I had two options available to me

• Ignore the situation
• At least try to help

Among these two, the former was easier. Much easier, I would just have to add one more injustice onto the already built up pile. Another crime like this must be happening not so far from me, though I didn't witness it, I do know it's happening. I ignore those and don't let them muddle my conscious.

I just had to do the same with this one. 

I wouldn't end up getting hurt, physically that is.

But is it the right choice?

One could say no.

Do I care about what some stranger would think of this?

No.

So, do I have any reason to pick the latter option?

YES

Thinking of Candy-chan's disappointed face filled me with dread. Candy-chan would have picked the path of justice, I can't disappoint her. Hence the road became clear, I decided to help the girl.

I can't quite hear what they are talking about, the two have blocked the girl's mouth with their hand and are whispering something into her ears.

The girl looks scared, her legs seem to be shaking. So, the first hurdle is clear, I don't misunderstand what's happening.

Now, to come up with a plan. I with complete lack of any physical attribute would most likely get her ass beaten by these two boys. 

I see a metal pipe before me.

It's rusty. A single hit to the head with this.......

I didn't want to imagine. It's an effective weapon but the question is...can I even land a hit with it?

I sneak up to them and quickly land a hit on one guy and next then immediately go the other one. The day's saved.

But that's better said than done. 

In the first place, how do I even sneak up to them? It's a quiet alley, won't they hear me? am I just overthinking stuff? Should I just go and do it?

My thoughts went into a spiral, the girl's legs started shaking more, a few tears started rolling down her eyes, I needed to think quickly. I needed to be fast. 

Being full of doubts, I abandoned the plan and instead decided to use some other method. This method had proven to be successful multiple times...or at least that's what they say in the movies and anime.

The fake police siren.

I took out my phone and searched for police siren sound on the internet.

The result came and I opened the video.

but no sound came. 

If it did play, then I think I would be in a huge pickle right now.

Thank god, my phone sound was off. I have never felt so grateful in my life and...

never felt so much hate for someone.

It was an ad

It was a food delivery service ad, with no skip option. The 10-second ad.

Why was there an ad playing before a police siren video? I couldn't comprehend the reasoning.

The tears were now very much apparent on the girl's cheek. I don't know what those two were whispering into her ears, but it didn't look to be anything good.

Finally, the ad finished. I paused the video and increased my media volume.

It was time.

The video was played.

"WAAAHHHH WEE-OWWW WEE-OWW WAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

fuck, that's loud and annoying!

Now, they would panic and try to flee away. While turning around the corner, they would see and BAM! I can hit them with the pipe at the same time. 

It's an excellent plan.

That failed.

For some reason, the two boys were not panicking. They did stop whispering into the girl's ear and removed their hand from her mouth, but they were just standing still and sighing. 

The girl also looked a bit shaken.

Where was the panic? Why aren't they fleeing? Did my plan fail?

Yes, it did.

But how? I didn't understand. Did they somehow know that the sound was fake? but that's not possible, it sounded so real.

But that's the only reasoning I could come up with. 

Somehow, they knew it was a fake sound.

again, how?

Panic started rising. The rod I was holding in hands started becoming slippery. It would fall from my hands at any moment.

I needed to flee, they still haven't seen my face. I needed to leave, I tried.

I failed again.

I couldn't flee, my feet weren't listening to me. My body wasn't listening to me. It was frozen. Is this fear?

It's the first time I had experienced it. This feeling, the irregular breathing, it's genuine fear. 

"You! whoever is behind the corner! show yourself!"

I was called. 

So this is what people feel when the devil passes his judgement upon the sinful ones as they pass through the gates of hell.

It was not a good feeling.

Run, run, run, RUN!

No matter how much my brain screamed, the body didn't listen.

Wait....why am I thinking of fleeing?

why am I thinking of running away?

Didn't I say Candy-chan would never flee?

Would Candy-chan give into the situation? Would she admit defeat so easily? 

Absolutely not!

Now I was ready to take on my enemy

Or so I thought.

My body still didn't move.

At that moment I figured something out.

My cowardice was bigger than my love for Candy-chan.

I learned that the girl named Stacy Ainsworth, in other words, I, is a coward.

It wasn't a pleasant revelation. I wasn't happy discovering this fact. Though I was quite intrigued.

It seems like I only talk big.

I learned an important lesson in life.

One can talk big, in fact, one can talk way too big, but it doesn't matter if none of it can be put into action.

"There's no need to keep silent! We know you are there! So come out already!"

"If you don't show yourself, then I myself will come to you. Trust me, you don't want that"

"uuuuu, you better listen to his words! Brother is a serious person!"

My time's over.

It seems like they are brothers. Well, isn't that fucking cute.

Also, from the way they are talking......I think these two are from my class. This brother duo was in my section the previous standard, though don't know about the current one.

My brain gave out one last cry, yelling at me to run away. I also wanted to.

again, my body didn't. 

not because of something honourable or good.

It stood still simply because of my cowardice

A small sigh escaped my mouth. It looked so easy when the hero of anime and manga did stuff like this. I even talked shit about them if they didn't do it the right way, always thinking if 'I was in that situation'

and now that I am in that situation, I can't even move my body.

Quite pathetic one could say.

though I surprised that the rod didn't slip away from my hands. I was sure it would.

Taking in a huge breath, I closed my eyes and in what felt like forever, moved forward. 

Again, not because of heroism, but because of fear. Fear of what would happen if I don't listen to them.

My body now moved according to their will.

I felt like I was witnessing all of this in the third person. I could see my body moving forward irrespective of my will, listen to some stranger words instead.

My body didn't feel like my own.

My body stepped around the corner and there they were.

The two boys or brothers were really from my previous class. Still looking cheeky and high of themselves as always. Girls loved that about them.

I who was taken by Candy-chan failed to comprehend it. 

The girl's face also became clear. 

She was beautiful....no, that word doesn't do justice to her beauty. 

Her beauty was something that could not be described with words. Labelling her like that felt almost criminal and an insult to her.

Even tears looked exotic on that face. 

wait....that...sounds wrong....anyway! she was just uff! wow!

A peculiar thought came to my mind.

I wouldn't mind going full yuri if this girl was involved

My mind didn't even think of that shoujo-ai bullshit a.k.a bait yuri. It went straight to yuri.

Again, I was intrigued.

I discovered or learned quite a few things about myself in just these past 4 minutes. 

"H-hello"

were the words that came out of my mouth.

The two looked at my smiling face, then at the rusty rod I was holding, then back to my face.

"Well, well, welllll....if it isn't Miss Degenerate"

Ouchie

"Jeremiah, call people by their proper names. This isn't how a gentleman talks, I'm so sorry for his rudeness Miss Stacy"

"hmpf, whatever"

...see? cute aren't they? I can see why they are popular among girls. I think the word that fits them is Ikemen.

In front of me, I have a cold but gentlemanly? Loius and his brother of the same age, a brocon named Jeremiah. Though I don't have any proof, but I suspect that he's, you know, kinda overly-clingy with his brother. 

Though I dare not say it out loud, his fans would tear me to shreds.

"So, Miss Stacy, what are you doing here?"

I wonder that myself....oh yeah, I came to save this girl...who for some reason isn't speaking a single word and is just shocked looking at me.

Wait, what? I didn't even do anything? Why is she so shocked looking at me? 

Surprised would make sense...but why shocked?

"I-I...head som-someone calling for help so..."

"I see, that's quite brave of you Miss Stacy. But I think there's a fundamental misunderstanding here"

"Wh-what?"

No there isn't! She was clearly shaking and crying.

"Oi! did you call for help?!" 

"Hiihhh! N-no..."

"See? You simply misheard Miss Stacy"

well, no surprise there. Even I would deny if that brocon gave me that scary look.

I guess we both are cowards.

Feels nice, I'm not the only one.

It seems like unparalleled looks don't mean the person is also brave.

though I do have a question

"Is Miss Stacy wondering why didn't your Police siren work?"

....what the fuck?!....I see, so he also has the smarts.

"Y-yes"

"It's simple, we weren't doing anything wrong, so there was no need for us to be afraid. Only people who do bad stuff should be scared of the police, isn't that right, Miss Stacy?"

not doing anything wrong my ass!

"o-of course"

but the words that escaped my lips were those of a meek person.

"Brother! this girl thought we were doing something bad! she deserves to be punished!"

wo wo wo, calm down there little buddy.

"Jeremiah, everyone makes mistakes. It's a gentleman's duty to look past that. Miss Stacy had good intentions and that's what counts. Now we should be going, it's almost time"

"huh?! but! ugh! whatever, hey you! be grateful that brother is so magnanimous!"

"Th-thank you..."

hmm, I'm surprised how much of pushover someone can become so easily. Hahhh, I never thought I would say this but

I'm quite embarrassed of myself right now, like that's a new low for me.

"Miss Stacy, you should drop that rod. Something like that doesn't fit your hands"

*clank!*

I dropped it, well he said it nicely. Almost made my heart flutter and face blush with how nicely he said it.

The two brothers passed by me, their eyes didn't look my way, to them I was nothing but garbage, do you look at the garbage while walking?

No.

Damn, I experienced and again realized quite a few things in these past few minutes.

I wonder what would have happened if I instead chose to ignore this at the start.

The two left.

Only me and the girl were left in the dead-end alley.

Well, this is awkward, the hero that was supposed to save her ended up getting...well...destroyed.  

"th-thank you.." the girl spoke, her voice shaky

"Well...I didn't do anything" like literally I didn't do anything, not even joking

"Also...sorry, I-I Didn't mean to.."

ah, she's talking about the help thingy.

"haahhh, I don't have the right to be mad at you for the same crime. Though I would be If I actually did do something"

"..."

"..."

awkward.

How do you have a conversation? Ah yes! name, ask her name

"What's your name? I don't believe I have seen you in school before"

"ah, sorry for my rudeness. M-my name is Alexia Raven"

uuuu, Raven, that's a...unique surname, especially in this day and age. Sounds medieval.

"Mine is Stacy Ainsworth, should we walk to school?"

Though we would most likely reach a few minutes late, but still, better than doing a bunk. Also, it's the first day

"Y-yes, it would my pleasure"

wuuuoww, she speaks like some rich lady and in quite a refined manner.

I will say this again

I wouldn't mind going les for this girl.

But what I wouldn't mind or want doesn't mean it will happen in reality. I learned that clearly during this incident

The girl picked up her bag and I started to turn around.

"Sleep"

"huh?"

suddenly, my vision became blurry. 

What happened?

I turned my head around.

The eternal beauty was smiling.

The traces of tears were nowhere to be seen.

I see

I realized

I was hit in the head by this girl. But why? also, how?

I couldn't see the silhouette of any weapon held by her hands.

How did she do it?

Why did she do it?

Why was she smiling?

Why does she seem amused?

Why is she laughing?

I don't know

is she laughing at me?

her laugh feels comforting

I just wanna rest for a few minutes.

I feel tired.

"Hahahahaha! I wonder how should I play with her! What power should I give her? Heheheh, looks like life's going be interesting in this town"

what is she saying?

I don't understand.

power? play?

ugh! my..head!...it hurts!...agh!...wh-what is this?....

what...have...I..gotten...myself..into...

I .... feel...

....

..

.