"Yes, it was. Now, about her right eye…to put it bluntly, she'll never see out of it again." Hayashi-sensei looked regretful.

"She'll never see out of it again?" Tezuka was in disbelief.

"Never. It's impossible. The knife did too much damage to the eyeball itself."

"Oh…can I go see her?"

"Sure, it's right this way. Oh, and if possible, could you tell her the news? I don't think she trusts us much. Even though you're also a complete stranger, from what I've heard, you saved her. Plus, you're closer in age. She'll listen to you." Hayashi-sensei showed Tezuka to a room.

Tezuka opened the door and went inside. Hazuki was lying in the bed, asleep. The eye patch covering her right eye was white. He sat in the chair next to her bed and waited for her to wake up. He slowly felt himself dosing off. He went to the restroom and washed his face. When he returned, he saw Hazuki open her eye.

"Are you okay?" Tezuka-nii asked.

"Tezuka-nii! You're here!" Hazuki exclaimed.

"I promised that I would stay. I can't break a promise." Tezuka-nii sat back down. "So how are you?"

"Mmm…my eye still hurts a lot, but it's not as bad as before." Hazuki replied.

"That's good."

Hazuki paused. "When will they take off the eye patch? I want to use both of my eyes. It feels weird only using one."

"Actually, your eye was damaged…really badly."

Hazuki's brown eye blinked three times. "I can't use my right eye anymore?"

"No…I'm sorry."

"Tezuka-nii, why are you saying sorry? It's not your fault."

Hazuki smiled, and Tezuka patted her on the head. Although it wasn't his fault directly, Tezuka still felt guilty. However, he could see that Hazuki was a strong girl. She would definitely be all right. He sighed, and Hazuki looked at him, puzzled. He decided it would be good to tell her the truth about the man who had damaged her eye, and it would be better now than later.

So, Tezuka said, "Narita-chan, the man that attacked you was actually a murderer. He killed his wife and his daughter."

Hazuki's eyes went wide. "He…he killed them?"

"Yes, he did. Did you see, afterwards, the knife sticking out of his back?" Tezuka asked.

She looked fearful. "Y-yes."

"You see, he had lost his balance and accidentally stabbed himself."

"R-really?"

"Really. I guess you could say it was his punishment. He did horrible things, so a horrible thing happened to him."

Hazuki paused. "I…I see."

They sat in silence for what could've been a few minutes or a few hours. Hazuki was staring off into space, trying to comprehend what she had just been told. Then, when Tezuka was sure that there no eavesdroppers, he said, "You know, Narita-chan, there's actually a secret group that does anything the government can't do."

Hazuki blinked a few times. "A group that does what the government can't do?"

"Exactly. For example, if there's a criminal that the police can't catch, that group catches him."

"There's a group like that?"

"There is. They do many other things too."

"Really?" Hazuki was very interested in what Tezuka had to say.

"I wouldn't say things that aren't true, Narita-chan. You see, I'm part of that group, and that group is called Dragon."

"Dragon…can I join? I want to help catch criminals! That way, no one will get hurt like me again!"

Hazuki seemed very excited. She didn't seem to notice that Tezuka's features had softened. He had had a feeling of nostalgia. When he first heard about Dragon, his reaction had been very similar to Hazuki's just now. He was having second thoughts about telling Hazuki about Dragon so soon. "How old are you?"

"I'm six-years-old. How old are you Tezuka-nii?"

"I'm fourteen-years-old." Tezuka replied.

"Wow! So you were eight-years-old when I was born." Hazuki said, without pause, which surprised Tezuka. She was only six-years-old, and she had figured out their age difference almost instantly.

"You have a quick mind; that's good." Tezuka said. Hazuki smiled at him.

"Well, about joining Dragon, you have to go to a special school, and you can live there." Tezuka said.

"You can live at the school?" Hazuki asked in amazement.

"You can. They have rooms there. They also give you food."

"Wow! I thought they only did that in senior high school."

"Dragon does it as well. We'll talk to your okaa-san about it, but we can't tell her that you're joining Dragon. We can't tell her that's it's a different school either. We can only tell her that you're transferring." Tezuka said.

"Why?"

"Dragon is a secret group, remember?"

"It's that secret?" Hazuki asked.

"It is."

"Oh."

"I still want to join." Hazuki said.

"Are you sure? Once you join, you can't leave."

"I want to join, Tezuka-nii. Please?" Hazuki begged.

"We'll see. For now, just get some rest."

Hazuki beamed at him, and Tezuka-nii patted the top of her head. She closed her eyes and quickly fell asleep.