where he was the only human, so he could pet them pretty much all the time. It was a fantastic dream and there was no way he can dream about it again. He can blame Sonia for that tragedy, but then again, she was just a girl in a dream, which probably means she wasn't real. Right? Or that what Rito thought.
After a few more minutes, more people began to arrive at the park, one of them being a girl wearing some cute pajamas and a pair of sneakers. Rito secretly scoffed, trying his best not to laugh at the poor girl that seemed that came running from her place all the way to here. Honestly, though, she looked super cute and adorable.
Everyone was here for one reason: the weird dream about this Sonia and her plea for them to see her at this park. She was nowhere to be seen, though. Literally no sign of the beautiful and almost magical snow-white hair she had. Who was this mysterious girl dressed in such weird attire? Rito had no idea.
When Kumiko finished speaking, Rito noticed the sound of leaves brushing against each other behind and above him. Curious and kind of concerned, he turned around to look at what was going on, and his eyes widened completely when he caught the glimpse of a silhouette that leaped from tree to tree above him, like if trying to escape from something. With a graceful big leap, it landed on the ground and turned around to face them.
In awe, Rito quickly turned around the mysterious presence, and his jaw almost fell off his mouth when he noticed a distinctive white hair brushing graceful against the wind. She was her! She definitely was Sonia, the girl he dreamed about! And more important: she was definitely real! Something was wrong with her, though. She appears to be... Crying?
Blinking with clear confusion, Rito rubbed the back of his head, trying to figure out what was going on. Did he do something that made this poor girl cry? She just arrived here, and now something or somebody made her cry. Oh, crap, now she was on the ground on her knees. Yikes! She was definitely a wreck. The whole scene just made Rito's heart sink with depression. She reminded him all those times his sister cried, so he had to console her. Luckily, he knew what made her feel better, and there's was nothing more satisfying for a big brother than hearing his little sister calling him Oni-chan with a big smile.
However, this case was different. Sonia definitely wasn't his sister and there was no way he could go to her and hug her. That will definitely look wrong in the eyes of everybody. And Kumiko will definitely think he's just a weird creep trying to harass a poor girl. And that's a big no-no for Rito!
"Um, look, um... Sonia, right?" said Rito after a sigh, turning his head to look at her and doing an effort to calm her down so she can stop crying. "We are here, right? It's true that some people are missing, but I'm pretty sure you can just work out something about-"
Rito was quickly interrupted by the appearance of a young boy that looked suspiciously dangerous. There was literally a weird dark aura around him and he was heading at full speed toward them. By pure instinct, Rito quickly moved in front of Kumiko with a protective stance, staring with a frown at the boy in front of him.
"Oi, oi... What the hell is wrong with this kid?" he asked with a serious tone, holding back his fear. His heart was beating fast and he was already feeling some cool sweat on his back. Something bad was definitely about to happen. If only he stood in his goddamn apartment he would be in this situation.
While Sonia began to talk and explain some none-sense Rito couldn't understand, he widened his eyes with a shock expression when he heard Sonia commanding Kumiko and him to hold hands. What in the world she was thinking!? Blushing deeply, Rito swallowed hard and quickly turned his head to look at Sonia, sweating nervously.
"Yo, what the hell!? What makes you think Kumiko will hold my hand, you little pervert!?" said Rito, totally panicking. "W-We're not even that close to that. We barely speak to each other, and we don't even use our first names. This is some Japanese Social Interaction 101, you know? Aren't you supposed to be from this country? We're not going to-"
Once again, Rito was interrupted by the weird young boy, but this time, the boy transformed into a monstrous scary eagle. With a screech, it began to attack Sonia, but the girl managed to hold her ground. However, that thing was huge, so Rito knew she won't hold any longer. She definitely needs some goddamn help. but none in the group were harmed or prepare to face such a creature taken out from somebody's nightmare!
Breathing deeply and with his heart beating fast, Rito quickly turned around to face Kumiko, and without thinking it twice, he moved his right hand toward hers and gently took it, feeling his cheeks already blushing a deep red.
"Goddamit, this Sonia better be telling the truth or else I'm good as dead!"
Felix was hanging on top of Sonia's right shoulder this whole time on his white Nine-Tailed fox form. He was dead worried for her when they found out some people controlled by Hate were chasing them, almost catching their tracks, but he also knew that Sonia was really good in getting them lost. So, for now, all he did was to just hold on tight on her shoulder with is cute little paws and hope for the best, brushing his furry face against hers once in a while to console her as he knew how nervous and scared Sonia was. Luckily for him, he was really really good at always making her feel better.
When Sonia reached her destination and found the teenagers she contacted via a dream, Felix sighed with relief. They finally will have some extra help to fight back Hate! However, the team group was sadly incomplete, and apparently, for Sonia, that was a problem. Yes, it could be fixed later, but right now, they really needed the whole Dream Team.
When Sonia fell on her knees to cry, Felix leaped off her shoulder and stood on her side, looking up at her with a concerned expression. He really hated it when she cried. It was as if his heart was been stabbed a thousand times without mercy.
"Sonia-sama, please, stop crying," he told her telepathically, standing on his hind legs and laying his front paws on her lap. "Everything is going to be alright, okay? We still have some time to be complete the team later. Let's not get upset and lose hope yet, okay? For now, let's work with-"
Felix was interrupted by the arrival of the young boy controlled by Hate. He found them! And now, he was heading towards the whole group with an angry expression. By pure instinct, Felix quickly leaped in front of Sonia and stood on his four legs in a defensive stance, growling at the boy.
"I swear for the cosmos I'm going to rip you to pieces if you dare to lay a hand on my Master, Hate!"
Suddenly, the boy transformed into a horrendous and huge eagle that flew to the skies, screeching evilly. A drop of sweat appeared above his head as he stared at the creature, obviously realizing that fighting a flying enemy would be really hard.
As expected, the eagle attacked Sonia in an effort to hurt her, but she managed to counter it with a zapping bolt from her magical staff that fended the creature off, screeching. Growling angrily, Felix barked he internally said some curse words it's better to write here.
A few moments later, the monstrous eagle began to head back towards Sonia at full speed, its sharp talons exposed and really to kill. Realizing Sonia won't be able to react in time, Feliz quickly transformed back into his true human self.
"Oh, hell no, you won't hurt Sonia-sama!" he shouted out loud, standing in front of Sonia. Then, he raised his arms and joined them into an "X", triggering a magical shield in front of him that blocked the eagle's mortal attack, which flew by with another frustrated screech.
"For the love of the Cosmos, hold hands already and make the pact, people!" Felix said out loud, turning around to face the teenagers with a frown. "We need your help here. I won't forgive none of you if Sonia gets hurt!"
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