What in the hell was she talking about?

  “Being the grand heroes of this story, we shall save that woman’s future together! We shall be the beacon that holds her story and drives it ever so forward! Because that is what it means to be a hero!”

  “...”

  He watched her with deadpan eyes as Wujing danced from side to side. It was a ridiculous dance unlike anything he’d seen before, but it was most certainly one expressing a deep sense of joy.

  “So then, human, are you ready?!”

  With a cold sweat, Akuma asked, “Sorry to be that guy, but what do you mean?”

  Wujing answered Akuma with a slight bob in her head. “Wait, are we not on the same page here?”

  “...I guess that depends. What page are you on exactly?”

  “Grr! Is it not obvious?!”

  Wujing’s finger reached out like a pointed blade. Her usually innocent smile was gone. Instead, her face had a nasty sneer with a sliver of something else mixed into it. Something dark. Cruel. It was enough to make Akuma instinctively cling to the soft fur of the Pandota plushie in his arms for comfort. Akuma believed that he was finally starting to see the real Wujing. The one behind the cute smile.

  “Obviously, we are to take down that evil scoundrel before he causes any harm!”

  Akuma cast his gaze in the direction that Wujing was pointing.

  On the opposite side of the road, there was another sidewalk with a traffic of people walking through it. The amount of people was a stark difference in comparison to the number on the side that Akuma and Wujing were currently one. Thanks to the local mall being over there, no doubt. This road was known as a hotpot, for that reason.

  Through all that chaos, Wujing’s finger was pointed at one person specifically.

  With one knee folded up so that his heel could rest on the wall, the man leaned back in a casual manner. His heavy, and clearly expensive, red fur coat looked quite fashionable on his slight frame. It paired nicely with the cigarette dangling from his lips. Almost too nicely. Akuma could recognize that cheap brand of cigarette from anywhere…

  Was that man somehow connected to Bomi? If that were the case, then he’d most certainly be a potential criminal. But with only that limited amount of information to work with, Akuma’s hands were tied.

  “Okay, I get that, but I’m asking why? Why do you think that guy’s gonna rob someone? What basis do you have for that claim?”

  “......” Her pointed finger retracted with an air of uncertainty before falling back to her side. “Hold on, why are you asking all this? Did you not also…”

  By her own command, the words refrained from leaving her lips. From the way she was wavering, it was clear to Akuma that Wujing was hesitant on if she should reveal the answer to him.

  In another situation, he’d have loved to sit and chat and sort this whole thing out, but their situation wasn’t so forgiving that he could waste anymore time.

  Having been at the mercy of the angel’s whims for the past 3 years, Akuma had learned the hard way that no matter how severe the mission given to him, the angel would offer no assistance whatsoever. It couldn’t touch anything, nor could anyone else hear or see it. It also refused to speak. All it could do was force its burdens onto Akuma, controlling his strings from the background.

  As such, Akuma had developed his own way of indicating how close he was to failing a given mission. That is, the nuance in the angel’s expression. At a first glance, the angel was always wearing the same variation of that old, mischievous grin. But, if you really paid close attention, you’d sometimes see a slight difference.

  In simple terms, the more eerie and twisted the angel’s smile, the closer he was to receiving the punishment. Akuma suspected that the thing secretly enjoyed watching him struggle with its missions.

  Akuma’s eyes darted from the indecisive Wujing to the suspect in question, then back to Wujing and finally to the Angel. He could feel an anxious droplet of sweat trailing down his cheek as he did.

  Judging by its current expression, his time wasn’t–

  “AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

  The desperate scream of a damsel ripped through the entire street.

  Instantly, both Akuma and Sha Wujing turned to the direction of its source.

  Their eyes immediately tracked a person cloaked in black who was racing through the street. In one hand he had a small, but sharp pocket knife. A lady’s handbag in the other. He was running in a straight line, positioning the knife directly in front of him and purposefully shouting so that no one would stand in his way.

  “Human, we have to…” her voice trailed off. Before Wujing realized it, a fluffy item had found its way into her arms.

  As for the boy who gave it to her, his legs accelerated at an inhuman rate. He had moved so fast, that for a second, his hoodie had failed to keep up. At that moment, Wujing was stunned to see his eyes flash with an almost terrifying determination. For a moment, she swore his eyes were glowing.

  She knew exactly where the boy was headed. But she had her doubts. Could Akuma reach the thief? He was on the other side of the street. From her estimate, it was a disadvantage of nearly 200 meters.

  Just as she made that conclusion, however, the thief suddenly tripped. A random trashcan clattered to the ground and rolled just in front of the thief. He didn’t fall to the ground, but his pace did drop considerably.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  In the time it took for him to curse his misfortune and catch his balance, Akuma had already closed the distance.

  “Would you look at that? Guess it’s still my lucky day today...” Akuma had a daring grin on his face that sent a slight chill down the thief’s spine. His face was barely visible thanks to the inertia working the hood he was still holding in place.

  “How the hell did you…?!” The thief’s voice trailed off.

  Akuma reached for the thief’s shoulder. Reacting to his intentions, the thief leaped to the side while slashing wildly at Akuma’s outreached arm. The blade narrowly missed him.

  Irksomely, Akuma clicked his tongue. At the very least, he had managed to stop the thief’s advance completely. Now, the two of them were standing face to face, the distance between them only 1 and a half meters.

  “The hell do you think you’re doing, kid?! Can’t you see I’ve got a damn knife here?!” exclaimed the thief with deranged eyes.

  “...Yeah, so?” Akuma calmly replied.

  “The fuck?! See, this is the shit I’m talking about! You shitheads in this damn district! I can’t stand ‘em! You’re all insane! Every one of you!”

  “Are you really one to talk about ‘crazy’? I mean c’mon, let’s face the facts here.”

  “Facts, my ass! I swear, man, just you wait. This whole damn district is gonna feel it soon! We’ll make sure of that…”

  From his choice of words, Akuma was left to believe that the thief wasn’t alone. Could he be another one of Bomi’s goons, perhaps?

  Akuma took a deep breath, gathering a well of strength into his body. Then, he quickly displaced that strength into his legs.

  “–?!”

  Before the thief could register Akuma’s fluid movements, a powerful blow struck his exposed gut. Pain lanced throughout the thief’s body immediately, causing him to hit the ground and curl up like an armadillo. As he couldn’t cry out no matter how hard he tried, it was evident that the blow had winded the man.

  “That’s odd…” Akuma remarked, giving his fist a puzzled look. “I was sure that would’ve knocked you out instantly. Did I hold back too much?”

  “Shit! Shit! Shit!” The thief breathed.

  Akuma couldn’t believe that an ordinary person was able to take a serious and unexpected punch from him and remain conscious, much less speak. It was at this moment that the thief uttered something beneath his breath, so low that Akuma couldn’t make it out.

  “Shit! Marcus, you asshole. You didn’t tell me I’d run into a goddamn hero…”

  Marcus… he committed the name to memory.

  Akuma’s gaze wandered about the frozen crowd until it landed somewhere around where he originally saw the man posed up on a wall. He was gone. There was no doubt that he was there before, but now he had left without a trace.

  “Was that Marcus?” he wondered.

  Either way, he had bigger priorities right now.

  For a full two minutes, Akuma stood over the thief’s body until he lost the last bits of consciousness he was still desperately clinging onto. Only then did Akuma squat down and remove the thief’s mask

  “...”

  It was a man he hadn’t seen before. Neither in the Ghost District nor the Active one. Akuma had his reasons for memorizing all the faces of the thugs or potential criminals in this town—even innocent civilians at times. For that reason, Akuma was convinced that the thief had to have either been a previously unknown and ordinary man, or someone from District-2, the Migration District. Akuma had only visited that place once before.

  But more importantly, Akuma was able to confirm that the thief wasn’t the same man whom Wujing had pointed to earlier. So, while it was true that someone was indeed robbed like Wujing said, it was by an entirely different person.

  “Mommy, daddy, look! Look! Looook! A hero, a hero! Just like from my comics! It’s a real life superhero!”

  Just as Akuma turned his scrutinised gaze to the handbag in the thief’s carry, a random kid watching the scene play out from the nearby crowd had such a remark. His parents agreed, and so did nearby civilians who had chosen to crowd the area rather than flee.

  Hero, huh…

  Considering the circumstances, he couldn’t say the term didn’t fit. For ordinary people like them, it must’ve been like watching a segment of an action film.

  But it still felt off. Like it just didn’t belong. A label that didn’t quite stick. Not on him. Why would it? It’s not as if Akuma had offered his help of his own free will. Stopping a thief in his tracks? Returning a woman’s stolen handbag? None of those things were on his agenda. Not now, not ever. If Akuma had his way, he’d have ignored the situation entirely. But once again, the angel had meddled into his life.

  How truly vexing.

  Akuma turned his attention back to the handbag in the thief’s unconscious carry. The bag was fairly big and stylish—at least, when compared to the stature of the lady who owned it. But he wouldn’t go so far as to call it luxurious. The material was a little worn out, its strap was stretched and the beige surface was dark in certain areas.

  Frankly, it wasn’t the kind of thing worth risking prison over.

  If it were money the thief was after, then there were definitely better options.

  To that end, Akuma almost believed that he was overthinking it all and that they hadn’t actually “chosen” anyone.

  “It was the pills inside the bag that he wanted.”

  Suddenly hearing Wujing’s voice caused him to jump a little. Judging from the fact that she didn’t have her suitcase with her, she must’ve rushed over in the short time he had been focused on the bag.

  “...P–Pills? What pills?” asked Akuma in an incredulous tone.

  One of Wujing’s arms snuggled the Pandota plushie Akuma had left in her care. The other was now pointed at the handbag Akuma had retrieved from the thief.

  “Inside of that bag you will find a small container of medicine…” Wujing replied calmly and with a pleasant smile. “They are quite expensive. I believe they are also illegal to consume unless prescribed by a doctor in this part of the world. As such, it is very difficult for ordinary crooks to get their hands on them.”

  “Wait, slow down,” Akuma said dismissively. “What the hell are you even talking about?! Pills?!” having heard something so ridiculous, the question tumbled out of him reflexively. “How would you even know all that anyways?”

  Wujing’s eyes frantically darted around, searching for an excuse not to answer. Her fingers fidgeted together as she did.

  “...Umm…Well…Ahh…”

  It was just like that moment when he had asked why she was so confident in her accusation of the man across the street.

  “Oh my god, thank you! Thank you so much! Thank you!”

  Before Akuma could pry an answer out of Wujing, a sudden voice yelled from their side. It was the lady who had originally owned the handbag, the one who had been robbed.

  “Thank you so very much!”

  Akuma, finally picking up on why she was so eager, jerked a bit before handing her the handbag he had retrieved from the thief.

  “N–No. It wasn’t any trouble, really.”

  “I don’t know how I can ever repay you for this!”

  Outwardly ignoring Akuma’s comment of reassurance, the young lady hugged her stolen handbag as if it were a runaway pet that had finally returned home. With each word, the tears building up in her eyes swelled with gratitude.

  “Thanks to you, my grandmother won’t have to go back to the hospital. Her condition was starting to come back, and her new medication is in this bag. I don’t know what I would’ve done if it was stolen. Thank you so much!”

  Akuma's carefully placed smile slowly disappeared, his eyes expanding like circus balloons.

  “...What?”