Author here: "Side" [chapters] are connected to the canon chapters just like the Booktales. But if you're not interested in this kind of chapter, you can just skip this one since it's not wholeheartedly and entirely the focus of the story of this novel.
The main-character here or our protagonist is just a side-character here.
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Once again, the gaze of the sun exposes the country of Hinhinima to its daily routine. A fine morning indeed for a cup of coffee or a cup tea for all the morning people of this country.
Students, as usual, walked in their esteem uniform for their studies, shoulder to shoulder with their peers and friends.
"Kya!"
A female student, who was just walking shoulder-to-shoulder, peacefully, with her male peer, suddenly screamed, shocked, by the indecent act of a certain male-student towards her.
The male-student just lifted her skirt!
"You two are always close to each other." He said, then added with a smug smile on his face: "If you keep wearing white panties, Shizu might get tired of you, Mimori."
Mimori, who was staring at him, furiously, changed her facial expression to a worried one the moment she understood his point. She stared at the young man beside her with worries drew on her face: worried about that might be actually true.
Shizu, which was the young man who was walking beside her, stared at her, straight to her eyes, and said: "Just ignore him. You know he's just teasing you."
"But—" The worried Mimori was about to protest, but suddenly... "Kya!" They heard another scream from another female-student.
Their attention was caught by that scream, and when they turned their heads, they saw the same male-student who just lifted Mimori's skirt did the same thing to another fellow female-student.
"That Ozachi! He's really horrible! Why does he keep doing that?! Doesn't he felt any shame or any glimpse of guilt for committing such indecent deed?" Mimori exclaimed.
"But you know, he's kinda popular. His character can melt even the heart of ice madona." Shizu said with a calm tone and soft smile on his face.
"Then are you saying you are totally fine with this young lady here beside you being sexually harassed by that fucker over there?"
An unfamiliar, and yet, mesmerizing voice of a young man suddenly caught their ears. When they turned their heads on their left side, they saw a gloomy-looking young man that appears to be the same age as them, standing beside them, while eating junk food.
Unlike them, he was not wearing a school uniform, but instead, he was wearing a dark-red hoodie jacket, blue jeans, pair of black leather buckled-boots that looked like made of some soft reptalian skin, and a pair of black gloves with the same texture but softer and more like a fabric. His hair was as black as darkness itself that stood above despite its gloomy color. And also, if they're going to ignore his long bangs that was covering his face, they can see the glimpse of the eyeglasses he was wearing, utterly covering his eyes with such mystery. Also, he smells so good that it caught both Mimori's and Shizu's nose.
"You know, when a snake hides under the flower, it will always bite regardless of whom ever attempt to pick that flower."
"It will also eat you, even if you took care of it, sincerely, in the meantime."
Haise, then, kindly respond to Shizu's gaze with a gaze that gives a peaceful atmosphere.
For some reason, Shizu was hit, strangely, by the words of the stranger, who was standing beside them.
"So, treat this girl here like a pearl while she's still besides, or else... you might lose her."
"And you, young miss. If this young man here still stays in this kind of manner, then you better give up and wait for someone who can stand with respect and being able of protecting you; even in the simplest matter."
Silence befell upon them for that moment as they watched the back of the gloomy-looking young man, leaving them confused with such realization because of the words they received from him. While they're at it, the gloomy-looking young-man suddenly did something that left them dumbfounded...
"Pssst!"
"Huh?" While keeping himself busy by teasing another girl in the same manner he did to Mimori, the young man, known as Ozachi, turned his head as he suddenly heard a dry whistle.
*KICK!
The moment he turned his head to narrow his gaze on the root of that dry whistle, he was welcomed by a kicked that made him stumbled on the ground.
Ozachi shook his head, resisting the dizziness and pain he was feeling. And when he recovered from the kicked, he received, he stared at the gloomy-looking young man, viscously.
The gloomy-looking young man just keeps staring at him, as if labeling Ozachi as a pathetic pest in his mind.
"You...!" While holding his jaw in pain, Ozachi stood-up, but the moment he did, his balls, known to be the weakness of every man in the world, was welcomed by another kicked. Unlike the first kick that was harmoniously controlled, it was a brute kicked that could certainly send anyone to hospital.
Ozachi really wanted to utter a word but couldn't because of the pain. All he could do in his state was to stare at the gloomy-looking young-man with tears of pain on his eyes while holding his crushed balls that was certainly beyond repair.
Haise, then, kneeled his left knee before him and said: "You know, freedom is indeed a blessing to everyone in this world. To a natural thinker like us, freedom could be abuse in the wrong way, too."
Heavy pressure began to leak out from Haise, descending directly upon Ozachi as he asked: "Now answer me, young rotten one. Is your will of freedom could bear the consequences for the lives you have ruined as they now being chained by the red lights of the street?"
It was definitely not that cold on that day, and yet, Ozachi in the presence of such mysterious individual that popped out of nowhere made him visibly trembled... He was also feeling so small as if he was in front of a snowy mountain, facing a giant.
The people around them couldn't even lift a finger or utter a word as they all watched such scenario where Ozachi was trembling on the ground with such horrid face. They were all feeling the same pressure from Haise, though it was not directed to them but it's still suffocating.
Hearing what Haise just said, revealing how rotten Ozachi really was, made Shizu stared at the girl beside him who's been with him since their childhood times.
Mimori, on the other hand, was trembling in fear because of the scene. A scene of cruelty where a sinner was being judged, violently, for his crime.
Haise grabbed Ozachi's hair and whispered: "Obey my words and ignore the pain. Confess all of your sins to everyone, be the words that comes from your mouth or through your social media account."
"As you wish, my liege." Ozachi, with listless eyes and stoic voice, answered.
The gloomy-looking young-man then let him go like he was throwing a garbage in the trashcan and leave like nothing happened. He didn't even stare back at the people being shocked to his deed.
Suddenly... "W-wait!" Mimori's screamed, nervously. Shizu and the others just stared at her, but she pays no mind to them.
The gloomy-looking young-man turned around and faced her.
"M-may I know your name?" She asked, still nervous.
The gloomy-looking young-man gave a smile, a really beautiful smile that took her off guard including those who saw it, too. And in Mimori's eyes, his presence was like a twilight in the morning.
Seeing her determined eyes, the gloomy-looking young-man said with a smile on his face: "It's Haise."
Mimori was caught by his smile for a moment... "Haise" she muttered, as if memorizing it while looking at him. Then suddenly... "Bleeah!" She vomited out of the blue to which made Shizu worried.
An image of her and Ozachi, doing indecent things just suddenly flashed in her mind. And not only with him, but also with the other guys.
"Don't be naive this time and in the future. Be wary from this onwards. Traps will always a trap, after all."
Hearing the gloomy-looking young-man's words, Mimori quickly stared at him, but to her confusion, he was no longer there.
Since that day onwards, Mimori and Shizu's bond began to dramatically change with the standards they wanted to reach. All of that thanks to the gloomy-looking young-man they met. Mimori also became extremely on what the gloomy-looking young-man said. And as Odachi since that day, he no longer had any courage to step outside of his room.