Everyday Is a Good Day For a Beef Bowl [JT / NDE / R]

[Saito Haruka]

Joint Training Thread, or Social idk, between Blair Aldaine ❅ and Saito Haruka

”Hello and welcome!”

It wasn’t the coldest day of Fall. Not by any means. But just cold enough that you’d feel comfortable walking around in a coat with either a scarf or a hat. Depends on how tolerant you were to the cold honestly. It was gonna warm up as the day went on and the sun spent more time in the sky, obviously, since the night sapped up all the heat from the day. But when you have to get up early in the morning for your by foot commute to work the cold was something that was gonna be on your mind. You’d be left wishing that it was Spring or Summer again. Ah well, no reason to be complaining about the seasonal weather. It wasn’t the coldest day of Fall after all. Just a little chilly and a little nippy. Enough that the hero of this story had to go out wearing a jacket and a scarf to combat the cold as he walked from his apartment to work. The walks were nice. He didn’t have a car, though he had a bike, but it was good to take life slow at times instead of just rushing everywhere.

”Haruka-san, could you get the box of ramen we need to put out?”

”Sure!”

”Haruka-san, there’s a stink bug in the mens bathroom. Could you get it?”

”Sure not a problem! Off you go little buddy.”

”Oy Haruka-san, someone's dog pooped in front of the store and kids are playing in it.”

”What do I look like to you, its owner? Go get a plastic bag and get it up!”

”Haruka-senpai where do we put the spicy mustard?”

”Next to the spicy ketchup!”

It was just another normal day at the store. A completely normal and average convenience store that wouldn’t draw anyone's attention for any special reason whatsoever. The interior of the store is a blend of a typical convenience store layout. Upon entering the store, customers are greeted by a cozy yet bustling atmosphere. The layout is organized. Bright fluorescent lights illuminate the aisles, casting a warm glow over the various products that line the shelves. The air is filled with the faint scent of freshly brewed coffee, enticing customers to linger a bit longer. To the left of the entrance, there is a well-stocked snack aisle. Colorful wrappers of chips, candies, and instant noodles create a vibrant display. Each product is carefully arranged, although some items appear to have been hastily restocked, hinting at how busy the store has been. A small shelf dedicated to rare snacks from different regions draws the attention of curious customers, showcasing the manager's love for unique culinary experiences.

The right side of the store features a refrigerated section filled with an assortment of drinks, from soft drinks to energy drinks, all neatly organized. Above the coolers, a chalkboard displayed the daily specials, often featuring quirky names that reflect Sakamoto's sense of humor. The drinks are accompanied by a small selection of onigiri and bento boxes, perfect for a quick meal on the go. The store was not just a retail space; but also a community hub. Customers often gather around a small seating area near the entrance, where a few tables and chairs are set up. This area fosters a sense of belonging, as regulars share stories and laughter with cups of coffee or fresh lunches they buy from the store.

It was one of those days too. The lunch hour was hitting pretty hard. Well, hard for the convenience store anyways. They only had three tables at the seating area and all of them were filled with regulars and even a few new people. Customers were coming in one after another to buy bento’s, onigiri, as well as oden. Akiko might have been a new employee but her suggestion to start selling oden on a few days of the week was a super good one! It was incredibly popular even for something that was only available two times a week. The cash was flowing in baby. Stepping out from a doorway near the back of the store by the refrigerated coolers was a decently tall but slightly portly man. Spiky black hair made a mess of the top of his head. Bright green eyes looked out at the world as a big stupid smile was on his face, with a thin goatee decorating his face.

Wearing a work uniform with a green apron and carrying a crate full of beers, Saito Haruka was just going through another day at work as usual. Restocking the fridge with beers that had been bought out, the man stood back up after a few moments and stretched his back. ”Guh. My poor knees.” he complained, leaning down and rubbing his poor sore joints. ”My poor babies what happened to you.” Saito complained, almost crying, before Shinji replied from the counter ”You got old that’s what.”

”Thirty-three is not old! Don’t act like I’m one foot in the ground you’re gonna complain when you’re my age too!!” Saito shot back, garnering some chuckles from his coworkers and a few customers. The regulars were used to Saito’s usual outbursts and enjoyed them. They all knew him as the quirky manager who had a good attitude and provided good service. It was thanks to Saito that the store had such a warm atmosphere to it. A lot of the ideas that Saito had to improve the store had paid off in dividends. Like the community seating idea, the idea to serve fresh bentos, stocking the shelves with more exotic snacks rather than just the usual stuff. Saito had been working at the store for a few years now and, thanks to him, it was insanely successful especially for the part of Karakura Town it was in. He’d earned his promotion to manager.

Stepping around the counter Saito took his spot behind the register and continued through the work day. The hours went on until, finally, the store was getting a bit quiet. It was still lunch time, the early rush being done, but thankfully they finally had some time to clean up and rest a bit. ”Hey! Nakajima-san, Hayashi-chan, why don’t you two go ahead and get your breaks in.” Saito would say in a raised voice just loud enough for them to hear. ”You sure?” one of them asked back. ”Yeah go ahead. Things have quieted down and I can take it from here. I know you two have been eyeing the oden too. Go ahead and have some on the house.” He offered, his two coworkers happily taking him up on the offer. Today was a pretty good day all things considered. Now that it was quiet, Saito got to work cleaning up the counters. Spraying and wiping them down until he heard the bell on the door chime. Turning around to see who came in, Saito greeted her with the same cheerful greeting he gave everyone, ”Hello and welcome!”

[Blair Aldaine ❅]

”Hello and welcome!”

Though her hood was down and not covering her face, Blair still averted her gaze as much as possible from the store employee who greeted her. She really didn't want to be in here for very long, but she was starving and just wanted a quick snack. Japanese convenience stores were so much better than American convenience stores. That could have been due to the nature of the country, especially since so many places were within walking distance or a short train ride. Everything was so different here, but she'd been living in Karakura Town for years now. She was used to it. Visiting her parents in New Jersey made the state feel foreign to her now.

So with her hunger in mind, she did a little bit of browsing. She had the day off, which was interesting because she didn't know if Xcution actually did that. Apparently, they did. They had normal weekends. The only time work was mandatory was when they had to be on the job because of a client, but since she didn't have any targets assigned to her at the moment, she just went along on her own day. She'd originally decided to go for a walk, thinking it'd be nice to get some fresh air and it was particularly sunny out. Her pastel pink hoodie kept her warm whenever she was in the shade since being in the sun was still relatively comfortable.

Carrying her wallet within her kangaroo pouch, Blair took her time and browsed a few of the items that were for sale. She had to admit, she enjoyed the variety that came with these stores. They really carried everything, like miniature markets. After making a run to the refrigerated section, the blonde found some chocolate milk and immediately picked it up. She wasn't about to resist it when she'd also grabbed a ham and cheese sandwich. This was meant to be a quick meal, after all. She was on her way to the local park to sit down and enjoy the weather, so she didn't want to grab anything that was too heavy.

Within a short amount of time, she approached the register and saw the man who had greeted her. He seemed nice, which helped a lot since she really didn't want to have to talk to anybody. She always felt uncomfortable with it at first. She couldn't even explain why, and she'd gotten a bit better over the years, but sometimes she just had a lot of trouble finding the right words to say. She'd gotten in trouble for it before when she'd met other people, and they got frustrated with her hesitations. Not wanting to cause him any inconvenience, Blair placed her items on the counter and expressed that this was all she wanted.

"Please excuse me," she stated politely, unable to raise her gaze to meet his. He was considerably taller than she was, but everyone was taller. "I was just wanting these two things. I don't mean to intrude."

She was struggling with even this much. Why was it that she could push herself to Do The Thing when she needed to, but when it came to simple acts like these, she was just so incapable? Frustration started to well up inside of her along with her growing anxiety. He was probably completely judging her. Everyone did! No one could understand why she was so quiet! She didn't want him to judge her the way everyone else seemed to judge her. She'd hoped to be able to come to this convenience store again, especially since she swore to herself she wouldn't go to several of the other ones after very awkward experiences. She told some of them to enjoy their meal in response to them wishing she'd enjoy her own... There's no recovery for that.

[Saito Haruka]

The customer who came in was a young looking woman a little on the short side. Well, very on the short side. Very, very, on the short side. Well most people were short compared to him. Saito was rather blessed to be the height that he was. It helped even out the extra pounds that he had put on. But a young, short, girl with bright blond hair and distinctly rose red eyes wearing a pastel pink hoodie had come into the store. Despite the friendly and warm greeting he had given the girl seemed reserved and more interested in getting her things and going. Working this job as long as he has and seeing as many people come into the store everyday as he did gave Saito a pretty decent ability to read people. This girl seemed shy, or at the very least reserved, though Saito avoided staring at her as she went about her shopping.

After a short time, Saito’s counter cleaning was interrupted by that same girl coming up to the register to make her purchases. The man smiled down at her warmly, putting on that A+ customer service that he had trained in the mountains with monks to achieve. ”Hello miss! I hope you found everything alright.” Saito greeted with a grin, eyeing her and then what she was buying. Her eyes really did stand out. He’d never seen anyone with eyes like hers before. Ah she’s a cutie. he thought to himself. ”You’re not intruding at all, miss. There’s no need to worry about that. I’m more than happy to serve you today.” it looked like his initial hunch was right. She was a shy and reserved girl. Just the way she talked and carried herself gave him that impression. Saito could smell it.

Hmm. Well this wasn’t gonna do at all. As Saito took her sammich and choccy milk and rang them up, Blair would notice that something else was handed back to her along with the two items. A brownie with sprinkles tightly wrapped in plastic. ”We’re running a special fifty percent off deal on sweets today. And first time customers get a special as well. Today only though. So don’t tell anyone, okay?” Saito would say, leaning over the counter a little and hiding his mouth behind his hand, practically whispering loudly to Blair. He’d grin at her and chuckle to himself, he couldn’t have a girl as cute as her looking so sad and having a bad day. He’d pay for the brownie himself if he needed to, it wasn’t a big deal at all.

[Blair Aldaine ❅]

Taking the brownie in her hands and staring at it for a second, Blair's expression softened significantly as she smiled up at the clerk. Since she could actually finally look at him, she read that his name tag said 'Haruka' and he didn't look to be that much older than her. Such a small act of kindness didn't go unnoticed, and Blair just lightly nodded back to the man with pink-tinted cheeks. Her eyes showed her clear delight even if she couldn't say much at the time, but with every ounce of strength she could muster, along with every bit of frustration that she couldn't do this simple thing at her age, Blair finally spoke to him once again.

"Thanks, Haruka! I won't tell a soul!"

Her appearance made her seem much more childlike than she really was. She was shy, yes, but also an adult. She just didn't like talking to strangers. Haruka, though, didn't seem as much like a stranger anymore. He went out of his way to have a conversation with her, no matter how short it was, and even gave her a treat. After she'd gathered the rest of her purchase in a plastic bag, she thanked him profusely again and went to leave the store. Shockingly enough, she succeeded in her mission to not embarrass herself into oblivion once again, so maybe she'd come back to this store if she ever felt a craving for something quick again.

Wanting to enjoy the day, Blair found a bench along the sidewalk that still wasn't too far away from the store she'd just exited. She wanted to people watch and just enjoy herself a bit before heading off to her next destination, so she quickly unwrapped the sandwich, popped open the bottle of chocolate milk, and carefully enjoyed her meal. The volume of food wasn't much so it only took her a few minutes, but she was able to street gaze enough for some entertainment. She watched a mother with her two daughters cross the road at a nearby crosswalk, and seeing the image made Blair's heart sink. She missed that.

Finishing up her food, Blair pulled the sprinkled brownie out of her bag and gave it a quick look, admiring the colors on top. They were fairly neon, though all party sprinkles were. She smiled, wanting to unwrap it and eat it immediately, though she wouldn't even be able to get a single taste since something took it out of her hands. Immediately pissed off, she turned around and jumped up from the bench, throwing her empty bag into a nearby trashcan. She half-expected there to be a bird or something, maybe a crow, that stole her treat from her. She was going to kick it to the ground even if she couldn't get the brownie back.

Unfortunately, she was very wrong. Startled screams roared from around Blair as a mixture of spiritually-aware and non-spiritually-aware people saw a part of a building crumble to the ground. Shock filling her eyes, Blair watched as the building's outer layers collapsed and broke away. Frantically looking around for an answer, she finally found it, though she really didn't like it. A Hollow had decided to make a quick meal of the brownie that Haruka had so nicely given her, then spit it back up immediately when it clearly wasn't what the Hollow was looking for. Disgust painted Blair's face, though that quickly changed to disappointment when she saw what was left of the treat hit the ground.

"Everyone needs to get outta here! That building's gonna fall!"

She urged people to move, especially the women and children, and tried to get them out of the way from the falling debris. This Hollow was huge... Big enough to tower over a two-story building. She'd heard of ones that were bigger, though she didn't have much experience with them. After looking around, she learned quickly that some could see it while others couldn't. Those who could weren't very many, but they did seem to exist and were getting out of the area, thankfully. Though what was really scaring Blair was the fact that parts of the debris were falling over in front of the convenience store she'd just left.

"Haruka!!" Blair screamed and ran towards the store. She avoided getting crushed, though barely, and kept trying to move herself out of the way so she wouldn't get killed. Did this place have any other doors, though? The blonde panicked. Was Haruka okay??

[Saito Haruka]

”Haaah… She was cute..”

Saito mumbled to himself alongside an exasperated sigh as he leaned his face against his hand, cupping some extra cheek in his palm, as he leaned across the counter staring down at the phone he lay on it. It had been a short time since the blonde had come in and bought what she was having for lunch. The eagerness that Saito had felt had passed by this point. He’d done his good deed for the day and put a smile on someone’s face. Staring down at the game he was playing on his phone now that the activity in the store died down, the man lifted his finger up and selected the auto-play feature so that the game would play itself. Wasn’t like he was really playing. Just farming materials for the future. His team in the game was way above average at this point after all the weeks he had spent farming, so he didn’t have to worry about anything.

Looking up from his phone to the Cup Noodle he had sitting next to the register, Saito took a quick peek at his watch. ”Yush!” Saito cheered with a clap of his hands, sitting up and reaching across the counter. Grabbing onto the styrofoam cup and removing the chopsticks he placed ontop of the lip to keep it closed, Saito peeled the lid back to look at the red colored broth and noodles awaiting him. ”Heeeeh…smells so good. Gotta love the hot chili flavor.” he moaned in joy to himself, sniffing in the hot steam and letting the aroma tantalize his sniffer organ. While it wasn’t technically his lunch he decided to give himself a little snack before he went out and made home deliveries on the company moped. He had quite a few boxes of produce and eggs to deliver.

Pinching the chopsticks together and pulling out a length of delicious noodle goodness, Saito loudly started slurping the meal down his gullet. Unfortunately the man's tastebud euphoria would only last about thirty seconds before fate decided to be one dirty skank and take a hot steamy shit all over him. Well, in fairness, all over everybody. As the last inch of noodle vanished into the all consuming maw that was Saito’s mouth and down his throat everything began to rumble. Things began to shake. Saito jumped with surprise, splashing hot broth on his chest staining his shirt and eliciting a pained yip out of the man, before Saito’s eyes widened with surprise and shock. ”Earthquake?!” Things were shaking badly. Saito tried to put the noodle cup down only for it to tip over the opposite side of the counter onto the floor. He just cleaned that too! Things fell from the aisles and shelves.

The quake was short-lived. Really short. But Saito could hear people screaming outside along with the sounds of a multitude of heavy things hitting the ground hard. Saito rushed from his seat and to the back office. He practically slammed his full weight into the door. ”Hayashi-chan!? Nakajima-san!?” Saito shouted looking for his coworkers. He only spotted Shinji in the employee office, rubbing his head. ”It’s just me. Hayashi-chan went out for her break…gah my head.” Shinji complained, getting to his feet. ”What happened? Did something fall on you?” Saito asked, helping Shinji up and trying to get a look at his head. ”Yeah, some of those books on the shelf did. I’m fine though. Do I hear people screaming?” the younger man asked, bringing attention back to the commotion outside.

The two men approached the front door with the intent to leave, but as they got close there was yet another rumble. First felt in their feet before shaking the building hard enough to make the two stumble. ”An aftershock? Hold onto something!” Saito shouted as he grabbed out at anything to hold onto. This was short lived as well. But any hope of getting out was crushed when Saito watched a variety of rebar and concrete fall in front of the shop's front door. ”Hey! No no no!” Saito shouted, rushing towards the door and pushing on it with all his might. Despite the grunts and groans, he just couldn’t do it. Of course it had to be a push door and not a pull!

”The back door! Let’s check the back door!” Shinji would shout, getting Saito’s attention as he gave up on trying to force open the front door. The two would run to the back, only to see in horror that the door was blocked by a steel beam that crashed through the roof. The door was blocked by a combination of wires, pipes, and the beam itself. ”Hey, hey hey hey…” Saito started to stammer, noticing a smaller pipe on the floor and grabbing onto it. ”Nakajima! Help me!” Saito shouted, rushing back to the front with pipe in hand. Shinji would follow, slightly confused. ”Help me force the door open! Even a little! Then I’ll stick this between the gaps and use it as leverage to force the door to open the opposite way or just break it!” Saito shouted.

While the store had windows along the front facing wall, Saito knew they wouldn’t be able to break them. They were storm proof. Meant to be able to handle the force of a earthquake or hurricane. Both men would push the door to try and get enough room open to force the pipe in Saito had found. He had no idea if this would even work. But he had to try something. They grunted with stress and exertion, trying their hardest. The sound of something crashing and breaking was heard as something large and heavy came through the roof somewhere in the store. What the hell was happening?? "Haruka!!" Huh? Over the sounds of effort he made he heard someone calling out his name. Who’s voice was that? That sounded like… ”Miss brownie??”

”No, miss, stay back! We’re stuck it’s not safe here.” Saito would shout through the door, finally shoving the pipe in once enough room was made. Wait, which way did he pull the pipe to do this? Fuck! Maybe he didn’t think this through enough after all. He thought he had a good plan but maybe it was actually stupid in his panic.

[Blair Aldaine ❅]

Frantically looking around for an answer to her question of what to do, Blair felt a mix of panic and relief when she heard Haruka's reply to her. If he was stuck, that meant he could potentially be crushed to death and not even have a chance. She wasn't going to let that happen when he'd been so nice to her. Groaning to herself, she realized the situation she was in and decided she didn't care. People were running all over the place, so she didn't have time to be cautious of her actions. Shoving her hand out in front of her, she searched for the soul within the rebar and concrete that blocked their path.

Upon finding it, Blair felt something inside of her flex as she yanked as hard as she could, forcing the materials to bend to her will as a Fullbringer and ultimately moving them out of the way of the door. They were heavy, so she felt a bit winded since she didn't have much practice using her Soul Command, but she was still able to free up a path for the trapped people. She ran to the door and checked it, noting that the glass hadn't shattered but the handle was messed up. She grabbed on to it and gripped tightly, pulling it back into place well enough to make it open. Unfortunately, the door didn't open completely. It only budged about a foot and a half, which meant everyone inside would have to squeeze through.

"Haruka! You gotta get outta there! I'll be okay but you won't be if you stay. That thing-" Blair caught her own words in her throat as she considered her options. He absolutely saw the rubble get moved out of the way, but was he spiritually aware? "Uh, earthquakes can be really unpredictable! You might get hurt!"

Yanking on the door as much as possible to try to get it to move more, Blair soon found that her attempts were futile. Unfortunately for her, the Hollow had also come back and noticed the fact that she would make a particularly tasty meal. This Hollow must have been relatively young and naive, or perhaps it just didn't realize that she certainly wasn't a damsel in distress. Still, she was limited in what she could do without using her powers, and that was totally off-limits. She wasn't about to expose herself to Haruka and everyone else if she didn't have to, so she needed to get him and the other civilians who survived out of the way before she did anything major.

The closer the Hollow got, the wider Blair's eyes seemed to grow when she realized she was a bit stuck between wanting to help people get away and preserving her own life. Gritting her teeth, she made a run for it in an attempt to get the beast away from Haruka and his shop. It was a bit faster than she was, and she didn't want to use any step techniques because there were still normal people all around her despite them fleeing the scene. She really didn't know what to do. She couldn't expose herself and the spiritual world like this. She had to come up with a way to handle it without anyone getting hurt, and yet-

"AHH!" Blair screamed, covering her face as it got too close to her.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Blair's Stats}

Strength - [300] = 200 Points

Speed - 300 Points

Spiritual Pressure - [400] = 600 Points

Reiatsu Strength - 300 Points

Light Aura - 50 Points

Dark Aura - 50 Points

Instinct - 50 Points

Senses - 50 Points

Energy Sensory - 0 Points

Healing Expertise - 0 Points

Total SP: 1400 Points

SPOILER: Click to show

{Blair's Skills}

[Weapon: Explosives] {3}

[Strength of Will] {3}

[Battle Analysis] {2}

[Analyzing] {2}

[Martial Arts: MMA] {2}

[Acrobatics] {2}

[Pain Tolerance] {2}

Blair's Remaining Reiatsu: 5,900 (-100 for Soul Command x2)

[Saito Haruka]

Saito was pushing with all of his might and more. Shinji was assisting him as well. He could hear Blair on the other side of the door but what she was saying wasn’t actually making it inside of his ears. The man was completely and totally focused on trying to force the door open. His eyes shut tightly, tensing every muscle in his body possible to push, when he felt the door give way just a teensy weensy bit. Both men gasped with surprise, Saito finally opening his eyes to see Miss Brownie was helping them get the door open. Maybe something had been blocking the door on the other side that they didn’t notice that she was able to move? It didn’t matter. There was just enough room now for them to squeeze out. ”Nakajima! Go first!!” Saito screamed, looking at his thinner coworker. Pushing the door as hard as he could to make even a little more room, Saito watched as Shinji managed to squeeze himself through the gap.

But now comes the problem. It was Saito’s turn. The man started wedging himself into the door, trying to push through, but that extra water weight he was carrying was making that a difficult process. His belly got stuck. It was embarrassing but it was the truth. ”Oh come on!!” Saito shouted, pressing both of his hands against the door and once again pushing. ”Come on! Come on, come on!” Saito pleaded. Screams still filled the air. There was a strange rumbling. Saito clenched his eyes shut again. Please! Please! He pleaded with all his heart and soul. He could feel his strength giving out. He begged to anything that could hear him. The door suddenly went loose. The rubble blocking the door just seemingly pushed away.

Saito stumbled out of the store, falling onto his knees and gasping for air. He felt winded. Way more than he thought he should have. ”Haruka-senpai!” he heard Shinji shout, and a pair of hands trying to help him back to his feet. ”Where did she-” Saito was beginning to ask, his mind immediately going to the girl he gifted a brownie too, when Saito finally looked up at the scene before them. It looked like the office building across the street from the store had collapsed. But how? What’s more, it looks like it had come down from something heavy being on top of it rather than an earthquake breaking it at its foundations.

But what made Saito’s eyes widened with a mixture of fear and surprise was what he saw. Something large, standing tall at what two stores, and horrifying. It was shaped vaguely like a gorilla. Or an ape. Saito didn’t know. It wasn’t disproportionately shaped though. That’s what Saito was confident about. Its upper half was far thicker in size than its lower half. Long, muscular, arms alongside short stubby back legs with a tail that was just as stocky. Red fur coated its backside but only reached halfway down its back, with zebra-like stripes making their way down its body in rows. It was a monster. A real life monster. A kaiju in Karakura Town. Saito sat there, on the ground, staring at it with a look of pure horror. His eyes wide just as his mouth that hung open limply. His face pale with fear.

But two things stood out to him. One was the obvious hole he could see penetrating the monster from chest to back. A perfectly shaped circle hole that cut clean through the monsters body. And that mask. A white mask stuck firm to its face. Squinty eyes, puffed cheeks, and tightly held together teeth. Yellow lights could be seen in the darkness where the mask's eyes should be. He had seen this before. Saito started breathing heavily. But where? Where had he seen this before? Saito started panicking. He was breathing faster and faster as he started having a panic attack. His head was hurting. He was somewhere else for a second. A hallway. The twilight colors of the sunset bleeding in through the windows. At the end of that hall Saito saw it. The blood splattered all across the hall. That ghoulish figure standing there, turning to look at him, with crimson splatter painted across its face.

”AHH!”

A scream brought him out of it. He saw the girl he gave the brownie too running from the monster that was reaching out for her. Saito wasn’t sure when he started running. Only that he was. Gasping for air in his panic as he sprinted with all his might. His right hand tightly holding out the pipe he had used to try and wedge the door open. Saito let out a yell as he slammed the pipe down onto the monster's hand, eliciting a pained yelp from the creature. The man didn’t even process that Blair could see it. The monster knocked the pipe out of his hand as it raised its own upwards, noticing Saito, as the middle aged man surged past the monster towards Blair. He was too old for this. He wasn’t a hero. He had given up on that dream. He was just a store manager now. What was he doing? Why was he risking his life for a stranger?

His arms wrapped around Blair as tight as he could, holding her tightly to his body and running. It was good that she was so short. Saito was powered by pure adrenaline. He lifted the girl up as best he could. But, unfortunately, he didn’t get far. Something hard hit him on the back, hitting the back of his head as well, causing him to trip forward and fall. Somehow he managed to shelter Blair, gripping the back of her head and holding it to his chest. He managed to turn himself just enough during the fall to land on his left arm instead of crushing the girl under all his weight. ”Ah—ahh…” Saito moaned in pain, lifting himself up and looking behind to see that the monster had hit him with its fist. ”You can see me… can’t you?” it asked, the white mask on its face only opening slightly to project its voice.

It began to reach for him. All Saito could do was shift himself to cover Blair with his body. He didn’t care what happened to him. But he was going to let this thing hurt her. He couldn’t outrun it. All he could do was use his body to protect her. It was all he could do. He was no hero. He was just a man. Just a man.