"Hey..."
The voice cut through the air, soft yet commanding.
The big guy sitting on Hina looked up, his brow furrowed in confusion. "Huhh?"
*SMASH!*
My foot connected with his face, the impact reverberating through the surrounding. His head hit the ground with a deafening *boom*, his eyes rolling back as he fell unconscious.
"Braun...!!!" the man holding the suitcase screamed, his voice cracking with fear.
Hina gasped, pushing herself to her feet, her body stumbling as she picked up her sword again.
The fire user let out a furious roar.
"You bastard!" he screamed, flames bursting from his palms. A blazing fire came toward me, its heat filling the air.
Without even looking towards him or the upcoming fire, I raised my hand, palm open, and let the fire hit me. It vanished on contact, dissolving into thin air like it had never existed.
They all fell silent, save for the rustling of leaves. The fire user staggered back, his eyes wide with disbelief.
"What just happened?" he stammered, looking at my hands as if he had seen a ghost.
"Did he... absorb it?" the woman whispered, her voice shaking.
I let out a long sighhh, looking at him in the eye. "Kids these days..."
Their fear turned to panic as I disappeared from their sight, reappearing behind the fire user. "Huhh where did he-?"
Before he could react, my foot connected with his jaw in a vicious arc. He hit the ground with a loud *thud*, joining Braun in unconsciousness.
The woman clenched her fists, her eyes burning with rage. Her hair, uneven from Hina's earlier slash, made her face look wild.
"You'll pay for this!" she snarled, charging at me with her sword raised.
"Not so fast," Hina's voice rang out.
The woman barely had time to react before Hina's blade slashed through the air, knocking the weapon from her hands.
"You bitch!! What do you think you are!!" the woman screamed, her voice filled with rage. Her hands trembled as she stumbled backward.
Hina's mocking gaze never went away. Her blade gleamed under the sunlight.
In one fluid motion, Hina spun, the arc of her sword cutting through the air. The woman barely had time to gasp before the blade came down, a final, decisive strike.
"Take this!" Hina said, as she slashed the woman down
Hina stood over her, her chest rising and falling with steady breaths and a proud smile on her face
"How dare you commit a crime in the presence of your future Queen!!" Hina muttered, her voice as lively as the silve blade in her hand.
She turned towards the man standing beside the suitcase. The last man, the one holding the suitcase, was trembling so hard he could barely stand. His knees buckled as he tried to back away, clutching the suitcase to his chest like a lifeline.
Hina smirked, twirling her sword. "Maybe next time, you'll think twice about being a criminal."
"P-please... I didn't mean to... I just—"
He turned and bolted, but he didn't get far. Hina leaped into the air, her movements fluid and precise.
"HAAIYYAAA!!!" Her kick landed square on his face, sending him sprawling to the ground. The suitcase tumbled away, its cash spilling out.
The surrounding was silent now, the gang of criminals lying unconscious at our feet.
Hina wiped the sweat from her brow, her chest rising and falling as she caught her breath. "Phew. That was close," she said, glancing at me.
"Close? What was?" I thought in my mind, raising an eyebrow but keeping the thought to myself.
She pulled out her phone, her thumb hovering over the screen. "Let's call the knights and hand these guys over," she said, her tone decisive.
I stepped forward, placing a hand over her phone to stop her. "Umm... can't we do it without revealing ourselves? Just... you know, hand them over anonymously?"
She frowned, clearly unimpressed. "Why? This is our moment to shine! I could've been the hero of the day. My name would've been all over the news!"
"I...I don't like attention," I said simply.
Her frown deepened, her eyes narrowing as she studied me. "You're serious, aren't you?"
"Please..." I said, meeting her gaze.
Our eyes locked, an unspoken tension hanging in the air between us. A heavy silence came, broken only by the gentle gust of the wind brushing past our faces. Her blue hair swayed with its rhythm, the strands coming over her face.
Around us, the world seemed to slow. Birds chirped in the distance, with the rustling leaves that was at our feet.
She hesitated. Her expression shifted—first annoyance, then something softer, almost giving up. Her lips parted as if to speak, but the words never came. Instead, she let out a long, drawn-out sighhh, her shoulders eased out.
"Sighhhhh." She lowered her phone, her gaze dropping for the briefest second before meeting mine again.
"Fine," she muttered. "But only because you're weirdly intimidating."
By the time evening rolled around, we were back at the café. The atmosphere was lively, the hum of conversation filling the air. A TV mounted on the wall played the evening news, the anchor's voice cutting through the background noise.
"Breaking news: The gang behind the Skyview Mall robbery has been apprehended. Reports suggest they used a powerful artifact to create a portal and escape the scene. However, they were found mysteriously unconscious near the mountain area. Oddly enough, they claim to have no memory of who defeated them. The knights were tipped off by an anonymous caller."
The people in the café erupted into chatter, their earlier tension giving way to relief.
"Finally, some good news," one man said, raising his cup in a toast.
"Those guys were dangerous, they killed two people just to get money."
I sipped my coffee, my gaze drifting to Hina. She sat across from me, her chin resting on her hands as she stared into her cup with a sour expression.
"I didn't even get to come on the news..." she grumbled, her voice low but audible enough for me to hear.
I hid my smirk behind my cup, savoring the bitter taste of the coffee.
"Weird woman, she is." I thought in my mind.