«It was one of those beautifully made evening in this world of ours. The majority of people would have had described it as a “normal” evening.
The moon shone of its fiery purple above the rooftops; the wind couldn’t be felt anywhere except through a light and pleasant evening breeze that tuned well with the usual walk to digest the hearty family dinner.

Peace.

What was there to be in a city so full of rules? If not peace, rules and… a big black smoke on the horizon…

“HOUSE ON FIRE ON THE 15^TH ROAD… I’LL SAY IT AGAIN… HOUSE ON FIRE ON THE 15^TH ROAD… OWNERS IDENTIFICATION VIA CITY REGISTRY IN PROGRESS… AT ALL VEHICLES, HEAD ON SITE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE AND WAIT FOR FURTHER ORDERS, OVER”

“ROGER” said the commander of the first firefighter team in response to the radio as he drove his fire truck, towards the fire, by a road which, just as one might expect from a city full of rules, had already emptied out in a heartbeat.
The journey was short: there was no obstacle on the way.

The building on fire was a small, two-storey, western-style wooden house, surrounded by a paddock with a small state-of-the-art garden on the front.
At a quick glance the fire seemed to have started from in the kennel on the side of the house, had then spread to the left flank of the building and, by the time the fire brigade arrived on site, had already taken complete control of the first floor.

“WE’RE HERE, HURRY HURRY! COME ON GUYS, I DEMAND A PERFECT OPERATION…” said the commander while getting out of the vehicle “SQUAD A TO THE PUMPS… SQUAD B WITH ME TO THE RESCUE… SQUAD C TO OBTAIN THE NUMBERS OF CIVILLIANS INSIDE THE HOUSE!”

With that said, the man took his helmet and an axe with him and headed to the front door. Meanwhile, his comrades of the squad A had already started to put out the fire as they had been instructed, having also considered the angle taken by goniometer in order to achieve maximum results in the shortest time possible: in the manual was written to do so after all, and rules are rules.

Someone who, that particular evening, wasn’t in the mood to follow rules was a little girl that was just surfacing from the rear door

“Wait for me… cough cough” she said as she coughed, with her clothes full of soot and on hand a black fabric plush of a dog puppy.

“Wait for me please… cough cough… I want to go back home… Where is my home?” the little girl continued as if speaking to someone.

Just then, the captain and his squad had just managed to break through after destroying the front door.

“TWO CIVILIANS UNCONSCIOUS… I REAPET… I HAVE FOUND TWO UNCONSCIOUS CIVILIANS… A MAN AND A WOMAN… COMMENCING RESCUE OPERATION” was heard a handful of minutes later from a firefighter on the second floor.

“GOOD, SOMEONE GIVE HIM A HAND” replied the captain, who then continued, shouting in the opposite direction “C SQUAD! WE FOUND TWO CIVILIANS! WERE THEY LIVING IN THIS HOUSE ALONE?”

“NO SIR, THE DWELLING BELONGS TO A COUPLE AND THEIR DAUGHTER, A 6-YEARS-OLD GIRL, NO PETS”

“EVERYONE HEARD THAT? LOOK FOR THE CHILD!” shouted the man as soon as he heard the answer “THIS HOUSE IS SURROUNDED ONLY BY STREETS WITH THE “NO CIVILIAN ALLOWED” SIGN! NO ONE IN THIS CITY WOULD EVER GO INSIDE THOSE ALLEYS, NOT EVEN A 6-YEARS-OLD GIRL! SHE HAS TO BE SOMEWHERE IN THIS HOUSE! I’LL SAY IT AGAIN… SHE ABSOLUTELY HAS TO BE SOMEWHERE IN THIS HOUSE!”

And so: within only 15 minutes after the arrival on site of the firefighters, the flames had been completely extinguished; the fire, which had started in the kennel next to house and had turned that quiet city evening into an out-of-the-blue experience, was now a memory; the house, in which only the couple and their daughter lived, was still standing.
The ambulance arrived at the stroke of the 16^th minute, the injured were loaded and taken to the hospital in the next quarter of an hour.
In under an hour the city was already back to “normal”.
The operation was textbook, a success for the first brigade team.

- No child was found inside the house-

2 days later.

“Tsk… damn my mother” said Seiji Mibuto, a 17-years-old boy with medium-standard build, eyes of an unusual flame red, light-brown medium-length hair tied behind the nape with a low-tail and a tuft partially covering the left side of his face.
He was wearing his school’s black uniform, adorned by a red necktie, and was taking an alley with the sign “No civilian allowed” under the disdainful and bitter gaze of all the passers-by that who reacted with a typical “Where is that guy going?”.

“I don’t understand why I can’t eat whenever I want to… why the hell does one have to eat at 01:30pm sharp? Why not before?...
…hmm…” the boy continued “Yet it’s true that in the evening, before I go to bed, the fridge is always empty…
WAIT!
CAN IT BE THAT THE FRIDGE DWARVES DON’T FILL IT UP IF WE DON’T RESPECT MEAL TIMES?
NO WAIT REALLY!?”.

While trying to imagine our typical neighbourhood fridge dwarf, he noticed something moving in an alley, like some kind of dark tail, ethereal in appearance but at the same time seeming to be made of fur.

“AH! A FRIDGE DWARF! No wait, impossible, what are they doing outside the house?...
MAYBE THEY’RE SHOPPING SO THEY CAN FILL THE FRIDGES!
Wait if that’s the case this is my change to ask if they can come to fill my house’s fridge a little bit earlier so that I can eat before it’s that stupid allotted time, I don’t even go to school so it’s perfect!
HEY DWARF, WAIT! I HAVE SOMETHING TO ASK!”

And so, soon after feeling self-satisfied with his idea, the boy set off in search of this elusive fridge dwarf.
He chased what seemed to be the shadow or, if not, signs of that strange presence far and wide, in alleys, under benches, inside rubbish bins, birds’ nests and later ants’ burrows, behind bushes, in leaves… in short in every place he seemed to spot something that resembled that mysterious tail.

After about thirty minutes though, the boy found himself worn out, laying on a bench he had just found.

“WELL those dwarves sure are good runners… crazy, yet here I thought I was good at playing guards and robbers…
…
…
…Ehm…” he continued as he looked around
“I’m not so sure but… Am I los-“GRRR
“That’s it… now I’m starving too and it’s not even 07:00pm yet, the time for dinner… that woma-“GRRR
“Well stomach, I understood that you’re hungry, but now sto-“ GRRRGRRRGRRGRRR ♩
“Yes…
… no wait… has my stomach ever played the ninth symphony when hungry?...” wondered deep in thought Seiji as he was about to get up.

But then he felt something pulling him from behind.

“Daddy…,” said a small voice

“WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!” replied the young boy while turning pale

“Where’s daddy?... I’m hungry…” replied what appeared to Seiji as a girl around 6-years-old

“SAFEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE” he replied with a sigh of relief.
“Little one, don’t scare me like that, ok?... Not that I’ve ever had something like a girl-“ GRRR
“Yes… I remember… you’re hungry, well… are you lost?”

The little girl in response tugged lightly, almost as a caress, the shirt she was already holding with her hand and started doing the big cat eyes thing… how cute is that?

“Hm… Yes… cute and all but listen, I’m sorry I’m not your fa-“GRRR

Still big eyes

“Hm… So, you won’t budge even a lit-“GRRR

Still big eyes

“Hm… Nothing at al-“GRRR

Still big eyes

“Hm… Not-“GRRR

Guess what? Yes, still big eyes

“h-“GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

You know

“AAAAAA All right all right! C’mon get in! Come, let’s go eat something, I’m taking you to my house” said Seiji while assuming the piggy-back position.

As he bent down, however, he finally spent some time observing the little girl: she was completely covered in ashes and soot, her little face, a little rubbed as if she had been trying to clean herself, had a pair of small tired and red eyes, probably due to the crying; she was wearing a purple dress with some cuts and burns here and there; her maybe long-hair were gathered up in a side ponytail that lacked a partner.

Having lifted the child onto his back, the boy started walking along what he thought was the way home (because yes, he was lost), in the direction of the sunset: a beautiful dark blue, even that day.

“I’m back woman!” shouted Seiji as he opened the door to his house

“AH! SEI-CHAN, welcome back!” replied a female voice from the kitchen “It’s still 06:02pm, so as you already know, dinner will be ready in 58 minutes, rules are rules and I don’t compromise, ok?”

“Yes, yes whatever, by the way, is there something for the cockroach here too?”

“Huh? I mean, how many times have I told you that rule 2345 doesn’t allow animals to be brought int- WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT I’M A GRANMA?” yelled his mother as she walked out the kitchen door, almost terrified at the sight of the little girl, as if she had already imagined her life from that moment to the day, she would become great-grandmother

“WHAT… NO… A GRANDMA? WHAT ARE U EVEN SAYING WOMAN! I FOUND HER OUTSIDE”

“SAFEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE” the mother replied “Phew, you sure know how to scare the hell out of me… only you do such things despite the fact that rule 10 clearly states that in cases like these you have to go to the police immediately… well, having said that… I’ve never heard of a child getting lost before…” she mumbled to herself “Maybe there isn’t even a rule about that… In any case, you never change, do you?... Well, now go and lay the table, meanwhile I’ll go wash her… lucky me I still got some of Emy’s old clothes… hoping they fit her… rule 106 sure is a life-saver”

“Yes… no problem here… down you go child” replied Seiji while telling the girl to get off of his back

Later, in the dining room.

“OHH, look how cute the little Ichigo-chan is now that she’s all clean and proper in your sister’s clothes” the mother said while taking seat with the child at the kitchen table “How nice, I feel 10 years younger when dressing a little girl”

“Eh? She’s got a name? She told you? To me she only replied with GRRRRRR?!” replied a little bit nervous the son upon hearing this, as if something had just nicked his pride “But you only have 38 years ol-“

“Well?
Who can blame her? She found herself asking for help to some random rule-breaking scoundrel like you, if nothing else I pity her! I mean c’mon boy!”

“Oh shit, here we go again… it’s 07:00:42:10-11-12-13pm… thanks for the food! Man, I’m starving, because of you I didn’t even eat lunch today”

“Well, you’re the one who wanted to eat at 12:30am… and you know that rule 2947 forbids using smartphones at school…”

Upon hearing this, the mouthful Seiji had just swallowed stuck in his throat.

“Shuush… Ehm… Cough Cough… What to say… ehm… it was break time (?)” he mumbled as he tried with all his might to ingest

“At school? At 12:30am? Are you sure you properly went to scho-?”

“YES” interrupted her the boy, who had just escaped choking
“Yes, today we’ve studied Napoleon the pianist and then… the one who discovered America… er”

“George Washington?”

“How my yes… him”

“Hm… if you say so” said the mother not at all convinced as a wiseacre expression was unconsciously forming on her face
“Anyway, tomorrow morning, before school please take Ichi-chan to the police, I’m working early and I don’t want to wake her up… she looks so sleepy… poor thing… look at her… her face will fall on the plate sooner or later… how cute.”

“Ahhhhh yes yes ok ok, then I’ll come pick here up from your room as soon as I get up” Seiji hurried to say in order to avoid the school topic

“My room? Why?”

“Eh? S-She’s not sleeping with you?”

“No, it seemed obvious to me that she would be sleeping in YOUR room on YOUR bed tonight since YOU didn’t take her to the police as soon as you found her”

“Ah” said the boy, while the slice of meat he had just grabbed with his fork fell onto the plate, even as a dead body falls.

…SPLAT