Gingerly, Honoka opens her eyes as her head pounds with a splitting headache. She was lying down on the ground with both her arms and legs tied up, and from a distance she could hear the faint sounds of people talking.

"You took too much of a risk!" Yelled a man, "it was too close to a school! Now our operations will need to be relocated not even a few days in!"

"Sorry boss", said another male voice, "but we saw the opportunity presenting itself and we took it. Besides, they will bring out a fair price, don't you think?"

"Normally yes", said the first voice, "they would fetch a good price but our new client asked 'strong children'. Though to be honest you can't ask for much if you need them to be under ten years old. Well, I suppose if we can't sell them to him we can try our other costumers, cute girls like them are always in demand, after all."

At that instant Honoka had instantly woken up, the full implications hitting her like a ton of bricks. While still too young the fully understand the world, she her and her friend's fate if nothing was done. At the very least she would never see her family again, and who know what kind of vile things would be done to her?

She tried to stand up and look out for her friends, but before she could do anything, three evil looking men entered the room. One of them had an annoyed look on him when he saw Honoka awake and sitting up.

"Damn it, one of them woke up."

"Just use the chloroform and be done with it. Even if she screams it's not like she can be heard from here anyway."

Honoka screamed, and as the man came to her she tried to run away but it was to no avail. She kicked and screamed and bitten as best as she could, calling for her father, mother and brother, but no one else but the men who kidnapped her were there to witness her despair, and once more a rag was put on her face, quickly knocking her out.

~~O~~

Defying possibility, Honoka woke up even weaker than before, her chest tight with her heart beating erratically, breath labored and an even bigger headache than before. She felt the ground under her lightly move, and she realized she was inside the back of a van. Slowly opening her eyes she saw a steel door only partially closed, and by straining her eyes she could see her guard dozing off on his seat facing away from her.

Heart nearly exploding with anxiety she tried to find her friends, but saw nobody else other than the driver on the vehicle. Slowly and deliberately she twisted her arms to put them in front of her, releasing the gag on her mouth and slowly untying her legs. Very carefully she creep towards her only escape route.

"One... two..." she whispered, and on the three she opened the door and jumped from the moving vehicle, dropping on the ground and rolling for a few meters, feeling her whole body hurt from the experience. With no time to waste she stood up and started to run away to freedom before the ones in the car came back to her.

She only made three steps before coming literally face-to-face with a truck.

The large vehicle moved in slow motion to Honoka, getting closer centimeter by centimeter towards her and she was unable to dodge, unable to blink, unable to even think.

Which was the only thing enabling her to witness the next events in perfect clarity.

Even while the world around her had ground a crawl, a man in a hawaiian shirt holding a plastic bag on his hand came running surprisingly fast in that frozen world, taking her away from the truck incoming path and into safety. Time returned to it's previous speed, and the truck drifts for a couple of meters before hitting the van of the kidnappers, making it spin away uncontrollably.

Honoka was starting to regain her bearings when she saw one of her captors getting out of the car and pulling a gun.

"Watch out!" She gave the warning as fast as she could, however soon she heard the sounds of gunshot.

*Glang!* *Glang!* *Glang!*

Three sounds she would associate with metal hitting metal came, and for a moment she thought the kidnapper had missed widlly, but once looking up she saw two unbelievable sights.

First, there was a quickly receding dark patch on his face, making his skin take a very deep tan for a few moments before it disappeared from sight. Second, the face of her rescuer belonged to no one other than her substitute english teacher!

"Stay here", he said firmly but not unkindly. Honoka dumbly nodded before her teacher stands up form his kneeling position near her, and suddenly he was punching the gunner in the face, crossing the distance between the two faster than a blink of the eye. To his credit the man inside the van quickly took off, turning and coming back with the intention to run over her teacher.

Instead of doing the sensible thing and dodging, her teacher pulled his fist back and hit the front of the van, making it stop with a loud crash and sending he driver across the street from the window of the car, glass embedded deeply on his face.

Finally Honoka's strength left her as her teacher came back to her, and he blacked out once more.

~~O~~

This time when Honoka wakes up, it is to greet her family on a hospital room, with her big brother being the first one to notice her waking up.

"Honoka!" He let out an excited yell. "Are you alright?"

Both parents turns their heads towards their daughter, before rushing in and hugging her.

She felt warm under their embraces, but it wasn't enough to stave off the feeling of emptiness she had inside her.

"Honoka, we were so worried about you", said her mother in a kind tone, "it's a miracle you came back unharmed."

"I'm not letting you go from and back to your school alone ever again!" Said her father with tears in his eyes, "not if this is what happens when you're out of my sight!"

Normally Honoka would protest the last remark, but she simply didn't had energy or will for that.

"What happened to my friends?" Asked the young girl, voice somewhat dull and mechanic.

"The police are still investigating any leads". At that answer from her father she remembers what the kidnappers where saying, and as implications of the news hit her he started sniffing, before the dam holding back her emotions finally breaks and she cries her heart out.

"Don't worry dear", comforted her mother, "I'm sure your friends will be safe, please have faith.

Honoka could only nods, leaning into the embrace.

~~O~~

A few days passed and fortunately all of Honoka's friends came back to safety one way or another, but not without changes. Hinata became shy and introverted, stuttering her words and fidgeting in nervousness, while Sakura started to gain an intensity, single minded determination and fire to her that most adults would call unhealthy. As for Honoka herself she felt empty, drained and helpless, but tried to mask that with a facade of cheerfulness pretending nothing was wrong with her.

None of the trio were also willing to tell anyone how they got rescued, for one reason or another that baffled the adults. They knew they were back into the hospital or another safe place unconscious, but the circumstances behind their rescue was shrouded in mystery.

Honoka wasn't sure why her friends weren't talking about their own rescues, but she wasn't going to pry, not when she had a secret of her own.

She didn't knew what to make out of her english teacher, since he simply acted normally the first time they meet once more, being nothing more than yet another concerned adult that gave no indication of rescuing her. Had she hallucinated all of that?

She shock her head, dismissing those thoughts. She knew what she saw, and was willing to get to the bottom of it.