It’s been over 3 months since we first met on that fateful day, Koharu has taken it upon herself to teach me some essential skills like; firearms safety, and basic self-defense, and some nifty tricks like hotwiring cars, how to break into doors and windows.

 

 

 

     Something to note is that less than a month after Koharu and I became partners, I ended up reigniting the sense of trouble I had when I was still in foster care.

 

 

 

     What I mean by this is, whether by coincidence or fate itself, I ended up encountering crime scenes, gang fights, drug trades, mugging, petty thefts, vandalism, and bank robberies. 

 

 

 

     Whether or not this was bad luck or fate itself leading me to a path of crime fighting, I didn’t care for any of it, because Koharu was there with me.

 

 

 

“Sidekick, Look at this!”

 

 

 

Koharu was sitting at the dining table reading the newspaper when she called out to me while I was cooking breakfast for both of us.

 

 

 

“What is it?”

 

 

 

“Read this.”

 

 

 

“Alright let’s see… “Breaking News; Young man encountered and stopped drug deal at midnight?” That was…”

 

 

 

It showed a photo of me in an alleyway where I spotted the drug trade holding the pistol that Koharu gifted me.”

 

 

 

“That was when we were surveying the city last night.”

 

 

 

“What the heck? “A young man stopped a purse thief…” How’d they even take a photo of that?”

 

 

 

It had a photo of me stopping the thief less than a moment after he took the purse.

 

 

 

“That was when I sent you to buy me chocolate the other day.”

 

 

 

“Lastly… “A young man uncovered a dead body in a trashcan,” How is it possible that these are all happenstances I encountered by accident?”

 

 

 

It showed a photo of me taking out the trash to encounter the body.

 

 

 

“Maybe, sidekick became a beacon for crime.”

 

 

 

“Or you have something involved in it”

 

 

 

“Hahaha! What made you think that?”

 

 

 

“Well, these “happy accidents,” I encountered started after I became your sidekick.”

 

 

 

“After you became my sidekick? You were monologuing in the last chapter about how the city is corrupt and full of crimes!”

 

 

 

“Huh?”

 

 

 

“I said, breakfast might burn to a crisp.”

 

 

 

“Burn- Stop distracting me!”

 

 

 

I quickly went back to the stove and lowered the heat on the eggs and bacon I was cooking, then started cooking blood sausages.

 

 

 

“Maybe, sidekick was becoming a strong sidekick?”

 

 

 

“Right… very funny.”

 

 

 

“It wasn’t a joke though…”

 

 

 

“Here’s breakfast.”

 

 

 

     I prepared 2 plates of scrambled egg fried rice, with some blood sausages, bacon, and 2 cups of warm coffee for us.

 

 

 

“It looks like Sidekick has developed a tendency to cook my favorite food~ is this your way of telling me “I love you?” hahaha!”

 

 

 

“In your dreams.”

 

 

 

     We started eating our breakfast peacefully, It was a new experience for me to eat breakfast with a girl alone, but now I learned that it’s not as hyped as people made it out to be, especially when my roommate is a lazy bum that walks around the house nearly naked but my pajama shirt.

 

 

 

“Sidekick, it’s almost time for you to go to campus, take this.”

 

 

 

Koharu handed me a bento box.

 

 

 

“Is this you keeping your promise of cooking me lunch?”

 

 

 

“Mhm! Take care out there, I have work to do later.”

 

 

 

“I see, see you later then.”

 

 

 

“See you.”

 

 

 

     We both left the apartment at the same time and headed down, Koharu took a cab while I took the train to go to campus.

 

 

 

     My Classes had been back for quite a while, the attacks never repeated themselves and I ended up having a reputation of “Helping save the school,” even though it was mostly Koharu’s work, which I believe was her cover-up to keep things low.

 

 

 

     When classes first returned, I was moved to a new class with students I didn’t recognize apart from a few close acquaintances, 

 

 

 

     Something to note was that the students in both my class and other classes seemed to have paid a lot of attention to me “the savior,” it was very awkward, to say the least, though it’s likely the haunted house investigation that Koharu and I did, greatly helped with giving me this amount of unnecessary attention.

 

 

 

    I arrived at the campus at dawn, the sun was barely rising, and I had the feeling this day was gonna be very boring. Oh how wrong I was….

 

 

 

     For the most part, I was correct about classes being very boring, it was just mostly announcements for some cultural festival that I wanted nothing to do with, time passed by until the last class ended.

 

 

 

     I sat on the far back seats as usual, the sun was setting, and I was getting ready to pack up my belongings when a girl had suddenly approached me.

 

 

 

     I couldn’t discern her face, maybe it was the last of the sunlight shining through the windows?

 

 

 

“You’re a detective right?” asked the girl in an assertive tone.

 

 

 

“Incorrect, I’m just a humble student.”

 

 

 

     The girl suddenly went closer to me, held the necktie of my shirt, and cornered me against the wall.

 

 

 

“Don’t lie to me! You were all over the news!”

 

 

 

     Why am I Being intimidated by a girl I have never seen before? Moreover, I don’t understand why she has anger in her eyes.

 

 

 

“Don’t just stare at me! Answer my question! You’re the detective Elio, right?

 

Detective? I’m only the sidekick!

 

 

 

“Ms. you got the wrong person, please excuse me.”

 

 

 

“Not so fast!”

 

 

 

“GGgghhhh!”

 

 

 

She quickly tugged my tie towards her and shoved 2 of her fingers in my mouth.

 

 

 

What the hell did I do to deserve this!?

 

 

 

“If you don’t start talking I’ll rip off that dangly thing in your mouth, now answer me if you’re Elio?”

 

 

 

“Ughh-”

 

 

 

What an unfair punishment…

 

 

 

     I finally got a clear look at this girl’s face, her hair was rather close to Koharu’s however it was in a shade of black, her skin was a bit paler and she had red eyes that were difficult to ignore.

 

 

 

     I didn’t recognize this girl from anywhere, I had never seen her in school before.

 

 

 

“Answer me with your words!”

 

 

 

     And just like that, I felt my gag reflexes activated and I almost puked up the lunch Koharu made for me.

 

 

 

I was down on the floor coughing trying to not puke from all the coughing… when I looked up I saw the girl looking down on me.

 

 

 

“Ugh, you’re the worst, getting this much spit in the hands of a girl you just met–what is wrong with you!?”

 

 

 

You were the one who shoved your fingers in my damn mouth!!!

 

 

 

I wanted to snap at her over shoving her hand in the mouth of a boy she just met

 

 

 

What kind of unreasonable harassment is this sadistic woman doing!?

 

 

 

“Huh? Come on, You’re crying? A big boy in his…. Sixteens? And getting a girl’s fingers all sticky, is that not enough for you!? Do you want to cry and throw a tantrum? Or are there other ways you wanted to square up!?”

 

 

 

     What sort of punishment was this supposed to be? A dignity-breaking one? I couldn’t blink away the tears or the drool. What crime did my past life do to deserve this?

 

 

 

“Ah… I see, you wanted to be held close right? There, there, just relax.”

 

 

 

     She pressed my face close to her chest. How random… It was soft, and I could smell the perfume, was this bliss or agony? Nope, not dealing with her crap.

 

 

 

I pushed her away.

 

 

 

“Are you done? Now ms sadist?”

 

 

 

“That’s too bad I wouldn’t have minded playing for a bit more.”

 

 

 

“Don’t use your body to play games with a man’s emotions. Moreover, Don’t just push the face of a boy you just met so close to your chest.”

 

 

 

“But you liked it though.”

 

 

 

She wasn’t wrong… 

 

     For the first time, this girl had a faint smile, “My Name Is “Mei Ishikawa” Nice to meet you.” She held her hand for me to shake.

 

 

 

“Go wash that filthy thing first.”

 

 

 

“Oh, Right.”

 

 

 

     I wanted to kick this girl in the face, but I didn't wanna be expelled.