Under the Veil of Night

"You don't think that you can get away so easily after barging into our territory, do you?"

Seeing the people in front of them ready to fight, Tommy quickly shot up to stand. No matter what, they were not allowed to show their weak side in Black Street. Once people thought that they were unable to fight, they would be doomed to die. It has been a normal thing for him to stand up directly when someone challenged him. No matter what, he had to win.

Kanae frowned upon seeing the people in front of them. She moved forward and used her hand to block Tommy from advancing.

"Stay back."

Tommy was startled. "What are you…?"

"The wounded one should stay back," Kanae answered calmly. She pointed to the ground. "Rest and wait."

Hearing the order from Kanae, Tommy was completely speechless. They didn't even know each other because they were just stranger that encountered each other on the street. Why would she protect him so much?

For the first time in his life, he felt the warmth from other people again. It has been a long time since the last time he enjoyed this peace. Years of loneliness and suffering made him missed this feeling so much.

"You truly don't know the rule of the Black Street, do you?" the man laughed. "A scrawny kid like you hoping to stop us is basically impossible."

Kanae narrowed her eyes. "We shall see about that. You wouldn't know the result until we try, right."

"Good point."

The man prepared his weapon and the others quickly followed suit. With a maniacal grin, he looked towards the two of them. "Shall we play little kitties?"

Taking out a small sword from under her sleeves, Kanae readied her stance. Since they were using weapon, she had to be prepared for the worst. A single mistake might lead to her death if she was not careful enough.

"Hey, I…." can fight too.

Tommy was about to interfere when the men stepped forward and attacked Kanae. The attack was so fast in his eyes that he couldn't see anything. All he knew was there was the sound of metal clashing with each other. Soon after that, the girl stumbled back.

"Be careful!" Tommy saw the man already attacked again and move forward to block the attack.

Kanae side stepped to the side and attacked the man's side, engraving a deep wound. As blood splattered out, the two of them already moved to attack the others. After several minutes of struggling, they finally managed to narrowly win the fight.

Wiping the blood from his cheek, Tommy glanced towards Kanae. "For someone whose fighting skill is poor, you sure talk big."

"Shut up, I'm just trying to help you," Kanae replied with annoyed tone. She was frustrated by her pitiful strength that made her need the help from a young wounded boy. It was too embarrassing.

"Shall we treat your wounds? They seem rather scary," Tommy pointed to Kanae's arm.

Kanae shook her head. "I can take care of it. For now, let's leave this place."

"By the way, do you want to introduce yourself? I'm called Tom here."

"You can call me Rei."

The two of them headed towards a secluded and empty park. Sitting on top of one of the seats, Kanae took out medicine and bandages before starting to clean up her own wounds. Upon seeing the numerous wounds on Kanae's arm, Tommy was rather startled.

"You should have some rest, Rei. You don't look too good," Tommy pointed to Kanae's arm.

"I don't have the time for that," Kanae answered. If she rested, she wouldn't be able to work and earn enough money for her and her sister. There was no other option but to advance forward.

Tommy scratched his head. He sat down and treated his own wounds. The two of them stayed silent for the next several minutes as they were too busy treating their wounds.

"How much?"

Kanae looked towards Tommy with questioning eyes. "What?"

"The medicine, alcohol, and the others," Tommy pointed to the leftover bandages. "I'm sure you're also quite poor, so I want to repay you for the favor."

"There's no need. It's a good fight from before and you already help me during the fight," Kanae shook her head.

"I can't take advantage of you."

Kanae looked towards Tommy up and down. From their appearance, it was easy to deduce that this boy hadn't had a good life. "How about this, we meet again to do mission and split the earnings together. That way, we both can earn money together."

Tommy thought about the mission on the Black Street. Many of them were just insignificant mission with little earning, but they were already plenty for them. If they could do at least one mission each day, he would have more than enough money to eat. Compared with the food at home which barely existed, this was a far better offer.

"Alright, I can do that. How many missions do you want to do every day?"

Kanae raised her hand. Tommy nearly fainted when he saw the five fingers. "Are you insane? You will be dead if you do five missions every day."

"You don't have to follow me in every mission. I can do the rest by my own," Kanae shrugged. If she didn't do that, she wouldn't have enough money to pay off the tuition for her sister and her own living expense.

Tommy scratched his head. This brat was sure very troublesome. She was having difficulties on her own, yet she still spared the time to help other people. Did she want to die faster?

"If you're already in difficult position, why are you helping me?"

Kanae frowned. "Because you're dying there, right?"

It was not her intention to help anyone too, but when she saw him already on the verge of dying, she just couldn't leave him alone. It was supposed to be a onetime help as she just didn't want to see him dying on the street. However, they ended up talking together like this.

After all, she didn't expect him to be a rather good fighter too.

"You're really weird, Rei. It's normal to see people dying on the street, right?"

Kanae shrugged. She couldn't possibly tell him that she was not used to see people dying on her way home. After all, she hadn't been in this situation for a long time.

"I need to go. Where do you want to meet next time?"

"Can we meet here?"

"Sure, what time do you want us meet?"

Tommy thought about it. He was only in second year of Junior High and midterm has just been over. There was no need for him to go to school so much anymore. Spending time with those annoying friends were not worth it.

"Do you have time from morning?"

"I do."

"Then, let's meet here at dawn."

"I got it."

The two of them went separated ways. Tommy searched for a nearby bench to sleep while Kanae went home.. Starting that day, they would meet with each other very often and eventually became close friends.