The neon lights still flicker, yet the hedonistic bubble silently bursts, hurling those floating people heavily from the skies, shattering them into pieces.
The little girl stared blankly at the crying and wailing people below; even though she hadn’t eaten dinner, she might have long been used to it.
She couldn’t hear the sound of her stomach rumbling, nor feel the hunger in her belly; it was Magic that helped her.
"Asuka! Thank goodness! You’re here!"
Just then, the door suddenly opened behind her, even though it was barely seven today, Mother had co back already.
The disheveled woman at the door looked at the little girl inside the house as if grasping at a straw of hope, fiercely grabbing the school-uniform-clad arm of the little girl, yanking her out of the room.
"With you, that guy will definitely help repay the debt... No, I must call him quickly... That monk’s family has a temple, it must work..."
As a "hostage," the little girl didn’t know she had already beco the leverage Mother used to coerce the father, whom she rarely t, for money, until she was dragged by Mother to the rooftop of a tall building, until she made a phone call to her father far away in the Capital City, until Mother held the little girl tightly, standing at the edge of the building for several hours, that the police noticed a woman driven mad by huge debts holding her daughter at the brink of Death.
Too many people had died during this period; incidents like these wouldn’t typically draw attention, but any society is exceptionally compassionate towards children.
Just as the little girl’s mother imagined, when she held the girl as ransom, threatening the monk far in the Capital City to sell the temple to repay her debt, everyone began to pay attention to the thin, expressionless little girl in her arms who seed unrelated to her.
"Ma’am, calm down! The person you’re looking for will be here soon! Step away from the rooftop! Your daughter is so young; everything can still be negotiated!"
"Negotiate!? Do you know how much I owe? Without money, I might as well die, but I am still so young, how could I..."
"Rumble!"
The hysterical mother behind her, dense police surrounding the rooftop, even the journalists who ca for the news couldn’t help but feel anxious for the little girl less than ten centiters from the edge of the rooftop; the sky beca heavily overcast with rolling Thunder, enveloping Tokyo at this mont.
However, the girl, unexpectedly, remained calm; she just stared blankly at everything in front of her as if it was all unrelated to her, standing like a puppet in her mother’s arms.
The reporters thought she was scared stiff, highlighting in their photographs the fragile, sallow complexion of her face.
"Make way! The child’s father is here!"
"Beep... Beep..."
Until much later, a kasaya-wearing man holding the Buddha finally erged from the rooftop staircase, the eyeglass-wearing father of the little girl finally appeared.
His heart was weak, often reciting Buddhist Scripture devoutly filled his heart with compassionate softness, yet it lacked a bit of the King’s anger, even seeing the poor little girl who had beco entirely different from the girl he hadn’t seen in ages, his sadness far outweighed any anger inside him.
"Hurry, sell the temple, otherwise... otherwise, I’ll jump with Asuka! It’s all your fault we are like this today!"
"But... even if we sell the temple, we can’t pay off the massive debt you owe... let Asuka down, and we’ll figure sothing out..."
"Are you playing with ? Hurry! Hurry up!"
The parental argunt, the surrounding whispering, the little girl appeared to hear none of it.
She wasn’t afraid because before coming up, she had drawn Magic on her clothes.
As long as there was Magic...
The little girl glanced down at her sleeve, partially hidden under the sowhat short and ill-fitting school uniform, a line of text was partially revealed,
"No matter what happens, Tangze Asuka will not be afraid."
"Beep... Beep..."
"Rumble!"
But in the next second, in the calm, numb eyes of Tangze Asuka, a raindrop suddenly fell from the sky, quickly landing on her arm, right at the end of that [Magic] line, causing the cheap pen strokes to blur slightly.
It turned out, it was going to rain.
Nobody knew why, while Mother was angrily bargaining, Father was bowing, reciting Buddhist scriptures praying for blessings, and the police were advising forward, why the little girl in the woman’s arms suddenly began to tremble like a sieve.
Her already yellowish complexion now turned completely pale, her pupils constricted in disbelief, watching the black ink from the raindrop flow down her hand.
Soon, as more raindrops fell, the latter part of the text started to beco extrely blurred.
But...
But...
But my Magic is going to...
So scared, so scared, so scared, so scared, so scared, so scared, so scared...
Ah...
"Rumble!"
"Quickly give the money!! Asuka, stop moving!"
At that mont, feeling the little girl in her arms trembling uncontrollably, the angry woman slapped her, just like in the past, and the little girl, just like a punching bag, had no reaction.
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