"Just don't make a mess," Rina muttered as she finally let herself rest, curling up in the chair, her body aching with exhaustion. She could still hear the soft rustle of Dabi shifting on the couch, his movements slow and deliberate.
"Mess?" he scof...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
A week later and the walk home was quiet, the usual buzz of the city reduced to a murmur in the late-night streets. Rina kept her hands in her jacket pockets, head down as she moved through the empty lanes, her mind drifting to the bar and the endless snippets of conversations she'd overheard.
She was only a few blocks away from her apartment when she felt someone brush past her shoulder, rough and abrupt. Her instincts kicked in, and she turned to see a man, eyes wide and unfocused, staring at her with a strange intensity. His face was partially hidden under a hood, and his clothes were dishevelled, the kind of worn look that hinted he'd been on the run for a while.
He took a step closer, his voice low but urgent. "You need to get out of here. He's coming."
Her heart skipped, but she held her ground, trying to steady her voice. "Who's coming?"
The man shot a glance over his shoulder, his breath coming in frantic gasps, eyes darting as if he could see something she couldn't. "They said he's... he's dangerous. He's here to hunt, and he doesn't care who's in the way." The panic in his eyes was palpable, but before she could ask anything else, he muttered something under his breath and took off, sprinting down the street, glancing back as if to make sure no one was following him.
Rina felt a chill settle in the pit of her stomach. She scanned the shadows around her, the street stretching ahead, empty and eerily still. She tried to shake it off as she continued walking, but something kept her nerves taut, an uneasy prickle that wouldn't leave her alone.
And then she heard it—a slow, almost dragging sound, as if something heavy was being pulled along the pavement just behind her. She whipped around, and her gaze landed on a figure moving from the shadows, his eyes gleaming under the streetlight with an unsettling, almost gleeful grin. His clothes were torn, streaked with dirt and blood, his face pale with a kind of wild, twisted expression.
"Now, what do we have here?" he said, voice low and mocking, as if he'd found something precious he didn't want to lose.
Rina backed up instinctively, every sense on high alert. This wasn't an ordinary thug. The man's smile widened as he noticed her retreat.
"Come on now, don't be shy," he taunted, taking a step toward her, his fingers flexing as if eager to close the distance. "People who run usually end up much worse than they start."
The warning from the stranger replayed in her mind, and she realized, too late, that she'd wandered right into a trap of someone who wanted nothing but trouble.
Rina's mind raced, each step backwards calculated as she scanned the street for an escape route. Her eyes darted to a nearby alley, dimly lit and narrow but offering a potential escape if she could just make it. She took a slow, steady breath, her pulse pounding as she prepared to bolt.
With one sharp movement, she turned on her heel and sprinted. The adrenaline drove her forward, her footsteps echoing against the walls as she tore down the alley. But as she ran, the dread gnawing at her grew with each step. The villain's taunting laughter echoed after her, a slow, mocking sound that made her heart lurch.
