Red Riding Hood (2)

HAAAAA~

While walking down the junior high school building's hallway, a tenth grader let out a long sigh that sounded like an old man.

"Geez, why do students pick up things the teachers left behind!" He grumbled while on his way to the faculty room, which was too far from his classroom.

He continued to complain and talk to himself until he heard a noise from the back garden. He took a step back and hid behind a post to peek at what was going on.

"I got a C!" a child shouted while slapping the notebook at his classmate's face.

A group of seventh graders are gathering around, and a child their age is cowering in the middle while covering his head with his arms.

"Oh, bullies." He commented, still hiding.

He watched the children throw their homework at the poor child.

"I told you I could not do it!" The child protested, thinking that his classmates were asking him to do the impossible.

The bullied child's classmates went to the arcade and left their homework to him.  

Since he could not do eight homework assignments in one night, their homework was marked low the next morning.

They are now beating him up for doing badly on their homework.

"How will I explain this to mom?" The bully angrily kicked the child.

"Hey! Don't ask him that! He doesn't have one." The other child stopped his classmates, then looked down on him with a contemptuous smile.

"Ha! You're right. What will an orphan like you know?" The other also sneered at him and started to mock him while beating him up again.

"Must be nice without a mom who nags at you every day!" the bully commented.

Randell, the tenth grader, frowned at the bad scene he was witnessing, but he would not step out to help.

He doesn't want to get involved in troublesome things.

He went back to where he should be going and easily forgot the scene he saw.

The faculty room is nearby and without any problems, he successfully picked up the pouch his teacher left.

While walking out of the faculty room, he bumped into a girl in the lower grade.

"Thank goodness! What will the teachers do?" the girl asked.

"will do with what?" he asked since he doesn't know what the girl is talking about.

He thought, "Maybe she mistook me for someone else."

"What did you do here?" The girl looks confused and upset. 

Before responding, he observed first the girl with an unstylish and unattractive look. The girl's face is also covered in pimples, making her entire face turn red.

"I'm running an errand. Why?" He asked while showing the pouch to the girl, which made the girl frown and gaze sharply at him.

He innocently looked back at her since he really doesn't know what made the girl upset.

Hmp!

The girl didn't say anything else and turned her back to him while rolling her eyes.

For a moment, Randell was dumbfounded by the girls' actions, but soon shrugged his shoulders and considered the girls unimportant. 

He went back to his classroom, and his afternoon classes went by as boring as usual.

When the ringing of the bell that he always wanted to hear, rang, he happily prepared his things to go home.

"How dare you report us to the teachers!"

"It's not me who reported you!"

Randell heard familiar voices in the street while he was walking home.

"Oh it's them again." He commented while hiding himself in the corner. The poor child this afternoon was being beaten up by bullies again.

"And it's you again." Another familiar voice suddenly talked to him at his side. That made him jump in surprise.

"W-what do you want?" He asked, while glancing at the bullies, if they noticed them. Thankfully, they are too focused on beating up their classmate.

"If you don't like to help, at least call someone else. Call the teacher or police." The strange and unattractive girl in front of him opened her flip phone and dialed the police number.

Randell had goosebumps after their eyes met. "Do you love watching someone getting hurt?" She frankly asked while looking at him with judging eyes. "Conscience, do you have those?"

"I disli-." Randell could not defend himself since the police answered the girl's call.

"Hello, Police? I am on XXXX street. There is a group of seventh graders here beating up their classmate. Yes, sir. Please hurry, Thank you."

After the conversation on the phone, the girl took a picture of the bullies and was about to leave.

"W-wait!" He wanted to explain himself and shouted to call her out. However, that made the bullies look at them. 

"Who are you?" The bully asked while gripping the stick he used to hit his classmate.

Randell took a step back and looked around the street, hopping for the authorities to come.

"What is this? Did you report us?" 

One of the bullies was about to approach them when the girl grabbed his hand and pulled him to run with her, but not to run away.

They are running toward the bullies' direction.

"Neng! Wait!" he shouted as he could see the bullies getting ready to welcome them with their fist.

Randell swung his other hand to get away from the bullies, while the girl valiantly passed through the bullies while using him as a shield. She grabbed the bullied child and mockingly smiled at the bullies.

"Run." she briefly stated, and pulled the bullied child up. The three of them run with all their might while holding hands.

The bullies didn't give up and run after them.

"You're slow!" the girl shouted while she gripped his hand harder.

"Why am I even running with you!" he complained while out of breath.

"We're playing hero! Isn't it fun?" She mischievously responded.

Randell feels strange towards the girl who has randomly shown him various expressions. He looked at her while pulling his hand while running.

They are running as fast as they can, but it feels like everything is in slow motion when they run towards the west. That makes the looks of the unattractive girl more vibrant due to the sun setting in front of them.

thump thump thump

With his other hand, he touched his chest due to the sudden, weird beating of his heart.

[Is it been a long time since I ran this fast?] he thought. Then he shifted his attention to the hand that was tightly pulling him to run faster.

////

"It is small and warm like before." He commented while staring at the pale hand that was holding his big and calloused hand.

The memory of their first meeting goes back into his mind like a flashback.

The warm color of the sky and the setting sun, the cold breeze of the upcoming night with the warm vibrance of Nida at that time, is something he had yearned for a long time.

Ever since his first werewolf transformation and killing of many innocent people, he never thought that a chance to hold her hand again would come.

He never expected to be forgiven since he couldn't forgive himself either. However, "I'm sorry" was the only word he could say the moment he touched and held her hand.

"Done with crying?" Nida asked when the sound of sobbing dissappear. 

Her frown became worse when Randell didn't respond and just kept his hand tightly held in hers.

"Aren't you afraid of me now?" Finally, he spoke and asked.

With the curtain separating them, Nida stared at it and watched Randell's shadow move restlessly. 

She can't believe that the monster that she's scared of is acting so timid right now.

"I am not for now." she honestly answered. 

She is still wary of him, but the fright of being killed is not present anymore because she is now wondering soul who is between the living and the dead. What more could she be scared of?

"W-why are you here, Nids? Especially naked?" He wonders, also, checking if this is reality.

"I am not a pervert, okay!" she shouted as her face turned red due to embarrassment. "I didn't know that wondering souls wouldn't take clothes when they die! I was killed! I came here to be revive!"

"What?" 

Randell was about to pull out his hand, but Nida pulled his hand back and held him with her other hand too.

"Don't let go! We only held hands for less than an hour, but I could already see my toe! Please don't let go!" She exclaimed while clenching Randell's hand.

Her toe, which was invisible to her invisible body, is now visible to her. It means her body is slowly reacting to Randell's life energy. 

"What do you mean by that?" His eyes shook as he stared at the curtain.

"Hours ago I was killed! I awakened my priestess power and said, I can revive myself if I can collect the life energy of my spiritual partner." She hastily explained.

"How can a dark being be your spiritual partner?" he asked confusingly. 

He is considered a dark being and could be purified by Divine beings, such as priests, priestesses, and other beings with light attributes. 

He was confused for a moment, but was suddenly reminded of the single priest he knew who had dark attributes. 

"Huh? Do you know about this power?" she asked while he saw Randell's shadow in the curtain, he nodded.

"Of course. H-how did you know this side of the world?" he softly replied.

"I really don't have any knowledge. I just know some things just after my death. "

"WAIT, Y-YOU REALLY DIE?" Randell asked loudly while still stuttering. 

"I am, so please let me collect your energy until I regain my body." she sincerely asked.

"Then where did you leave your body?"

"You don't have to worry about that." she said, while thinking differently with her words. 

[Daniel told me I wouldn't need it since I'd gained a new body. I won't need to worry, right?]

She trusted Daniel and shook off the thought of worrying about her original body.

Unbeknownst to them, the police officer who was checking her body at the morgue fainted in shock. The poor police officer who witnessed the corpse's toe evaporated and disappeared. 

 (Note: Neng is used for strangers a lot younger than you, mostly used for children.)