Stepping into the dark and narrow alley, the sudden loss of light made my eyes struggle to adjust. I rubbed them briefly before focusing and activating my basic detection ability, Hunter's Spirit Sight. The skill consumed very little energy and could be maintained for a long time. Its effect was similar to low light vision while also providing a simple awareness of movement within range. Within ten meters, everything became clear enough to observe. It was a practical technique that any trained hunter needed to master.
I scanned the alley ahead. Two paths branched out before me. When I reached the fork and checked again, I sensed movement in the right passage. I turned and headed that way without hesitation.
After walking several dozen steps, crude and disgusting voices drifted toward me from around the corner, mixed with the sound of a girl struggling.
"Hey, little girl, you are pretty cute. Let me touch you a bit."
"What is so fun about butterflies? My stick is way more fun. I will let you experience it properly soon."
"Why play alone? Playing together is better."
Then came a terrified cry. "You, you guys, do not come closer. Ah, stop!"
My expression changed instantly.
Mikasa.
I rushed forward and rounded the corner. At the end of the alley, four youths, all around fifteen or sixteen years old, had cornered a small girl. Mikasa was pressed back against the wall, her body tense with fear. One of them had already reached out and grabbed her arm.
"Hey!" I shouted.
The four of them turned at once.
The one standing in front had brown hair and freckles scattered across his face. Beside him was a blond youth. The sight made my heart sink.
These were the same four.
The ones I had run into when I first arrived in this world. Back then, unfamiliar with everything around me, I had nearly been beaten half to death by them.
I clenched my teeth. "What a coincidence," I said coldly. "I did not expect to meet you here."
"It is you!" one of them shouted.
They quickly bent down and picked up wooden sticks from the ground, each one about as thick as a child's forearm.
"What are you doing here?"
"I have been looking for you for a long time!"
I forced a fierce expression onto my face and spoke in a threatening tone, all while carefully avoiding looking back at Mikasa. "Let us settle what happened last week."
The four of them immediately tightened their grips on their sticks.
"Do not push us too far!" the freckled youth said nervously. He pointed at me with his left hand while clutching the stick in his right.
"Yeah, and last week we were the ones who got hurt!" the blond youth added, his voice shaky.
If anyone had walked into the alley at that moment, they would have seen a strange scene. Four teenage boys armed with wooden sticks stood on guard against a single ten-year-old boy. I was much shorter than them, thin, and completely empty-handed. Yet they looked as though they were facing a wild beast ready to tear them apart.
The roles felt completely reversed.
The freckled youth squeezed his stick tighter, but it gave him no sense of comfort. Last week, the four of them had weapons while I had none, yet they had still ended up injured. Even now, just thinking about it made his stomach ache faintly.
Then his eyes shifted toward Mikasa, who was huddled in the corner.
Black hair. Black eyes.
A thought surfaced in his mind, and the corner of his mouth slowly curled upward.
"So that is it," he thought. "I have found your weakness."