- # # # 1 # # # -

Ever since Rocko started working with Ranoiko on projects that didn’t involve endangering himself and public failures, his reputation with the villagers gradually improved enough that they no longer voiced complaints about him to Ryuto or questioned Ryuto’s decisions regarding him.

However, it wasn’t long after that he had grown enough to start putting to practice all he had learned in the years prior about being a Chieftain.

At first, it was Ryuto who encouraged Rocko to be more proactive in helping out the villagers with things such as reinforcing the integrity of their huts, or carrying food between the levels, or bandaging injuries, or administering medicine, among other things.

It was stressful, but they were Ryuto’s requests, and they didn’t happen too frequently, so Rocko could handle them. Plus, he had his new tools and the stars to cope, and a new friend who he could play with. All things considered, for once, life in the village didn’t seem so bad.

One day, a villager approached him.

A couple years had passed since Rocko’s last incident. In that time, he’d never been approached for anything by anyone other than Ayo, Ryuto, Ramento, or Ranoiko when something he requested was finished. Yet this villager, who he never really interacted with, had approached him.

That was only natural. How else was the villager supposed to ask him for help?

The task was simple: help them find their child.

That was weird. Why did they come to Rocko about that? Shouldn’t they have gone to his dad, Ryuto? No, how did they even lose their child?!

Well, it sounded easy enough, so why not?

Then, later, another villager approached him.

Then another.

And another.

Before he realized it, Rocko had been sought out multiple times on a daily basis by various villagers who needed help with various things ranging from menial labor to genuinely challenging and even dangerous problems.

The requests never ceased.

Did they so easily forget how they treated Rocko only four years earlier, when he had jumped off the edge of the village? Just because enough time had passed that he grew two-thirds the height of most adults didn’t make him any less of a child, nor did it change that he was the very same child they once mocked and resented.

While it was nice that they weren’t treating him like the worst thing they’d ever laid eyes on anymore, they weren’t treating him like a kid, either.

They treated him like a young Chieftain... and Rocko hated that.

It wasn’t as if his training had stopped, either. He still went through the motions of observing his father work, getting quizzed on what he observed, and even putting what he learned into practice every now and then — all for the sake of becoming Chieftain.

So if he wasn’t being pestered by the villagers, it was because he was unwillingly training for a future he didn’t want. Rarely did he get to do anything else.

He truly hated it.

Just leave him alone. Let him be alone with his thoughts. Let him make his own requests to Ranoiko instead of requesting stuff from him. Let him play with Ayo without interruption. Let him gaze at the stars in peace.

Just let him have a normal childhood, at least.

Just let him be a kid.

- # # # 2 # # # -

The village was completely shielded from the sun by the Mother Root. Villagers were leaving the Dining Hall in scattered numbers.

Among those still in the Dining Hall were Ryuroito, Ranoiko, and Ayo.

Normally, during lunch, Ayo would sit with and leave with Rocko. But, every so often, Ryuto or Ramento would spend the hour lecturing, quizzing, or otherwise training Rocko in some way. This was one of those times, so Ayo sat with her family instead.

Each of their trays were just about empty. They had eaten all their fish and only a few wriggling worms remained.

Ranoiko was the first to clean her tray. She stood up, tray in hands, and took it to where all the other empty trays had been placed.

When she returned, instead of sitting down, she told the other two, “Hey, so, I’m going to be occupied until the Convergence tonight, so I’d appreciate it if neither of you went to the hut until after that, okay? I can’t risk breaking concentration.”

“No problems here, Rano!” Ryuoroito said, mouth full of worms, with a hand gesture reminiscent of an overenthusiastic thumbs-up. He swallowed his food, and clearly said, “I’m actually gonna be busy in a few seconds myself, seeing as I’m just about done here, and the Chief and little dude over there aren’t. The villagers need their substitute, y’know?”

Ranoiko sighed in relief. “That’s good, I was worried you were gonna get really pushy again and be all ‘But Ranoooo, I wanna spend time with yaaaaaaa.’”

“H-hey! What’s so bad about that?!”

Ranoiko laughed. “Nothing. It’s adorable. It’s just difficult to deal with when I have other things to do, you know?”

“Y-yeah, but it kinda hurts when ya say it to my face like that.”

“Oh, don’t be such a baby.” Ranoiko turned to Ayo and said, “Ayo, will you be alright on your own?”

Ayo had been taking her time eating the last couple worms on her tray. The worms, which were normally white, had a golden look to their skin, and occasionally jolted and wriggled with abruptness and rigidity. Ayo had been sucking their gooey, smoked insides out. She took a moment to finish the last worm before responding with an excited smile, “Is there anything I can do to help?!”

Ranoiko chuckled awkwardly. “N-no, Ayo. There’s nothing you can do. If anything, please stay out of the way. This one is even more fragile than that time, so I don’t want to risk a thing.”

With a frown, Ayo looked away from Ranoiko.

“I’m sorry to put it that way but I really can’t afford any slip ups this time, okay?”

“Okay...” Ayo relented.

“Good,” Ranoiko smiled. “If either of you for any reason have to go to the hut, please just... leave me be. But try not to go there period.”

“Got it!” Ryuroito said.

“Got it...” Ayo simultaneously said.

With that, Ranoiko departed from the Dining Hall.

“H-hey, dad...” Ayo began, turning her head to Ryuroito, who had stood up with his tray in hand, “is there anything I could do to help you?”

“Anything ya could do to help?” Ryuroito repeated softly. “Hmmm... If ya want to help me, ya could go around and see what other people need, maybe? Well, ya were probably gonna do that, anyway, weren’tcha?”

“...so basically, ‘no,’ right?”

Ryuroito regretfully shook his head, “Sorry, Ayo. Not much I can tell ya.”

Ayo sighed. “It’s okay,” she said as she got up with her empty tray.

The two of them returned their trays to a pile of similarly empty trays that had traces of worm and fish left on them.

After they left the Dining Hall, while Ryuroito mostly just surveyed the village, Ayo went around and asked people if they needed assistance.

The responses were generally along the lines of...

“Yeah, you can leave me alone, kid.”

“Huh? Do you even have a specialty yet? How could you help?”

“Ah, don’t worry about it, kiddo.”

“Aren’t you just a child?”

“What’s your specialty? Oh. No, there’s nothing you can do for me.”

“Oh! Aren’t you that girl that likes to hang out with the Chieftain’s heir? Why don’t you go get him instead? A mere child shouldn’t be doing these things, you know.”

After nearly half an hour of trying and failing to help people, Ayo spotted Rocko, who was loitering on his own not far from the Dining Hall. Ryuto was nowhere in sight.

Upon seeing him, Ayo’s gears shifted. She had a new idea in mind.

Carefully, quickly, quietly, Ayo approached Rocko from behind, making sure he never saw her and that nobody exposed her presence.

She was merely a few steps away from Rocko. He still hadn’t noticed her. He simply stared at the sky in a daze.

She wondered if he would’ve even noticed had she approached from the front — not that she was willing to take that risk.

She was close enough to hug him, but instead of hugging him, she placed her hand on the back of his head and quickly slid it down the back of his neck.

Broken from his daze, Rocko jumped with a yelp as he turned around.

“Tag, you’re it!” Ayo gleefully shouted.

“W-what?” he asked. “What does that mean? Where did you even come from?!”

“Behind! Duh!”

Rocko rubbed his head.

Ayo continued, “And it means you’re ‘it!’ You gotta make me ‘it,’ now!”

“Who decided that?”

“Me! Just now!”

“Oh. Okay. How... uh... do I make you ‘it’ exactly?”

“Touch me, ya dummy!”

Rocko gently smacked her in the face.

“Ow! Hey! Not so hard! And you gotta say ‘Tag, you’re it!’”

“I really wonder where you come up with these game ideas sometimes.”

“I have no idea! It just happens.”

“Well... okay...” Rocko placed his hand on her shoulder, “Tag, you’re it?”

“Now you gotta run and I’ll try to tag you back!” Ayo lightly slapped Rocko’s chest, “Tag, you’re it!”

“Huh? Wait, what? And then when you tag me... I’m guessing I gotta chase you and tag you, and then it just repeats?!”

“Yup! See? I knew you had some brains in you!”

“Oi, I’m just a little out of it, okay?”

“Well this’ll help you get back into it, won’t it?!”

“But, well, what’s the point? There’s no goal other than ‘tag the person and run away’ is there?”

“I dunno. I don’t care. The point is just to run around for fun and feel like we’re doing something more. How about it?”

“Hmmm...”

Rocko put his hand to his chin in thought for a moment.

“Tag!” Ayo’s shoulder was suddenly struck. “You’re it!” Rocko said with a smile, running away.

Ayo smiled, and gave chase.

- # # # 3 # # # -

Rocko and Ayo ran around the plaza, tagging each other every dozen seconds, and went on that way for a few minutes, until...

“Over there!” a lady shouted, pointing in the direction of Rocko and Ayo.

“You!” an accompanying male shouted as the two ran in Rocko and Ayo’s direction.

“Uh...” simultaneously said Rocko and Ayo, putting their game on-hold.

“Is something the matter?” Rocko asked.

“Y-you’re the son of the Chieftain... R-Rocko, right?!” the lady asked.

“Y-yeah... that’s me...” Rocko answered in a low tone.

“We need you to find our daughter!” the male, or rather, dad, said.

“Huh? Why? Has she gone missing?” Ayo asked.

“A-ah... Don’t worry about it, sweetie,” the mom said.

“No, don’t you worry!” Ayo persistently said. “Your daughter’s gone missing, right? We’ll keep an eye out for her!”

“N-no,” the mom said, “you don’t have to worry about it. You’re just a kid, after all.”

“S-so what?!” Ayo asked. “I can help, too!”

“But you really don’t need to—”

“Stop worrying about it! You need to find your daughter, right? It’s no big deal if I just keep an eye out! Is it?”

“W-well... no. I guess not. B-but— how do I...? Are you sure you...—”

“It’s fine,” the dad said, “she wants to do it, anyway. There’s probably... no harm in having more people help. Right?”

“That’s true... s-so...” the mom turned her attention to Ayo, “what’s your specialty?”

“I don’t have one!” Ayo cheerfully said, albeit with a slightly strained tone.

“Oh...” the dad went. “Uh... um... well, a-actually, on second thought, you don’t need to worry about it!“

“But I will, anyway!” Ayo said in a loud and positive tone. “So... who’s your daughter?”

“It’s Anuto,” Rocko interjected.

“Y-yes! That’s her name!” the mom said. “We’ve been looking all over for her!”

“It’s normal for her to hide around,” the dad said, “but usually we can keep track of her. But today it’s like she vanished!”

“Really?” Ayo asked.

“That’s interesting,” Rocko said.

“Hey! Try being more sensitive, Rock. They’re really worried!”

“Oh! I’m sorry. It’s just, that’s pretty strange, isn’t it? I’m kind of curious about that...”

“Oh no.”

“...like, maybe she developed a specialty?”

“Oh. Hmm...”

“Her specialty, huh...?” the mom pondered.

“Unless she already had one?” Rocko inserted another thought. “I don’t really know much about the newer specialties other kids have, or even everyone who has them, so I could be completely off! So, uh, take what I say with some... uh... room for doubt.”

“No,” the dad said. “As far as we know, she doesn’t have a specialty. You might be onto something.”

“Is that so?”

“Well!” Ayo interjected. “Whether she does have one or doesn’t, we’ll keep an eye out for her, and let you know if we find her!”

“Y-yeah...”

“Thank you so much, Rocko!” the parents said.

“H-hey,” Ayo said. “I’m helping, too!”

“That’s true,” Rocko said. “She is. Thank her, too!”

Both parents nervously chuckled. “Th-thank you, young girl.”

“It’s Ayo!” Ayo insisted. “Ay-yo!”

The parents didn’t correct themselves. They simply chuckled.

“W-well,” the dad began, “the longer we stand here, the more time we waste that could be spent finding her. S-so, we’re gonna keep looking!”

They ran off, seemingly in a bigger rush than they were in earlier.

“That was rude of them...” Rocko said.

“Y-yeah...” Ayo said softly.

“W-well, anyway, we only promised to keep an eye out. So we can do something about that whole situation if we come across Anuto.”

Ayo chuckled. “I don’t really like how easily you let that go, Rock. They came to us for help, after all! We gotta do something, right?!”

“Well...”

“C’mon, Rock! I know the perfect way to find her! It’ll be super quick, too!”

So Ayo led Rocko to the ‘perfect way to find Anuto,’ despite Rocko’s reservations in dealing with another case of villagers pushing their problems on him.

However, her ‘perfect way to find Anuto’ was, at that moment, busy dealing with the inane requests of nearly a dozen different villagers.

“Whoa... that’s a big crowd,” Ayo observed.

“That’s the kind of stuff my dad usually has to deal with,” Rocko also observed. “Why is Ryuroito dealing with it?!”

“Yeah, but, the Convergence is today, isn’t it? He’s probably preparing.”

“Oh, yeah.”

“I guess my dad isn’t an option then...” Ayo slouched in defeat.

“Well, that would explain why they came to me about finding Anuto and not him.”

“True! Okay, then! How about this?” Ayo asked, raising a finger. “Anuto’s part of our game of tag, now! We can keep being ‘it’ for each other, but whoever finds and tags her becomes ‘super not-it’ and wins the game!” Ayo placed her hands on her hips and dramatically tilted her head, topping everything off by saying, “Howzzat?”

“Hmm...” Rocko said, nodding with a growing smile. “So, Anuto’s the victory condition?”

“Yup!”

“Sounds good to me!”

So, the conclusion they arrived at was to extend their game of tag to include Anuto, and thus they resumed playing.

After several minutes of half-searching for Anuto but mostly tagging each other silly, Ayo suddenly bumped into nothing, and fell on her back as if she had run into a wall.

“A-Ayo?!” Rocko exclaimed.

“O-ow...” groaned a soft feminine voice that wasn’t Ayo’s.

“Huh?!” Ayo and Rocko exclaimed.

“That voice...” Ayo began.

Appearing out of thin air was a girl. Though she was as old as they were, she was considerably shorter than both of them, and consequently appeared much younger. Despite that, she must have recently developed her specialty, so perhaps her height would catch up with her soon?

“Anuto!” Ayo shouted excitedly.

“Eek!” The previously invisible girl, Anuto, quickly got up and retreated into the crowd — not sparing even a moment for conversation.

Ayo chuckled nervously. “Aw.” Her gaze went downcast. “So, she really got a specialty, too, huh?” Ayo quietly asked herself.

“Wh-who was that?” Rocko asked.

“What? You’re telling me you don’t know? Shouldn’t you?!”

“Um... should I? Do I have some connection to her?”

“That’s not what I mean! That was Anuto! The girl we were asked to find!”

“Oh! That was Anuto?”

“Well yeah. Hold on, aren’t you supposed to know all of the villagers?”

“Erm, yeah, I’ve learned all their names and specialties. But someone who could turn invisible didn’t come to mind at all.”

“Is that how you’ve been keeping track? Specialties? C’mon, Rock! Shouldn’t you know their faces, too? Heights? Colors? Body types?”

“Th-that’s way too much for me to remember about over eighty people!”

Ayo groaned, “I guess that would make sense, if not for the fact you knew their daughter was Anuto without them even saying their names or using their specialties!”

“I remember the adults easier than kids, though. Also, they’ve asked me about Anuto, like, a bunch of times in the last few years, so...”

“Is that how it is?”

“That’s how it is.”

“Shouldn’t you have recognized her, then?!”

“I never said I succeeded!”

“Then why’d they come to you again?”

“Why does anyone ever come to me?!”

“Ah... Yeah. I see. Sorry about that. Well, anyway! We found her, so we should probably go tell them about this!”

“I don’t think we’d be doing them any favors, honestly.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, sure, yeah, we found her, but then we lost her again. What’s the point of telling them when we don’t even know where she is, even if we did come across her for a moment?”

“Wouldn’t they be relieved to know she’s okay, though?”

“I think they’d just panic more knowing that she’s actually been turning invisible. Even if she was okay when we saw her, and even if she’s probably still okay now, the fact we found her because she wasn’t careful and bumped into us by accident will probably make them worry for her safety even more. It’ll only cause more harm than good to tell them. I don’t think we should put that burden on them.”

“Ah! That’s...! A good point, actually. You really thought that out, huh?” Ayo chuckled. “That’s kinda impressive. But doesn’t that mean she’s actually in danger?”

“I don’t think she is. But if I thought she was, I’d definitely tell them.”

“Makes sense. OH! That reminds me! I won the game!”

“Huh?”

“Remember! Whoever tags Anuto wins the game! I’m the one who bumped into her, so it’s my win!”

“Ahhh...! That’s true!”

“Yup! So, what should we do no—”

“GET DOWN FROM THERE!”

Ayo was cut off by a frighteningly angry nearby voice.

They looked to the direction of the voice.

It was Ryuroito. He had broken free from the crowd of villagers and rushed to the Residential Level.

‘Get down from there?’ What was...?

Neither of them could believe their eyes.

There was another kid, with brightly glowing deep blue eyes, running on the bottom of the central platform of the Residential Level.

“Ramuno?” Ayo questioned.

“Oh, that’s Ramuno?” Rocko asked. “How long has he had a specialty?”

Ayo slouched with a tilted head, completely defeated. “It’s like everyyoone’s getting their specialty lately.”

“Hmmm... wouldn’t that mean we’ll probably get ours soon, though?”

“You think so?!” energy suddenly returned to Ayo as she straightened her posture.

Despite their carefree banter, it was understandable why Ryuroito was worked up. The situation was highly concerning, considering that if Ramuno’s specialty stopped working there, it would be a several meter drop to a head-first ground collision. He must have been an idiot to be so carefree. Or maybe he just had that much confidence in his specialty? It had to have been a very recently developed one, though, so it was pretty unlikely he had much control over it yet.

But the fact that Ryuroito was immediately on top of this situation was more than enough explanation why Ryuto entrusted Ryuroito as his assistant and substitute.

“There he is!” shouted a harsh, childish, feminine voice.

However, they couldn’t afford to sit and watch the conclusion to the Ramuno situation. They instead had to worry about all the villagers who Ryuroito left behind.

Though, among the dozen villagers present that Ryuroito had left behind, only a quarter of them bothered to approach. The rest dispersed.

Of the four who did approach, they went straight to Rocko.

Meanwhile, Ayo remained standing, alone, lost in thought.

- # # # 4 # # # -

Ayo wandered in thought. She had been wandering for several minutes, and it was unlikely anybody noticed she left, because it seemed like nobody noticed she was there to begin with.

They were all people who Ayo had tried to help earlier, but refused her help due to her being ‘just a child’ or for ‘lacking a specialty.’ So, what made Rocko any different from her? Why did they seek Rocko out for help, but not her? Did Rocko not meet all the same conditions that resulted in her rejection? Even worse, he clearly didn’t even want to deal with any of them, but she did. Yet, they chose to go to Rocko, and not her.

What was so wrong about her? Why couldn’t she help? Why did nobody want her to help? What was the point in demanding help from someone who doesn’t even want to, but not someone who does?

It couldn’t have been her age. She and Rocko were the same age.

It couldn’t have been a lack of a specialty. Even Rocko didn’t have one.

Did it really all boil down to heritage?! To status?! Her status was the child of a crafter and a hunter who also served as the Chieftain’s assistant, surely that had to count for something, right?! If her dad could be assistant to the Chieftain, then why couldn’t she at least be seen as assistant to the Chieftain’s heir?! Just let her help!

Her lips quivered, but she fought back. She closed her shell over her left fist and slammed it into the ground, and suppressed the urge to yell.

But maybe if she did have a specialty, she would be taken more seriously. Maybe if she had a specialty, she’d be allowed to help. Maybe if she had a specialty, she’d be treated like an actual person, and not like some child.

But this line of thinking... was nothing new for her.

She suffered it every day. She fought it every day. She dealt with it every day. She ignored it every day.

“Do you enjoy causing yourself pain or something?” a harsh, childish, feminine voice interrupted her pained thoughts.

She lifted her head to see the person speaking to her.

“Alenta...” Ayo said with a low tone and a glare.

“Alenta!” Ramuno called as he ran over to them.

“Ramuno!” Alenta called back. “You overdid it, you idiot. You scared the slime out of me. I didn’t want you to actually die!”

“Well, that’s good, ‘cause I didn’t.”

“You were pretty freaking close.”

Ramuno blushed with an awkward laugh. “That’s true.”

“Why does your face look like that? That’s so weird. Stop.”

“What do you want?” Ayo interrupted.

“Well, it’s as I asked, Ayo,” Alenta returned her attention to Ayo without hesitation, “do you enjoy causing yourself pain or something?”

“No. Of course not. What makes you think I would?”

“Then you’re an idiot, too. No, even worse, you’re a complete moron.”

“You know I don’t like it so could you stop adding onto it? Go away.”

“No! Only an idiot would do what you do. Be grateful I drove the problem away for you. Now you don’t have to suffer. You’re welcome.”

“W-what are you talking about?”

“It’s that boy, right? The Chieftain’s son? I saw him bothering you, probably so he could run from his duties, so I used Ramuno to distract the Chieftain’s assistant, force everyone to find that boy, and fix the whole situation. Two birds with one arrow! You should be grateful, you know? It’s not often I do things like that for other people.”

“You... you’re so full of yourself.”

“But I’m not wrong, am I?”

“Leave me alone.”

“You’re the one who’s full of herself, Ayo.”

“Leave me alone.”

“No. No, I won’t do that. You need to get your head out of the dirt and stop being so stupid. Because, really, you’re such a moron. It’s unbelievable.”

“I get it! I’m an idiot! I’m stupid! I have no intelligence or worth to speak of whatsoever! Leave. Me. Alone!”

“I didn’t say you had no worth. Really, how can you be so stupid?”

“Maybe it’s your word choice?” Ramuno suggested.

“Huh? My choice of words is perfectly suited to the situation, thank you very much!”

“W-well, yeah. But she’s still not understanding you, is she?”

“Then doesn’t that just make my words even more truthful?”

“Well yeah. But I don’t think that’s...”

“Enough, Ramuno! If she’s too stupid to understand what I’m trying to tell her, then that’s on her. I swear... it’d take a blessing from Ruter to fix this.”

“It’d take a blessing from Ruter to get you off my back,” Ayo said with a loud, sharp tone. “Leave. Me. Alone.”

“Oh? What’s this? Are you trying to be threatening?” Alenta laughed. “You’re so adorable, sometimes. Did you know that?”

Ramuno’s face met his palm. “There’s really no hope for this situation.”

“Both of you need to back off,” Ayo said. “Now.”

“Or what?” Alenta smugly asked, almost laughing.

Ayo closed both of her shells over her fists and charged at Alenta, with every intention of beating her down.

Alenta’s eyes glowed a bright purple, and Ayo’s body suddenly relaxed to the point that she couldn’t move a muscle, so she stumbled to the ground. A terrifyingly comfortable sensation overwhelmed her body. Even Ayo’s anger had lessened compared to a mere second earlier.

However, the same applied to Ramuno, who literally fell asleep in an instant.

But most importantly, the effect also applied to Alenta, who was struggling to keep her eyes open just long enough for her specialty to make Ayo fall asleep.

Despite the effects of Alenta’s specialty, Ayo wasn’t budging. It seemed she was so infuriated that even Alenta’s specialty at its strongest wasn’t enough to stop her.

Instead, after a few moments, Ayo — through sheer willpower alone — pushed herself back to her feet, despite her muscles being like jelly, and continued forward to fight Alenta.

If not for her specialty, Alenta might’ve panicked right then. Ayo was persisting, even though by all means she should’ve been too relaxed to feel angry, and too tired to stay awake.

Actually, despite her specialty, Alenta did begin to panic. More accurately, she got less calm and less tired, despite her specialty dictating that she and everyone around her should be at their calmest and tiredest.

Ramuno, however, remained asleep.

Ayo gained speed. Though she couldn’t have been said to be charging at Alenta, it was more like quickly stumbling forward as if drunk, but nonetheless she had picked up the pace and was closing in on her target.

Alenta was experiencing a paradox of emotions. She was incredibly relaxed due to her specialty, but she was also incredibly exhausted due to the effort it took to use the specialty, and finally she was afraid of Ayo, who was steadily approaching her with every intention of beating her.

The way Alenta saw it, there were three possibilities for how the situation could end, and none of them were good news for her: The first was that she would pass out and become incapable of using her specialty, allowing Ayo to charge and beat her while she slept. The second was that she would over-exhaust herself, her specialty would stop working on its own as a result, and she’d be too tired to move but not tired enough to fall asleep, and would thus be beaten while unable to do anything and experience the whole ordeal. The third, final, and most pleasant was that she should forfeit right then and there, and try to run away. While all of these would hurt her pride, that last one would practically throw it away, so she could never. She would persist until she’d fall victim to her own power, leaving only the most unpleasant possibilities open.

Though, realistically, Ayo would never beat someone while they were down. At that point, Ayo had already regretted charging at Alenta and just wanted to get her to stop using her specialty so Ayo could get away from her. Of course, Alenta didn’t realize that.

So the possibility which became reality was...

None of them.

Alenta stopped using her specialty out of fear, enabling her to remain alert. Basically, it was her survival instinct. She didn’t try to deactivate it, she didn’t even realize she had done it, and neither did Ayo. So Ayo picked up speed and charged straight at Alenta, blind with rage. Alenta had successfully poked all of Ayo’s worst possible buttons, so Ayo could no longer think clearly.

“Whoa, calm down, kiddo!” a pair of arms restrained Ayo from behind.

Quickly, Ayo snapped out of it. “D-dad?! What are you doing here?!”

“I was keeping an eye on that Ramuno kiddo over there in case he did something dangerous again, but that little girl’s specialty knocked me outta commission for a bit, else I’d have stopped ya sooner. Mind calming down?”

Ayo only then realized that Alenta’s specialty was no longer at play. Ryuroito released her from his restraint. She then calmly returned a look to Alenta, croaked in frustration, and wandered off.

“Y-you’re...” Alenta was dumbfounded.

“You...” Ryuroito’s nostrils flared as he glared at Alenta. He took a deep breath... and exhaled. He then calmly looked at Alenta and said, “Look, I’m not one for violence, especially with children, but ya better leave my daughter be. I don’t tolerate that sorta thing, and next time I won’t stop her from retaliating.”

“I was just—” Alenta’s words got caught in her throat. While Ayo’s response may be considered unacceptable to some, or even many, Alenta was the one objectively in the wrong there, and she knew that.

Wordlessly, Alenta grabbed the unconscious Ramuno and dragged him away.

- # # # CHAPTER END # # # -