After walking away from the school gate and following the map on his phone, they heard a group of people talking in the distance.
They were sitting in front of the convenience store, under its street light.
Group of three people, all males wearing casual clothes. The stand-out thing about them was a certain part of their fashion has the same color.
One was wearing a purple headband, another person was wearing a purple hand band and one was wearing a purple mask.
"Hey, ya heard? The urban legend of this city?" The one with the purple headband asked.
"Urban legend? Are you dumb? No way such a thing exists." One with a purple mask refused the existence of such a dumb rumor.
"Dumb? You never see it that's why you have the balls to say that! Once you see it, your perspective toward this city is going to change, man!" A person with a hand band joined in.
He has lived in this city since his childhood and has seen the urban legend many times.
"Oh shut up, fool. Your words ain't enough to convince me!" The masked man answered.
The headband guy chuckled, "ey, chill. Ya arrived here yesterday so ya never know. Listen, pal. This city is more dangerous than anything you knew. Our gang may be big and all other that bullsh*t in other cities but in this one, we ain't nothing but ants." He explained.
The masked man stood up as he approached him. Next, he closed his face on him, their foreheads almost colliding.
"What'd you say, ba***rd? You're saying our gang is weak? We're the Purple Carnival! We ain't no busta! I can report that to our boss and get your ass kicked!" The masked man yelled as saliva came out of his mouth and the other party merely smiled.
Their words got louder as Aya and Narukami got closer. As they did.
Wham!
A quick punch was aimed at the masked man face and its sound was deafening. Following this was a heavy thud and an unconscious body.
"Didn't I tell you to chill?" His face was grim as he continued, "know yar place, fool. Is that how ya talk with one of yar higher-ups?" There was a hint of disdain in his tone as he wiped off his face with his sleeves.
There was a reason why parents discipline their children should they do something wrong.
"Bury him on the mountain or dip him into the sea, I don't want such a moron to taint our reputation." He walked away with hands in his pocket and torso slightly bent forward. The other guy simply nodded.
"Okay."
At this point, Narukami and the headband man passed shoulder by shoulder.
After taking a few steps. The headband guy turned around, nodded, and bowed as he greeted him, "good evening, young master." Then continued his pace.
The hand band guy also bowed, "good evening! Young master!"
Narukami responded with a wave of his hand.
Aya, who followed his pace from behind, was completely stunned. Two gang members just pay their respects to him!
.
.
.
On that night, the masked man's body was buried except his head.
His body completely became one with the soil, his muscles can move but it won't budge no matter how hard he tried! It felt like his limbs were glued!
.
.
Anyway, back to the present.
"Narukami, who are you?"
"Aya, have you seen the city's urban legend?"
Narukami diverted the flow of conversation and noticed that Aya didn't probe into the matter much longer.
"I've seen it many times."
"Is that so, what do you think?"
"What do I think? Hum… It's a beautiful thing to see for the first time yet after seeing it many times, you get used to it.
It's also something that the people of the city always saw and the urban legend gradually became part of their daily lives.
I wonder if it can still be called an urban legend if it is always seen every day."
True, an urban legend was something rare, special, mysterious, and only happened on some occasions.
"Why?"
"Nothing much, honestly. I was wondering about something to make sure."
"Senpai, you're weird."
"Even If that's true, that still hurts."
Aya chuckled as she smiled.
"Still, it should be around this hour that the urban legend appears."
Seeing her lips, Narukami subconsciously slow down her pace and Aya caught up to his without knowing and they were now walking shoulder to shoulder.
"Aya, why don't you smile like this when you enter school?" Narukami abruptly suggested to which Aya diverted her gaze. As if her vocal cords disappeared, she turned silent.
Narukami didn't know the exact reason why she zipped her mouth. Did his suggested weird? Or maybe creepy? Either way.
The air as they walk became strange. Even as we speak, Narukami wished that they could arrive at their current destination as swiftly as possible!
He could do it by using a particular technique similar to teleportation but there were some risks. Furthermore, Aya was a normal human! Her body might get a backlash or something!
"Ehem, you don't have to if you don't want to do it. That aside, did you know why the urban legend appeared?"
Narukami tried to avert the topic at hand, though it was quite harder than he expected.
Aya remained silent and Narukami followed, hoping the air didn't turn more awkward.
Of which, it became worse.
Narukami never wanted to run away as much as now! So heart-rending…
Next, Narukami turned his attention to the side, away from Aya.
Come on, Shinra! You talked and tamed those cold-hearted goddesses before! The girl next to you is only a young, human girl! How hard could it be?
Thus, Narukami turned his face to her and saw the latter clenched both of her fists as her face looked at the sky, filled with determination.
She turned her head to him and Narukami was taken aback by her serious expression.
Gradually, the edge of her lips curved up causing Narukami's face to turn pale.
If not for the fact he hadn't seen her other side, Narukami was certain that she was planning something mischievous to him.
Her lips were stiff and wrinkles were formed on certain parts of her face, mainly around her brows. It looked like she was glaring but in fact, she was smiling with pretty forced, stiff lips.