Whee-oo whee-oo whee-oo.

An ambulance came to collect Sakaraba. The rest of us that were left behind stared at the broken table.

“Wow…” Hak-gyu gasped, looking at the mark in disbelief.

“Man, the table is weak. Hmph.” I clicked my tongue. I didn’t even have it in me to feel angry because I was so disappointed.

“Sian…this is marble…”

“So?”

Yeah. So? I can’t be the only one who’s ever cracked marble.

“What do you mean so? Do you know how thick marble is? Just how strong did you go that it actually broke…hahaha….” Hak-gyu laughed, unable to control his shock.

“I didn’t go that strong,” I said, not feeling a shred of remorse. I really did hold back this time. I really did try to put out only enough – just~ enough – to push his hand down. The marble was just weak.

“But even so, I’m not the one who broke it. It was Sakaraba’s hand that broke it.”

“Eh. Whatever.”

I mean, what do I know? But from what I heard later, every bone in Sakaraba’s hand had been broken to the point that he wouldn’t be able to use it properly for a few years. Even if he were to recover, there would be remaining aftereffects.

“Guess he’ll be left handed now.”

Honestly, I should’ve broken his other hand while I was at it.

***

At the hotel.

The hotel was really nice. I liked it, but the best part was I got to share a room with Hainan.

“Hainan, stop.”

Hainan, who was about to take off her pants, froze mid-attempt.

“Huh? Why?”

“It’s embarrassing.”

It is. I’m a guy. Of course, living in the same dorm as a bunch of girls makes it impossible for me not to see things from time to time. It’s not like I look on purpose. It just happens. It’s not like I can just stop seeing. If they’re going to change in front of me, I can’t stop them. I’m actually being really polite, considering I’m a guy. But still, I didn’t want to see that here. Not in a hotel. Of course, I want to, but I do have a conscience. Not to mention that Hainan is a minor. I have to protect her innocence.

“What’s there to be embarrassed about? We’re both girls.”

And just like that, Hainan took off her hands, having no idea what was going on inside my mind. I immediately did my best to block out the dirty thoughts from entering my head. Soon, Hainan had changed into her pajamas and was laying down on the bed, immediately burrowing herself next to me.

“I like being in your arms the most,” she said, burying herself into my chest.

This…feels weird.

“It’s like being with my mom.”

“….”

“Hey, Sian.”

“Yeah?”

“Do you think Sakaraba will be okay?”

“He’ll be fine. It’s not like he injured his head or anything,” I said indifferently.

Hainan smiled.

“You’re like a sociopath.”

“….”

“Hey, Sian.”

“What?”

Wow, this girl talks a lot.

“I was good, right?”

“You were very good. Your commentary was great. And you looked so pretty while you ate,” I said, adding a thumbs up at the end.

Hainan blushed, looking pleased.

“But, Hainan.”

“Yeah?”

“Do you miss your parents?”

“I do.”

“Mmm.”

Of course, she would. She hasn’t seen them since she joined Fifteen. She was really young when she left Vietnam. Maybe that’s why I feel especially affectionate towards her.

“Aren’t you scared of being alone?”

“But you’re here to take care of me.”

“Oh…that’s true.”

That’s right. I will take care of Hainan. And not just her. I’ll protect all the members of Lovely Girlz. If Sakaraba had tried anything with Hainan, I would’ve broken even more than his right hand.

We laid there in bed, drifting off to sleep, when all of a sudden, the bed started shaking.

“Huh?”

Hainan and I sat up, and Hainan looked this way and that way. Suddenly, the entire building started to shake.

Crumble crumble…

Crash! Rumble…!

Stuff began to fall to the floor. Hainan wrapped her arms around me, screaming. I picked her up off the bed and looked up at the ceiling. Just as I started to wonder if it would collapse, everything stopped. For about twenty seconds, everything was quiet. Suddenly, someone began to pound on the door.

“Sian! Hainan!”

It was Hak-gyu. I got up and opened the door. The moment I did, Hak-gyu began to gesture to us frantically.

“Guys, come on! We have to leave! That was a 6.5 earthquake just now!”

Hainan and I immediately ran out of the room. We went through the emergency exit to evacuate. But we couldn’t run. There were too many people evacuating with us. The good thing was that Japanese people were very calm. Everyone was able to evacuate in a quick and orderly fashion.

“Hainan, hold my hand, okay?”

I took a tight hold of Hainan’s hand and Hainan squeezed back. But just then, I heard a female voice screaming. I was sure of it. No one else could hear it but thanks to my powers, I heard it just fine. I began to focus on the scream. The woman was crying. She seemed to be fighting with someone. Suddenly, a male voice came in. And I could hear the sound of someone assaulting someone. It sounded like the woman was being assaulted. I looked in the direction where the voice had come from. It was a corridor visible through an open emergency exit door. And I could see a room. Its door was open, but no one was there to help her because everyone was too busy evacuating. Which meant that it was up to me.

“Hak-gyu, take Hainan,” I said, passing Hainan’s hand over to Hak-gyu.

“Sian, what about you?”

“I’ll be back. I just have to help someone.”

With that, I immediately turned towards the open emergency exit.

Hainan and Hak-gyu shouted after me, asking me where I was going, but I ignored them, running towards the room at the end of the hallway.

***

The door was open about halfway. I leaned in and looked inside. And what I saw was nothing short of an assault. The man already had his pants off and was attempting to take off the woman’s panties. The women kept trying to fight him off. Her pants were already off and the rest of her clothes had been ripped off of her, practically leaving her naked. I approached them. The man was so focused on the woman that he didn’t notice me at all. He raised his hand, about to slap her. The woman turned her head once again to scream and I grabbed his hand.

“Nandayo kore,” the man said as he looked at me. His eyes looked mad, ready to kill anyone who dared to interrupt him. The woman looked at me with a sad face and began to shake her head. She was clearly trying to tell me to run. But at the same time, I could tell that she was begging me to help her. I looked at the man again and he began to shout.

“Nandayo kore!”

He got up and tried to push me back, but I didn’t budge. He grabbed the collar of my shirt. I immediately grabbed his hands and squeezed with all my might.

Crack.

“Aaaah!” the man shouted. I pushed the man back and flipped him onto his back. Then, I drew my hand back and punched him square in the face.

Pow!

The guy immediately passed out.

“Fucking bastard,” I said, clicking my tongue at the man. Seriously? We’re in the middle of an evacuation and I have to waste my time with guys like him?

“You okay?” I asked the woman. With tears in her eyes, the woman nodded.

“T-thank you…”

Hey. She could speak Korean.

“Oh! You’re Korean?”

“Yes…I…sniff…I’m a foreign exchange student…”

“Oh. Is this your boyfriend then?” I said, gesturing towards the man. This was a hotel. There’s no way she would’ve just walked in with the intent of being raped. My guess was they came here on a date and he just decided to get excited on his own.

“N-no…”

“No?”

Then what was he?

“He’s a stalker…I came here on a trip…I had no idea he’d follow me all this way…”

“Oh.”

I looked down at the guy again. He really was trash. First stalking, now rape? I approached the guy and gave him one more punch in the face.

Pow!

Crack.

And his nose broke.

“So you’re okay, right?”

“Yes…thank you.”

“Here. Get dressed. We need to evacuate.”

At my instructions, the woman began to pick up the clothes around her and put them on. Just then, my phone rang. It was Hak-gyu.

“Yeah?”

“Sian! Where are you? Hurry outside! They said there might be another earthquake!” Hak-gyu shouted.

Aww…was he worried about me? How sweet.

“I’m going down. How’s Hainan?”

“We’re all evacuating towards a gym nearby. Don’t worry about us. Just hurry!”

“Okay. Take care of Hainan. I’m leaving now.”

I hung up just as the girl finished dressing.

“Let’s go.”

“What about him…?” the woman asked, gesturing towards the stalker.

“Eh. He can worry about himself.”

Honestly. It’s bad enough that he stalked her, but to attempt to rape her in the middle of an earthquake? I had no intention of saving someone like that. If this were ancient times, I would’ve cut his head off.

“Come on. We need to hurry.”

I took the woman’s hand and we ran out of the room. We headed for the emergency exit and began to ran down the stairs…and that’s when it happened. The building began to shake again and soon, the ceiling started to collapse.

Rumble rumble! Crack! Crash!

***

“Well, I’m in a pickle…” I muttered. I honestly didn’t know what that meant but it suddenly came to me, as if from a distant memory. So, I just said it.

“Are…are you okay…?”

The woman looked up at me, her eyes filled with worry. Couldn’t blame her. I practically had the whole building on my back right now.

“I’m good,” I said, pushing the wall off my back. The woman gasped in shock. Again, it was a pretty sizable piece of rubble, so I couldn’t blame her for being surprised.

I stood up, brushing the dust off my body and looked back. The wall was gone and I could see the entire city of Tokyo. A whole chunk had crumbled off the side of the hotel. And about a meter of the floor in front of me was gone as well.

“That was close.”

We were on the 22nd floor. Even for me, it would’ve been a dangerous fall. But wow…what I saw was an absolute wreck. There were collapsed buildings everywhere and people were running in the streets, but I had no time to care. The building was shaking again.

Rumble rumble.

Aaaah!”

The woman began to fall backwards, as did I. The building was starting to collapse again. We needed to hurry or we’d be toast.

“Come on, Let’s go!”

“But where…”

“I don’t know.”

With that, I took her hand. It’s true. I had no idea. But if we kept going, then surely we’d have to get out of here eventually, right? Once we were closer to the ground, we could jump down. So I took her hand and began to run down the hallway. Just then, the ceiling began to collapsed again and I gathered all my powers as it rained down on us.

Crash!