CH 405

C405: Before I knew it

“Don’t let them get away! Kill the man if you want, but bring me the woman alive!”

Demiurgus shouted we fled. I was so annoyed by his words that I thought about going back and cutting him down, but then I saw the girl running frantically with a look of fear on her face and decided against it.

There are two soldiers standing guard in the direction we are going. Countless soldiers are chasing us from behind, so we have no choice but to force our way through here.

The soldiers noticed us and drew their swords but we were faster. We approached them at full speed and quickly took them both down before they could counterattack.

Having fought against father and Kiyone, I could easily win against two ordinary opponents. In fact, I think it would be tougher to fight one dad than to fight ten soldiers.

I looked over and saw her staring blankly at me as I overpowered the soldiers. She looks surprised, as if she thinks I’m stronger than I look but we were on the run, and there was no time to dawdle. I pulled her hand and headed further in.

Then we ran around frantically, going into ducts, through underpasses, and so on. I was so absorbed in the situation that I don’t know exactly where we went or how we got there, but before I knew it, we had managed to get rid of the soldiers.

“I’m Yuta, what’s your name?”

I asked that when I realized I didn’t even know her name. She made a slightly shy gesture, moped and fumbled, and then answered in a small voice,

“…..I am……Mayu……”

“I see, Mayu. You look like you’ve had a pretty bad time, are you feeling okay?”

“Yeah……it hurt a while ago, but I’m fine now ……”

“Good.”

“Let’s see……where did Yuta Onii-chan come from?”

“What, Onii-chan……I’m not that much older than Mayu.”

I don’t know Mayu’s actual age, but based on her looks alone, she looks a little older than me. I asked back, not understanding the intent of her words. However, she continued to say something that surprised me a little.

“I’m five years old.”

“Five years old! No, you don’t look five years old.”

“I don’t care if you say that……I’m five years old……my mom said so on my birthday the other day. She said that since Mayu is already five years old, she should be able to do everything by herself…….Huh?　Where is mother……where is she? Oh no! Where am I? I want to go home!”

The girl’s spirit seems to have become unstable, perhaps because she felt uneasy about her current situation. Her expression hardened and she began to scurry restlessly.

“All right. I’ll take you home, so calm down…….”

“Mother said it’s dangerous to stay at home……no……home is dangerous……she said a lot of bad adults are coming………that’s…… different……here……I was too late to run away and the……adults caught me and……I hate it! Let go of my mother!!!!”

“What’s wrong, Mayu?”

She starts talking incoherently and I get worried and call out to her. She stares at one point and seems to be looking at something.

“Oh no!!!! Mommy!!!!”

The moment Mayu exclaimed that, a flashback-like image appeared to me for a moment. It was of a soldier stabbing a woman in the stomach with a sword.

Tears were welling up in her eyes. It seemed that the person being stabbed with the sword was Mayu’s mother. It would have been shocking to see her mother like that.

I can only do this for now……but I gently hugged her as she sobbed.