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"Um . . . Elder sister?" Takes.h.i.+ points toward his face .

Takeuchi Rie raises her brows . "What?"

"That . . . " Haru points toward his head, awkwardly . Takes.h.i.+'s sister looks really mad right now . Takes.h.i.+'s brother doesn't look any good either . Haru is sure that he can feeling repelling angry waves coming out of them .

"Did you lose your ability to speak clearly?" Takeuchi Rie yells, annoyed and frustrated .

"Your mask . . . ," Takes.h.i.+ tells her awkwardly . She took her mask and hood off when she was trying to beat up Ren . There is utter silence . Everyone is staring at her with different expressions- amazement, dislike, anger, shock, and infatuation . Kiyohira stands beside her, glaring and memorizing their faces who are watching the certain clueless woman like hawks .

"Merciless lady!" A middle-aged man suddenly falls near her feet . "You are a G.o.ddess . "

"Oh, c.r.a.p!" Her shoulders slouch down when she realizes what's going on . She curses the red-head fool . Kiyohira pulls her back before the man could grab on to her feet . She stumbles and falls into his arms . She looks up at him with confusion and asks, "What's wrong with you?"

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Kiyohira doesn't answer . He drags her behind him . For the first time of his life, the middle-aged man experiences the direct invisible wrath rays . His body freezes when he meets Kiyohira's eyes .

Kiyohira bends down on his one knee and tells him in a low voice, "Can't look or touch . "

"I won't . . . I won't . . . ever . . . " The man trembles . He wants to run back to his house now . His realizes that he can't move his legs because of the fear .

"Disappear . "

The man has received the emperor's decree, but his legs are not cooperating . He crawls backward, fast . Kiyohira turns around to talk to her, but she is already gone .

"She said that she is going back to the room to rest," Takes.h.i.+ informs him . "I am going too . Good luck with defending her from her fans . "

"What fans?" Kiyohira mutters to himself . How many people did she offend in her life?

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***

"Rie chan?" He is surprised to see me outside his school . "Did you skip school today?"

"Yes . " I smile at him . "Ren Kun, today is your birthday . "

"You remember?" His eyes s.h.i.+ne with excitement . He is always like a child . Pure but lonely boy . Like a star in the dark sky . Ren is always s.h.i.+ning, but his laughter is lonely . When I was ten, I met him at the gaming parlor . His family is broken like mine . Both of us found solace in games . Since then, we have been friends .

"How can I forget?" I take his hand and slip in the hand-made bracelet . "I wish you every year . Still, you have the same reaction . "

"Rie chan, even I can't remember my own birthday . " Ren inspects the bracelet on his wrist . "You made it for me?"

"Don't ask the obvious . " I chuckled when I saw his reaction . He is stumped . He must have thought that I am not capable of making these sort of things . "

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"I will always cherish it . " His voice is barely a whisper . There is a lone look in his eyes . He must be thinking about his family . A few days ago, he told me the truth about his family . His younger brother is sickly . His parents spend most of their times working to pay his younger brother's hospital charges . He wants to win the world hack series to pay for his brother's surgery . He hopes that his parents will finally pay attention to him after his brother gets well .

I cough uneasily to bring his attention back . "I have something else for you . "

"What is it?" He eyes me with expectations . This boy loves gifts .

"Promise me . " I hand him the sealed letter . "You will read this after the world hack series ends . "

"Rie chan, why are you writing a letter?" He blinks at me . Then, there is a look of horror in his eyes . "Don't tell me . . . this is a suicide letter . You are going to kill yourself . "

" . . . " I want to know how he deduced that . "Don't be ridiculous . If I wanted to kill myself . I would have done it that day . "

"You were too embarra.s.sed to jump because I found you there . " He pockets the letter . "I will still follow you to death . You will be blamed for my death if you do anything dangerous . "

I stare at my feet . It was in middle school . I was going to jump off the bridge . I don't know how Ren found me that day . He kept yelling that he would follow me to death if I did it . It was embarra.s.sing and annoying at the same time .

"I won't do it . " I let out a sigh . "But I wonder if I can live my life like this . "

"Rie chan, you just have to live it for me . " He pats my head . "I will make sure that our lives become easier with time . "

After the world hack series ends, Ren completely disappears . A few days later, I find out that he has gone abroad for studies with the money .

I don't think that I am upset about his lies . If he wanted to go abroad for studies, that was fine . He left without a word . He lied about his reasons . If he had told me the truth, I still would have lost willingly . Back then, if he had come to me and apologized before he left, I would have forgiven him anyway .

My parents have left me . Ren also left me . It is nothing new .

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