The Left Wing || OC x Ranpo

Chapter 3

III

Narrator's POV

Pulse. Check his pulse. But where?

Her hands trembled as she knelt beside the unconscious man. His chest wasn't rising as it should, and his skin had taken on an alarming pallor. Akiko's breath caught in her throat as she studied the man. His hair looked like fallen wisps of cloud against the pavement, as if he had fallen from the sky..

Heaven..

He's not dead. He must be alive.

A scowl takes over her face, and her head whips up to the children. She needed to do something. She didn't need to be the one who was found with an almost deceased man on her hands.

"Get an adult, what are you all sulking for?" she barked at the children, her voice sharper than intended. Her eyes locked onto a boy clutching a red ball. "You, run! Get an adult!" She points to a young boy with neatly trimmed hair. This boy was clutching the red ball to his chest. The one who ran for the ball.

The boy whimpered, dropping his ball and stumbling away towards the market stalls. The remaining children watched Akiko with a mixture of awe and trepidation, their eyes pleading for a miracle. The sobbing girl was among them, and Ranka watched her sister with hope.

She seemed to know what to do.

She was the hero to these young kids.

Some of the kids seemed to straighten up, hoping to carry also, a heroic deed given from this angel.

With this temporary confidence boost at having been able to order a child around, Akiko almost swore she could feel the adrenaline rushing through her. She takes in a sudden inhale, before looking back down at the man.

Pulse. Right.

Her hand, trembling with a mix of fear and determination, slowly reached towards the man's neck.

As her fingertips neared his pale skin, Akiko felt time slow to a crawl. The world around her seemed to fade away, leaving only her and the unconscious stranger in sharp focus. A strange sensation washed over her, as if an unseen force was guiding her movements.

In that moment, her mind, previously clouded with panic, suddenly cleared. Knowledge she didn't know she possessed flooded her consciousness.

The correct placement of her fingers, the gentle pressure needed, the rhythm to check for - it all came to her as naturally as breathing.

It was as if she had done this a thousand times before, though she knew she hadn't. This sudden influx of medical knowledge both comforted and confused her. Where was this coming from? How did she know exactly what to do?

As her fingers finally made contact with the man's neck, it was as if, in trying to save this stranger, she was unlocking a part of herself she never knew existed. With bated breath, she focused all her senses on detecting that crucial pulse, silently willing the man to cling to life. His heartbeat was slow, but Akiko didn't know whether it was time or really his heart that came to a slow end.

It wasn't the end, she knew it was written all over him. She wasn't alone, but felt the serenity of this space calm her. Her breath left her mouth, and knowing words left her lips:

"Thou shalt not die."

Binding white light slowly enveloped Akiko and the unconscious man, its radiance growing stronger with each passing second. From the man's chest, a surge of luminous butterflies erupted, their delicate wings carrying gusts of ethereal energy. These otherworldly creatures transformed before Akiko's eyes, their hues shifting from a soft baby blue to a vibrant primrose yellow, each butterfly glowing with an intensity that seemed to challenge the sun.