A Secret Unraveled (Completed)

Chapter 0.12: Down Time

Passing through the park as a shortcut, I noticed a pink haired girl alone and on the verge of tears.

"Excuse me, but why are you here all alone? Where are your parents?" I asked, squatting to the same level as her. I couldn't just leave her here.

"I got l-lost." she replied coldly, stuttering a bit.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Why do you need to know?" she retorted.

Damn, she has a sharp tongue...

"Well, since you're not gonna tell me anything, where are you trying to go? I can take you there if that's alright." I offered.

"How do I know that I can trust you," she demanded while glaring at me.

"Well, I can just leave you here or I can get the police to help you," I suggested.

"Fine, I'll go with you. But first, what's your name?" she asked.

"My name's Shiniko, what about you?" I held out my hand to her.

"Sakura," She grabbed on lightly. "Now let's go."

"Where to?" I asked, standing back up.

"Wakaba Park Cram School, you know where it is?" she questioned.

"Sure do! Let's go," I said cheerfully with a smile.

I took Sakura back to the school, the principal thanked me. I offered to visit and volunteer from time to time.

When I got home, I continued with my projects. After finishing the last of them, I made dinner, then got ready for bed, but before that I did some more work on my laptop. Then, I went to bed.

The next day, I went back to the cram school. The principal, Matsukata, showed me around and introduced me to everyone. The kids were so excited to meet someone new. It was like drowning in an ocean of little people.

Matsukata told me that he's always very busy, even with a few helpers around. I volunteered to teach the kids, look after them, and help him run errands.

Matsukata was glad to have gained another helper, but little did he know, I was only doing this and going outside more to forget about my school life.

All the kids were happy to have someone that played with them and taught them. I got to know most of them, and Sakura, or as the others call her, 'Sis Sakura', opened up a lot more because we could relate to each other— we knew what it was like to be bullied at such a young age.

In the morning, she would meet up with Akari and hang out together, and we would have lunch together. Afterwards, I would go to the cram school, and pick up a few things on my way there.

I would stay until all the children were picked up and all the cleaning was done. Then, on my way to the training grounds, I would stop by the lab and visit The Reaper and Yukimura sensei.

At the training grounds, I either train, get assignments. Irina's been receiving missions overseas, so I haven't had lessons in awhile. On days I choose to train, I can choose to go home early or stay late, most of the time I choose to stay late.

Some days, I don't go anywhere and have a self care day instead.

~Time Skip~

Today, I was going to hang out with Akari for the whole day since we both had nothing to do.

We went to lots of different places together. At the end of the day, it was already dark out, so we decided to go to the lab together.

On our way there, there was a loud explosion. Both of us were knocked to the ground.