Kaede and I ran quietly as we entered the dark alley.

"No! Please don't!"

"Hahaha! There's no use screaming here, little girl! No one will help you here!"

"Hahaha!"

"Kekeke..."

Our steps slowed down as we heard screams and laughter.

I peeked only to see grotesque faces trying to press the girl into a corner, where she was trying her best to escape with a crying face. Her mouth was gagged now to muffle her voice, her arms also restrained, making her unable to move freely. At least, the girl hasn't been touched yet. But no one knows what will happen next if we don't intervene here.

"What are we going to do now, do you have a plan?"

I whispered to Kaede who was behind me. I preferred to lead because for some reason I saw that she had a reckless personality.

"A plan? We don't need a plan."

She answered nonchalantly.

I had a bad feeling hearing her say that so casually. And when I looked back, she had already armed herself with a weapon in her hand, grinning.

"What we need to do is charge forward and defeat them!"

"Ehh?"

And before I realized it, she had run out of her hiding place and started shooting lasers from her weapon as she pulled the trigger.

"Argh!"

"A-Attacker?!"

Her attack hit one of them, but not enough to cause serious injury.

I, still shocked, followed behind and began shooting as well. Photon beams flew from both of my guns and hit the hands or feet of their group. I tried my best to only aim for non-vital parts so that no one would die.

Our surprise attack made the people panic and retreat, though they tried to counterattack.

But, was my vision really this good? My shooting accuracy was very high thanks to it. Besides, I could clearly see where the counterattacks were aimed and dodge them. It felt like time slowed down. Even when Lilian swung her sword and nearly cut my throat, I could still see her movements, but my body couldn't keep up with its speed to dodge.

Maybe it was just my perception.

I thought like that to not disrupt my concentration.

In the darkness of the building's side, a dazzling light shone from both sides like a party lamp.

"R-Retreat!"

And it didn't take long for them to flee. We chose not to chase after them because our intention was just to drive them away. However, 2 bodies lay on the street while some people were paralyzed because they couldn't move due to being shot in the legs. They also had difficulty crawling because their hands were paralyzed from being shot there as well.

The fight ended quickly without using much breath. Is this how things usually happen in this world? I may never live in peace if this is how it is all the time.

Then I approached Kaede to check on her condition. She glanced at me slightly upon hearing the sound of my footsteps.

"Are you okay, Satsuki?"

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine. I just feel like I will vomiting right now."

I replied while trying to hold back the nausea by covering my mouth.

Seeing the body lying with a hole in its burnt torso, accompanied by a pool of blood, was definitely not something I was used to. Understanding my feelings, Kaede just smiled amusedly. There wasn't much change in her expression, as if seeing this was an everyday occurrence.

"My goodness, you are such a naive child. Should I say welcome to this wild world? Luckily, I have an expensive porcelain urn that could serve as your resting place if this happens to be the end of your life."

"Your dark humor will never make me laugh, Senior."

"Ah, have I ever made a joke before?"

She then gazed at me innocently.

"Stop creating a kind-hearted adult character. It's too late for that!"

"Haa, you really have no sense of humor, Satsuki."

"Moreover, you didn't even try to kill your enemies. That's not a wise act for a mercenary like you, you know."

She said with a serious expression.

I could only turn my face away from her. Killing was not something that could be done easily, especially if you were just an ordinary civilian who loved peace. So I only incapacitated them by shooting their legs or arms.

The harsh reality of this world could only make me feel bitter.

"You must have a strong determination if you want to stay on this path, or you might end up getting killed for letting your enemies go."

Kaede's tone and eyes looked very grim as she said that. I wasn't quite sure what had happened in her past to make her like this.

Then she aimed her gun at the remaining people.

"P-Please, don't, I-I won't do it again— Nooooooo!"

The criminals, who could no longer escape, pleaded with terrified faces. But Kaede ignored them coldly and pulled the trigger before I could stop her. Only a look of terror remained on their lifeless bodies now.

"There are many scum like them, Satsuki. They rape women, loot peoples body, and destroy someone's life easily. They are no better than the robbers out there. Even if we hand them over and put them in prison, it won't make them repent and they will become even more brutal in there, raping women in the same cell."

Kaede then looked at me. Her cold gaze slowly turned bright, but she quickly made a bitter expression.

"Being naive is not wrong. But if you continue like this, it will only bring trouble to yourself and your friends."

I-I wasn't sure how to react to her story. I mean, even though she seemed like someone who liked to joke around, tease, and was a bit shameless, it turns out she was actually quite concerned about others. And seeing her like this gave me a little surprise since we had just met.

"I-I see, at least I'll make myself ruthless in front of my enemies."

Kaede pouted and made a melancholic face for a moment before quickly disappearing, and being replaced by her usual expression.

"That's good! Now you're one step closer to getting out of the amateur path."

She exclaimed while giving a thumbs up.

"..."

... I wondered if the story and expression earlier had been fabricated.

I didn't think there was anything wrong with her, but soon I noticed an anomaly in her body. There was a gunshot wound on her left shoulder, and it was still bleeding.

"Senior, you're injured!"

Laser shots had a different effect compared to the regular lead or brass bullets used as projectiles on Earth. Lasers emitted high-energy electromagnetic radiation, usually in the form of invisible light that the human eye couldn't see. In the case of weapon application, the laser light was concentrated and high-frequency, easily penetrating steel. So, being hit with a laser shot in the head would mean instant death with no chance of survival unless you were wearing suitable defense equipment.

"Ah, I failed to evade when I advanced earlier. It's okay, I can heal it quickly at the hospital."

Kaede glanced at her shoulder that was emitting blood, then tore her t-shirt and used it to bandage the wound tightly. Her expression frowned slightly due to the pain she was enduring.

"Well, now it's fine."

"Are you sure that's not painful?"

"I never said it's not painful, idiot. But it's better than continuing to lose blood. Besides, now you keep her."

Kaede then pointed backwards where there was a girl sitting, trembling. She was the person we had saved from these people. She was very fortunate to meet us, because if not, something very terrible might have happened to her.

"Um, wouldn't someone of the same gender be more suitable to approach her now?"

"Look at me, I'm injured. Have you no sympathy for me? Besides, I contributed enough to the firefight."

But you did it of your own volition... I wanted to say that, but perhaps Kaede would add more to her sentence, so I kept quiet.

Without delay, I immediately approached the girl to help and check on her condition.

"Are you okay?"

I asked, reaching out to her.

She looked surprised and shook even more. Perhaps the trauma she had experienced unconsciously made her afraid of me.

"It's okay, I won't hurt you."

I tried to reassure her with a genuine smile. From the looks of it, she seemed still rational, with her golden-orange eyes bright even though she looked worn out and dirty. But there was still an evident sense of anxiety and fear as I observed her.

She seemed hesitant and unsure at first, but she slowly accepted my outstretched hand with hesitation as she stood up.

"T-Thank you for helping me..."

Her voice sounded hoarse, but that couldn't hide the subtle traces of a timid girl.

"There's no need to—"

I was cut off when she suddenly collapsed, and I reflexively held her in my arms.

I panicked at the thought of something bad happening to her.

But Kaede came to my side to check on her, which calmed me down.

"She looks exhausted and faint. This might be because she's been starving for days, she looks skinny."

She said calmly.

"T-then what should we do?"

"Why are you asking me? It's your responsibility to take care of that girl."

She replied irritably.

So this is what she meant by taking responsibility for my actions.

"Th-then..."

Seeing me hesitating to answer, Kaede sighed.

"Hahh, this is why beginners die quickly. You can't make decisions properly. First of all, let's take the girl out of this place. It's too dangerous here."

"Okay."

I could only follow her advice as she was more experienced in this situation.

Kaede raised an eyebrow as she looked at me.

"And what about your girlfriend, aren't you worried about her?"

Her words immediately froze me as my intention coming here was to find Kanon. And if I take care of this girl now, it would hinder me. There's also the dangerous situation in this place. We had just entered and were already faced with gruesome scenes. This made me even more worried about Kanon's situation and I wanted to find her quickly. But I also couldn't leave this girl here. It would be better to take her out first.

After thinking for a moment, I answered with a frown.

"... I'm pretty sure Kanon can handle this kind of situation at least. So it's okay. And I'll try to contact her again later, maybe she's within reach by then. If she answers, we'll wait for her outside."

Kaede nodded, smiling faintly. Perhaps thinking that the logical decision-making she taught me was paying off.

No, even in this situation, I can still think rationally... But there's no time for me to say that to her.

"And what about these bodies?"

I asked as I looked at the bodies lying on the floor in pools of blood. I was afraid the bodies would rot and spread disease here.

"The 'clean-up' crew will pass by 3 times in 24 hours, so let them take care of it."

She said flatly.

You mean it's common for bodies to be on the streets here so people have a job to take care of them? This district is truly brutal, even considering body handlers as clean-up workers.

We didn't linger any longer in there, and we left District 5 with the girl on my back.

---

Meanwhile, in another dark corner.

"Tch, to attack a girl with a weapon while sneaking up on her, that's not something to be appreciated."

Kanon said in a cold voice while holding her left side. Blood could be seen dripping behind the hand pressing on it.

Meanwhile, her left hand held a glowing yellowish sword as she remained vigilant.

Rows of bodies with unrecognizable and dismembered bodies were sprawled in front of her. Their condition was very gruesome. Some had their heads missing or partially split open showing their brain juice, or bodies split in half vertically or horizontally, or their hearts stabbed. Most of them had their arms or legs cut off before being killed with horror expressions.

This wasn't what I wanted...

Initially, after knocking out the first 3 thugs, everyone came and the fight went on with just bare-handed swings. But I could dodge and counter their punches easily while playing around, so over time their patience ran out and they started using weapons.

I still tolerated that. However, stealth attacks aimed from behind with clear intent to kill as the knife was directed towards my vital area changed everything. Thanks to my instincts, I managed to avoid it from hitting it, but it also made it to stab my side. Fortunately, it only wounded the edge. I was indeed a bit careless then, and my body condition wasn't in the best state and a little stiff because... of the incident last night.

That is what happened. And as you can see, because they came with a clear malicious intent, making me injured made her angry and started activating the Shading Blade to strike them. Unfortunately, some of them managed to escape.

"..."

Kanon looked at her bloodied hands before clenching them. Her eyes, expressionless, but seemed worried about something as she looked back at the bodies, blood pools, and scattered brain fluids in front of her. However, she quickly shook her head to clear those thoughts.

I might be not a human anymore...

Ignoring her chaotic thinking, she searched through some corpses before finding something she wanted from the body that appeared to be their leader, and put it into his bag. He thought the people she viewed as thugs weren't just ordinary criminals. If they wanted to play with her body, they could defeat her without intending to kill. And if they couldn't, escaping would be the best option. But instead of doing that, they decided to come with a killing intent. That was clearly not normal. So she wanted to gather more information in case she had offended someone or some organization if a retaliatory attack occurred.

Finished with that, Kanon, holding her wounded, walked out of District 5. She was planning to return to Genesis to heal her injury, but the messages from her terminal kept ringing repeatedly, making her stop to respond. She knew it was from only one person who had her contact.

"Satsuki..."

Murmuring his name with a relaxed expression, she looked at the missed calls and unread messages that came due to communication disruptions from District 5. There was nothing important in them, just words of concern, apologies for what he did, and inquiries about her current location, making Kanon sigh. But the last message made her furrow her brows seriously before replying and taking quick steps after that.

(This is an emergency Kanon! Meet me at the coordinates I've shared! I'm on the border of District 5.)