As A Family

"Ha..., ha..."

Hiding in a deserted alley, Shinji fiercely swirled his shoulders up and down.

Large beads of sweat exuded down from his forehead as he pressed against his bleeding arm.

He gritted with the back of his teeth to endure the pain while slowly squatting his body against the wall.

"I-it's nothing to worry about, Mio..."

"Un...compared to that, show me your arm."

As Shinji was asked, Mio, who was also running away into the alley behind him, placed her hand over his arm with a calm expression.

Then, as the part wrapped in her hand began to emit a faint glow, the pain felt by his arm slowly disappeared.

"Wow...that is amazing."

"I just blocked the wound with reiryoku.──From that."

While speaking, Mio glanced quickly towards towards the direction of the street.

From there came a steady stream of footsteps and voice searching for the boy and others.

"...Ah. Who are those people?"

He whispered while staring at the silhouette flashing through the slit in the building.

That right. Right now Shinji and Mio were being perused by an enigmatic group.

The reasons for the pursuit and their true identity were not clear.

However, while Shinji and Mio were going shopping like usual, foreigners suddenly appeared and began to attack them.

It was just like a cheap scene from an action movie.

"..."

Mio closed her lips, remaining silent.

Shinji slanted his head in curiosity.

"Un? What's wrong, Mio."

"....Probably, they are chasing after me."

"Huh?"

"Inside, there were some people I had the impression of having seen already. We've talked about this before, the people I remember seeing first."

Mio creased her eyebrows as she painfully continued.

"...I'm sorry. You got involved because of me. ──Run away, after that I'll..." "I don't want that!"

Shinji interrupted Mio's words as she quickly sprang back up.

"Eh──"

"From the every moment, I talked to the girl at the center of that explosion; I was already prepared for trouble. And──"

He pulled up Mio's hands in order to prevent her from seeing his flustered face while he was speaking.

"We are...family."

"...!"

Mio's hands trembled a bit from being surprised.

Afterwards, she tightly gripped back on the his hands.

There was no need for words.

This was the best answer.

Shinji gave a slight nod, pulling on Mio's hand as they began walking.

"──Anyway, let's first head to the police. We'll say that were being chased by dangerous people and need protection. Don't look down on the rule of law for

this country..."

However, at that moment, he suddenly stopped his feet dead in his tracks.

The reason was simple.

Just as they were leaving the alley, they ran into a man while walking.

Bright blond hair and a lean face, it was a westerner who was dressed in black clothes.

Without a doubt, he was part of the group chasing the boy earlier.

"...! Get down!"

Mio stepped forward as if to cover him.

"Mio!"

"It will be fine, I won't kill him....!"

After saying that, Mio glared at the man.

However, the thick tension did not last very long.

──Since the man took in a

heavy sigh while placing his hand against his forehead.