B R A T S

Runt From Hell

"I'm off." Kei says as she finishes putting on her shoes at the doorway.

"Wait, Kei!" her mother, Shizuko, calls before walking out of the bathroom with her baby in arms. "Er, remember what we talked about? About picking fights with strangers?"

Kei huffs. "Yeah..."

"So you won't."

Kei rolls her eyes. "Yeah, I won't pick fights with strangers. But if <em>they</em> start it, I'm kicking their asses!"

"Of course!" Shizuko perks up before bending down to her daughter's height and pinching her cheek (but instantly having her hand shoved of by said daughter). "No one's messing with my baby!" she says in a rather proud voice before adding, "But if there's a cop near by make sure they see it's self-defense, okay? I'm trying to make a good impression in the new neighborhood. I heard a lot of moms take their babies to the park here, maybe I'll go and try to make friends. Wait, how do you make those again?" she pauses before she bursts out in laughter. "What am I saying? Of course your mother knows how to make friends, Kei, don't you wo-"

"I'M OFF. BYE."

"Oh. Right. Bye! Say bye, Ren-chan!" she smiles at her baby as he waves his hand clumsily and makes excited noises.

Kei closes the door and walks away. With fighting random people off the table, she wonders what the next best way for her to kill time is.

She really doesn't know.

What do other elementary schoolers do for fun?

'If I knew this would be so hard I would've just stayed home...' Kei groans. Then she hears a small child throwing a tantrum.

"But mooooooom! I really want to go!"

"I know, baby. But mommy has work stuff to do right now. We'll go to the amusement park once I'm finished with this."

"BUT-! I WANNA GO NOW! I WANNA GO NOOOOOWWW!"

Kei winces. Bratty, spoiled kids are the worst. But the amusement park could be a a good idea, she decides to at least try it.

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'Well, shit.' Kei thinks after being denied to enter the fastest, highest roller coaster due to both her age and height.

She isn't very sure what to do next. There's plenty of attractions, but all of them have ridiculously long lines, so she just starts walking around the park mindlessly, hoping something will pop out and grab her interest.

When she realizes it, she's not actually around any attractions. She's walked out into some kind of garden/park thing, probably for parents to rest while their children are on a ride.

What makes Kei realize where she is, is someone calling, "Oy, you!"

She turns around. There's three guys approaching her, and they're at least a head taller than her. 'Probably middle schoolers...' she thinks.

"Hello, little guy. Having fun here at the park? You alone?" one of them asks with a smirk on his face, the one in the middle with a big orange vest.

"Yeah." Kei answers plainly.

"Great, great. You see, we've been having fun too. But suddenly we ran out of money, so we're in a pinch. We wanna keep playing, after all."

"But you'll help us, right little man?" another one said with the same smug look in his face, this one had glasses.