Green Knight of Kuoh

The Stray

Issei stared at the boy, unsure of what to do. A large part of him wanted to run over and check if the boy was okay, but there was still a small part of him screaming to either run away or fight. Slowly that feeling faded away, and the second he felt it disappear, the boy turned around and continued walking away.

"Hey, wait!" Issei called out. The boy stopped, but he didn't turn around. Issei took a step forward, but quickly stopped. Was it a good idea to speak to the kid? He didn't know him at all, not to mention the feeling of danger he just felt, but there was something drawing him to the boy. Issei didn't know if it was from his heart, from his guilt, or from something else, but he didn't care at this point.

Issei quickly ran up to the boy and maneuvered himself so he was directly in front of him. Issei immediately noticed how dead he looked. His skin was colored and he looked healthy, but when he looked into the boy's eyes, he found nothing looking back. No shine, no spark. Just a dull green void that housed an emotion he couldn't decipher.

"Hey, I don't know if you remember me" Issei tried to introduce himself awkwardly. The green haired boy didn't respond, instead he kept looking at him with the same dead expression "I, ummm, I was the one who found you after... y'know" Issei didn't know why this was so hard. Maybe it was the way the boy was looking at him. Or maybe it was because of the danger he felt not too long ago. Regardless, he still tried to talk "Did you just get out of the hospital? You look much better"

Issei took a look at him. He was confused at why the boy was still wearing a hospital gown. 'Maybe he just got out and didn't have any clothing?' Issei tried to guess. The boy did have a suitcase and briefcase with him when Issei found him. The ambulance drivers didn't grab the luggage, so Issei took it back to his house for safekeeping. So maybe his clothes were in there?

Issei continued to look at the boy and his eyes settled on his right hand. They immediately widened when he got a good look at it. His hand was all disfigured and scarred, not to mention he was bleeding from multiple cuts. "Whoa, what the hell happened to you?" Issei asked, staring at the small amount of blood dripping onto the pavement from his fingertips. "Do you need any help? Do you want me to call someone? Any family?

This time he got a reaction out of the boy. It wasn't much, but when tears started rolling down his cheek, Issei knew he hit a touchy subject 'Ah crap!' He thought before quickly trying to switch topics "Uh, well, my house isn't too far from here." Issei informed him "I'm not the best at medical stuff, but I can wrap your hand up in some bandages if you want." he offered before adding "Also I have your suitcase and briefcase. I can give them to you if you need"

The boy blinked before looking Issei directly in the eyes "My... Stuff?" The boy weakly responded. He sounded far away despite being directly in front of Issei.

The brown haired boy nodded his head "Yeah. Just follow me" He told the boy before walking away. When he didn't hear footsteps behind him, he turned around to see the boy still standing in the same exact spot, staring forward "Well? Come on!" He waved the boy over. The boy blinked before slowly walking over to Issei and following him.

——

Miki Hyoudou didn't expect much when she returned home from the store. She needed to grab some sliced pork for the Nikujaga she was making for dinner. Once she got home, her son walked out from the living room to her right. "Hey mom!" Issei greeted her warmly

"Issei. You're back sooner than I expected" Miki claimed, surprised to see her son home. She thought he'd stay at the arcade for longer and then go find some of those weird mangas he bought.

"W-Well, I, uhhh. I had enough of looking around and came home" Issei told her.

Immediately She could tell something was off just by how her son was talking to her. He sounded happy, but stressed and anxious at the same time. Miki saw his eyes dart to his right before quickly focusing back on her. Raising an eyebrow, she turned her head to the left and her eyes widened when she saw some random boy sitting on the couch looking down at his bandaged right hand. He was as still as a statue, not even turning to look at them