In the big city, once night fell, similar situations often arose. All sorts of people with ill intentions took advantage of the darkness, hiding within the shadows of both concept and physicality, doing things that couldn't be revealed in broad daylight.
Ranging from high-end illicit money transactions to petty gang violence among low-level thugs.
In any country, in any era, such behavior was like cockroaches, never completely eradicated and never ceasing. Even if they were cleaned out for a time, after a while they would reappear from some corner.
Truly annoying.
And now, with sound and figure-concealing Magecraft, Naoki and Gray followed several thugs from a distance, walking down a dimly lit alleyway.
"It seems they plan to take the girl to a secluded place."
Observing the direction of the thugs' movements, Naoki had already guessed their intentions.
Mifune City, although seemingly glittering on the surface due to its development over the years, hid behind the shadows of tall buildings a complex network of small alleys like the roots of an old tree. Once inside, even people who lived in the alleys would get lost. It was essentially a man-made labyrinth formed by various coincidences and luck.
The thugs in front, judging by their clothes, should be uneducated students, just not knowing from which school. Moreover, their movements were uninterrupted, their direction very clear. There should be a regular base ahead, and they must have come here countless times.
"These are repeat offenders." Gray clenched both her fists, "Brother, should we immediately—"
"No, let's just settle everything at once. It seems there are more than just them, so for now, the girl will have to be a little patient."
"Okay."
After following the thugs in the alley for another minute or two, just when Gray almost didn't know where she was, the sound of a door opening suddenly came from ahead.
*CREAK...*
They had somehow entered a dead-end alley, and the sound of the door opening came from a door at the end of the alley.
Quickly walking to the front of the door, pressing his ear against it and listening for a moment, Naoki let out a small sigh, "There are ten people talking, they plan to commit violence against the girl... Gray, step back a little."
"Okay."
*CRASH!*
As soon as the words were spoken, Naoki immediately raised his foot and kicked the tightly closed iron door. The dark scene inside the shack immediately came into view for both of them.
Quickly covering Gray's eyes, seeing the girl lying on the ground with her hands and feet tied inside the room, as well as a dozen teenagers around her whose clothes were half open, Naoki couldn't help but feel regret.
'I shouldn't have brought Gray along.'
"Gray, go outside for a moment, face the other way, don't look."
"..."
Hearing that somewhat cold voice, Gray obediently walked out.
And at the same time, seemingly finally waking up from the shock of Naoki breaking down the door, a thug who should have been the leader shouted loudly, "Hey, who are you? What do you want—"
*THUD!*
Before he could finish speaking, his entire body had already been thrown into the wall.
Pressing his head firmly, as if wanting to crush it, Naoki punched him hard twice, ensuring he could no longer pull himself out of the wall, then turned to face the people around him.
"There are quite a few of you, anyway, let's close the door first."
Summoning a strong gust of wind, closing the broken door again, Naoki smiled, "Sorry, my little sister is only eight years old, still underage, not suitable for the adult scenes that will follow."
"Considering you might still be a bit confused about the situation, I'll explain—in short, apart from the victim lying on the ground, none of you should expect to get out of here alive."
No one spoke.
In their hearts, every thug desperately wanted to ask Naoki what he meant, how dare he come in and interrupt their upcoming fun. But seeing their leader instantly thrown into the wall and not knowing if he was still alive, everyone's courage faltered.
The next second—
*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
Slowly opening her eyes, seeing the chandelier above her, Asagami Fujino, realizing she was lying down, unconsciously wanted to sit up.
"You should stay lying down."
A man's voice suddenly sounded beside her.
Fujino turned her head and saw a blonde-haired person whose face was so beautiful and handsome, it was difficult to distinguish male from female, sitting in a chair beside her bed while looking at her. Beside him also stood a young girl.
"Where is this?"
"A hospital room. Because I didn't know where you lived, after rescuing you from those thugs, I could only bring you here to have your body checked."
"Rescuing me..."
Fujino tried to recall her chaotic memories.
"Ah, right, I was on my way back to school, then some people forcibly took me away... You rescued me? Thank you very much."
"Just helping someone in trouble."
Naoki only realized that the kidnapped girl was Asagami Fujino after all the thugs had been thrown into the wall. Because she was wearing a black school uniform, plus the dim lighting, Naoki hadn't noticed it was her at all.
"Does any part of your body feel unwell? You just finished surgery, if anything feels uncomfortable, just say so, and I'll call the nurse."
"Surgery?"
Fujino frowned.
"But I'm not sick."
"Appendicitis, and quite severe, according to the doctor it had been going on for quite a while." Naoki explained, "Initially, I brought you here just considering that during the kidnapping by the group of thugs, you might have been hit or something. Just in case, I had you checked, not expecting to find out you had appendicitis."
This was a lie.
After learning that the girl he had rescued was Asagami Fujino, Naoki immediately took her to the hospital for surgery—all the problems encountered along the way were resolved with suggestion Magecraft.
After hearing Naoki's explanation, after a long silence, Fujino smiled faintly with resignation, "I didn't expect to be found out because of something like this... You've really gone to a lot of trouble, thank you very much. As for the surgery fees, I will definitely pay them later. Oh yeah, I haven't asked your name yet?"
"Natsukawa Naoki. Just call me Naoki. This is Gray, my younger sister."