Leaving the apartment complex area, Charlie and Mahiru walked side by side along the sidewalk of Tokyo's streets, which were enveloped in a chilly air.
Even though the morning sun shone quite brightly, its warmth seemed unable to pierce the depressed and eerie atmosphere that could be felt by anyone at this moment.
Along the sidewalk, people walked with hurried steps, lowering their heads without daring to make eye contact, as if something invisible were chasing them from behind.
The young people who usually gathered and hung out on street corners or in front of convenience stores were now nowhere to be seen.
The situation grew increasingly tense as police officers patrolling on bicycles and in patrol cars passed by more frequently, sounding short sirens every few minutes with vigilant eyes sweeping the surroundings.
This mass tension that paralyzed Tokyo's cheerfulness was, of course, caused by two consecutive streaks of horrific terrorist acts that occurred very close together.
The first terrorist incident that attacked Seijo High School a few days ago was actually enough to shake the public.
Although it claimed casualties, the number was fortunately not too high, and the case was shrouded in a great mystery because the armed perpetrators suddenly died mysteriously at the scene as if they had been struck by a curse.
However, it was the second terrorist act that truly forced the Japanese government to take extreme and serious action.
Until this very second, security authorities remained completely blind, not knowing which insane organization planted the bombs and collapsed the hospital in the middle of the city, killing more than twenty thousand lives in a matter of seconds.
Inevitably, waves of anger and fear among the civilian population exploded, urging the government to immediately capture the perpetrators.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police and the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) were now under incredibly heavy public pressure; their nerves were stretched tight, haunted by the anxiety that a similar incident would repeat itself at another point.
The result of this law enforcement tension directly impacted an extreme tightening of security.
Foreign tourists or overseas citizens who usually caused trouble or simply violated public order on the streets were now immediately apprehended without mercy on the spot and 'invited for tea'—meaning intensively interrogated at the nearest police station to ensure they were not involved in an international terrorist network.
On the community side itself, the residents of Tokyo truly could not live in peace before the main mastermind of the hospital bombing was captured and brought to justice.
Psychological fear began to creep into the minds of every worker and citizen.
Who could guarantee that tomorrow or the day after, it wouldn't be their workplace, shopping center, or train station that would be blown into rubble by that mysterious group?
Locking themselves in mutual suspicion and fear, every corner of the city of Tokyo had now turned into a terrifying and anxiety-ridden megapolitan landscape.
Seeing the city so gloomy, Mahiru lowered her head deeply.
Her footsteps slowed, letting her bangs cover her dimming facial expression.
The guilt that had been temporarily suppressed now welled up again, gnawing at her soul.
(Is my entire existence in this world a mistake that will only bring misfortune to others...?)
Charlie certainly could not read minds, but with his keen sensitivity and rich emotional experience, he could guess what was raging inside the girl's head based on the drastic drop in her mood.
After all, he was not the dense or insensitive type of protagonist often found in harem anime.
Charlie stopped his steps, causing Mahiru to also halt beside him.
"Listen, Mahiru."
"All the chaos and calamity happening in Tokyo right now is absolutely not your fault. This is purely the fault and cruelty of the Abyssal Devourer. You are a victim here, just like tens of thousands of other people."
"Do not misidentify who the real villain is."
Hearing those words, Mahiru slowly looked up. She stared at him with a pair of eyes that were already glassy, pooled with tears that were ready to spill at any moment.
"But Charlie-kun... if only I weren't here, if only—"
Before Mahiru could continue her melancholy sentence, Charlie suddenly reached out his right hand.
He placed the tip of his index finger right on top of Mahiru's soft lips, pressing down on the girl's words so they wouldn't escape any further.
"Don't argue with me." He looked straight into Mahiru's trembling eyes. "Just be obedient and listen to what I say. Don't let the enemy win by letting your mind be destroyed by guilt that isn't yours."
Receiving such dominating treatment, Mahiru moved her face slightly back from Charlie's finger. She pouted her lips a little, sulking with the remnants of tears in the corners of her eyes.
"You really are a tyrant, Charlie-kun. Always forcing your own will."
Charlie drew his hand back, then chuckled with amusement at the new label bestowed upon him.
"The world might say that a tyrant is great and powerful." A thin smile played on his lips as he resumed walking down the sidewalk. "But everyone who reads history surely knows the tragic end of tyrants."
"They are almost always betrayed and stabbed in the back by the people closest to them. So, sorry, but I am not interested in becoming a tyrant at all."
"..."
The sadness in Mahiru's heart suddenly evaporated, replaced by a sense of awkwardness. She caught up with Charlie's steps and murmured softly in a guilty tone.
"I'm spiritless... I didn't mean anything bad or wish for something like that to happen to you. It's just... your sudden dominating attitude is sometimes indeed very annoying."
"..."
Charlie did not reply with words again. He merely smiled thinly, letting the silence—which now felt far more relaxed—once again envelope the footsteps of the two of them under the Tokyo sky.
◆━⊰✿✧✿⊱━◆
After fifteen minutes of walking along the quiet sidewalk, Charlie and Mahiru's footsteps finally brought them to a bus stop.
Beneath the sturdy roof of the bus stop, the atmosphere appeared a little more alive.
Aside from the two of them, there were already several other prospective passengers standing scattered about, all waiting for the arrival of the bus with glances that occasionally flicked toward their wristwatches or phone screens.
As soon as the two of them stepped into the bus stop area, Charlie and Mahiru's presence instantly became highly prominent amidst the small crowd.
After all, the combination of a handsome man and an incredibly beautiful woman was 'hard currency' in the modern era like now—an era where society would instinctively always judge someone's beginning based on an attractive visual appearance.
Several adults and office workers there could be seen stealing glances, admiring the visual proportions of the two, who looked like a pair of models stepping off the pages of a fashion magazine.
Even so, in the middle of this tense and terrifying city atmosphere, not a single person intended to approach or disturb them.
Standing near the bus route board, Mahiru slowly turned her head to the side. Her curiosity, which had been held back until now, could finally no longer be contained.
"Charlie-kun. Where exactly are we going?"
Charlie shifted his gaze from the highway, then looked at Mahiru with a slightly raised eyebrow, feigning surprise.
"Eh? Have I not told you yet?"
Hearing that counter-question, Mahiru immediately looked at him with a glaringly pouted expression. She crossed both arms in front of her chest in vexation.
"You didn't say anything at all since we were at the apartment earlier, Charlie-kun! You just forced me to get ready and dragged me out of the house without an explanation."
Seeing that adorable irritation, Charlie instead felt happy in his heart.
This emotional dynamic was concrete proof that the Angel's mood was gradually starting to improve and break out of depression.
Charlie wore a thin smile laden with mystery.
"In that case, let's just consider it a secret. Just look forward to where we will land later."
"Hmph, annoying."
Mahiru snorted in dissatisfaction. She turned her face to the side, intentionally ignoring Charlie's smile even though her heartbeat betrayed her slightly because of her soaring curiosity.
A few minutes later, the roar of a large engine broke the silence of the bus stop.
The city bus they were waiting for finally arrived and slowly pulled up to the edge of the sidewalk, opening its automatic doors with a characteristic hiss of air.
The people at the bus stop began to move orderly, queuing up to enter one by one after scanning their transportation cards.
The conditions inside the bus turned out to be relatively quiet, occupied by only a handful of passengers in the front section. Thanks to that situation, Charlie and Mahiru easily found a pair of comfortable empty seats in the middle row.
The two immediately sat next to each other, with Mahiru choosing the position near the large glass window.
*VROOM!*
The bus doors closed tightly again, and the public vehicle began to speed off, cutting through the asphalt of Tokyo's highway.
Staring out the window, Mahiru could see clearly how deserted the city's main streets were that afternoon—a sight that felt very foreign and unusual for a megapolitan city that was usually always packed and busy with the lifeline of traffic jams.
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