There are many beautiful things in the world, like the baby's first cry right after it's born, or the sun when it is about to rise or set, or the hands of lovers clasped by each other, or friendships that last forever, and promises kept, and many more. She knows all of these but Karina could not appreciate them. She could notice only a few, experience even fewer.

Her parents got divorced when she was just ten. Since then, she has stayed with her mother who was completely wrecked by her separation from her husband. The woman became abusive and alcoholic, venting all her anger to her daughter. It's a good thing that she's always busy working at the factory though and only meets her child a few times a week. But when they do meet, Karina would always have a new set of wounds and bruises that she needs to hide.

Abused inside her home and bullied outside of it, Karina feels like she's living in hell. Every single day.

On this day she's lucky enough that Aiko and her group didn't beat her up for fun. No, they have a different plan set for her. They lead her to a school she doesn't know and show her another picture. A cute girl with blonde hair is in it. "Remember her face," Aiko commands, "there she is. We'll distract Draken. Now go!"

Karina is pushed toward the gate. Almost losing her balance, she wobbles as she approaches the beautiful stranger. Arms full of books, she purposely bumps the blonde. The books scatter on the floor with soft thuds.

"I'm sorry!" Karina instantly apologizes as the other girl helps her pick up her things—props—and helps her stand up.

"No problem. Your uniform. You're not from here, are you?" The stranger looks at her without suspicion.

Karina shakes her head, her unruly curls bouncing with every turn. "I-I-I just borrowed from your school's library. O-ours doesn't have the stuff your school has." How smoothly how she lies. Like she's used to it. Maybe she is. For she's always lying when she says that she and everything's okay. Not that anyone cares anyway.

"I see. But these are plenty. Don't you have someone to help you?" the beautiful blonde asks.

"No" is Karina's reply.

One by one, the other girl transfers the books to her arms. When they're holding the same amount of books, the stranger looks at somewhere beyond the school's gates.

Then, she frowns.

Karina looks at where the stranger is looking and sees Aiko openly flirting with a scary tall boy. She wonders if he's the Draken that Aiko and her friends were referring to.

"It's okay. Come on, I'll go with you." The beautiful girl looks irritated though Karina doesn't know why. But at least everything is going as planned.

Is she relieved?

No.

She couldn't be.

Is she feeling bad because of the dirty deed she's doing for her bullies?

The walk toward Delilah's is not quiet. The stranger introduces herself as "Emma" and, though looking uninterested at first, starts getting friendly with her. She talks about random things: about how delicious the food in her school cafeteria is, how big their swimming pool is, and how their library has more books than any other school library in Tokyo. "You should consider transferring to our school," she says with a smile.

Karina can taste the bile that rises from her stomach. How can she do something awful to such a nice person?

But it's too late to back out now. They're only a few steps away from Delilah's and she's sure Aiko's friends are monitoring their every move.

Goro-san, the old owner of the convenience store, would be in danger. She couldn't let that happen.

"I'm sorry," she thinks out aloud as three middle school guys she doesn't know grab Emma as soon as they reach the corner of the street.

The beautiful blonde screams but a hand reaches her mouth and muffles it. She looks at Karina with teary eyes, making Karina cry too.

"Good work, Mousy Maya." Aiko and her group are already here, very pleased with what Karina had done, smiling ear to ear.

But Karina isn't. Her heart beating too loudly, she's in fear of what will happen next.

"Lure him" is Aiko's next command.

Trembling, Karina straightens up and glares at her bully. If she cannot stand up for herself, she should at least not drag somebody down with her. Emma doesn't deserve to be in this kind of mess.

Maybe... Maybe she could do something after all. For Goro-san and for Emma.

Bam!

Karina's vision turns black for a moment. She lies weak on the cemented floor. Her right cheek is hurting like crazy and she can taste blood on her swollen lips. One of the middle school guys had punched her. Aiko looms in front of her and takes a bit of her hair to force her to look at where Emma is. One big guy is holding the blonde tight as she wriggles against his grasp.

"You want her to suffer more than you have?" There is thick venom in Aiko's words. "Or maybe you want my friends to have fun with her instead?"

Karina gasps.

No.

Not that.

She can only shake her head.

Aiko releases her hold on her. "Good. Now, do what you need to do."

Not knowing what else she could do, Karina gathers her strength and runs toward Burger Prince, the fast-food restaurant where Manjiro Sano is always at.

People stare at her as she passes them by, noticing the thick bruise on her face and the blood on her lips.

She doesn't care.

There he is—Manjiro Sano, sitting in one corner of the room, casually eating fries like he has no care for the world. Karina knows nothing about the guy save that he's a delinquent and that he pissed Aiko off by beating up her boyfriend. Karina knows nothing about his strength and his courage and it makes Karina more worried.

What if, in Aiko's anger, he actually dies?

And what of Emma?

What horrors will the bullies and their friends do with her?

Karina looks around the fast food resto. Shouldn't this Manjiro Sano be with his group? Why is he there all alone and vulnerable?

Questions. Questions. Questions. Her head is filled with so many questions that she fears it'll burst.

Whatever! She screams internally and strides toward the blond guy.

He looks at her quizzically then asks "Who the hell are you?" Their eyes meet. The color of his eyes is so deep that Karina looks away from them, fearing that she'll be sucked in and fall into them.

"E- Emma-san is in danger," Karina stutters.

With her words, Manjiro Sano is instantly on his feet. "Where the fuck is she?"

"D-delilah's. In the corner near Delilah's."

With incredible speed, the guy dashes out of the resto and sits on his motorbike. "Get in! Quick!" he yells at Karina.

The girl complies and sits behind the guy, feeling uncomfortable with someone being this close to her. She is still contemplating whether she should put her hands around the boy's waist or not when the motorbike starts and runs all of a sudden. Fearing that she'll lose balance and fall off the bike, Karina hugs Manjiro Sano from behind.

"If you're joking, you'll die." The boy threatens her.

Karina swallows hard.

"Where to?" he asks. Karina answers and directs him to where Aiko and her friends are.

His heartbeat, she notices, is in a steady rhythm.

He isn't afraid.

At least, now she knows about his courage.

What's left is his strength.

When they arrive and see Emma with Aiko's group, Manjiro Sano is calm. Not what Karina had imagined he would be. She imagined the guy being so angry that he'd start shouting and throwing punches here and there. But, he just stands there, acknowledging Emma by just looking at her and then remaining in the middle of his enemies, like he's just waiting.

Aiko is pissed just at the sight of him. "Manjiro Sano! How dare you hurt Hiroto!"

The blond boy slightly tilts his head. "Hiroto? Who's that?"

"You bastard! Don't play dumb." Aiko is seething with anger, the nerves on her head popping. "You're the reason why he can't talk right now. You fucking ruined his lips!"

Manjiro Sano's eyes light up a little. "Ah. I remember. He's the guy who was telling the police shit that Peh-yan stole from the department store. There's no way Peh would do that."

"So you almost killed him?"

"The fucker? Ye—" Manjiro Sano squats suddenly just as one of the other boys throws him a punch.

Amazing.

He's able to dodge it.

"Fuck you!" Aiko charges at him with her bat. "Invincible Mikey my ass. Today you'll cry and ask for your mom, you bastard! Guys, kill him!"

Look out! Though extremely worried, Karina cannot voice her thoughts, as usual.

But she doesn't need to.

Manjiro Sano doesn't need her worries or her encouragement. Actually, at the moment, he seems to need nothing and no one. With lightning speed, he successfully dodges every attack. And when he's on the offensive, he only needs one kick to knock out his opponent.

He's strong—insanely strong. It's the first time Karina has seen someone like him. Silent as a sea but ferocious as a beast, Manjiro Sano strikes down his enemies.

Finding a chance, Emma bites the hand covering her mouth and shouts "Mikey!"

The blond boy looks her way. "You alright?" Immediately, he's at the girl's side, kicking the face of the guy who was once holding Emma. The burly middle schooler sinks to the floor.

"How the hell did you end up like this?" Manjiro Sano brushes off the dirt on Emma's shirt. Before the beautiful girl could respond, she instinctively locks gazes with Karina. Slowly, the blond boy's head turns towards her, his eyes still tinged with deep anger. "Ah. There's still one left."

Karina suddenly feels like she's been poured with ice. He's going to beat her up, too.

"No, big brother!" Emma blocks his view. "Not her."

"Emma. You sure?"

The beautiful blonde nods her head.

"Okay, then, let's go." Giving a final cold look at Karina, Manjiro Sano leads his little sister to his motorbike, leaving Karina alone with the wounded middle schoolers.

Karina watches the two as they disappear from her sight.

There are many beautiful things in the world, like the start of an unexpected friendship, the love between siblings,
and the start of an unimaginable bond between two people who are so different from each other.

Karina isn't aware of them now, but one day she will be.