The violet-haired man quirked an eyebrow, quietly observing the girl. There she sat on the park bench yet again, her small frame never moving. She was there every day, no matter the weather. Why would that be? Surely a beautiful girl such as herself had important things to attend to? Highly unlikely, judging by her daily actions.

A soft breeze tousled her petal-pink hair, which was straight down and would have come to her waist, had she been standing. Her legs were crossed at the ankles, and her pale and bony hands rested themselves on her lap, folded.

He had been observing this girl for weeks now. On rainy days, she'd sit on the park bench with an umbrella. On sunny days, she'd sit on the park bench. On hot days and chilly days, she would simply sit there, almost as if she was waiting for something. She was there before anyone else, and left later than everyone else, he was certain of it.

Today, he decided he would talk to her. He would try, at least.

Clearing his throat, Gakupo made his way over to where the pink-haired girl sat calmly. With a small wave of his hand, he positioned himself on the bench, sitting at the edge, whereas she sat on the other side. While he had originally had intentions of talking to her, he found that he simply couldn't.

Instead, he spent a peaceful day sitting on the park bench, watching the world go by. The sunset approached hours later, and that was when it was his time to go home.

Without so much as a goodbye, he stood up, and walked off to his car.


It had been about two weeks since his first encounter with the pink maiden, as he had found himself calling her in his mind. Every day since then, he spent all of his free time sitting on the bench with her, never exchanging so much as a simple hello.

He didn't mind it, though. No, no- he found it to be quite an amusing activity; watching the children as they ran through the park, and animals continue with their daily lives.

The girl he sat with every day, however, seemed very familiar to him.
He could never put his finger on it, though.

Over the two weeks, he had moved a bit closer to her now, whereas she never budged from her spot. Taking his place at the wooden bench, he seated himself with a sigh, a light smile crossing his lips. His eyes were closed, and he nearly dozed off, had it not been for one thing.

There was a gentle breeze that day, just like the day he had first sat down next to her. It blew her silken hair which lightly tapped him on the arm. Looking over at her, he was astounded to see that he sat right next to the girl. How didn't he notice this?!

And finally, he spoke to her, his words in the sound of his velvet voice all stringing themselves together to form a question. "If you don't mind my asking, why are you always here? What do they call you- and by that, I mean- just what is your name?"

To his surprise, she turned her head to look at him, her deep blue eyes observing his every facial feature.
"My name is Luka. Luka Megurine, to be exact. And I'm here to thank an old friend. He'll be here one day, I'm sure of it. His name is Gakupo. Gakupo Kamui."

That was when it all came back to him. She looked familiar because he knew her.

Thirteen years ago in that very park, the twelve-year-old Kamui had been running about, enjoying himself like any other child would. Suddenly, he was startled by a loud shriek, which lead to even louder sobs-

Spinning around on the heel of his shoe, he looked for the source of the noise, only to see a small pink-haired girl on the ground, crying her eyes out. She couldn't have been any older than seven, at the most.

Her hair was pulled into two short pigtails, and she wore a pair of overalls over a white t-shirt. The legs of the overalls had been rolled up to her knees, which exposed a freshly-skinned knee. Red was everywhere, along with her tears.

Why hadn't a concerned mother rushed to help the child yet? Surely, someone had to calm the little girl down. Padding his way over to the girl, he knelt down, brushing her bangs off of her forehead. "Hey, are you okay?" It was obvious that she wasn't, but his words soothed her choked sobs a bit, and her whining and squealing dialed down.

Finally, with a small sniffle and a wipe of her eyes, the girl responded. "Y-yeah. I just- I hurt my knee real bad, and I think it's gonna get infected 'cause there's some dirt in it, an'... an' we can't afford band-aids or antiseptic for it, an' then they're gonna have to cut off my leg! I don't w-w-want that!" Tears began to pool at the waterline of her eyes again, threatening to spill over.

With a small chuckle, he stood up, picking the little girl up with him. "That's silly. They won't cut off your leg." Still, it was obvious that her knee needed treatment. Carrying her over to a bench, he sat her down before scrambling away frantically, asking every adult near if they had a bottle of water and a bandage.

Finally, a mother pulled a two large Band-Aids out of her purse and handed them to the purple-haired boy, saying that she always needed to bring them because her boy was clumsy.

A hotdog vendor stood nearby, and he was kind enough to offer the young boy a bottle of water, which Gakupo quickly rushed over to the girl on the bench.

"It's gonna hurt, okay...?" He said, pouring a small amount of the water onto her scrape after she gave a nod of consent. The blood now washed away, he used the bottom of his shirt to dab it dry before putting the two bandages on her knee in a large 'X' shape.

Her blue eyes were wide for a moment as she stared at her knee before a toothy grin crept up on her. Throwing her small arms around his neck, she embraced the older boy happily, laughing. The boy grinned, feeling proud of himself as he had just rescued the other oh-so-gallantly.

It was somewhere during the hug that her stomach made a loud growl, and she scrunched up her face in disgust. Quietly recalling the words of the girl before, that her family couldn't even afford simple medical supplies, he ended the embrace and told her to wait there, walking off for several minutes.

Soon enough, he came back with a hotdog and a soda pop, handing the foods to her. "I didn't want you to go hungry tonight, and I had my pocket change with me, so." She happily and eagerly accepted the offerings, immediately beginning to eat.

"Oh! By the way-" as she spoke, the boy saw his mother's car pulling up to take him home out of the corner of his eye. "I'm Luka. Luka Megurine! What's your name?" Her voice was extremely cheery, but she looked a bit sad as his mother honked the horn, motioning for him to come along. He shot a grin in her direction and began to walk off, turning around only for a brief second to speak his last line in the conversation. "I'm Gakupo Kamui. I'll see you around some time, Luka!"

Back to the present moment, however. The Megurine continued with her words, stretching her arms out a bit. "You see, when I was a child, my family was extremely poor. I came to this park to feel like a normal kid- sometimes I would pretend I lived in a very large mansion, and that I owned the park. It was all child's play, though.

I had injured myself by an unfortunate accident, and he was so kind to help me. He even bought me a meal. To be honest, I'm sure I would have given up and succumbed to hunger, had it not been for his kindness.

I was never able to thank him, though. He said he'd see me around some time, however- and so, now that I'm older, I've been waiting for him, so that I could tell him."

A gentle expression was plastered upon his face now as Gakupo spoke to her.
"I'm Gakupo Kamui. I've seen you around again, Luka. I'd also like to let you know that you're very welcome." He leaned in and brushed her bangs away from her face, placing a soft kiss in the middle of her forehead.