-74-

I yawn as I move forward in the swing, enjoying the breeze.

It was a long night last night because of Walter's arrival. The moment we figured out a story to use for him being here, we all went our separate ways a bit. Minus Hiiro, obviously. He decided to stay and keep an eye on him. He's going to take him in along with the soon-to-be revived Saki. Hiiro is going to say he's adopted and part of the Kagami family moving forward.

"Walter is lucky that he has Hiiro looking out for him," Parad comments. "How about your job? Got it yet?"

"I believe I am going to be working there soon, but I have to wait to hear back from the person handling it all." Hiiro's father is the one who is going to get back to me, but he is busy with other matters.

The most important matter that they're going to finish up all the revivals of the people who perished during Kamen Rider Chronicle. My getting a job can wait for the time being. Besides, Emu has money.

"I hope that you will get it," he says, sounding quite hopeful.

I nod my head. "Me too. I really hope that I can work there. If I can't, I'll join Taiga's company." I'm sure that it is so legit now.

"Walter must be in shock still if he has to be with Hiiro," Parad says. "Do you know if he'll recover or not?"

"Worried about him?"

"He's joining our circle. Of course I'm worried about him," Parad responds as I stop the swing from moving. "He's also your friend."

I nod again. "Yeah, he's definitely my friend. Of course he is."

"You're being disrespectful. I am just saying the reason why I'm concerned about him. Do you want me to not be? I can always infect him if you aren't."

"You're not going to be infecting anyone. I know you're not capable of doing so these days." He isn't into hurting innocent people these days. "You're all about gaming and being lazy." 

"I'm not that lazy," he says, shaking his head as he appears in front of me. His eyes go wide. "Hey, I see something odd."

"Is it the sight of a Bugster trying to take over the world again?" I ask. What can possibly be odd to this young Bugster?

He points behind me. "There is a woman running from some people. Do you think she's recording something?" he asks, sounding a bit curious now. He's looking for trouble isn't he?

I turn my head, looking over my shoulder as my eyes go to what he is describing.

A woman moves quickly, out running the people chasing after her, and I gasp. She's so fit looking! Not overly muscular, but muscular. She has a hat on, a baggy t-shirt, and pants. Her shoes are similar to Emu's, but black and white. 

"Do you think she's in need of assistance?" Parad asks me and I turn my head, looking at him. "You're giving me a look that is saying 'Do something', right? Am I reading this correctly right now, Elkie?"

I nod. "Yes, that is what you're seeing written on my face right now. Parad, go and do something to assist that girl and get those guys off her tail!" 

How can those dudes chase after a young woman? Don't they know it is disrespectful and creepy to do that? They're clearly a lot bigger than she is. They also look like typical thugs. They're in black and look like they're in some sort of gang or something.

Parad vanishes, color floating around where he just was, and I turn as he appears behind the thugs. I move forward, running, as Parad begins beating up the thugs. He is going to handle them long before I get there.

The thugs aim at him and he moves, teleporting right out of the way. They step back from him and rush off, taking off in different directions. Yeah, they know he's a Bugster right now and he has completely freaked them out. 

I stop as the woman pops out from behind something and Parad moves to my side. I stare at her eyes, which are brown, as she removes her hat, which has some sort of symbol on it. She looks at me and then looks at Parad, staring at us curious. Her eyes then return to me as she shakes her head a bit, letting her ashy pink hair shake. 

"Hey, are you alright?" Parad asks her as her light brown eyes go to him. "What were those guys doing? They wanted to harm you for some reason."

"Those thugs were after me because I beat their butts in a tournament and they got salty," she says, sighing a little bit. "I can't believe that people can get that butt hurt about that kind of thing." She looks super annoyed by what just happened.

"Thank goodness they got afraid of something and ran away," I say, my eyes going to Parad. "I'm glad you got away..." My eyes go back to her. "What is your name?"

"Sakura-"

"Are you a gamer?" Parad asks her, lifting up his hand and pushing me back a bit. He moves in front of her, pulling out one of his new gaming handheld consoles. "I have this new cool game that you should check out if you are. It is so underrated."

"You're a gamer?" She looks him over. "I should have known from your awesome outfit! You look awesome! Your hair is like a cloud!"

"It is naturally like this. Anyways, back to the game," Parad says, moving to her side to show her the game on his handheld. "You see this here? You have all kinds of uses for this in-game currency. You can buy new characters, outfits, you name it!" 

"Grinding?" 

"Yes, tons of stuff you can grind for! And you know what? They're so generous with the free gifts. You just go to the menu and download them in once the let you know it is ready online. They have a social media account that gives out all that information. They even have a mailbox feature for online codes that give tons of in-game currency!" 

She peaks at the gaming console and her eyes go wide. "Wow! You have a ton of characters and levels! Is there PVP in it?"

"They just added that and it is so balanced for a game like this. You are given options to use during the battle and can purchase items to benefit the character as the match goes on. You know that one popular online game? It is like that, but not like that at the same time."

"Are you talking about League of Legends?" I roll my eyes.

"Shush, I'm explaining this to her," Parad says, eyes not even going to me. "Sorry about that, Sakura. Want to see this other game I have? This one is a new one and it may not be your type of game due to no PVP, but it does have a lot of Co-Op."

"Sure! I would love to check it out and do Co-Op with you sometime. Just let me see that real quick and I'll add you to my friends list." Sakura holds out her hand and he hands her his gaming console, entrusting her with it.

I sigh and turn away, shaking my head. 

Parad has just found himself the perfect new best friend. Since I'm not into every single game he has on there, he has found someone who would be. This is literally the most tragic thing to happen to me in a long time in this word. The most tragic was Kamen Rider Chronicle. I hated that death trap of a game that forced people to die.

"Parad, I'm going to head back to our workplace. Are you going to stay here and chat a bit longer?" I ask him, not even turning to look at him. 

"Yeah, I'll see you later! Elkie, be sure to be careful on the way back! Who knows what creeps are lurking around at this time." Parad is literally so invested in hanging out with this Sakura lady right now. 

"Alright." 

I move forward and pull out my cell phone, my eyes going to my screen. I press on my contacts list and press Emu's name. My finger hits the green phone button and I hold it up to my ear. 

Ring. Ring.

"Hello?" Emu asks. "What is going on? Did something happen, Elkie? Do you need me to come and save you from some evil creep trying to spread the Bugster Virus?"

"Emu, I'm not in danger," I state. "I get that you're concerned about me, but you can tone it down a bit. I'm not going to be leaving you anytime soon. I just need you to come and meet me up at the park. Parad has his hands full."

"His hands are full? Of what? Games?" Emu, just don't ask about it.

"You can say that." More like a girl gamer. "Anyways, I'm going to be on the swing set. I'll be waiting for you there." I turn, my eyes looking at Parad and Sakura as they begin walking away to some unknown place.

"What is he up to exactly?"

"Getting some booty," I answer.

I just hope he doesn't stay out too long having so much fun. He doesn't know her too well and I'm hoping she's harmless. We do not need another crazy lady trying to kidnap him and make him suffer. He's suffered enough.

"In-game booty?" 

"Uh-huh." Kind of. "Anyways, just meet me up here. I miss you and love you so, so much!" I need to see his face.

"I'll be right there. Hiiro will let me go because it has to do with you. Besides, slow work day for me right now." He seems to be in good spirits despite his workload not being so huge. "I miss you too and I love you more."

"Sure you do," I say, laughing. "I'll be waiting."

And I hope that Bugster doesn't get too crazy tonight. 

A/n: I know, it isn't a super long chapter. But you know what? I find it a bit exciting since we're beginning to tie up some loose ends. It seems Parad has found a new friend and is excited about it. Sad for Elkie though. She just totally got dumped.

Anyways, I'll see you all next time! I am truly sorry about the delay, but I caught some sort of sickness (not Covid though. Thankfully). Please take care and stay safe!