𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚, 𝐟𝐮𝐫𝐮𝐲𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐢 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

00:00 - Time Waits For No One.

Will something be different?

It won't be something like that

But this day will be over

When the minute and second hands overlap

The world holds its breath for a little while

Zero O'Clock
_____________________

A little girl in seemingly an age of ten dressed in a white simple yet elegant dress calmly read the leather hard-covered book given to her by her father as a gift under the shade of a rather huge tree. Turning to the next page of her small pocketbook, she saw a familiar queen of hearts playing card full of scratches bookmarking the page that she received from her's and her mother's disguise and acting mentor. A few words are also underlined in the page but she shrugged it all off when all of the sudden, loud exclaims of insults interrupted her reading session which caused her to perked up startled by the noise. The small brunette walked towards the source of the noise in attempt to ask those making it to keep it down but the scene that welcomed her caused her to gasp and immediately went to try to stop it from further occuring.

"Why are you three picking up on him?! Don't hurt him!" Sumire exclaimed to the three boys ganging up on another boy, who have blonde hair and tanned skin. She quickly approached them and glared to the three boys, causing them to step back from the kid on the ground. Sumire offered her hand to the boy in attempt to help him get up but he just averted his gaze away from her and get up on his own. The bullies stared at the girl infront of them before one of them laughed before pointing at Sumire's lightly brown hair, causing the other two to also get into a fit of mocking laughter.

"Another half-half? You two belong together!" The boy mockingly picked on the two, causing the two other boys to approached Sumire and the other kid before pushing them harshly to each other. The brunette glared at the boy who pushed her, resulting into the boy getting annoyed before swinging his fist to the girl's direction. The blonde boy's eye widened at the sight and tried to stop the bully from hurting Sumire but the other two held him back in place.

Before the boy's fist could touch Sumire, she quickly get ahold of his wrist, dropping her book in the ground before managing to give the boy a sloppy one shoulder throw she once saw Officer Mouri Kogoro skillfully performed against a criminal who tried to run away before during one of her visits. The other two boys shared a look before letting go of the blonde boy, dragging the now crying boy who tried to punch Sumire earlier as they run away.

Sumire sighed in relief, rubbing her aching shoulder before she faced the blonde boy who's looking at her in shock. She quickly approached him before inspecting the visible injuries on his face once she reached him.

"Are you okay?" Sumire worriedly asked as she caressed his bruised cheek, a frown visible on her face as her eyes saw the other wounds on his arms and knees.

"Y-Yeah..." He replied.

"Oi! Don't press it!" The blonde boy yelled as he backed away from Sumire when she lightly pat his cheek in attempt to see how bad it hurts for the boy. Instantly regretting her action, she apologized.

"I'm sorry. Here, let me clean your face." She whispered, taking out her handkerchief from the pocket of her dress before gently using it to remove the blood and dirt from the boy's face. The blonde boy tensed before blushing at their closeness but said nothing of it as he averted his gaze away from the girl infront of him in embarassment as she continue to clean the wounds on his face.

"You can call me Zero..." The boy bashfully whispered to Sumire, knowing that he'll most likely stutter if he ever stated it with more volume. Sumire lightly chuckled as she saw an evident shade of red spread across Zero's face, causing the boy to rub his nape bashfully.