Nina the Miraculous

Chapter 1: Fate's funny way of making things things happen

Takao stopped at the red light, when he heard a scream. Both he and Himuro Tatsuya looked at the direction the yelling came from, only to see a girl lose her balance as a car nearly hit her. She jumped out of the way just in time, but dropped all bags she was carrying, all of which ended up under the vehicles' wheels. The car didn't stop and it looked like its driver didn't have any intention of checking if the person he almost got hurt - or killed - was alright.

Realizing that no one else saw what happened, the boys abandoned the rickshaw and ran up to her, wanting to make sure that she was not hurt.

"Miss! Miss, are you alright?" cried Himuro, dropping to his knees in front of her.

"Honestly, what are these drivers thinking?" added Takao. "You're not hurt are you?"

The girl looked up at them slowly. Takao and Himuro were both surprised to see a very foreign face - she was clearly not Asian, with her pale skin, bushy brown hair and round eyes - but also startled to see that the girl was very definitely crying.

"Y...Yeah," she rasped, not very convincely, but she spoke Japanese like a native. "I'm fine. Really. Thanks, but you don't need to worry about me."

"But you're not fine, miss," Himuro said gently. Tears were streaming down her cheeks and she was breathing a little bit too fast. She was panicking. "Miss, I need you to breathe with me. Can you do that?."

The girl did not answer, but started shaking.

"I'm fine," she was saying like a mantra, eyes closed tightly. "I'm fine. I'm fine." But she wasn't. If anything, she was getting more and more panicked.

Takao, who's never encountered a person with a panic attack before, was really starting to worry now. Himuro hid his own emotions not wanting to be anything but supportive and calm, for both Takao and the girl's sake.

"Miss, can I take your hand?" Yosen's shooting guard asked. Takao was amazed by his calmness.

The girl nodded. Himuro smiled at her.

"Thank you," he said, taking her hand in his, gently. "What is your name, miss?"

"Nina," she replied softly. "Nina Lisowa."

Himuro's smile widened.

"A beautiful name for a beautiful lady like yourself," he complimented. Nina blushed a bit and a tiny smile appeared on her face, which was a good sign.

"So, Nina," Himuro continued. "Are you hurt anywhere?

Takao noticed that the more Himuro was talking, the more Nina was calming down, slowly, but surely.

"No, I don't think so," she said, her voice small and uncertain. "But my... I was shopping... Is all of it lost?

The boys turned around to see two plastic bags lying on the streat and indeed were they both crushed.

"Yeah," they said in union.

Nina, still a little shaken, sighed.

"There goes my dinner and tomorrow's lunch then," she mumbled. "Perfect."

Himuro offered Nina another smile.

"I'm sure your parents won't mind after you tell them what happened," he tried to reassure her.

Nina snorted.

"My mom went back to Poland for a week. She's not in Japan and won't be for another five days. And I don't have a dad."

Her answer worried Himuro and Takao. Especially since just a few minutes ago, Nina could've been seriously hurt and her mother wouldn't be there for her. In fact, she wouldn't know that anything was wrong until it was too late. Besides, Himuro was aghast that this girl, who couldn't possibly be older than fifteen or sixteen at most, was left completely alone in a foreign country.