They had already been asleep for a few hours.
The little girl was resting in Seiji’s bed while him was in a rough-and-ready hammock just above.

SHRIEEEK – a noise, almost like a claw scratching a glassy surface broke the silence

“Hm…” mumbled the boy as he struggled to open his left eye, but without succeeding

SHRIEEEK – he heard again

At last, the left eye opened, but what it saw threw its owner out of the hammock with his face to the floor: a huge shadow resembling a giant, gloomy, fiendish dog was projected on the wall of the room

“WAAAT- What’s that’” shouted Seiji under his breath, so as not to wake up the girl, as he was getting up from the floor with his glaze on the window

Nothing… there was nothing.

The boy then looked at the little girl only to found her still sleeping, unphased, clutching that black dog stuffed animal of hers.

“Good that she’s still sleeping… maybe it was her who made those noi-“ interjected Seiji as he noticed the same shadow, he had been chasing all afternoon in the alleys, jumping down from the window
“Not on my watch, those damn fridge dwarves, I’ll get you now!”

Said so, Seiji ran to the window, opened it and jumped down from the first floor of his house, only to land on a bush in the garden underneath

While running he didn’t notice anything, but a little while after, the little girl looked out of the same window.

“What’s this now? A house?... No… maybe it’s what’s left of it…” said Seiji while trying to catch his breath, as he had just stopped from chasing the traces of soot and ash, as well as strange movements
“Beats me… I don’t even care…
…
…
…but what the heck are you?”

He was addressing a small black doggie: he couldn’t quite make out the breed, its eyes were a pastel yellow and they seemed to be made of an ethereal, almost weightless material, a mixture of the same ash and soot that led the boy there

“Mph… no reply huh…” continued Seiji as he approached the creature

He was almost about to touch it when someone shouted from behind

“DON’T!”

The boy turned around: it was the little girl

“HE’S A BAD DOG!”

It was at the moment that Seiji noticed something strange.
Something resembling a slimy substance was dripping onto his hand.
Something else was mysteriously obscuring his field of view so much that he could no longer see the girl in full, but only her shoes.
In short, everything was making Seiji’s brain think that he had suddenly found himself inside the mouth of something huge… something horrific…
… that was the case…
… the boy already had half of his body inside the jaws of what was now no longer a little doggie, but a gigantic, demon-like being, sporting a myriad of blood-red eyes, four hefty paws with more than sharp claws, a tail that seemed to emit electricity, and, to top it all, an army of pointy teeth that surrounded its new prey.

The creature was just about to close its huge mouth and begin to savour its late-night meal when a spear struck it on the snout with so much strength that it was forced to let go and lodged on the ground to the boy’s left.

“FINALLY” shouted a feminine voice

It was at that moment that Seiji saw one of the most beautiful things in his whole life…
…white, pure white, a white more majestic than snow…
…pure white panties were twirling in the sky…
…these pure white panties were worn under the skirt by a young woman, a beautiful girl that perfectly landed, in a graceful and elegant way, on the spear stuck on the ground.

The newly-arrived maiden seemed to be the same age as Seiji, a slender build, moderate bosom and some beautiful shapes, sported with long hair which were the same colour of her panties: white. A single red ribbon tied a few strands of hair on her left side.
She was wearing a well-known school uniform; that pitch-black clothes with a red necktie are hard to forget: it was Seiji school’s uniform.

“FINALLY WE FOUND THE MISSING GIRL…” resumed the young woman

“ORAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA” shouted a masculine voice from above

A boy with a huge shield had just flung himself at the monster. He too was wearing the same kind of uniform as the maiden, had a rather strong stout build but not excessive for his age, and short light-brown hair gathered like a fountain in the middle of his head.

The demon-like beast in response, however, throwed the newcomer boy towards what appeared to be his spear-bearer female colleague, but he, almost dancing in the air, managed to adjust his position and land on his two feet beside the young woman.

“Tekiwasa-san I’m in your care… be my shield…” said the young girl

“AYE SIR!” replied the guy as he dashed towards the creature once more

“Ttaku… anyone in this world would have taken that child to the police station instead of his own house” she resumed while drawing the spear out of the ground and piercing Seiji with her gaze

“I knew it… even her face is beautiful” he thought

“REI-CHAN THE GIRL IS IN YOU CARE!
THE SUBJECT IS TOO YOUNG… I DON’T THINK WE CAN SOLVE THIS WITH WORDS ALONE…
… I FEAR WE WILL HAVE TO SUPPRESS THE RUMOR” she continued as she went to help her shield

“Y-YES SIR” replied trembling another feminine voice from behind Seiji

The new you girl seemed to be younger than the other two.
She was wearing the same uniform, perhaps a little cornered by her huge bosom and almost overwhelmed by the number of books surrounding her body. Her hair was black, gathered into two braids that sprouted at the sides of her face, adorned by a nose with a few freckles here and there and a pair of big glasses.

“D-don’t worry girl, all will be fine…” said trembling while speaking to the little girl who had remained motionless in the middle of the road

“WHAT’S THAT?!” shouted Seiji as he got up from the ground

“Hem…” replied her

“WHO IS THIS GIRL?”

“I-It’s.. it’s complica-”

“WHAT IS SHE DOING HERE? WHO ARE YOU? WHAT’S A RUMOR?”

“Well… hem… what to say… the child… she’s lost…” whispered Rei again, trying to gather her courage in front of that barrage of questions

“I CAN’T HEAR YOU… SPEAK LOUDER” replied Seiji who had been unable to hear anything because of the battle that was unfolding behind him, as he walked towards the two

“T-The child… She’s lost” repeated Rei, finding courage.
“She has been lost for two days, since her house, namely this one we see here, caught fire for unknown reason. The firefighters only found her parents inside, but no trace of her. Maybe she managed to get out before they arrived on site”

“Mummy… Daddy… my home…” said the little girl on the verge of tears, at the sight of her run-down house

“Where are her parents?” asked the boy

“At the general hospital, room 142, first-floor, the one with the window on the rear. They’re fine. They just breathed in too much smoke and have a few burns on their bod-HIIIIIIIIII”

A gust of wind generated by the shield-boy, who was thrown against the wall by the beast, had just passed by the group

“Mummy… Daddy… my home…” said again the child

“Hm.. I see… Hey you, how can I reach the hospital from here?” asked Seiji to Rei, completely ignoring what had just happened

“Hem… if you turn right at this alley and then go all the way down the street, you’ll find it on you lef-WHAT…” realised the young woman
“Why? What do you want to do?!...
… Please… tell me that you won’t…”

“Perfect, well thank you bye… c’mon little one”

Too late.
Seiji was already running toward the alley while princess-carrying the little girl.

“No wait! Don’t!... the procedure… the procedure doesn’t allow it…” mumbled Rei shocked

“REI-CHAN WHATS’S GOING ON?” asked the beautiful young girl int the white panties as she dodged an attack from the demon

“THE BOY WANTS TO TAKE THE CHILD TO THE HOSPITAL”

“WHAT?! HEY YOU STOP!”

Too late.
The boy was already his way to the hospital, with the child on his back and the beast chasing him within seconds.

“THAT IDIOT! TEKIWASA-SAN, REI-CHAN HURRY!” commanded the young-maiden-with-the-white-panties while she cut to the chase, followed by her comrades

Meanwhile, Seiji was trying, in every way he knew, to avoid the attacks of that huge beast that threatened his ass more and more.

As soon as the hospital entered his field of vision, he jumped onto the wall of a neighbouring house in the vague hop of improvising a shortcut that would have taken him to the rear of the building.

“Room 142… first floor… the rear…” repeated the boy while sneaking through the walls surrounding the hospital
“There it is!” he exclaimed at one point
“Damn it, the window is clos-“ SBADABAM

The demon-dog had just broken through the wall behind Seiji’s back, but was blocked again by the young-maiden-with-the-white-panties’ spear

“IDIOT, WHAT’S GOING ON YOU HEAD?” she shouted

“Well… no other choice… hold on tight little one” said Seiji while ignoring the young woman as he resumed his run

Then the boy jumped, climbed up the building’s wall until he reached the room’s window, placed the child on the ledge and started to hold onto the gutter pipe with his legs.

“Mum… dad…” the little girl began to say

“Uhm…
…
…
… Darling…
… What’s that noise?” a male voice said from inside

“… I don’t know honey… Maybe the guy in the other roo-HONEY LOOK” a female voice answered him
“THAT’ OUR CHILD!”

“WHAT?... ICHIGO WHAT ARE YOU DOING THERE”

“Mum! Dad!” shouted the child

“Good girl, make them open the window please… We’re short on time here and I don’t even know how much more I can hold on…” said Seiji while sneaking a peak to the battle behind them

The fight didn’t seem to be going well… at all…
sure enough, as soon as Seiji said those words, the huge beast managed to throw Tekiwasa again, but this time not against the wall, but against the young-maiden-with the-snowy-panties, who, taken aback, ended up on the ground together with his teammate.

Having freed itself from its assailants, the wild beast immediately dashed towards Seiji while opening its fangs wide in preparation for a powerful bite

“Not good” whitened the boy

CRACK

“Ah.. fine… if that’s how it has to be” though Seiji who unconsciously, as soon as he heard that sound, had already let go of the child against the window.

The gutter pipe broke.

The boy began to fall, down…
… into the creature’s mouth

“Ah…” he thought “I wonder what mom would have made for tomorrow’s breakfast…”
………
……
…
“I’m hungry…”
And so the jaws shut.