Chapter 7:

  After a week:

  After the encounter with the mysterious man, Tatsumi has been avoiding going to school, she did not feel like going there, and who can blame her? Losing her gang, being a laughing stock, being introduced to a new world, and now being targeted by a weird man. All these things are more than enough to break anyone, and what made it worse that her parents did not even notice her not going to school.

  At the same time, Ketsuki has been healing from the injury he got while fighting the stray. Tenshiko was a decent help for him, healing his injury regularly, which helped him heal faster than what he was supposed to take to fully head. Ketsuki went back to training his body, his scarred yet well built body, instantly picking up his pace as if he was never injured, that may be thanks to his body, or to Tenshiko's healing abilities. But Ketsuki's mind was always drifting off towards Tatsumi.

  "Is she okay?", "I wonder how is she doing", and things of sort. It was eating him alive, he did not understand why is he even caring about her and her wellbeing, after all, he is a coldblooded hunter, he never cared for people before, but now he is caring about this random girl he met few days ago?

  Tenshiko, being the idiot she is, decided to tease Ketsuki, looking at him with a sly smirk and saying "Oh~? You look like you have got a lot on your mind, Ketsu-kun~ What is it? Are you thinking of her~? Do you love her~?" The kitsune said, smirking slyly at Ketsuki.

  Ketsuki simply looked at her with a deadpan face and simply said "I always underestimate your stupidity. I am simply thinking about what would happen to her after realizing the truth behind this world."

  Tenshiko just shrugged, smirking at him slyly, "Yeah yeah, I 100% believe you." She said, clearly mocking him. Ketsuki simply clicked his tongue, letting out a "Tch" and mumbling something like "Tits for brains" and "Stupid fox" under his breath, before putting on his coat and leaving.

  Ketsuki walked down the streets, he was quite the intimidating scene to encounter, a 6'2 tall young man with messy black hair and a pair of vacant and dead looking grey eyes, no one would be blamed for mistaking him for a serial killer, what makes it worse is that his trench coat is full of all kinds of weapons, which is a habit of his, always carrying weapons with him just in case. He walked for a long while, before reaching a fancy and expensive looking apartment complex.

  He looked the building up and down, before calmly walking towards the entrance and walking in, holding a little to not regard to the guards, who were clearly confused, but seeing how confident he was while walking, they brushed it off as him being a resident here.

  Ketsuki walked towards a board on the wall, showing the building's plan and the names of the families living here. His eyes traveled across the board, until he spotted the name "Matsutani", apartment number 256, he walked towards the elevator and pressed the button, going to the forth floor.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  The elevator stopped at the 4th floor, and Ketsuki walked down the hallway towards the apartment, until he stopped before the door, he calmly pressed the door bell and waited.

  After few moments, the door opened, and in front of Ketsuki was non other than Tatsumi, wearing a cute pink pajama with a , hood that had rabbit ears, she looked pretty depressed. Her milky skin was paler than normal, and her petite build clearly lost some weight, indicating that she was skipping meals for the last week, her eyes were red and puffy, and were clearly darker than normal. Her state was pitiful to say the least.

  Ketsuki looked at her, before letting out a snort, barely holding a laugh in.

  Tatsumi, who would usually be angry and furious if someone laughed at her, did not get angry, instead looked like she was on the brink of tears, as she said softly "W-why...Why are you l-laughing..."

  Ketsuki calmed himself down, before smirking, and saying "I am not laughing at you, I simply find it ironic how an infamous gang leader like you can be both powerful yet still look cute."

  Tatsumi did not show any reaction, her eyes were as dull as they were, but it was clear she did not appreciate his "joke". "What do you want from me? Do you want to ruin my life further?" She said. Ketsuki simply shook his head, and said something Tatsumi never expected to hear from him in a million years, he said "No, I came here to apologize. I know apology will not do anything, but I felt like it will make you feel better, I apologize for dragging you into this, and I apologize for sacrificing your gang..."

  Tatsumi, shell shocked, angry, and thankful, and there was something else in her eyes even she could not know. She softly shook her head, "N-no, no need to apologize...It was my and my gang's fault for picking a fight with you... and my fault for not realizing my limits...I am the one who is sorry..."

  Tatsumi said, genuinely and sincerely, before looking Ketsuki dead in the eyes, her eyes vulnerable yet with a flicker of determination. "Ketsuki Onizawa, I want you to teach me how to control my power, teach me everything about your world, .everything about Ichor, about Strays, everything...I don't want to be weak anymore...I don't want to lose anymore...."

  Ketsuki looked at her in surprise, before smirking, "That's what I like to hear, your training starts tomorrow then, get ready."

  Ketsuki said, before turning around and leaving, leaving Tatsumi closing her door, with newfound determination and resolve.