It was the kind of entrapment that made the outside world appear distant and blurry. At the same time, the world inside that bubble was only a false sense of closeness—as if the distance between the two of them had been forcefully snipped and brought together.

  Cars, trucks, motorbikes, as well as other people, moved past them with the natural flow of the town, but for Akuma, they might as well have been the only two people on that street. The only thing audible was the silence itself. Or rather, the build-up of his anxious emotions that were punctuated due to that silence.

  It didn’t take long at all for Akuma Tiryns to grasp his situation.

  The face of adventure, Akuma remarked in his mind as he studied the foreign girl’s side profile.

  Whereas he could feel the imaginary walls around them begin to close in, the foreign girl’s expression hadn’t shifted in the slightest. She just continued to pull along her luggage with that same innocent yet excited look plastered on her face.

  Akuma let out a long winded breath.

  “That is the second time you have sighed like that, human. Could it be that you did not want to accompany me?” asked the foreign girl who was walking at Akuma’s side. “Was my request that much of a bother?”

  “...Of course not. I’m the one who offered the help, did you forget?”

  Akuma glanced over at her once more.

  Her pace didn’t diminish, her eyes remaining straight and her smile hadn’t faded for a second after receiving his response. To anyone else, it would appear to them as if she had taken Akuma’s words to be the truth. However, Akuma wasn’t fully convinced.

  Thinking that his words weren’t as convincing as he’d like them to be, Akuma continued on.

  “I mean, let’s be real here, I have no reason to agree to help you unless I really wanted to, right? No one just helps others for no reason. If I’m here, then that means I want to be.”

  A lie on his part. Not that he could explain his true reasons for helping her though.

  “I suppose that is true…” the foreign girl mused.

  “Right.”

  This was good momentum. Not only had he managed to strike up a decent conversation, he was also able to better the image of himself inside the foreign girl’s head by appearing more noble. That was of high priority to Akuma.

  It was mainly conjecture on Akuma’s part, but he had a strong feeling that the girl next to him didn’t have a high opinion of him at all. He noticed it while they were walking to the station. There were times when she’d give him an awkward side eye. It was hard to say whether or not it was intentional.

  But more interestingly, was the fact that Akuma couldn’t sense any openings from her. Her guard was as tight as an iron clad defense. Rather than taking a careful stroll down the street to a train station, it felt more like she was a soldier walking into an enemy base. The aura radiating off her spoke of a trained elite who had seen more years of combat than peace. Sometimes she’d even position her stance in a way that made a sudden escape easier.

  Akuma could tell all this because of his own years spent training.

  “So…” began Akuma, fearing a return of the same awkward friction from earlier. That said, it took him a whopping zero second to already regret opening his mouth.

  What was a guy like him and a girl like her supposed to talk about? Manga? He doubted she read any.

  Some would say “it wouldn’t hurt to ask,” but Akuma was a heavy believer in the opposite of that opinion.

  It always hurts to ask.

  Luckily for him, before Akuma could come up with a good way to break the ice, the foreign girl took the initiative.

  “O my goodness!” she exclaimed while covering her mouth, her feet freezing in place. “We never exchanged introductions, did we?!”

  Akuma stopped walking as well, turning to face her.

  “...No. We didn’t.”

  “No, no, no. That is no good. No good at all. How could we go so long without sharing something so elementary. Forgive me, Buddha, I beg. The fault is not my own, I swear! I–It was that train! The very same in which I took to arrive in this town! Ever since that wretched dragon of a vehicle I have been out of it!"

  “...”

  Was it common for foreigners to argue with themselves like that? Or was she an exception?

  Knowing her, it was probably the latter. She seemed like the type of person who could be considered an “outlier” to most cases.

  “Since it was my idea, I believe it is only right that I start us off! Is that alright?!”

  “...I see no reason why not. So, yeah.”

  “Great!”

  The surprisingly sharp foreign girl made a fast break to the space in front of Akuma, acting as a barrier between him and the rest of the sidewalk.

  She really was like a fairy. Free and unrestrained.

  Akuma could tell that she was the kind of person who moved through life at her own pace.

  Then, with a dramatic flair, the foreigner spun and then puffed out her chest and proclaimed herself with the confidence of a great general.

  “I am Sha Wujing! One of the great generals of Ceprun! And I am on a mission to save the world!”

  “...”

  For a split second, Akuma had almost believed that he was transported to the pages of an epic fantasy novel. One where the main character journeys all across the world in the goal of saving the world. Just as she had said.

  Had that been the case, then that would mean the girl standing before him—Sha Wujing, apparently—would be the guide tasked with ensuring the main character completes that journey.

  It was a fun thought, but reality was calling his name. And God was it loud.

  “I see… Sha Wujing, you say… Well, it’s nice to finally put a name to the face. Nice to officially meet you.”

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  “Indeed, it is the same for me as well!”

  Figuring it was his turn now, Akuma cleared his throat and braced himself. He contemplated doing something flashy like Sha Wujing had done with her cute spin, but the embarrassment was eating away at him just thinking about it.

  “As for me, my name’s Akuma… Tiryns. Akuma. But you can just call me Akuma…”

  The cute foreigner, who apparently went by the name Sha Wujing, laughed playfully.

  “Ha. Why did you say it three times?”

  “.....”

  Akuma’s cheek brightened beneath his hood.

  It was a complete accident on his part. The consequences of not leveling up his social skill—spending more time reading manga than attempting to make any friends. It didn’t help matters that the angel floating slightly behind him was also laughing at his mistake.

  Holy shit… I wanna die in a ditch.

  “So your name is Akuma, ehh…” Wujing had a wry smile as she pressed her index finger against her chin. “For some reason, I get the feeling that meeting you is somehow a bold decision on fate’s part.”

  “...”

  What an interesting way to put it…

  Akuma found himself growing more curious of the girl named Sha Wujing by the second.

  “You said your name was Sha Wujing, right?” asked Akuma, feeling iffy on his pronunciation. Being on this side of the shoe made him a bit more humble.

  “Please, Wujing will do.”

  “...Alright then… Well, I was wondering if it’d be alright if I ask where you were born? You said something about ‘Ceprun’ but I don’t think I’m familiar with that place. Based on your mentions of Buddha and your name, I can guess it’s somewhere in Asia, but that’s about all. Sorry if that comes off as rude.”

  “No, no, not in the slightest!” Sha Wujing frantically waved her hands across her face. Soon, a gloomy air came over her. Wujing’s cheerful glee faded with each passing moment. “Do not fret about it, human, I imagine that there exists none who knows about Ceprun… After all, it has been destroyed for some time now.”

  “!”

  Destroyed…? Like the whole country? No, that’s ridiculous. A whole country being destroyed would cause World War level issues. There’s no way I wouldn’t have heard about it… So then, it must just be some small little village somewhere in the north west side of the world… Still, though…

  Even as he put reason to her words, Akuma couldn’t help feeling unsatisfied.

  When it came to geography, he was pretty confident in his strength. He also tuned into the news regularly, and kept up with any information about the state of the world from online accounts. History was also one of his many fascinations. Prehistoric, ancient, middle ages, early stages of modern society—all of it. In a sense, he could be considered what people called a “nerd.”

  So he found it hard to believe that there was a location on Earth he didn’t know about.

  Unless, of course…

  …Ceprun wasn’t on Earth.

  Akuma quickly dismissed the thought. It was so ridiculous that he nearly kicked himself for even considering it. He was starting to think that maybe he really was reading too much manga.

  “I understand. I’m sorry for forcing you to remember something so awful.” said Akuma, not wanting to pry too much into Wujing's past.

  “No, it is alright, I promise! You needn’t worry for my sake… I have already come to terms with it all…”

  “.......”

  Fearing that the two of them would once again be forced into an awkward situation, Akuma wondered how best to switch the subject, but Wujing continued on anyway.

  “By the way, you should know that while Ceprun is the place I call home, it is not the place I was born. That said, if my birth place is what you are curious about, then you are out of luck as even I am not privy to that knowledge. I have never met my parents, you see. And by the time I was of sentient age, I had already been dropped into the jaws of battle… But, if you really need a name, then I suppose I could call the Liusha-he my self-proclaimed birthplace. My earliest memories are of that place.”

  Yet another place he had never heard of.

  Who was this girl? Really?

  “What about you, human? Where are your origins?”

  Wujing quickly shifted the target of the subject to Akuma. It was like she had sensed him struggling with a way to respond to what she said and had placed the burden of it on herself.

  “I was born in this town. The Active District, to be specific. That’s what my dad told me anyway. Though, my first memories are of those mountain ranges off to the east,” Akuma pointed his finger easterward. “Most of my memories, now that I think of it. So, I like to think that’s where I was really born.”

  Following the direction of his finger, Wujing pivoted on her heel. Now, she was facing east, where she could see a large mountainscape a very good distance away from the town. Its peak looked as if it were piercing the very heavens.

  “Fascinating…” she remarked, a wry smile on her face. “So whereas I was born by a sacred river, you call the mountains your birthplace. What fate. Could this be the will of Noah, I wonder?”

  “...”

  Was that her way of saying they were similar? Two peas in a pod, or something like that?

  In the first place, who was this “Noah” character? She said she never knew her parents, so perhaps a guardian? Well, she did mention something about being forced into battle ever since she was a kid, so perhaps a mentor of some kind?

  “–!”

  Snapping Akuma out of his thoughts was the jolting sensation of ice water rushing through his veins.

  The hairs on his body rose, his skin suddenly feeling so sensitive that the hoodie around it felt more like a cage. Each turn of the fabric was like tiny blades dancing across his flesh. It was a familiar feeling.

  The feeling of danger.

  “Human…? What is the matter?” Wujing was quick to notice the change in Akuma’s behavior. She couldn’t see his face, but if she had to guess, he was likely wearing a pale and anxious expression right now.

  “...”

  Akuma didn’t answer. Or rather, he couldn’t.

  He reflexively clenched his temple, but it did little to subdue the pain. It was as if a hot iron was running through it. Suddenly, his mind flashed all white like a flash grenade had gone off inside his head.

  Dammit, why now?! Can’t you see that I’m already busy with one?!

  Akuma turned his blurry gaze to the angel. As always, it had a sinister grin. But it was slightly different from its usual expression—so slight, in fact, that anyone but Akuma would’ve missed the change. It was a telltale sign that another mission was upon him.

  In the next instance, Akuma’s vision faded and overlapped with another. A vision that was yet to be. Someone’s future.

  He saw what looked to be a man racing down a busy street. The people around him jumped to the side, fearful for their lives. The man was cladded in black from head to toe. What’s more, he had a knife in one hand and a woman’s bag in the other.

  “Human? Human, can you hear me? Are you listening? What has suddenly come over you?!”

  Wujing put a worried hand on Akuma’s shoulder but he still did not answer.

  From the bits and pieces that Akuma could make out—due to the splitting and burning sensation inside his head—Akuma could more or less surmise that the angel had shown him the vision of an escaping thief. Meaning, his next mission was very likely to prevent such an outcome. Should he leave Wujing and take care of this business quickly? He didn’t know the exact details of the mission, but he was confident he could find it out, and take care of it in less than 30 minutes…

  But was that 30 minutes he was willing to spend?

  No way. Not a chance in hell. The thought of inconveniencing someone like that made Akuma’s stomach clench.

  If only he had a quicker way to find the thief before it escalated that quickly. That’d take care of half the problem.

  Save him 20 minutes, easily.

  “...I admit, human, I had originally taken you to be a very different kind of person. But I see now that I was wrong for judging one based on first appearances…” Wujing smiled brightly. Whatever truth she had just come to, it was clear to Akuma that it overjoyed her. “Thank goodness I was wrong. You really are a hero.”

  “?!”

  For the first time since receiving the divine message from the angel, Wujing’s words had reached Akuma.

  “That man over there. Shortly from now, he will cause quite the misfortune to an innocent civilian. A woman, I believe… He will plunder all that she has on hand.”

  His eyes widened as Wujing extended her finger in a seemingly random direction. Actually, it wasn’t random at all. It was precise, and backed by reason. Akuma knew that reason. For he had seen it with own eyes a few seconds ago.

  But for that to be the case, she would also have to…

  Was it possible that she was like him?