"You seem to be having fun."
A tone without emotions. A look without emotions. Both of which belonged to a certain blue-eyed boy who had a massive backpack on his back.
"You... Why are you here... What did you do just now?!"
Drakob, the leader of the delinquents, who was about to land a punch on Garty before he was interrupted by a sudden urge to throw up. While he was able to hold it in, it was still an extremely unpleasant feeling. Recalling it would be enough to give anyone the chills.
His followers, as well as those who came along to observe were in similar states, as they stared at the boy from head to toe, wondering what the deal with him was.
"You're the handsome guy from the other day! What are you doing here?"
Some of the girls recognized the boy, and queried. Although what they experienced just now was revolting, meeting the boy wasn't.
Jogrin didn't care about the girls' existences and just slowly walked toward Drakob. He stopped when he was at a step's distance from Drakob.
"What did I do? Would you believe me if I told you: I was the one to have caused your nausea just now?"
"... W-what are you bullshitting about? Making stuff up to scare me?!"
Just a moment ago, Drakob was hesitant, apprehensive, but now, believing that what just occurred was too surreal to be true, he regained his previous ferocious attitude and extended his hand to grab Jogrin, but it was easily evaded as Jogrin took a step back and leaned backward at the same time.
Not willing to give up, Drakob charged at Jogrin, only for the latter to step aside and made Drakob miss. Frustrated, Drakob swung his left arm to punch Jogrin, but of course, he failed again.
"Repetitive movements. That punch just now even showed your inability to gauge distances."
Jogrin nonchalantly commented on Drakob's moves just now, which only added fuel to the fire. The latter glared at Jogrin as if he had a deep desire to strangle Jogrin. However, Jogrin ignored him as he looked away.
"Zanphia, why are you still sitting on the ground? It's time to go. This place has such a foul smell that it's making me want to vomit as well."
"Huh?! Um..."
Zanphia jolted at the mention of her name, but she still listened to Jogrin and slowly stood up, while she lowered the hand that was still covering her mouth. She immediately hid behind Jogrin as she gripped Jogrin's sleeve. Jogrin glanced at Zanphia who was shaking intensely before one of the observing girls spoke up.
"I knew it!! Zanphia really is dating him!! What a sl-"
"Suzannia. What are freezing there for? You're not a statue. Come here already."
Before she could finish, Jogrin chipped in, and called out to Suzannia who was in a complete daze. She looked at Jogrin with her teary eyes. Her trembling was even more visible than Zanphia's, and looked as if she was on the verge of collapsing.
In response to that, Jogrin simply raised his hand and gestured Suzannia to come over, but to no avail. Jogrin's expression didn't change, but his eyes were becoming more and more standoffish, which was the minor reason why Suzannia was refraining from moving. The main reason being...
"Tell me, Suzannia. Is there something you're afraid of currently? I'll deal with it for you."
With that, Suzannia's gaze switched to the boy standing next to her. He was the one who was restraining Suzannia, and even threatened her. His name was Seros.
Following Suzannia's gaze, Jogrin laid his eyes on Seros with an intense glare. He closed the distance between himself and Seros, while Zanphia followed closely since she didn't want to leave Jogrin's side.
Seros felt chills running down his spine as he instinctively backed away, only to hit a wall.
"Hey! Don't ignore-"
"Shut your mouth, girl. I didn't ask you to speak."
The girl just now was irritated that Jogrin didn't let her finish, and yelled, but Jogrin ordered her to shut up with a deep voice. Intimidated by that, the girl flinched. She dare not raise her voice anymore.
Jogrin kept his eyes on Seros until he got to Suzannia. He extended his left hand toward Suzannia while observing her.
"Don't let yourself get caught like that again."
Suzannia slowly extended her hands. As soon as they eventually touched Jogrin's, she leapt at Jogrin and hugged his arm. Meanwhile, Seros didn't even dare to blink, as if he'd get eaten as soon as he did.
"What are you imbeciles standing still for?! Go get him!!!"
Drakob, fuming in rage, ordered his underlings to attack Jogrin, but they couldn't comply with it.
"What are you lot so scared for? He's just a feeble looking guy! He won't be able to dodge all of you!! One hit's all it'll take to take him down!!!"
Though Jogrin did look weak and feeble, but somehow, Drakob and his underlings felt that there was something threatening about him. Their instincts were screaming for them to get as far away from him as possible.
Fighting against that urge was Drakob, who ran at Garty who was now leaning against a wall and panting. Her face became pale as she noticed the approaching Drakob.
Almost instantly, Zenover got up and jumped at Drakob, grabbed one of his legs, causing him to fall. However, with his reaction time and agility, Drakob managed to maintain his balance and ended up in a lunging position.
"You little!!!"
Since Zenover got in his way, Drakob craved to step on his face, but as soon as he turned around, he froze.
There was something right in front of his eye. It was a piece of broken glass, held by none other than Jogrin.
"You'll take responsibility for your subordinates' and your actions, right? Since you're their leader."
"Wh-what are you trying to do?!!"
Shocked by the abrupt checkmate, Drakob didn't dare to move as he gazed behind Jogrin, at Seros. Seros, who regained his composure a little, nodded and reached for Suzannia who wasn't paying attention to him and was still trembling in fear.
"Touch her, and this glass will be in your eye next."
Without looking back to check, Jogrin said to Seros. The latter immediately retracted his hand and stepped back, drops of sweat visible on his forehead.
After Suzannia heard Jogrin and took a look at Seros, she hugged Zanphia who didn't react in any way. Zenover stood up and ran toward Garty, checking on her worriedly.
For the first time, Jogrin displayed his callous side, which came as a huge shock for Zanphia and the others. They never knew Jogrin could become like this, all he'd shown them was his indifferent side, and that his favorite spot in the house was the couch.
"Get lost."
"Huh?"
"Get. Lost... Now."
"Tch."
After clicking his tongue, Drakob signaled his underlings to retreat with his head, as he slowly backed away from Jogrin, before he started to make his way out via the alleyway. The observers also decided to follow suit.
There only left five people in the dimly lit space.
A shattering noise reverberated, as Jogrin let go of the glass shard and dropped it to the ground. He glanced around, at the other four people, who were all in disbelief and shuddering.
"Once you're done shaking and feeling scared, we'll head back. Kapel is coming with a land vehicle... Zanphia?"
He let them rest and calm down for the time being. Judging form their current state, making them walk all the way back to their homes didn't seem to be an option now, so he believed it'd be better to wait for Kapel, who was driving a car so that he could escort them... Though Kapel had no idea where they were.
Then, he perceived, and saw Zanphia stopping beside him, and not muttering a single word. An inscrutable emotion came from her, and Jogrin couldn't tell what it was. It was directed at him, and he'd never perceived something like this before.
Abruptly, Zanphia wrapped her arms around him, and began sobbing. He could feel her tears soaking into his clothes.
"Thank you... Thank you for saving us, Jogrin..."
'I see. This is "gratitude." No wonder I've never felt this before.' An new emotion had been added to his memory. However, he thought that he didn't deserve that, since in order to achieve that, he had to commit a few acts that wasn't exactly agreeable.
Another pair of arms wrapped around Jogrin's waist. They belonged to Suzannia, who was perceived to possess the same emotion as Zanphia's.
'Now that it's over, I'll have to deal with whatever consequences that will be brought on me.'
Jogrin was reminded of Kapel's warning before he left the encampment. Though he wasn't fearful of what was to come, it was still bothersome.
All he could do now though, was waiting for the four of them to settle down... except that he sensed something amiss, coming from the bullies who were coerced to leave.
'Hm? What's up with that lot?'